Should students be allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school?

[Chocoholic]

The school district I work in banned students and staff in the elementary schools from wearing their costumes to school quite a few years ago, not for PC reasons, but because they caused such a distraction. They are allowed to wear them in the middle schools and high school. The kids are excited enough on Halloween to begin with. The PTO puts on a school-wide Halloween party after school right before Halloween and the kids can wear their costumes then.

I'm all for Halloween being a day off and I have quite a few co-workers who agree :crazy:

[Janice]

I think kids have enough festivities for Halloween. It would be a distraction. There's no need to lose a day of school over it.

[Crimson and Clover]

My daughters elementary school has a costume parade. They do it in the morning and after its over they have to change into normal clothes. I think that is ok but all day wearing them would be a distraction.

[PZelda]

Sure, why not?

The Halloween when I was a HS junior (2001), I dressed up in all pink. No specific theme in mind, I was just decked out head-to-toe in pink. :lol: I even had a bright-ass neon pink wig. It was REALLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYY pink. :lol: Anyway, I wore the wig to school on Halloween... when I went to my geometry class, the girl who sat behind me bitched about my wig the entire period cuz it was so bright. :rofl: I didn't take it off, though... I'm pretty sure I had wet my hair before I put my hair into the wig, and I would have had HORRIBLE wig-hair.

Totally random, but I just remembered that. It was a fun Halloween, tho. :D

[Pitooey]

It's okay if they wear no masks, no blood, no french maids type of outfit.

[Chocoholic]

no french maids type of outfit.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I think those would actually be less revealing than some of the outfits I've seen teen girls wearing.

[Pitooey]

:lol: :lol: :lol: I think those would actually be less revealing than some of the outfits I've seen teen girls wearing.

:lol: You may be right.......... :lol:

[catlover79]

As long as the costumes are not offensive, then why not? We actually were allowed to wear Halloween costumes to work!! :lol:

[Schmoopie]

We always got to wear our Halloween costumes to school. In high school, they had Spirit Week which was usually during Halloween. I absolutely loved this because it meant that every day you could wear something "specific" like the school colors, Halloween costume, hats; whatever. I don't see what giving the students the day off from school would accomplish though. I don't see anything wrong with having a little party or something. But I would think that kids would want to wear their costumes to show them off to their teachers and friends. After all, most of them aren't going to be trick or treating together (the kids I mean!), and if you have a really great costume, what's the fun in wearing it only once?

[Doodyville10019]

When I was in high school I knew a couple of teachers (seriously!) that wore costumes for Halloween all day. One was usually a witch, while the other was a vampire. We had fun the entire day.

[EmoJoe]

yes. we can dress up for my school and it really doesn't take away from the work at all. i don't see the problem with it, it's fun, there's nothing wrong with a day of fun.

[Chocoholic]

The older grades I'm sure can handle it, but the elementary school kids are excited enough as it is. Trust me, I know :D I dread working on Halloween, April Fool's Day, and any day before a vacation. :crazy:

[ZeldaGilroy]

I get very annoyed with Halloween because as a teacher I feel like nothing I do is good enough. Our school has a parade where the kids wear costumes, followed by a short classroom party. I always have kids who do not celebrate Halloween and their parents get mad about the party, even though their child is excused from it. Then I have parents who complain that the party isn't fun enough. After the party (or before depending on the time of day the party occurs...last year was afternoon, this year will be morning)I try to do holiday themed academic activities. Well, since some kids don't celebrate I end up doing pumpkin math, pumpkin stories, etc. Other parents complain because I am not letting their kids do Halloween things just because other kids can't participate. But if I did Halloween things I'd have other parents complaining. It is all one big hassle!

This year Halloween is on a Saturday and we have conferences the Thursday and Friday before so our party will be Wednesday. I am all for not doing anything in celebration of it at school, but unfortunately that is not my choice. So I will tough it out, spend an hour cleaning frosting, spilled juice, and candy wrappers up from my classroom floor and desks after school, and be happy that it is all over until next year!

[Chocoholic]

^That's why we do the party after school hours. The kids can have fun and it doesn't take away from instruction time. If you don't want your child to attend, they don't have to.

[MickeyMac]

I dont see anything wrong with kids wearing their costumes to school. As long as they are not offensive or that it dosent distracts them or the other students.

[ZeldaGilroy]

It's one day. I don't see anything wrong with it. It's fun. School doesn't want to have any fun anymore. It's all formal and sh*t now.
That's thanks to government mandates that place unrealistic expectations on schools, not because schools don't want to have fun, but that is a completely different topic so I will shut up about it.

[ZeldaGilroy]

^That's why we do the party after school hours. The kids can have fun and it doesn't take away from instruction time. If you don't want your child to attend, they don't have to.
I used to work at a school that did the same thing, but unfortunately it didn't work well for that particular school because some gang-banger parents from rival gangs showed up and started a fight with one another and they had to call the police who decided we could no longer have after-hours activities. :(

I feel like when you are in the inner-city with such a variety of families making up the school population, it's really a no-win situation when it comes to these type of activities. I wish that wasn't the case. I don't mean to sound so negative, I like having fun as much as everyone else.

[Chocoholic]

I used to work at a school that did the same thing, but unfortunately it didn't work well for that particular school because some gang-banger parents from rival gangs showed up and started a fight with one another and they had to call the police who decided we could no longer have after-hours activities. :(


:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: That's so awful! How are those people even allowed to have kids?

I also agree with you about the unrealistic expectations in education. Not every child is college material. We need to go back to the three basic R's (readin', 'riting, and 'rithmitic) and bring back vocational training to high school. We also need to focus on the environmental problems that affect students' learning, like those gang-banger parents.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

My daughters elementary school has a costume parade. They do it in the morning and after its over they have to change into normal clothes. I think that is ok but all day wearing them would be a distraction.
We did that at the end of the day when I was in kindergarten, but they eventually banned costumes altogether. I don't see it as a problem if they do something like that at the end of the day so it doesn't have to occur all day and the kids can still have their fun.

[catlover79]

I used to work at a school that did the same thing, but unfortunately it didn't work well for that particular school because some gang-banger parents from rival gangs showed up and started a fight with one another and they had to call the police who decided we could no longer have after-hours activities. :(

I feel like when you are in the inner-city with such a variety of families making up the school population, it's really a no-win situation when it comes to these type of activities. I wish that wasn't the case. I don't mean to sound so negative, I like having fun as much as everyone else.
How sick. :eek: ohno: :mad:

[PlayOn]

As long as it isn't offensive, then why not? Halloween is supposed to be a time of fun. I think adults need it more than kids because the following months are stressful (ie: Thanksgiving and Christmas)
As far as kids acting hyper: If they don't stop, they need to change out of their costume as punishment. Make each kid bring an extra change of clothes. Tell them weeks/days prior and the day before. Send a note home.
The older ones, you can just send home or whatever.

[Scoobiedoo30]

Yes they should wear Costumes to School