What Does “Kid-Powered Tradition” Really Mean?

If you’ve seen Bones Is Back®, you may have noticed one phrase that comes up again and again: Kid-Powered. But what does that actually mean?

It means that children don’t just take part in the Bones tradition—they help create it.

They decide where Bones goes, how he is posed, what he wears, what adventure he goes on, and what silly prank might happen next. Instead of simply watching the magic happen, children are encouraged to use their own imagination and creativity to bring Bones to life.

That is the idea behind: Play. Pose. Prank. Create the Magic.

The Kids Create the Tradition

Bones was designed around a very simple belief: some of the best imagination, creativity, and play happen when children are given the freedom to lead. There is no single way Bones has to be posed. There is no script children—or parents—have to follow. There is no rule telling them what Bones needs to do next. One child might turn Bones into a pirate. Another might hide him in the kitchen. Another might dress him up, put him in a toy car, or create an entire Halloween adventure around him. That is what makes the tradition different.

The children are not just participating in the tradition. They are creating their own version of it.

The book says this directly. Children don’t just look at Bones or leave him sitting on a shelf—they bring him to life through playing, posing, dressing, moving, and creating playful pranks of their own. Bones is meant to be touched, picked up, and included in the fun. There are no “hands-off” rules, no need for him to report on anyone, and no nighly moves required by parents to keep the magic going. And because every child imagines differently, every Bones family tradition becomes unique to each family.

It does not have to follow a routine someone else created or repeat the same kind of Halloween experience from one family to the next. Bones becomes part of your child’s own world, with their own stories, ideas, adventures, and sense of humor.

The tradition is shaped by your child and your family—not dictated to you.

Imagination Is Where the Magic Happens

The real magic of Bones is not that he moves by himself. It is that children can imagine that he does. A simple pose can become a story. A costume can become an adventure. A hiding place can become a game. A silly prank can become a family memory. Children are naturally good at this.

Bones was created to fit into that same kind of play. He gives children a character, but he does not tell them exactly what that character has to do every day. He is not meant to be just another Halloween figure with a fixed routine, a single gimmick, or a story that has already been completely decided for them. The child decides what happens next.

That is why I believe the best kind of Halloween magic does not always need to be created for children. Sometimes the real magic happens when it is created by them.

Play. Pose. Prank.

Those three words are at the center of the Kid-Powered idea. Bones is meant to be touched, picked up, carried around, posed, dressed, and included in whatever world a child creates for him. The story even makes a point of saying that Bones loves to be held and that children can pick him up and carry him around.

Bones is not meant to arrive with every adventure already written for him. The real fun happens when children start inventing ideas of their own. One day he might be a pirate. The next day he might be driving a toy car. The day after that he might be hanging upside down, sitting at the breakfast table, or getting into some harmless Halloween mischief that only your child could have imagined. He becomes your child’s character.

The Child Becomes the Storyteller

That may be one of the most important parts of what “Kid-Powered” means. Instead of children only asking: “What did Bones do?” They can also ask: “What should Bones do next?” That small difference changes everything. With age, the child becomes the storyteller.

Where should Bones go? What should he wear? Who should he play with? What silly thing should he do? What happens next? There is no wrong answer and no prescribed storyline they have to recreate. Each choice becomes part of the child’s own story, and over time those stories become part of the family’s Halloween tradition.

Bones Was Kid-Powered From the Beginning

There is also a personal reason why the idea of being Kid-Powered is so important to Bones.

Bones began with my daughters, Margaux and Mirielle. One October, their love of Halloween and holiday magic turned a simple toy skeleton into a friend they named Bones. That small moment of play eventually became the inspiration for the book, the toy, and the entire Bones Is Back® tradition. In other words, Bones was Kid-Powered before that phrase ever existed. The imagination came first. The product came later. And that is exactly the spirit I wanted to keep.

Because some of the most memorable traditions are not simply created by adults, packaged up, and handed to children with instructions about how the magic is supposed to work. They are created together—with the children leading the way. That is what Kid-Powered really means. The kids lead. Their imagination takes over. And that is where the real magic happens.

Play. Pose. Prank. Create the Magic.

Marc FetscherinFather, Author, Inventor