I love Halloween.
I love everything about it. Costumes. Spiderwebs. Zombies. Candy Corn. Trick or treating. Strobe lights. Fake blood. Stomach aches. Treat bag raiding. Sugar highs. You name it.
But last year, our Halloween decor stayed firmly tucked away in our attic. No place for pumpkins with a backhoe in the front yard.
In fact, last year, we didn't even have steps for the kids to come up for treats. We just had to stand out on our partially constructed porch and throw miniature Snicker bars at them.
But this year? It's gonna be different.
You feel me?
In the words of Al Pacino, I'm just getting warmed up.
Cole and I will be attending to much more decor in the coming days. Heck, I might even have to put on the bee costume early this year.
Do you love Halloween? What are some of your favorite Halloween decor ideas? Or traditions? Don't bee shy. Do tell!
Lisa says
I love spiderwebs, the fake ones, stretched across the front porch and love the memory of my dads old spooky sounds lp on the stereo console.
Stephanie Howell says
Um what I’m sorry. Did you ask me a question? I can’t answer bc I’m laughing so hard at you in the bee costume. Hahahahhahahahahha. You know you wear that costume to your other job. Ahem. You know… The one we discussed on twitter yesterday?? Haaaaaaaaaaa
Jennifer Larson says
Dressed up like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I take the boys trick or treating while my husband as Obi Wan Kenobi gives out candy. Nothing elaborate, but fun.
Cheryl says
My days of walking the neighborhood with my two kids dressed in costume are over. They say they’re too old (when did they get old?). I’m so sad…. guess I’ll join my husband in passing out the candy to everyone else. (Or maybe, just maybe, I can convince a neighbor who has trick-or-treaters that I’ll take them around the neighborhood for them – you know, give that poor parent a break to just relax at home. I mean, I’m always willing to help out my fellow neighbors.
c@rol w says
I have a unique talent for hand tying my own spider webs made from white yarn. It started out as 6 foot webs between the columns on my front porch to a 10’x30′ web between 2 trees. It rocks!! I tie individual macrame knots at each crossing of web so it stays intact.
We bring the firepit into our front yard and wait for our elderly neighbors to join us until the kiddies show up on a hay wagon, pulled by a tractor. [Sounds like I live in the country! ha! Actually, I’m in a ranch house subdivision and kids don’t want to walk it.]
The rest of the decor is candles, pumpkin lights, purple lights, frogs and scary noise CDs. Good, clean fun!
Heather Crawford says
Spooky sounds…got to have the spooky sound CD playing…or I guess in your case, Ipod spooky sounds..it freaks kids out…
Heather Crawford says
Oh and by the way, we live up in the front of our subdivision and don’t get many kids at our house..they stay more towards the middle..do you know how that breaks my heart? I have a little patio area just dying for a cauldren with hot ice smoke, spooky sounds, me dressed up as a witch,etc etc..oh well…
michelle palmquist says
I LOVE HALLOWEEN!! My house has been decorated now for over a week. I couldn’t wait to get everything out. Alas, my childrend are too old to trick or treat so my husband & I just hand out the candy.
I LOVE the bee costume. I might have to try my hand at something like that. Typically I just put on the vampire collar with a halloween T-shirt & jeans and call it good.
Tammy B says
I so love Halloween! One year we made a pumpkin man crawl out of our flower bed. It kinda scared some of the really little kids but it was too cool! This year my little nephew will be coming to our house to go trick or treating. He will be one year and one day old and it will be so cute to have such a little one dressing up for Halloween this year! That will be my favourite part of the day!!
Heather R. says
I LOVE Halloween and I have already annoyed my neighbor across the street by putting out too many decorations…although I think she is just jealous that she is not invited to the 3rd Annual Broomsticks, Bitches and Brew Ball (aka The Witch’s Ball) that I host with my Bestie…can’t even imagine what she would say if she saw the inside of my house right now! LOL!
Jeanette says
Please. Where did that skull doormat come from? WANT!!!
Kropster says
Yes, I love Halloween and our neighborhood goes all out. I have always insisted on homemade costumes. We have had some great ones over the years. I am happy to report my kids (now 13,14 & 19) have made their own costumes the past 4 years or so (after I burned out!). This will be the first year no one is trick or treating. But I suspect the teenagers will still don some costumes to hand out treats to the little ones.
One tradition is having a yummy pumpkin/sausage/pasta dinner each Halloween before the trick or treaters start ringing the bell.
