Crunch Time

Filed Under (Halloween) by The Adam on 20-10-2009

Halloween has come so fast this month, if only I had a few more weeks to prepare. This year seems alot more busy in comparsion to previous years. The yard haunt gets more elaborate, more props, more ideas, more fine tuning. This year, I decided to get most of the basic yard elements done, and put out the “stuff I don’t want to get stolen” out on Halloween day. I decided to take my time this year, slowly put out decorations and be able to enjoy the month. This is my favorite season of the whole year, I am going to savor it by making cookies, drinking cider, carving pumpkins and decorating at a slower pace.

Now for some news around the globe on Halloween. Apparantly Jon and Kate are going to be “Popular” pumpkin carvings this year, HA! I highly doubt that! TV land is doing a “Roseannes Wicked Halloween Bash,” be sure to tune in. The huge nightmare of the “balloon boy” is going to become a last minute Halloween costume, I have no comment on that. In Los Angeles, apparantly there is some people dressing up as “Illegal Aliens” with emphasis on it being a “Alien” costume, it says “Illegal Alien” on the front of the costume. I guess it upset some real illegal immigrants. The body of a 75 year old man body was found on a balcony, it was there for several days because people thought it was a “Halloween Prop.” Poor guy! According to a poll from rismedia, four in ten adults have admitted they keep treats for themselves on purpose and not give it all to the trick-or-treators. 30% also said they keep a handful for themselves!

Haunting Season Has Begun..

Filed Under (Halloween) by The Adam on 01-09-2009

The beginning of the Halloween season is finally here! The first of September marks the start of the season for our spooky holiday. The day we have been planning for all year long, or should I say month? However, around here…no decorating outside until early October! Which brings me to a question, when is it okay to start decorating the outside of your home? I know many of us get resistence from our husbands/wives, friends/family about decorating “too early,” but what is considered “too early?” Many of us wait all year round, only for me to have to explain that the season starts this month for many haunts, stores etc! I usually decorate the inside early, I don’t think it’s ever “too early” to decorate inside. Halloween is so infused with who I am, that if I could have a Halloween themed room all year round I would!

The best part about this time of year is the weather is slowing starting to cool down. The air is starting to crisp, the leaves begin to fall and change their color. Homes and stores start to put out the fall decorations. Halloween is near!

This month I can truly watch “The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and feel the Halloween spirit. I also like to watch “Garfields Halloween Adventure,” “candy, candy, candy, candy, candy!” I have watched both these specials since I was a kid, they will forever remain loved and classics in my life. How do you celebrate the starting of the season?

Trends & Early Holiday’s

Filed Under (Halloween) by The Adam on 14-08-2009

As Halloween is approaching, I am always intrigued as to what the “new trend” will be this year. However, part of the Halloween shopping experience is me eavesdropping on other shopper’s conversations (or should I say ghost dropping?). I was in Michaels craft store not too long ago when a group of obvious mothers walked by the Halloween isle saying “Halloween stuff already? It’s not even back to school yet!” Though I can share their opinion when it comes to stores having Christmas stuff weeks before Halloween, I thought “Aren’t pens, paper and backpacks always on sale at some point?” Because of this, I was recently asking myself “do holidays come too early to stores?” Even if some people agree it’s “too early,” there is not exactly a “holiday police” or a “holiday’s too early committee.”

I have recently come to accept that anywhere between one and three weeks before Halloween, stores start to push the early Christmas shopping. I have decided to ignore the early Christmas like I ignore people who leave their cart in the middle of the isle. I have made a personal choice to move onto Christmas once Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is near. I think a simple idea is to just focus on one holiday at a time, I spend so much time thinking and planning for Halloween (like I know most of you do as well), that it is pretty easy for me to ignore the early Christmas.

One website in particular has visited many stores in his area, taking lots of photos of all the Halloween goodies for the season. I want to invite you to peek at Pumpkin rot’s blog. That should get you into the Halloween spirit!

Moving on, the new trend I have seen so far is black, white and silver. Although, I don’t believe the trends in stores are large enough to catch on. I think that is one of the reasons why so many of us like to celebrate Halloween. What reasons you ask? Because there is so much variety, there is something for everyone. Halloween has the cute, to gross, from black, purple, classic orange and all in between. There is such variety in every idea and in every theme.

