If you love spooky time and Halloween, you’d probably love Midsummer Scream. The annual convention took place in Long Beach this past weekend, but my family and I are already planning for 2023. Some of the concerns around taking kids to a horror-themed convention is it may be too scary, attendees in costumes might scare them, or that there just won’t be any kid friendly activities. After seeing how the event operated 2022s’s event, it was a true delight. Not only do they account for every type of attendee, they make families feel very welcome.
If your kids are not into horror yet but you want to get them started, check out this 5 easy steps to get your kids into horror guide.
Parent Necessities are Covered!
Whether you bring a stroller, wagon, or have your kids on a monkey leash, there are plenty of accommodations for you at the Long Beach Convention Center. There are ramps and special entrances as well as plenty of elevators. There are changing tables in the women’s bathrooms. I believe they still need to install some in the men’s bathrooms to make it easier for single or solo dads. There were plenty of places to sit down and relax while still entertaining the kids.
Paranormal Pixie’s Pumpkin Patch
Paranormal Pixie put on one of our favorite parts of the convention. There was an area where parents and children could sit and participate in shows. One of the highlights was a little furry friend that featured in the magic show by Christopher T Magician. The other stage performer, Buster Balloon, was a delight as well as he tried to predict things with the kids. There was also seating here with little tables and chairs and some crafting areas. This is probably where we spent most of our time at the convention!
The décor and the authors who did readings were all sponsored by Dark Delicacies, which is a really cool shop located in Burbank if you ever have the chance to stop by.
Seating at the Fashion Show
One of the features that my kids got an absolute kick out of was the fashion show put on by Poltergeists and Paramours. The show was fun, had music and something important for me, had all body types and sizes. Ama Lea had an amazing set of bikinis and swimwear for all kinds of beach bodies. My daughters really loved watching the models come on stage and dance their choreography, as well as the ones who just came out and posed.
The Hall of Shadows
Hall of Shadows was a really fun walkthrough for the kids. There were decorated facades with Halloween décor and people handing out candy to kids and adults. A lot of the offerings in this section of the convention was wheelchair friendly which made it especially nice for those with strollers or children with disabilities.
The Museum of Halloween
The Museum of Halloween was really nice to walk through. It held a lot of collectibles and vintage Halloween decorations that I remember growing up with. Lucky for me my Nana held onto a lot of her Halloween things from the 50s-70s. It was a great place to go and relive some memories and learn things about how it was celebrated in America during the 20th century.
The Vendors and Displays
The vendors all had really cool stuff. There were a few comic books for kids, one from my favorite cartoonist Aiden Casserly. Booths with original plushies, not too scary dolls and some really cool make your own type crafts. They gave me a lot of ideas for things we can do for homeschool, like the Hot Wire Foam Factory.
The displays they had were amazing as well. It is one of the most perfect ways to help kids to understand that while movies may be scary, they’re also not real. Seeing all of the makeup fx and the animatronics used in particular shows really interested my daughter. Though she does love more spooky things anyway.
The Attendees
Most importantly the reason why we loved Midsummer Scream was because of the other attendees. I want to say that most of the attendees seemed like families with kids, all dressed up in their Halloween best. It was nice to go somewhere where everyone had the same taste. And it was fun for my kids to see that I’m not such a weirdo dressing up in Halloween clothes as early as summer. It was also great to strike up conversations about horror with other parents without the fear of judgement. Because believe me, if you try to talk about horror movies with park moms, they just don’t vibe the same way.
Special Shout Out to Magic Wheelchair
I want to take a minute to shout out one of the booths we came across called Magic Wheelchair. Magic Wheelchair is a program that builds epic costumes around chairs at no cost to the family. They find a local builder to where the client is and they commission them to build a very intricate and detailed functional costume. You can check out their website here.
