Happy Halloween 2022!

I work from home these days, so I envy people who have a work or school community to share Halloween with. When I was in high school, I was too terrified to let people know who I really was to dress up on the annual “Goofy Goblin” day. I have no idea why they called it that. Maybe some bible-thumpers were trying to push Halloween out of the public schools. At any rate, I didn’t participate, but I enjoyed being on the periphery of the madness.

So here I am on the periphery in a new way as the only one on my block with big decorations outside. The candy is ready, in a bowl by the front door, the decorations are up, the cats are out of harm’s way, and the magic of Halloween night awaits.

I hope you and yours have the most wondrously frightening time tonight. It’s come upon me too quickly this year. I’ve hardly had time to enjoy it. Let’s all remember to fully experience it for one more day before it passes us by once again. Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween 2021!

As Halloween 2021 winds down, I sincerely hope you had a wonderful spooky season this year. My night was made by the child who exclaimed, “Wow, that’s a whole bunch of Lemon Heads!” May your trick or treat bags always be filled with surprises that make you exclaim your joy for all the world to hear. Happy Halloween!

The Morning After

photo © Thomas Raven

How was your Halloween? Mine was different but still fun. I had more trick or treaters than expected and ended up giving away some of the candy I’d stashed for myself. That’s a good problem to have on Halloween (and on the morning after).

My cats were as shocked as I was by the number of times the doorbell rang. Nobody rings a doorbell like a child. I think it’s a competition to see how many times they can get it to ring before someone opens the door.

I was a bit disturbed by the number of families who were haunting the streets without any face coverings. I kinda sorta get it if you don’t want to preserve your own health. I suppose that’s your right. After all, it’s inscribed on every pack of cigarettes. But to risk the lives of your children? That’s truly scary. I hope those kids didn’t get an unexpected viral treat in their bags.

I was shocked to answer the door to a pair of thirty-somethings without costumes who were trick or treating in their beat up car. It’s truly a strange time. But at the end of the day, I defied my own “no costume - no candy” rule and let it go. There’s just too much conflict in the air right now to get hung up about giving someone a handful of treats.

The good news is that we all made it through it. Hopefully, you had some spooky fun of your own.

Just a reminder: I’ll be continuing this blog throughout the year, though I may post less frequently. I suppose that will depend on you. If I continue to amass readers, I’ll post more often. After all, there’s lots of spooky goodness to talk about year round.

Freedom, Fears, and Confections

photo © Thomas Raven

As we get closer to the big day, it’s hard not to feel the loss of some of our traditional Halloween activities. Most of us are doing our best to keep our chins up and get through this season with substitute activities for the children. After all, no matter how much we adults enjoy Halloween night, the truth is that it’s the one holiday that truly belongs to kids.

If you ask yourself why Halloween is so great, you’ll most certainly answer that it was because of the Halloween experiences you had as a child. I grew up in simpler times when trick or treating was a given and didn’t always require adult supervision. We knew most of our neighbors so even my over-protective mother turned us loose on Halloween night. The mix of freedom, fears, and confections was a heady one and one that pulls at my heart to this day.

If you have children in your life, do something that makes this a holiday to remember. Don’t just have supervised activities with the family. Give them some freedom to run and be free and face their own fears in the great big, spooky world that is Halloween.

Halloween Candy Exchange for 2020

image © @malforma_art

I’ve been on the lookout for some new ideas for Halloween in the year of COVID-19. This one was posted by Instagram artist @malforma_art and I think it’s a fantastic way to celebrate, so I’m sharing it here with the permission of the artist.

The idea is simple. Since there’s no trick or treating this year in most places, we could replace it with a group candy exchange! The image shows four participants, but you can involve as many or as few people as you like. Just send out your goodie bags in time for your friends to open them on Halloween. Perfect!

Trick or Treat Funeral

photo © Thomas Raven

My brother and I were allowed to go trick or treating without adult supervision once I was old enough to look out for him. That freedom was one of the things that made Halloween so awesome. We always waited for it to be completely dark before we set out. I believe we stuck mostly to houses we were familiar with or places where there were plenty of other kids around. But, occasionally, the siren song of free candy got the better of us and we stopped at homes we weren’t familiar with.

