Halloween Traditions

[Barlow]

I thought it might be fun to start a thread about Halloween traditions that we all engage in. Mine have evolved over time by necessity (it's difficult for a full grown man to go trick-or-treating, plus I eat a very healthy organic diet so the candy wouldn't be much of a treat). But here's my overall tradition, which sort of starts in Sept. I hate skipping over or mixing holidays, but let me explain.


On Sept. 5th, 1981 I was a junior in high school and I went to the drive in with my favorite uncle and my best friend for a quintuple feature:


Night of the Living Dead
Massacre At Central High
The Rats Are Coming, The Werewolves Are Here
Flesh Grinders (Corpse Grinders)
Last House On The Left II (Bay of Blood)


Pizza, soda, lots of horror and fun talk about other horror movies in between. A great night, and probably the first time I stayed out all night until sun-up, when I then had to go do my paper route.


So now every year my "holiday season" (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year) starts on Sept. 5th. I make a perfect home made pizza, display the newspaper ad from the event (I found it archived in the newspaper's website), remember my uncle and friend, and watch all 5 movies back to back.


As it turns out, Sept. 6th, 1978 was the first tv air date (probably the only tv air date!) of the Dr. Strange tv movie. As a kid, I was so excited to see that, and since Sept. 6th is the day after the 5th, I make it a 2 day event. On the 6th I watch the old Dr. Strange movie and print out the tv guide ads, put out some Dr. Strange comics and action figures as decorations and enjoy some home made ravioli (I lived on Chef Boyardee as a kid and ate it while watching most tv events as a kid, so I probably ate that during the first airing of Dr. Strange).


Two weeks later, Sept. 22nd, is the autumn equinox. I love fall (hate summer!) so I'm always happy to see fall arrive. So on autumn equinox I watch...Equinox! Fitting movie for the night! I usually make some sort of special dinner and have some good snacks and that kicks off the Halloween season. I start decorating the night of the 22nd and by the 1st of October I'm all done and can sit back and enjoy a month of Halloween! I start watching horror movies on the 22nd simply because there is no way I can watch all my favorites in 30 days unless I want to watch 2 or 3 movies every night, which is too much! So I start with horror movies that aren't necessarily monster movies, such as Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sleepaway Camp, etc. after Equinox on the 22nd. By Oct. 1st my decorating is done and I don't have to spend 2 or 3 straight days doing the work - it's stretched out an hour or two day by day from the 22nd to the 30th.


During October, I pull out and display all my old horror comics and magazines (Son of Satan, Ghosts, Witching Hour, Famous Monsters, House of Frankenstein, Eerie, Creepy, etc.) and read them all, one or two each night. I also have a ton of horror/monster pics (movie still, art, etc.) that I look through on the computer. Lots of cool vintage photos. I also have some horror movies and a bunch of saved videos of vintage Halloween safety commercials, candy commercials, and Halloween commercials of all kinds that I watch. And of course there are the songs - Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett, Thriller by Michael Jackson (gotta watch the video for that one!), Backstreet's Back by the Backstreet Boys (damned if I'd ever listen to a boy band, but I came across that video and the makeup for Halloween is awesome so...), and so on. I found a new song (new to me, actually 15 years or so old) called Almost Halloween by Panic At The Disco:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTFnNU3AYg


Love the song and I really like the mummy's voice!


The entire apartment is decorated - it's like a haunted house! My neighbors all schedule viewings each year!


And then I go to a farm nearby in Homer Glen, IL called Bengston. I first went maybe 10 years ago and it's become a tradition. I also carve a pumpkin/jack-o-lantern every 5 days (that's about how long they last) and one huge one on Halloween night. I get the giant one at Bengston. There's also the Wheaton Halloween Flea Market usually towards the end of the month, which is a lot of fun. I always see Big John from Time Tunnel Toys and some of the regulars from the old Portage Theater  horror shows there.


