It’s not easy being a creepy family. Now, we don’t look like the Addams Family, we don’t drive a hearse around and we don’t live in anything that looks like an old victorian home with blacked out windows and bats flying out of the chimney. My little family falls in the “oh my, they’re a little strange” category.

We aren’t alone in this though. I’ve met several families who enjoy the odd, the creepy and the dark. It’s nice to have some people who can help you find cool clothes and accessories for your young kids, people who can go with you to various haunted houses during halloween season and it’s also great to have family friends with similar interests. (ie. people who don’t ask why you consistently dress in black clothes)

We enjoy a watching a family friendly thriller with the kids. Always taking the time to explain that it’s all pretend and make believe. Halloween themed movies aren’t just reserved for the month of October, we like to watch them year round. My son asks to listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack just as much in June as he does when the leaves start changing colors.
Halloween isn’t just a holiday for us, it’s a lifestyle.

And I see this lifestyle becoming more and more popular.
I see the moms with toddler daughters at conventions in matching black dresses with bat bows in their pig tails. I know several home haunters who enjoy working alongside their kids setting up, running and tearing down their elaborate events. I see Nightmare Before Christmas stick figures on the backs of cars and it makes me smile.

On the flip side, families like us do catch a lot of flack from other people. I’ve been asked if I think that exposing my kids to scary stuff is damaging to their psyches. If I had a nickel for every time someone said, “I hope you’re saving up for all the therapy that they’ll need” followed by a nervous giggle, I’d be a rich woman. Trust me, the therapy won’t stem from anything they’ve seen at a theme park haunt. It will be because I’m an overzealous snack mom who thinks every preschool snack time should be an event complete with themed finger foods.

Or another favorite that I hear on a weekly basis, “They must have a lot of nightmares!” No, they don’t really. And when they do it’s not of scary clowns underneath their beds. My son has a reoccurring nightmare of a potato chasing him. Yes, a potato. If anyone has any thoughts on that one, let us know.

With the advent of social media taking over our lives, we have begun to see that there are a lot of people out there just like us! Our little creepy culture is starting to come in from the fringes of society and it’s easier to find little dresses with Frankenstein prints. It’s easier to find neat artwork to hang in my son’s room of classic Universal monster caricatures.

So here’s a head nod to those of us who look a little bit different from the “normal” family unit. To my friend who painted her child’s nursery in orange and black stripes. To the haunt families that buy their kids knee pads and make little slider gloves. To those of us who live for the haunting season.
You keep being you. And please, you keep being creepy.