For many years Family Fun magazine provided many of my decorating and treat ideas … my favorite is the “Frankenstien Jello”. Here’s a link: http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/halloween-treats/frankensteins-jell-o-monster-688253/
Deb says
I LOVE Halloween. I make “eyeballs” and send them to our neices & nephews. These are always a hit. I found them in a magazine years ago.
Dracula’s Eyes
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
4 oz. vanilla flavored candy coating
20 M&M’s
Red and black decorator gel icing.
In a mixing bowl stir together peanut butter and butter. Gradually add powdered sugar; stirring until combined. shape into 1-inch balls, place on waxed paper. Let stand about 20 minutes or until dry. In a small saucepan melt candy coating over low heat. Dip balls, one at a time into coating. Let excess coating drip off peanut butter balls. Place on waxed paper. Immediately press M&M into center of each peanut butter ball. Let stand until coating is firm. Add a dot of black gel to the center of candy pieces for pupils. Drizzle red gel into balls for bloodshot eyes. Makes about 20 eyeballs.
Korey Lindberg says
I’m getting very excited to decorate for Halloween and the 3 year old cannot wait to have a “Spooky House”! We received a Costume Express catalog in the mail and he sits down and looks it over at least 3 times a day all the while picking out the things he “needs”. His Grandma and Grandpa are even picking him up to take him to Menards to buy things to make his house spooky. His list includes bats, spiders and a spooky fence. He’s at pre-school right now and I have hung up some spider web, caution tape and spider garland to surprise him with when we get home today! I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!
Candy says
Bee careful! We had not one but two swarms of bees we had to deal with this summer. I suggested that my husband dress up as a bee keeper for Halloween…
cathy says
You know it. And I tell my bad boy clients to BEEhave!
Mary Mitchell says
Sadly, my house is a half mile off the road, and while we have the perfect setting for a haunted woods, the neighborhood kids wouldn’t venture down our driveway. So we gave up decorating and filling a bowl with candy for when the door bell rang…..because it never did.
Have fun, can’t wait to see the end results.
cathy says
Sigh. I know. That was us last year, with Cole heading out with friends.
cathy says
Nice!
cathy says
oh, TOTALLY! On my list!
cathy says
Its gotta be jealousy. For SURE!
cathy says
Target! : )
cathy says
I love home made! Thats my bee costume! My mom made it over 20 years ago. No foolin!
cathy says
yummy! Might have to give that a whilre.
D says
Used to love it a lot, but our neighbourbood got the rep for being “family friendly” and we’ll get over 150 people per night asking for candy; fine for little kids, but when adult after adult grabs into the candy bowl or whines “what about my candy” [grown men here usually, not the women] it gets old fast [can’t leave a bowl out as it’ll get dumped into someone’s bag within five minutes!] … so, while I like the dressing up and the costumes and the less gory decorations and the big bags of chock-full-o-chocolate, not feeling the spirit of handing out the goodies this year.
cathy says
I always thought that it would be cute if Dan got a beekeeper costume for Halloween. You know, to keep me in line.
cathy says
Awww. You know, even though i love Halloween, the number of kids has dwindled so much over the years! Even in my relatively well traveled city neighborhood.
Mary Mitchell says
My son once dressed himself up at a friends house as a straw stuffed scarecrow, and sat in the corner of the porch. He had on baggy jeans, a stuffed flannel shirt and a pillowcase over his head. Then he had bits of straw sticking out. He looked so convincing. He would sit really still as kids first approached him. They would assume no one was inside and head to the door for candy. As the kids were leaving, he would move and make a noise scaring the be geezers out of the kids. Unfortunately there were a few that were so scared that the tears started flowing, but many of the parents thought he was pretty cool looking.
Amy says
I am SO with you!! When the Halloween stuff starts coming out in the stores, I’m all over it. Last year we made blinky eyeballs with those fake tea lights and ping pong balls. We also had fun putting together a tray of potions and ‘parts’ bottles. ya know, Eye of bat…Oh and I also had witches feet, complete with orange and black striped socks,coming out from under the big rock in our front yard. Gotta watch out for those falling rocks!
Anyway, this year I have to hold off from decorating for a week as my friend asked if we could use my house for a baby shower. I was bummed because I knew that all that baby blue was going to look reaally out of place with the skeletons hanging from my chandelier. So I thought about it, and convinced my friend we needed to have a Punkin shower. So cute! So I’ll just bring out the skeletons on Sunday!Let the pumpkin bowling with baby bottle pins commence.