I save all my most nostalgic favorite movies for the week of Halloween - Lemora, Phantasm (I-IV), Salem's Lot, Werewolf vs Vampire Woman (Werewolf Shadow), the Dr. Phibes and Count Yorga movies, etc. I made beef stew (from scratch) with my cousin about 12 years ago on Halloween, and the next year we said let's hang out and make that again and so it became a tradition. So Halloween night is beef stew and candy and these movies:


It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special
Mad Monster Party
And a new horror movie rotated every year as a final movie - last year was Nosferatu in honor of the 100th Anniversary


And that's pretty much it. Bengston Farm and the Flea Market event, lots of movies, lots of comic books and magazines, and lots of good food! Oh, and I added a book called Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie by Ted Okuda and Mark Yurkiw. Amazing book! So many memories! I feel like I'm forgetting something. Hmm.


What traditions do the rest of you have?

[Sir Masksalot]

'Fun topic, Barlow.

During my most active years, a Halloween season just wouldn't be complete
without hitting each of these four bases:

1) Attend a masquerade party in costume ... and there've been many >

     

2) Visit every haunted attraction in town >

     

3) Set up some monsters at home to greet the trick-or-treaters.
This front window display from 1972 is the first I can remember >



4) Scare someone really bad while wearing a monster mask.
It was while wearing each of these Don Post masks that I got
the most extreme reactions >

     

[Barlow]

Love those masks! I envy you - I always miss out on the outside activities. Not a lot of great Halloween stuff to do by my area, nothing I'd enjoy at least. I do want to go dressed up for the Wheaton show though. I gotta start making that a point every year. I miss going in costume! Last time I did that I think was at one of Big John's Portage Theater shows when I went as a pharaoh/mummy.


I'd love to do a window display like yours too! Awesome! I considered getting a projector and one of those 3D effect things but that costs money. Maybe next year. You reminded me of my old neighbor back in the 1970s. He had a huge - at least 7' tall - Frankenstein monster dummy on his porch and he hooked up a speaker in it and when kids would come along he'd say funny things like "All that candy will rot your teeth like mine!" and the kids would jump and scream in fear! That was always fun to watch!

[Hepcat]

It's difficult for a full grown man to go trick-or-treating, plus I eat a very healthy organic diet so the candy wouldn't be much of a treat.

No organics for me. I won't pay extra for a label.

But I found trick or treating getting increasingly difficult as I got older because I was being met at the door with too many shotguns and I'd get mostly coal in my pillowcase. So for the last number of years I've confined myself to giving out the candies while critiquing kids' costumes and catcalling their mothers on the sidewalk with lewd suggestions.

I make a perfect home made pizza....

Hopefully you stick to only the traditional ingredients - pepperoni, bacon, ham, mushrooms, green peppers and onions. None of that modern newfangled stuff belongs on a pizza.

I lived on Chef Boyardee as a kid and ate it while watching most tv events as a kid, so I probably ate that during the first airing of Dr. Strange.

Dr. Strange comics and Chef Boyardee are a perfect combination! Why would you deviate away from Chef Boyardee products?

On my part, pizza from a pizzeria as well as a Halloween cake are now part of our Halloween traditions.

[Rex fury]

For years, we'd set up a Halloween themed scarecrow in our garden. One year it was decked out in diving gear and the local paper published a picture of him on the front page!
I've long since moved from that place, but I continue to set up themed skeletons each year. I finally got a Home Depot giant skeleton last year and he's becoming a new tradition. This year, he's a fisherman whose caught a skeleton octopus at the end of his line. I have a whole bunch of ideas for the coming years, but I have to figure out how to get his arms to support weight better.
RF

[Barlow]

Hepcat wrote:

No organics for me. I won't pay extra for a label.

I look at it as paying for health, not for the label.

But I found trick or treating getting increasingly difficult as I got older because I was being met at the door with too many shotguns and I'd get mostly coal in my pillowcase. So for the last number of years I've confined myself to giving out the candies while critiquing kids' costumes and catcalling their mothers on the sidewalk with lewd suggestions.

LOL! Remember when I listed "Barlow's Hierarchy of Acceptable Halloween Costumes"? I live in an apartment building so no kids really come around, but man would I grade their costumes and distribute candy based on that list! 

Hopefully you stick to only the traditional ingredients - pepperoni, bacon, ham, mushrooms, green peppers and onions. None of that modern newfangled stuff belongs on a pizza.

Always traditional toppings! None of those California style sprouts, arugula and jack fruit pizzas. Blargh!

Dr. Strange comics and Chef Boyardee are a perfect combination! Why would you deviate away from Chef Boyardee products?

