For Pets Only

As someone who doesn't have either kids or pets, I certainly find myself strangely curious about what stores have for both kids and pets at Halloween time.  Every year, I hear stories abut parents complaining about inappropriateness of  costume available for kids. And have several first cousins (all younger than I am!) who already have children.  I wonder what they have to (or will have to) go through. 

But for this entry I'm going to focus on the pet stuff.  I just happened one day to wander into the Halloween section at Target one day and noticed some of the Target brand costumes for dogs, with the warning "For pets only."  Most of them would be too small for a person anyway.   And because dogs come in all sizes,  the pet costumes are made in varying sizes, based on the dog's weight.  I went into Target again today to shoots some pictures for this blog story and, please pardon the focus of each as one year when I tried to take pictures inside a Target and was told not to be taking pictures inside the store.  No one caught me this time, however.   But I chose to stop as soon as I could just in case.

OK, back on track.  The first time I passed through the Halloween section at Target this year, I

noticed several pet costumes that caught my interest.  One was a bunch of grapes (in the photo at right).  First of all, I as a person, have wanted to try this classic and fun costume idea, but have been reluctant to do so.  Almost every guide I see on the Internet to making this says to use balloons for the grapes.  Makes sense, but there's always the problem of the balloons popping before the day is over.  And how are you supposed to drive with a bunch of balloons attached to you?  And how difficult will this make going to the bathroom?  The bunch of grapes costume seems to be one of the ideas the writer of  this article describes as "The Sacrifice." Anyone who's ever done this, how did you do it?   I have the same feelings for the bag of Jelly beans costume idea. This bunch of grapes for dogs, however,  is made of stuffed material.  This got me wondering why they don't make something like this for people too.  This would keep us from worrying about balloons popping.I would like to see something like this for people  and I don't mean something like this one. Even a bunch of grapes had to fall into the "sexy" costume category!

At left is another dog costume that caught my attention, a banana split. I have never seen one of these for people, as far as I know and it seems like a fun idea.  Again, I had to shoot the pictures as quickly as I could before someone in the store caught me so this was the best  I could get.  any ideas how you could make a banana split costume for people? Has anyone ever come up whit this idea and if so, how did you do it?  I only wonder, though, if there were such a costume for humans,  would be made with stuffed material like the grapes and would be make it too difficult or uncomfortable while driving or sitting?  

And a hot dog for dogs--how funny does that sound?  I'd noticed this one in previous years, again, while  wandering the Halloween aisles.  At left 

is one sold by Target (once again, difficulty shooting pictures clearly in such a hurry!)  Below the hot dog in the photo you can see  submarine costume for dogs. Now that one really struck me as weird.  Would anyone who has pets ever think of that one?  And is there a  submarine costume for humans?  Seems like a pretty bizarre idea for either species!    I certainly wouldn't think of that 

for a person, anyone else?  The submarine costume can  also be seen in the photo below the hot dog photo, alongside another display of the grapes.  There were certainly a lo of those grape costumes at the store.

Unfortunately, I did not get shot of it, but there was yet another bizarre dog costume on display at Target called a Princess Unicorn Rider.   It comes with a princess doll and saddle that is placed on the dog's back and a unicorn hat.  Click here for an image. 

Every year at Dollar Tree (where I once worked) I see cheap dog costumes of classic characters--vampires, clowns and such--with a label that says "Fits cats too," with picture of two tabby cats (a large grey one and small orange one).  I have joked with my mother about getting these for her cats, though I know her cats would never keep these things on!  At Home Goods, where I currently work, we've gotten pet costumes as well, everything from banana to pumpkins to and even witches for dogs.  I saw all these at Target as well. I have even seen bumblebee dog costumes.  

Yes, for someone without pets, I am strangely curious over what is available for them at Halloween.   And I'm not sure that if had pets I would want to out them in costumes for Halloween