With Halloween happening this week, the joy of costumes for little kids comes in the form of giggles and excitement. I hear my 6-year-old twin brother and sister tell me exactly what they want to be for Halloween. Seeing as I am the go-to for crafting and costume making, everyone flocks to me this time of year for inspiration and ideas.

My little brother wanted to be a “Star Wars” character, which is easy enough to find in the boys’ section, something that fits him perfectly and looks good too. My little sister wanted to be a vampire, which surprised me since she usually wants to be a princess with frilly ruffles and other “girly” things. A vampire wasn’t her usual, but I assumed she’d taken after me and my affliction with the strange and unusual.

So my Grammie and I hopped on. We jumped on the Internet and started looking for something cute but cheap and just her style. It was then we realized the horror of what little girls costumes are these days. The costumes I saw were filled with short skirts and tutus, knee-high and even thigh-high socks, low cut V-necks and fake corsets. Something that I never want to see on any girl my sister’s age. This is not okay and it irks me that anyone would think it is.

I remember my costumes from when I was kid. Once I was a Scooby-Doo, Ord from “Dragon Tales,” a skunk, a cat, a leopard, all of your typical little kid stuff that was fun and easy for me to wear. These costumes let me be creative and fun, I still remember getting so excited to see me cool werewolf face after my grandmother put all the makeup on me or chasing kids smaller than me in my cat costume. But the costumes they advertised for little girls were NOTHING like I had worn when I was 6 years old.

I was appalled, to say the least. I couldn’t imagine my sweet little sister wearing something so overly sexualized, flashy and showy on the streets at night. It made me SICK. Some of the most appalling ones I saw were Dorothy from “Wizard of Oz,” something called a Wolf Spirit Festival costume, Alice from “Alice in Wonderland,” this sailor costume and Clawdeen from “Monster High.”

Luckily, we were able to find a long creepy-cute vampire dress for my sister complete with spider-themed bracelets and necklaces. She absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, in all the stores we went to trying to find a costume for myself, most of the racks were stocked with these terrible kinds of girls’ costumes. I shouldn’t have to find a costume like that on any Halloween shelf or even online. Most of all, I shouldn’t have to order from a website unknown to me where I can find a decent costume for my sister.

All I can hope for is that all those big companies mass-producing these costumes will get the hint that this is not okay and that next year, maybe finding an appropriate costume for my sister will be a little easier.

 by KACIE NICHOLSON