Who still likes and celebrates Halloween?

about a year ago i read that Halloween is #2 of the holidays that people spend the most money on. Christmas is #1. So the country is big on Halloween!

I tend not to answer the door , try and get out with the kids and stay out until they are too tried . Straight to bed for them , lights stay out so people don’t come .

My wife and I spend the entire year planning my Halloween display, and I hold a major party on the Saturday before Halloween. I have even started making my own background soundtracks for the yard display, and this is our eleventh year of THE Halloween event of the season.

My yard display is as close to a professional production as I can accomplish. Lights, fog, music, displays, people in costume, and the whole get up. I want the people that come to my house for their treat to have the time of their lives. This year our theme is Killer Clown Cafe.

I try to make up for the nonfun-loving folks that shut off their lights and pretend not to be home.

I love halloween, and have fond fond memories of trick-or-treating when I was young, but I hear from my be-child-ed friends that they don’t like the idea anymore.

Too many pedos lurking in the shadows, apparently. Kids are like little helpless creatures now, and can’t, like, do violence to attackers??

I donno. Candy and running around at night dressed like something I’m not? Sign me up!

@evelyns_pet_zebra That sounds so cool! I wish I could see it!

Pre-child I would go to parties dressed up, and celebrate by drinking or smoking. Now that we have a child, Halloween has a whole different meaning. It brings back memories of my childhood. We still haven’t decided to what my son will be…I was thinking Cookie Monster, but @eponymoushipster made me think that was silly :( I don’t know. Our son seems sort of freaked out about skeletons but thinks ghosts and monsters are interesting. Hopefully we get lots of candy! lol

It’s my favorite holiday. I just decorated the yard yesterday and I can’t wait to start watching scary movies. I am also hoping to travel to @evelyns_pet_zebra‘s house to see his display. :) Can’t wait!

@casheroo I am planning on posting pictures of it at my PhotoBucket site this year. I may even try to post a video with sound to include the music, the fog, and the whole eerie atmosphere.

@jonsblond I haven’t even started decorating, as it keeps raining here. But I should have the major pieces finished and installed by the 17th.

Probably the only good thing that came out of Halloween is the titular movie directed by John Carpenter. The sequels and remakes are just horrendous.

I LOVE Halloween. Always have. We decorate inside & out. I have a spooky CD playing outside where the kids come to the door. I have to be careful to buy candy that I don’t like, tho. I’d end up eating it all first.

@aphilotus the whole ‘too many pedos lurkingin the shadows’ BS is something that the media likes to use to sell newspapers. There is more danger of being hit by a car than some creepy child molester ravaging some kid dressed as a pirate. As long as kids are safe in groups, or with an adult, there is nothing to fear.

And don’t even get me started on the whole razor blade/needles in candy urban legend. That shit just pisses me off, and is not true.

@casheroo My youngest son was Mr. Potato Head when he was 4. I still the have costume and would send it to you but it would probably be too big for Cash. You’ll have so much fun! This is his first trick-or-treating experience, isn’t it? When we took my daughter for the first time she went to our neighbor’s door, knocked, and as soon as they opened the door she went right inside their house. Luckily we knew the family and everyone got a big kick out of it.

@jonsblond lol Well, we took him out last year (he was a polar bear) and we let him get some candy at a few houses. He’d grab a piece and chew on it, then put it in the bowl of the next neighbors house and grab a new piece! haha. It was funny but gross. We’ll see how well he does this year, since that whole being afraid of things is happening, and bugs are on the top of his list.

I live in Key West and Halloween is taken with no seriousness at all. There is a big parade in town to show off your costume and there are parties in every tavern.

Not me.

I don’t mean to be a grump but halloween is my least favorite holiday. I never liked it, not even when I was little, maybe because they used to dress me up in stupid costumes and go around the same houses every freaken year.

We have a lot of fun with Halloween. Many aspects of the holiday have become family tradition, like going to the orchard to pick out pumpkins, navigate the hay maze, snack on kettle corn and apple cider, and donate ten bucks to charity so we can build our own scarecrow. The “scarecrow” is mostly put together by the kids, which we then dutifully display on our front porch. And then I pray someone will steal it.

We invite family over to carve pumpkins, which is my husband’s domain. The kids draw their own designs, which my husband transfers to the pumpkins and carves. We’ve had pumpkins with unicorns on them, pumpkins with bugs on them, and pumpkins with dinosaurs on them.

