Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba C2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2025 Dressing as Trump for Halloween not so funny in 2025 DRESSING up as Donald Trump used to be hilarious for Halloween, say Canadian businesses that rent or sell costumes, but they say hardly anyone is finding the joke funny in 2025. “Certainly I haven’t set up somebody dressing up like Trump in a very long time, and I think a lot of it very much has to do with the rhetoric of the 51st state,” says Christy Greenwood, owner of Theatre Garage in Edmonton. In October 2016 when Trump was still the Republican nominee for run- ning against Democrat Hillary Clinton for president in the United States, Greenwood says lots of people were looking for blond Trump wigs. Her shop even managed to figure out what makeup to use to replicate Trump’s unusual orange skin tone — she says the colour is called auguste and it’s a standard colour used by clowns. But the costume’s popularity showed signs of sliding the following year after Trump won the November 2016 election and was sworn into office the following January. Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid took heat for a picture of him donning a Trumpian blond wig, blue suit and a red tie for a Halloween party that year. Snarky comments on social media were quick to follow. McDavid responded to reporters’ questions about it with, “It’s a Hallow- een costume, that’s all it was.” Feelings in Canada about the U.S. president have continued to sour in Trump’s second term, particularly af- ter he began suggesting Canada should become a state, even through economic coercion. In Hamilton, where the Trump administration’s tariffs have been hurting the city’s signature steel indus- try, demand for the costume has fallen significantly. Catriona Cameron, assistant man- ager at Theatrix, a Hamilton costume rental shop, says inquiries for Trump wigs were once common, but she says there hasn’t been a single person ask- ing for one this year. At the same time, Cameron says there’s been an uptick in customers wanting to go as RCMP officers in their Red Serge uniforms. “If we had an astronaut costume with an American flag, they’ve asked to have it removed,” Cameron said, not- ing one person who rented a jumpsuit from the Tom Cruise film Top Gun wanted the Stars and Stripes patch on it replaced with a Maple Leaf. Costume shoppers at Theatre Ga- rage in Edmonton on Friday said they weren’t planning to dress as Trump. “It’s a little played out right now. I think we’ve seen enough of him already,” said Niamh Dower, who said she’s not a fan of political costumes to begin with. Stephanie Labute said Trump is “kind of a joke right now to most of us in Canada” which makes it funny, so she understands why someone might want to go as him. She even agreed to try on a Trump wig in the store, and she did her best to imitate his hand gestures. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. I know if Trump saw that, he’d think people are mocking him, but he always thinks people are mocking him, so what else is new?” she said. Dan Sims said it’s a bit of a sensitive topic. “It’s probably not something I would do, but you know what? He’s orange, bad hair — easy costume to do,” Sims said. Greenwood says it’s not just a Trump thing — demand for all U.S. celebrity costumes is down this year. Dressing as members of classic rock band Kiss has always been a popular choice, but not in 2025. Ditto for Katy Perry, even though she’s now romantically linked with former prime minister Justin Trudeau. There’s duds if someone wants to go as Captain Canada, a beaver costume, as well as red capes for anyone who wants The Handmaid’s Tale as a theme, but those sorts of costumes are being rented for protests, not Hallow- een, Greenwood says. “People are doing classics. They’re doing clowns, vampires, that kind of stuff,” Greenwood says. “I think this Halloween is a vacation from all the rhetoric and stuff.” She says customers this year are also asking where her products, like makeup, are made. “Canadians are really, truly going out of their way to support Canadian industry as much as possible.” — The Canadian Press ROB DRINKWATER AMBER BRACKEN / THE CANADIAN PRESS Stephanie LaBute didn’t buy a Donald Trump wig at Theatre Garage in Edmonton. Don’t make sweets forbidden fruit kids will want even more Banning sugary candy can backfire W E all want our children and grandchildren to grow up with healthy and happy relation- ships to the foods they eat. And we also all know that as small children grow up, they move from an environment in which parents have a good deal of say over what they eat — what’s in the house and the lunchbox — to a more active social life where children will see that other households live by different rules, and where, more and more, food choices will actu- ally be choices. As a pediatrician and as a parent who raised three children, I under- stand it can be tempting to try to keep certain foods completely off the table. After all, we want our children to have the healthiest possible