Silly Scary Halloween Pranks… Funny But Wrong?

How do you draw the line when it comes to scaring your kids?  And just how damaging is it if you cross that line?

I grew up next door to a crazy Aunt who was constantly pulling pranks and lurking in her lilac bushes to jump out and scare me as I walked across the path from my house to hers.  Both she and my Mom enjoyed scary movies so I started watching those pretty early.  

The first book I ever checked out from the public library was Stephen King’s THE STAND.  I have to think I developed my love for the creepy from the early exposure from Mom and Aunt V.

As much as I  loved the scary stories I also became a total scaredy cat!  When I lived alone in my tiny apartment I had to fall asleep before midnight or I’d be up all night afraid.  By the time I was married with a husband working third shift I was sleeping with a butcher’s knife and a gun on my night stand.  The knife was dull and the gun was not loaded but they were to me as that dust cloud blanket was to PigPen… comforting.

Mom’s favorite holiday was Halloween.  I  never liked it because I didn’t get to go trick or treating much because Mom was a worrier.  AND she enjoyed dressing up so much to pass out candy that THAT became our tradition.  Now that she is gone I have taken her place.  I LOVE Halloween now.  Before I had kids I dressed up and scared the glow sticks off our trick or treaters.  MuAH Ha HA!

Recently, with the change in the weather and thinking of fall, I was trying to come up with article ideas about Halloween and I remembered about the time a family friend showed up frantic at our door with a small box in her hand pleading for help.  I was just a little girl but I was worried about her.  When she opened the box there was a bloody finger in it.  I screamed and ran.  Mom and Friend (Aunt D were you there too?) thought it was so funny.  How cruel. 

So I decided to try it out on my 8 year old the other day.  Hee hee.  Well if I was going to write an EHOW how-to article about it I had to make sure it worked, didn’t I?  Poor Sari.  She positively flipped her lid and ran her little body faster across the house than I have ever seen her move.  I wasn’t AS successful with my 12 year old Son… he didn’t quite buy into the prank but he wouldn’t come close to me either. 

It became a gag around our house for a couple of days and everyone seems to have recovered.  If you would like to know how to orchestrate the bloody finger in a box prank click  here to go to my instructions at EHow. 

With Halloween just around the corner I would LOVE to hear some of your best spooky family pranks.  I need some fresh ideas!