Fear For Your Wallet
Boston, MA – When Maureen Reen was growing up, her family celebrated Halloween by putting a pumpkin on the front stoop of their Canton home. “That was as festive as it got,” she said.
But by mid-October, the Brighton mom had already made three trips – and counting – to Target in Watertown. She had tombstones and spider webs to buy, Halloween cupcakes to decorate, ghost goodie bags to assemble, Halloween candles to light, a Halloween gingerbread house to make.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Reen, 34. “I’m not a creative person, but I want to make happy memories for my children.”
Yesterday’s happy memory: scoring an enormous amount of free candy and wolfing it down before breakfast behind Mom’s back. Today’s happy memory: living in a world that’s been turned into a Halloween theme park.