A kinder, gentler Halloween

Nathan Fridley has his Halloween costume perfectly planned, weeks in advance. No store-bought costume picked up at the last minute would do for him.

The first-grader at Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau will dress as the fictional character Harry Potter on Oct. 31.

"I am going to use my dad's graduation stuff for the robe, not that plastic kind," he said. He's even borrowing his sister's wizard cap.

"My mom is going to paint lightning bolts on my face," he said.

Many Americans -- both children and adults -- are planning subdued Halloween costumes because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, avoiding the usual Halloween gore.

Costume makers and sellers are taking note of the trend and report a heightened demand for patriotic and "hero" costumes.

Some parents say this year's costumes are no different than any other, though. "We don't do the scary, blood and guts" costumes, said Mike Shupert of Cape Girardeau. His three youngest children had already selected their Halloween costumes before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Looking for heroes

One son is going to be a Ninja, another will wear a black mask and his daughter, the youngest, is going to be a princess. "Typically we go more with action heroes."

In Cape Girardeau, costume sellers are noting a changing attitude.

"The only change I've noticed is that children are dressing as something nice, not mean or evil," said Dianne McGowan, who works at Younghouse Distributing.

Costume orders are still coming in, she said. People are being a little more sensitive and have been coming to order just as many patriotic items as Halloween goodies.

But Nicolas Jennings of Cape Girardeau still plans to dress as Jason from the "Friday the 13th" movies, with a white face mask and a knife. "But it's not a real knife or anything," said the first-grader. "I'm just going to pretend to be Jason."

The day after the attacks, officials at Party City asked managers of their 470 stores nationwide to remove fake body parts -- especially popular at Halloween time -- from shelves and sell them only to those who ask.

"It didn't make sense to stick those things in customers' faces," says Andy Bailen, the New Jersey-based company's executive vice president of merchandising and marketing.

But teen-agers are still buying up fake body parts and blood at Johnnie Brock's Dungeon at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park. Best-selling costumes are vampires, werewolves, ninjas and Batman and Robin characters, said Dan Stuvinski, manager.

Many stores replaced their gory items with flag-related stock from last Fourth of July and hot-selling "good guy" costumes, among them police officers, firefighters and doctors.

The makers of Rit Dye say sales of red and blue dyes are up 40 percent, prompting them to add design suggestions on their packets for Uncle Sam and Betsy Ross costumes.

Randy Gardell, a Los Angeles-based costume designer, drew the designs on short notice. He says he was partly inspired by conversations about Halloween with his niece and nephew, ages 8 and 7.

"You could feel that they understood there was something very serious happening -- but also being kids, wanting something that they knew and loved to continue," he says.

Tom Lee, an 11-year-old from Huntington, N.Y., understands. He was a "ghoul" last year, but is deciding this year between being a firefighter, police officer or Uncle Sam.

The ideas are partly a nod to the New York firefighters and police officers who live in his Long Island town, where several residents lost loved ones and co-workers in the attacks.

But he says there's another reason for his costume choice.

"I didn't want to be something scary, with a hand off or something, because I thought that would be," he says, pausing, "not so good." His 13-year-old brother, John, usually cruises neighborhoods with friends for hours on Halloween. But he plans to make it an early night this year.

"I really don't feel like celebrating," he says.

Some parents say the attacks -- and an increased cautiousness nationwide -- have helped convince them to forgo traditional trick-or-treating. Chris Horner plans to take his five children to an elementary school in their St. Louis suburb for a "tailgate party," where parents line up with car trunks full of candy to hand out.

Similar parties will be held at Hobbs Chapel on Halloween and on Oct. 28 at First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau.

But still other Americans are refusing to change their plans. Thomas Roberts, chairman of the child and family development department at San Diego State University, applauds efforts to maintain Halloween traditions. He's given his blessing to his 17-year-old son Spencer and friends to create their annual haunted house in the family's garage -- scary stuff included.

"It's like a magic show," the elder Roberts says. "You know that it's not real."

Either way, many agree there's one costume that won't be too popular: any likenesses of suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.