Your bee costume has really held up over the years! My crowning glory homemade costume- once we made my daughter into a box of popcorn.
Mary Mitchell says
D I understand how you feel, we have friends that have stopped.turning on their lights because of the overwhelming amount of late teens out trick or treating and terrorizing the little kids.
Lyn Meeker says
My 21 year old son contacted me in early August with a request for me to make him a Halloween Costume.. He had even gone into a Joanne Fabric store to find the pattern he wanted…
I have hand-made every costume (except for three when he was in High School) .. and hadn’t made him a costume in about 5 or 6 years… he wanted this hooded cloak and shirt in black (Which strangely was a lot like his Taekwondo uniform) .. when I looked at the pattern .. I saw the cloak wasn’t lined .. and as overboard as I go on costumes – I had to line it… (actually makes it easier – not as much hemming!) The cloak alone weighs 5 pounds!
I shipped it to him yesterday…
I used to go all out in the decorating while he was growing up .. but since we moved out to Tucson (I still decorated .. but we didn’t get TorT’rs since we live on an acre property…)and I found out my husband gets the “willies” with too much decorations .. I have diminished it greatly .. the glass pumpkin now comes out and gets filled with M&M’s .. and that’s about it.. I miss the good old days!
Lyn Meeker says
I do have a “Halloween Light” and potion bottles in my Scrap Room up all year.. and this years Creative Escape there is a Halloween Banner I’m still working on that will hang in my room year round as well…
Stephanie Howell says
hahahahahahhahahah!!
do you enjoy dancing to sting?
ahahhahahahhahaha
cathy says
You KNOW it.
minnesota michelle says
i knew it was you! you were the bee girl in the blind melon song no rain! I am glad you are still dancing!
Lynn M says
I adore Halloween! House (on the inside is all decked out). My favorite decoration are the fall quilts I’ve made over the years. Large or small they make fall and Halloween so merry!!! Love the recipe from Deb; I’m going to try that one. Our daughter was transferred to Dallas this year and I’d love to send those in a “care package.” Love the BEE costume; wrap yourself up in a quilt and you could be a “Quilting Bee.”
Christine H says
My son and husband are nutso over Halloween. Every year our front yard is turned into a graveyard and there are decapitated heads hanging from my trees. We add on every year with the after season sales. They actually had to wait until Oct this year to start decorating as we were getting a new driveway/front walk up until last weekend. Then there is the annual party for my son and his friends. Around here, Halloween is more busy, involved, exhausting, fun filled than Christmas. (it’s a close race- think lights and the Griswalds)
Trude says
Love that doormat! Looking forward to seeing the decorations with the new porch. 🙂 Love Halloween, but I think more the spirit of it than dressing up. My parents go crazy with their decor, and I love going over to their house to help give out candy because they get the cutest kids in their neighborhood. 🙂
cathy says
ha! now what would be cute!
Dena says
I know your mom made the bee costume, but i think you need an update! I think you should rock a long black dress and a bride of frankenstein (sp?) wig and you can make Dan be Frankenstein 🙂
I love Halloween too! It is my favorite holiday. My 8 year old hates it because it is too scary – he’s not my kid!!!!!!
Have fun! I love the rug too – totally going to Target!
Kyetra Belton says
First of all, I love the bee costume. ;0
My favorite tradition is that the Great Pumpkin comes to visit our house. After going to Trick or Treat, you pick a few pieces of candy to keep and then put your bag out for the Great Pumpkin. He takes that candy and leaves you a treat. A toy or video or (gasp) clothes.
You can see more at http://www.kyetrabelton.com/2009/11/great-pumpkin-gp.html
JennyW says
Cathy you always make me laugh! Love it! We live in New Ulm – just down the road from you. We live off of “the street” to be on Halloween night. We served 800 pieces of candy last year…that we counted! We have started a tradition where we have a Halloween party with daycare friends and then our house is the spot to eat dinner, park your car, take potty breaks, after TT the kids unwind watching the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the adults have a cocktail by the bonfire in our front yard. It is wonderful! The ideas folks are posting are giving me ideas to ramp up the event more! (bummer it is on a Monday this year…I was loving it on the weekends!)
Pamela K. says
My hubby and I took time about and took turns taking our son and a friend T or T’ing. Now those days are over. 🙁 For the last couple of years our son had friends over and they passed out the candy and we had cider and donuts and pizza for them after T or T’ing was over. This year we are going over to my moms’ house to pass out candy for a change. I love Halloween.
