Today my 15-year-old daughter and I trolled the rows of costumes at two different stores. As I looked nostalgically over at the Tinkerbell and bunny costumes, the cute bumble bee and puppy accessories, Laura was becoming increasingly annoyed. And no wonder. I quickly joined her as I saw that the gap between bunny ears and choices for teens is, well, nothing. She can have bunny ears, all right, but she must also have the Playboy Bunny getup to go with it. Even the princess outfits are low-cut, short-skirted varieties. She could be (and I’m not making this up): a money ho, naughty nurse, a wench, pirate booty. . . I can’t go on. There were limited choices for the teen girl who just wants to, in my daughter’s case, participate in her school’s community safe Halloween program. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to mention that her costume in front of all the trick-or-treaters should be modest. She doesn’t want to be pirate booty. So, after an exhaustive search, she settled on Bat Woman, a silly–but modest–outfit that will get her through the day. But can I ask: Why do manufacturers seem to believe that once a child grows out of kids’ sizes they have to be seductive? I talk about safe Halloween in articles this time of year every year. Now I will add, please be sure your preteen and teen girls are dressed safely. They’re likely not ready to handle the potential consequences of the costume choices available to them.