diet, especially in a world that can feel determined to offer them — or market them — foods with empty calories, large amounts of sugar or additives we don’t particular- ly love. But ruling out foods can easily back- fire and you can find yourself sending a very different message from the one you intended. “Restricting foods can put these foods on a pedestal, make them the so-called forbidden fruit,” said Nimali Fernando, pediatrician and founder of the Doctor Yum Project, a non-prof- it that helps children and families achieve better nutrition. It can make that food too alluring, too much the stuff of fantasy and even obsession. In fact, the research shows that food restrictions and prohibitions of this kind are actually associated with higher BMI in children, and even with disordered eating. Here’s what else to know about for- bidden foods. Take advantage of control during the early years You move through different phases with your children. In the infant and toddler years, “parents are guardians of choices when we have the most control over what our children eat,” Fernando said. “We are developing a liking for more nutritionally dense foods — that’s when we’re putting the guardrails up.” You’ll encourage your child to sam- ple a wide variety of healthy foods, and small children often need to try foods many times before they like them. You should teach them to recognize fruits and vegetables and offer them every day, and explain that these foods help make their bodies work well. Make sure you talk about the differ- ence between foods you eat all the time and foods that are for special circum- stances, such as birthday cake. Later, when children are going out into the world — which can mean anything from visiting a friend to a trip to the amusement park — it’s more important to start talking it through with your child, and to help your child integrate some of those foods into certain meals and certain occasions, Fernando said. You can acknowledge celebratory and special-occasion foods, but don’t create a hierarchy in which certain foods are rewards while others are obligations: “If you eat your broccoli, you’ll get a cupcake!” That sets up a behaviour pattern that can lead to trou- ble later on, in which children use particular — and usually not particu- larly healthy — foods to make them- selves feel better (sound familiar?). But we can acknowledge the joys of special-occasion foods and foods that everyone consumes in more limited quantities, and emphasize the pleasure of eating them together. Making — and eating — a holiday treat together can connect children to family members and family heritage. You don’t want them to think of eating as something solitary, or something done in front of a screen; you want connection, com- munity and happy memories around the table. Talk about choices other families make As children go out into the world, they are likely to come back with ques- tions and observations: in this family, all the Halloween candy gets eaten right away, or in that family, no one eats any meat. Be careful to frame the discussion in a way that doesn’t denigrate other people’s food choices, or create a hierarchy that will leave children believing that other families are doing something wrong. This shouldn’t be about judgment or disapproval, but about re-emphasizing the reasons be- hind your own house rules, and talking about how much good healthy foods do for your body. Let kids see you making good choices Model good choices that you turn to the kinds of foods that you hope your child will choose, that the foods on the pantry shelves and the family dinner table reinforce the messages you want your child to hear. This is about nutrition and the pleasures of fruits and vegetables, of course, but also about the pleasures of eating together and appreciating what you eat and making memories that connect food with family. It’s also an argument for involving children in the buying and preparation of food, and for helping them enjoy the same foods that the grown-ups are eating, and letting them see that grown-ups also eat special foods on special occasions. The goal Never forget that the whole point of this is to help kids grow up into young adults who can — and will — make good choices and enjoy a healthy re- lationship with food. That means con- versations — not absolute rules — and looking for teachable moments, and yes, probably also a certain amount of experimenting. And then more conver- sations. The guardrails will come down, the training wheels will come off. With food, as with many other aspects of family life, parents need to be sure that small children are safe and protected, while also equipping them to take steps out into the great wide world, where they will need to make their own decisions. The great and rich menu of life will spread out before them — and you will have helped them understand how to choose. — The Washington Post PERRI KLASS JJ JORDAN / PEXELS When it comes to candy, be sure to talk to your children about the difference between everyday foods and special-occasion treats. ARTS ● LIFE I LIFESTYLES ;