Halloween creep and what's behind seeing costumes outside of Oct. 31

"Creeps" are what Halloween is all about butHalloween creep is another thing altogether.

Perhaps you've noticed the proliferating number of places where your child is expected to show up in costume. I was instructed to bring my children to their Sunday skating lesson in costume.

Seriously? I already dress them up each week in hockey pants and helmets so they can pretend to be little people who know how to skate. How is a fairy dress going to fit over hockey pants?

If I'd shown up at the rink dressed as Santa Clause, would the organizers have gotten the point?

People have complained for years about Christmas creep, but the bonyhands of Halloween creep are proving to have an even longer reach.

In the United States, people snapped photos of Halloween merchandise on store shelves in July, including packages of candy.

Maybe the thinking is that they'll be covered by real cobwebs by October since everyone loves authenticity these days.

On the other hand, I have a soft spot for old monster movies andwith the evenings getting colder and darker, we need something fun to do to take our minds off the impending return of 'snowmageddon.'

Maybe Halloween should be a month-long event and it should have occurred to me to put the hockey pants over the fairy dress.

When I was a kid growing up in Dartmouth, every kid on the block dressed up as someone in a winter jacket with some part of an indistinguishable costume barely visible beneath.

What do you think?Is Halloween creep a capitalist conspiracyor a great opportunity?

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