9. Campy Films from Childhood: Seriously I can't pass them up. It's like at Christmas I have to watch a claymation piece. Some of my favorites are Hocus Pocus and Halloween Town.
8. Sense of Community: Call me a sap if you want but I love that on Halloween everyone gets involved. People are out with their kids or their friends. Or they are staying in and giving out goodies. Either way there is a warm and fuzzy element to Halloween that I ccan't resist.
7. Mystical Critters: Don't you just love how on this one night all the spooks and spectors make their appearance? I do. I love that suddenly there are witches flying on brooms, or vampires out for a bite. Like they just wait for Halloween to do it. But that seems to be the consesnus that they let their hair down on Halloween alone. More power to um for their patience I suppose.
6. Soundtrack of the Season: Two words...Monster Mash. That song always makes me ridiculously happy. I have a soundtrack full of Halloween songs. It has Little Red Riding Hood, Werewolf of London, and the purple people eater song on it. Good times. I feel like this is only appropriate at this time of year. I have to restrain myself the rest of the year though. Seriously.
5. Ghost Stories: Personally, I'm always up for a good ghost story even if the good ones scare me shitless. But they seem to have special potency on Halloween. There is this mysticism that rides the air on Halloween and a good story just soaks up that energy and sends it back to you ten-fold. If it can't give me shivers it a'int worth it!
4. Carving Pumpkins: This one is a family tradition. It sucks in college cause I haven't been able to carve pumpkins with my Mom for the past two years. That actually makes me really sad. But I love carving pumpkins. Ugh. Scraping out the pumpkin guts is always perfectly creepy with the stringey goo clinging to your wrists. Bleh. Awesome but still. And then we always buy those carving kits. So you get to do something really cool. And I like using the poking stick. I know I sound really mature right now, but Halloween has never been noted for its maturity.
3. Corney Jokes: Halloween is filled with the kind of jokes you find on a candy bar wrapper, which is quite naturally appropriate. My friends and I always had a rotation schedule on who got to tell which joke. We were cool like that. But I've come to really enjoy listening to little kids tell me lame jokes even if I just heard the same one two minutes ago. They have such unadulterated joy. It's contagious and I am open to the disease of laughter.
2. Candy: Ok so there was an epic mental smackdown going on in my head for the top spot. I'm still kind of wavering as I write but I have my reasons for putting free candy second. For one thing candy is not such an epic novelty that I can't walk down to the store and get it. That's the sad truth that keeps it from being number one. But it made it all the way to number two because it is free. Think about it, this is the one momment when your parents tell you it is okay to take candy from strangers. And you can do it in abundance. I always judge people based on what they give out. And you can be ostracized from a neighborhood if you don't leave your damn porch light on. I know, I've seen it happen. Kids are serious about there candy, but then again so am I.
1: Costumes: I always loved playing dress-up when I was a kid. And they gave me a holiday devoted to it. I adore planning costumes. I start way in advance and agonize over what I will be. After much debate I am being Autumn (the season. God help me I had to clarify this to my dad). Halloween gives you the opportunity to be whatever you want to be. It a professional day of pretend. When you're little it's about being a princess or a favorite cartoon character it's phenominally innocent. And then you hit puberty and it becomes a slut fest. Don't get me wrong I enjoy that aspect to a certain degree because I sure as hell don't walk around in vinyl or plastic mini dresses on the other days of the year. I remember one year I was a 50's girl with a poodle skirt and everything. I had a wig on because I had cut my hair really short that year; it looked a little weird. But we went up to this house and the woman tried to guess what we were. She takes one look at me and in this nasal expression of 'eureka' she says to me, "Oh I get it! You're a BOY dressing up as a GIRL!" She thought she was pretty funny. I didn't. It crushed my prepubescent ego hardcore. I got extra candy out of it though because she felt like a bad person...gee I wonder why? Needless to say I don't support wig usage on Halloween. Or any other day really. Such is life.
I hope you all have a fabulously haunting Halloween!
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