We rang the bell at one house and the door unexpectedly opened onto a full blown funeral. It was real, with organ music playing, a coffin, large floral arrangements, and rows of chairs with mourners crying. No Halloween lighting or decorations, just a completely realistic funeral!

We froze in place and instantly wanted to run away. The man in the coat and tie who answered the door greeted us as friends of the deceased and escorted us inside. We were terrified. I stammered that we were at the wrong house, but he'd hear nothing of the sort. He escorted us down the aisle to the coffin to pay our respects to our "dear friend Jeremy". I'm surprised we didn't totally break down at that point, but we were practically pushed all the way.

When we got to the coffin, the host opened it and "Jeremy" popped out in full zombie makeup. We screamed and dropped our candy and ran away while the "mourners" all laughed their asses off. We wouldn't even go back in for our candy, so a kind "mourner" brought our bags of loot out to the street for us.

That was one of the best Halloweens ever.

Halloween 2020 Will be Like No Other

photo © Thomas Raven

Los Angeles County health officials have declared trick or treating off limits for 2020. The LA County Department of Health document (which you can read in full here) states:

Not Permitted (gatherings and events are not currently allowed under the Health Officer Order)

• Halloween gatherings, events or parties with non-household members are not permitted even if they are conducted outdoors.

• Carnivals, festivals, live entertainment, and haunted house attractions are not allowed.

Not Recommended

• Door to door trick or treating is not recommended because it can be very difficult to maintain proper social distancing on porches and at front doors, ensure that everyone answering or coming to the door is appropriately masked to prevent disease spread, and because sharing food is risky.

• “Trunk or treating” where children go from car to car instead of door to door to receive treats is also not recommended, particularly when part of Halloween events, since it is difficult to avoid crowding and sharing food.

Permitted and Recommended

• Online parties/contests (e.g. costume or pumpkin carving)

• Car parades that comply with public health guidance for vehicle based parades including:

  • a. Drive by events or contests where individuals dress up or decorate their vehicles and drive by “judges” that are appropriately physically distanced.

  • b. Drive through events where individuals remain in their vehicles and drive through an area with Halloween displays.

  • c. Drive in events where individuals can receive a treat bag (limited to commercially packaged non-perishable treats) or take away item from an organizer while the participants remain in their vehicle.

• Halloween movie nights at drive in theaters (must comply with the public health drive in movie theater guidance).

• Halloween themed meals at outdoor restaurants (must comply with the restaurant protocol).

• Halloween themed art installations at an outdoor museum (must comply with the public health museum guidance.) Dressing up homes and yards with Halloween themed decorations.

This comes as no surprise given the state of the world these days and I expect other municipalities will soon follow suit. What is surprising is how this is being reported. Most reports, including that written by Hayley Smith of the LA Times, focus on the opinions of a handful of people willing to talk to reporters. This inevitably includes some entitled jerks spouting off about their rights and how awful it all is.

While the woe-is-me approach may sell papers and air time, it also dresses the 2020 iteration of our beloved holiday in more doom and gloom than the grim reaper. The health department clearly went out of their way to include alternatives to trick or treating, but the focus remains on the loss of something near and dear to the hearts of many readers.

Let’s face facts. No one wants to contract COVID-19. Isn’t our health more important than the usual celebrations? That doesn’t mean Halloween is cancelled. It just means we have to get creative and come up with some new ways to celebrate.

I’ve been inventing new ways to celebrate Halloween since I was a child, so I’m pretty good at it at this point. The health department came up with some pretty good suggestions, so I know YOU CAN TOO!

There’s nothing to mope about. It’s time to embrace a new and different Halloween this year and enjoy the hell out of it! I know I will. Here are a few suggestions from yours truly:

• Halloween art contest with a theme

• make as many different costumes as you can from a pile of clothes and costume pieces

• Pumpkin smashing contest! Leave the remnants behind for animals to eat.

• cemetery candy hunt (like an Easter egg hunt but in a cemetery)

• grave rubbing expedition (see details here)

• Write your own Halloween song

• Halloween karaoke

• Make your own Halloween playlist

• Decorate your yard to show the world how much fun you’re having this Halloween!

There are lots more but these will get you started. Have fun safely celebrating the greatest holiday ever!