Aside from decorations, I think costumes are what have the most trends. Usually the hottest costumes are from whatever movie was a big hit within the year. But there are always the classic costumes; zombies, devils, sexy, pirates etc that always will be a staple in Halloweens history.

Halloween is also on a Saturday this year; I am wondering if there will be more people out this year than previous.

Is Halloween dying?

Filed Under (Halloween) by The Adam on 02-08-2009

What is it about Halloween that sparks such love, passion and drive from each of us? Have you ever felt the Halloween spirit so much in fact, that it was hard to put into words? Have you ever thought, what is it about this darn “holiday” that makes me think about it all year-round? Even if you don’t think about Halloween year-round, you will not be able to deny the instant Halloween spirit you feel upon reading. It’s a piece of writing that reaches the very spirit of Halloween, the creepyness, the smell of a pumpkin, the child like innocece and the love…enjoy.

Written by Son-of-thing:
Yes…! Yes…, Halloween is DYING… Slowly…, painfullly…, its weak, pathetic, keening moans unheard, or unheeded… Dying…, in silence, and misery…, alone and without the hope of aid… Dying in a lonely place, where the quiet hurts your ears, and the only company it has are the foul things of the dank soil, near, and getting nearer… Dying… Dying… Dying…….. Heh-heh…

But NOT DEAD…! AhHa…! Never dead, Dear Fiends!

Oh no, Halloween is much older than the Rotten Pumpkins in our neighborhoods who lurk with shameful cowardice behind their curtains with their lights out, when the busy, breathless little ToTers come… Halloween sings in chorus as the leaves fall, and lives, lives! Every late Autumn eve, when some Merry Soul cuts the eyes from a sheet and billows a pillowcase to seize all the candy swag they can in the falling night… Halloween lives again in the Hearts Of Those who remember doing so when they were young, and so set the light dancing in a freshly-carved pumpkin…

Halloween lives! Everywhere that jolly whimsy and good-natured prankishness flourish in the eerie lights of homemade decorations on the Last Night of October… Where the pounding beat of sneakers-on-pavement, and laughter in the dark, and rayon capes in the moonlight, and the swampy closeness of a terrifying latex mask, yet thrive… Halloween lives where the Autumn wreaths are wrought with quiet contentment…, and the Sleepy-Hollow-scent of toasted gourd escapes into the evening breeze…

Halloween is much more than curmudgeonly neighbors, who’ve lost their way in the dark of their lives, can ever squelch. And, so long as any of us carve a jack-o-lantern, Halloween will always live.

So let us put up our decor, and laugh, and perhaps in doing so, persistently, we’ll win the stick-in-the-muds over in the long run, be we homeowners or apartment dwellers…; whether we simply tape a witch’s paper silhouette to the window, or turn our homes into full-on, certifiable Haunted Mansions… And although Frankenstein’s Monster may not be too happy to hear it — it all depends on how many of us carry the torch! (and the pitchforks, heh-heh…)

So shine on into that fading Autumn light, Brothers and Sisters! Whether you’re amongst a bonfire, or sole embers rising swiftly into the moonlight…, shine on! And you will always be a part of the Halloween Spirit.

(And as to those who just don’t get it…, well, pity them for the mirth they’re missing out on. They’ll get it in the end, and that’s for sure… And think it too bad they didn’t know how to laugh on their way out… Heh-heh…)

Halloween is dead. LONG LIVE HALLOWEEN…!

Most Sanguine Cheers!
SOT

Hello Ghosts, Ghouls and Zombies!

Filed Under (Halloween) by The Adam on 16-07-2009

The Halloween season is nearly approaching! With 107 days until Halloween (and even fewer until October), many Halloween lovers are reporting various stores are starting to stock their fall and Halloween décor! Some stores to check out include: Michaels Crafts, Tuesday Morning, Garden Ridges and Hobby Lobby. If stores near you have yet to put out the décor – don’t fret! Online stores like Ltd Commodities, Lillian Vernon, Buy Costumes and Grandin Road have some new Halloween stuff to browse through.

Today I wanted to leave you with a very simple recipe! Check out these bewitching brownies!