It used to be that the biggest household holiday decorating took place in December, but nowadays it seems that Halloween is also a major decorating event. You know the Christmas villages with the light-up buildings and those huge blow-up lawn figurines? Well, they have them for Halloween, too. Everywhere I look houses are decorated with fake spider webs, gravestones, ghosts and witches. To which I can only say I must be the Halloween Decorating Grinch because with the exception of pumpkins (which I really like) I just don’t like Halloween decorations. Why? Because they’re scary. Now, if you give me a CUTE ghostie (think Caspar) or an ADORABLE witch, I might consider it. But those scary-looking ghouls and goblins are not my thing. If that stuff was in my house I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Here’s now I decorate for Halloween, aka Photographic Proof of My Love of Pumpkins.
The centerpiece on my dining room table
Another Halloween thing I’m a Grinch about are those haunted houses that you walk through where slimy stuff touches you and things jump out at you. I can sum that up in one word: yucky. I don’t like slimy and I hate it when things jump out and scare me. Which explains why I don’t care for scary movies. I suffer from BFC Syndrome–that stands for Big Fat Chicken (insert clucking noises here 
)
But, on the plus side, there are now Halloween Peeps–they’re not just for Easter anymore! Yay! And I love Halloween candy! Of course, I can’t buy it until the day before or it doesn’t make it to trick-or-treating time. My favorite Halloween candies are Almond Joy and Three Muskateers. So, that’s how I’m decorating this year–with pumpkins, Almond Joys, and Three Muskateers. All treats, no tricks. And that’s just the way I like it.
Do you decorate for Halloween or are you more of a Grinch? Do you like haunted houses and scary movies? What are your favorite Halloween candy treats?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
LOL not so big on Horror (blood guts gore and scaring the bleep out of yourself just for the sake of it) but I do love the eerie effect of old houses and graveyards shrouded in mists. I am fascinated by the sense of mystery and history that one feels those places. And lol, like my gothic heroines, I would dearly love to enter an old mansion or castle, find a to die for hero, and have a HEA. Just saying.
I tend not to decorate for Halloween — and my favorite candy is KitKat bars…
My kids are into going to the old prison in Philly – Eastern State Penitentiary – that’s made into a haunted prison but that would scare the bejeezus out of me.
I do decorate for Christmas – I love that!
We don’t get any kids where we are now, so we get to avoid the whole buy-it-and-rebuy-it-four-times conundrum that comes with Halloween candy. One year, though, we were trying to be healthier so Big Bunny bought a bag of the little boxes of raisins thinking that leftovers (and previews) would be better for us. I immediately informed him that HE would be standing in the door handing them out as I didn’t wish to be in the line of fire when they came flying back in.
I was very excited about the Halloween peeps too, Jacquie.
I thought they always had them. I know they had the pumpkins when I was a kid. We used to love them. So I’m not sure if they went away and came back or have always been out at Halloween and just became more widespread.
I don’t recall any Peeps other than Easter Peeps until maybe ten years ago–when the kid was actually a kid
Halloween. I have a love-hate relationship with the holiday. I don’t decorate. I do some pumpkin/fall decorations for Thanksgiving (but not Halloween). I love Thanksgiving. I love Halloween candy. I love seeing adorable kids in costumes. I always had a cute costume, never scary. But I also like being scared. Haunted houses are fun. Screaming is fun. Though, I’m more of a silent screamer. I always wonder if I was being chased by a real killer, would I be able to yell for help loud enough? I hope I never find out.
I hope you never find out, too! Love seeing kids in costume. I never had scary costumes when I was kid–I was either a gypsy or a clown or a princess. My mom made me an awesome clown costume one year–Jingles the Clown. It was lavender and had this great collar with dozens of little bells on it.
I’m sure you were an adorable Jingles, but new Whine Sister Molly Harper would have been terrified anyway- she’s very afraid of clowns.
So technically if you decorate for Halloween wouldn’t you be more of a Grinch? Wouldn’t he like scary things (at least before his heart grew three sizes that day?)
I’m not a Halloween person. In fact, we were just talking about that when I was a kid (although we dressed up and went out trick or treating–it wasn’t as big a deal as it is today–especially for adults. But it is fun to see everyone else’s decorations. And I do have pumpkins I use for fall and a really cute witch. (And I did do much more when we lived in Texas and my daughter wasl little)
When I was a kid, trick-or-treating was a BIG deal. You started on your walk home from school. And on those fabulous years when Halloween fell on a weekend, you were out the door first thing in the morning. It was a bit of a shock when we moved to Georgia because kids in our neighborhood didn’t start trick-or-treating until 6pm! What the heck??
I really do miss the US this time of year. I have always loved the whole decorating thing. Here in the UK it is starting to catch on but not many people do it. Sadly one out of about every 15 houses do trick or treat.
Growing up I had many neighbours that we knew personally that made special treats for the kids they knew. Candied apples, popcorn balls, big treat bags full of yummies…it was amazing. I would come home with a gigantic bag full. Now my kid is lucky to find 10 houses for trick or treating. Maybe I should make it stateside next year just so she can have one real fun trick or treating time in her life.
My favourite was always chocolate but there were always the other yummies like Mary Janes and Twizzlers and Nerds. I wish we had those here!
Halloween was more of a big deal when we were kids anyway, I think. A lot of neighborhoods have toned it down. We had a major snowstorm that disrupted Halloween last year, my first year in my new neighborhood, so I have no idea what to expect for Halloween here this year.
Our son was 4 for his first Halloween in Georgia. He dressed up as the blue Power Ranger. We were living in an apartment complex while our house was being built. He was the ONLY person trick-or-treating. He got mostly money because 90% of the people who came to the door didn’t even realize it was Halloween and didn’t have any candy! (the complex was occupied mostly with young professionals). Only worse Halloween I can recall is the one when I was in 3rd grade and was sick and couldn’t go trick-or-treating. SOOOO traumatic!
Thanks for reminding me that I should bring out my ceramic pumpkins. I keep forgetting about them. As you can tell we don’t decorated for Halloween. I don’t watch scary movies nor have I been in a haunted house. My husband is getting out the Christmas decorations and testing lights. He will start decorating the yard next month. The grandchildren may be here for Christmas and everything needs to be perfect.
I love decorating for Christmas, Sandi. I bet your house will look gorgeous! How lovely that you’ll get to be together with your grandchildren.