Vicki Hetherington says
Oh my we LOOOVE Halloween! We (my six year old daughter and I)started decorating last week. One thing my daughter remembers every year since she was three is our ghost that we stick in the front flower bed with a light under it…whoooo!
So much fun!
Keep your eyes peeled for a six year old and her mama dressed as witches this year!!!
Rosann says
I adore Halloween but i am the only person who decorates in a about a 5 block radius. I live in Caribbean community, mostly immigrant who either aren’t used to Halloween or are very religious and dont believe in it. I think the latter is a bigger issue. But I forge ahead carving pumpkins and hanging bats from the tree out front. But my fave is the fake cob web stuff. I cover the entire front yard and hang a giant spider from the house along with small plastic spiders in the web. Mt neighbors think I’m either nuts or going to hell
jen says
That sounds like so much fun. When my kids are older and don’t want me to go door to door with them anymore, we will remember this. What fun!
Bec Kilgore says
I have to work Halloween so not much going on at my house but I love reading about you Halloween. You always make me laugh. I hope you realize what a gift that is. I can have a lousy day at work and come home and read you blog and just laugh out loud for real. I have this picture in my head of you throwing candy bars. hahahaha
Brooke says
The whole Halloween thing in Australia is kind of interesting. It’s not always the done thing, so each year we buy up a few bags of lollies just in case someone knocks on the door. I even decorate our entryway. So far, my hubby and I have ended up eating the treats every year! I know the one year we don’t buy anything will be the one year we get visitors! Can’t wait to see the rest of your decorations.
cathy says
We really did toss candy off the porch. So see, if there were kids that werent polite, well…lets just say they had to duck.
Nicky says
My husband’s love of Halloween is starting to rub off on me. So much so that Halloween now has it’s own board on Pinterest! I’m still not into the ghouls and gore but I love the Fall decorating and will incorporate spiders and ghosts. One of our favorite traditions is “Adult Trick or Treating”. We provide a variety of flavored (candy flavored or otherwise) shots for the adults to sample. It’s fun!
heidig says
You’d be very disappointed in Halloween at my house. Both girls are in college so there’s no one to walk around the neighborhood. We’ve moved from the neighborhood we lived in when the kids were little and guess what? There are NO trick-or-treaters on this street! Not a one! So if Halloween just isn’t your thing – come to my house. It’s just a regular day in the neighborhood. Bah humbug!
Beth Rang says
We live out in the country so we don’t get many kids trick-or-treating. However, I was thinking that since all the kids get so impatient waiting for night, I’m going to have an open house on Halloween afternoon for all of the young kids in our neighborhood. A “do your homework, then come over” for treats, crafts, etc. I hope some of the kids actually come!
Kelli says
We are really getting into now that the kids are older. Last December we bought a black Christmas tree to decorate this year as our Nightmare Before Christmas tree.
Amber says
Our Halloween tradition begins with a pizza /pumpkin party! A group of us all get together and we bring our pumpkins, with all the tools. We all have teenagers now so the pumpkin carving is really fun! We order pizza and the party begins. This started when they were babies. I have scrapbook pages of our pumpkin/pizza parties with our 3 month old babies!
Our other tradition is to dress up our dogs on Halloween and when the kids were younger they would walk with us while treat or treating. Now they just sit on the porch with us. The neighbors get a kick out of what we chose each year. This year my 1 year old Great Dane who is now over 100 pounds and is VERY big girl is going to be dressed up like a pony since that is what everybody calls her! I am making her a mane, hope to find her something to make her a saddle. My old dog is a dachshund and he has a hotdog costume. I think that will be kinda funny~
Tamera says
I want a Gargoyle. Not sure where I’d put it, but I nearly have my 5 year old son convinced that a Gargoyle would be cool enough and not too scary.
Michelle Bazeley says
I love LOVE Halloween….probably more than is appropriate?!? Have fun decorating your new front yard!
2 things I make sure to do every year:
#1-go see my local stage version Dracula-pure, bloody fun
#2-There are several streets that go all out for Halloween decorating, we drive around and appreciate them in all their spooky glory. Much better than anything done in December!
Kitty says
I forgot I had some pictures. I killed my external hard drive last week by plugging my Cricut cord into it 🙁 No, there is no back-up. I am still in mourning over 10 years of lost photos.
Luckily, some favorite photos exist in cyber space. YOu can check out our Halloween on my old blog. Lesson to all: BACK UP!!!!
ussohail122 says
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