For costumes, we sometimes do homemade, and sometimes store-bought. It depends on what the kids want to be. My insect-obsessed son has been an earwig, a swallowtail butterfly, and a devil mantis. Luckily my mother-in-law can sew, and has done a nice job making those costumes. She’s made a lot of other costumes for the kids over the years. None of the kids has yet wanted to be something scary or gross, so they still look really cute when they’re all dressed up!

The street we live on isn’t good for trick-or-treating, so we pile into the car (that was difficult the year my son was an earwig and had big pincers attached to his butt) and drive to a nearby subdivision. Sometimes we’ll meet up with other families, and the kids trick-or-treat until their little legs get tired, or the candy buckets get too heavy for them. It’s a bit exhausting, but it’s so much fun to see what a kick the kids get out of the whole thing. I don’t even inspect their candy because, like @evelyns_pet_zebra pointed out so well, dangerous Halloween candy is nothing but an urban legend. OK, I take that back. I inspect the Twix and Kit-Kats very carefully and usually they fail inspection so I have to keep them.

I never really likes it when I was a kid but I seem to enjoy it more now. I love dressing up for the day and handing out candy to adorable little kids. I saved my prom dress from high school and (if I can still squeeze into it) I’m planning on wearing it and being a princess. All I need is a tiara. Simple and super cheap.

Meeeeeee!!! I love Halloween, more than every other holiday in the year combined. What could be more fun than having license to put on a costume and act like a goofball?

@sandystrachan
DO YOU HAVE A SOUL?

I love Halloween. I’m dressing up as Lady GaGa this year :D

@le inferno That’s an awesome idea! Love it!

I could care less about Hallowe’en, really, but I’m a big fan of Samhain on which Hallowe’en is based.

In my excitement, I forgot to mention that part. I’m Wiccan and I am also a big fan of Samhain. The added fact that it’s a religious holiday is awesome to me.

I have mixed feelings. My parents used to help us make really elaborate costumes, and my mom and I would make prizes for kids in our neighborhood, but as the years have progressed, each holiday has lost it’s charm or importance. That’s an entirely different story though.

I love the concept of Halloween. It’s always been that little haven for the darker side of humans, and the only recognized holiday that caters to the less cheery/perky/sparkly amongst us. It certainly helps that it falls during the cool, dark, and windy part of the year. Even in Sunny&Mild (which is definitely changing) Southern California, the weather never failed to become extra chilly and spooky for Halloween, even if bordered by dry, windless, 80 degree days.

This year I am more excited than I have been for the last five years because the weather is great, one of my professors absolutely loves the day and is gearing our assignments toward that end, and my house mate suggested we make extra special prizes! Renewing the childhood spirirt ftw.

I’ve also loved that I get to celebrate more, with Dia de los Muertos celebrations occuring the two days after Halloween. Although, my family has its own special spin on those as we aren’t Catholic. Mostly it’s awesome to rake in a bounty of Halloween treats AND get Pan de Muertos.

@laureth I’m not a big metal/punk fan, but Danzig is a pretty good singer

I love Halloween. I am a part-time actor and Halloween is the opportunity to play a role without having to audition first. I must admit, though, I used to decorate much more elaborately but now my kids always critique it without being willing to contribute ideas or labor.

This year I am feeling a bit down so I will probably simply put out a couple of jack o’lanterns and wear my black shirt that say “Costume” on the front in orange, dripping letters.

I love the idea of Halloween, that you can let loose your inhibitions and be that character that you dream of being. I’ve always wanted to go to a fantastic Halloween ball where everyone is in elaborate costumes with masks that are pieces of art in their own right – sadly, the only actual parties that I’ve been to involve sophomoric costumes and mass quantities of beer. I guess the balls are only in the movies.

Key West for Fantasy Festival is amazing, although lately it seems to have become more of a frat boy/mardis gras/ drunken debauchery event.

I fight the temptation to splurge on decor every year. It seems sort of inappropriate since I don’t have kids. And then there’s cost, where to store it all for the rest of the year, and the fact that I usually work on Halloween.

Me.

Sure, I don’t celebrate it in the same way I did when I was a little kid, but I still like it and I really liked it back then too. Now it’s mostly characterized by Halloween parties. :)

I love Halloween! It just seems to be getting dangerous. The last time I took my kids out, we went to a well known neighborhood and witnessed people chasing each other with guns. We spoke to the police and they said that area was notorious for that kind of thing every year! After that my kids started going to parties of their own and I just got out of it.

I love halloween! I’ll dress up.. i’ll even dress my dogs up! i used to take my nephew trick or treating when they still lived out here. A lot of clubs in and around the San Diego area (all the way down to Rosarito and Ensenada will have awesome halooween parties. Lots of dancing, drinking and skimpy outfits… what’s not to love?
I used to love going to the Haunted Hotel and Haunted Trail and such.. but the Mrs can’t take it so we’re going to skip it this year. :(

Oh man do I love Halloween. Tis the season! I celebrate it…I don’t go trick or treating anymore because I would feel silly but Halloween parties are just as good. This year I am still deciding between Abe Lincoln, african american young Michael Jackson—think “Thriller” days, a pilgrim, jesus, the pope, and a banana. The banana costume is too easy though so thats out. Last year I was a Blood and that was successful and easy. I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

@Beta_Orionis I went through several years of being ambivalent about holidays like Halloween and Christmas. I think there’s a time when you’re not a kid anymore and can have a harder time really getting into the spirit of such holidays. Then, my kids came alone. Getting to relive the magical aspects of holidays through your children makes them fun all over again. I guess we’ll probably have another lull when our kids are older but not parents themselves yet. But for now, I plan to enjoy every sugar-laden moment.

@MissAusten That makes sense. My disinterest in the holidays really had more to do with declining familial relations and financial well-being though. The spirit was stolen, rather than misplaced in stages.

@Beta_Orionis Yes, I can see that. My parents separated when I was in college, leading to quite a few stilted and fake-feeling holidays. My husband’s family is different from my own in so many ways, that even before we had children I started to actually look forward to holidays.

@MissAusten Very similar situations! I have had the same experience with my own husband’s family, am currently in college, and my parents have been on the verge of divorce for a few years. Now I feel a little less alone. :)

@MissAusten (that was difficult the year my son was an earwig and had big pincers attached to his butt) thanks for the chuckle, and the interesting mental image. Going dressed as a bug is so cool, I’d love to see a picture of an earwig costume, even though I hate those darn things.

@evelyns_pet_zebra I wish I had a picture of that costume on our computer, but for some reason I don’t. That was one of my favorites, even though no one could tell what he was supposed to be. :)

Haven’t read above. I like Halloween much more as an adult. When I was very little I liked the candy, but as an older child I worried my costumes weren’t as good as my friends. As an adult I always gave out candy if I was home, except now where I live outside of Memphis I am on a dark road, no sidewalk, so it is kind of dangerous for children to come to my house. If I am invited I go to the parties, I go to any party I am invited to. I would do more for Halloween if my husband was more into it, but he is not fond of the holiday.

I do. I decorate my home, and I give out treats. My Grandson does volunteer work in the Haunted House that gives money to local charities.

I love Halloween. I dress up, build a fire, get the good candy to give out, and enjoy trick-or-treating when there’s a child around that I can use as an excuse. :^>

halloween is the only holiday i really like.
this year my friends are being lame and don’t want to trick-or-treat. i’m 17, and i guess that’s ‘too old’, but hey, at least one last hurrah before i turn 18, right?
besides, if my costume works out, i will be one awesome liza minnelli!

okay, hows this for a costume?

take a while tshirt, somehow attach an alien to the belly part, splash some fake blood all over it..voila! my pregnant belly has an alien jumping out of it!
my husbands idea, and he says he’ll figure out how to attach the alien lol

@casheroo I love it! I wish I would have thought of that when I was pregnant.

@casheroo You can buy rolls of velcro in the craft department of any store. The strips have adhesive on the back! We’ve used it for many a Halloween costume.

I love Halloween. We used to set up a small haunted house on the front porch, and scare the kids. We would end up with more candy than we started with, because the kids would all drop their candy and run, and they never came back for their bags.

I love halloween but what I love more is that after its over, I can still celebrate FALL and then THANKSGIVING! Love the fall. LOVE it.

Already had thanksgiving.
It was nothing short of amazing thanks to my elite cooking skills

Me! haha