Because it's garbage. I wouldn't flush that stuff down my toilet, much less eat it! Yuck! High fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, soy protein, chemical colorings and flavorings...I'll pass! I plan on living a long and healthy life! LOL!

[Barlow]

For years, we'd set up a Halloween themed scarecrow in our garden. One year it was decked out in diving gear and the local paper published a picture of him on the front page!
I've long since moved from that place, but I continue to set up themed skeletons each year. I finally got a Home Depot giant skeleton last year and he's becoming a new tradition. This year, he's a fisherman whose caught a skeleton octopus at the end of his line. I have a whole bunch of ideas for the coming years, but I have to figure out how to get his arms to support weight better.
RF

Oh man, I hope you can post pics of that! 

[Hepcat]

Because it's garbage. I wouldn't flush that stuff down my toilet, much less eat it! Yuck! High fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, soy protein, chemical colorings and flavorings....

Oh come on! While I personally prefer Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, Hawkman, Fly, Jaguar and Captain Atom, Doctor Strange isn't that bad.

I look at it as paying for health, not for the label.

Put me down as a skeptic when it comes to food carrying the organic label. Sure it's higher priced, but:

In terms of nutrition, organic and conventional foods are about evenly matched—there is currently not enough evidence to suggest that one method of growing makes food more nutritious to eat than the other.

And while organic foods have a reputation for being healthy and nutritious, studies show that there is actually very little difference in nutritional value between organic and conventional foods.

I plan on living a long and healthy life!

My strategy in that regard is to completely avoid the obvious hardcore toxins, e.g. alcohol, tobacco, drugs of any kind, artificial sweeteners (interesting how many of the people, mostly women actually, who rail against artificial flavours and colours consume scads of chemical sweeteners every day), and any more than one mug of coffee per day. I eat lots including plenty of fruits, nuts, tomatoes, onions and legumes but I don't sweat it when it comes to my diet. I simply make sure I'm working off the calories I consume by getting lots of moderate exercise that won't damage my joints. I've actually lost weight since I retired at the start of 2020. Since I'm still strong and healthy, I'm giving myself a passing grade when it comes to my eating habits.

Remember when I listed "Barlow's Hierarchy of Acceptable Halloween Costumes"? I live in an apartment building so no kids really come around, but man would I grade their costumes and distribute candy based on that list!

When it comes to the treats I dispense at the door, the grade I assign to their mothers also factors into my calculations.

[The Masked Man]

I as well I've had my Halloween traditions change over the years.

Where my wife and I have lived the majority of our marriage we've never had a lot of trick-or-treaters our neighborhoods were small or we lived off a busy road... The month of October we try to watch as many spooky/horror movies as we can not necessarily the slasher movies except the ones from the 80s not a big fan of the Saw series that's just a little disturbing to me.

Since Lisa and I were never blessed with children we still are able to take our nieces and nephews trick-or-treating which was a lot of fun they've all grown now and have their own children and were able to spend some of the Halloween nights in their neighborhoods handing out the candy and having a great time.

And we always have soup and chili for everyone!

When it comes to handing out the Halloween candy I have one rule... You have to say trick-or-treat and be in a costume unless you're a very very small child I'll forgive the trick-or-treating part... But as far as I'm concerned if you're a 95-year-old adult  and you went to the trouble of dressing in a costume and walking around to get candy and you say trick-or-treat I'll give you candy.

As for our Halloween decorations my wife won't let me keep a great deal of monster stuff out of displayed unless it's in the case... But year-round on a bookcase in our office is the Creature from the Black Lagoon bank.... And in our basement theater room I have three permanent Halloween decorations the first is the Frankenstein head under glass that came out from Monsterville a few years back... I have an owl seeing my crystal ball... And the old timey  radio gives the Halloween commercials and news when you change the dial.

younger kids when they came over love to play with those.

Our church each year usually has a trunk or treats for the kids so we've participated in that....this year is a 1970s themed Halloween. We're going to set it up as a 1970s living room complete with wood paneling furniture and 70s themed candy.

Black and orange peanut butter kisses anyone?

I've even acquired some vintage/reproduction era Halloween decorations we are going to use.

[Hepcat]

But as far as I'm concerned if you're a 95-year-old adult  and you went to the trouble of dressing in a costume and walking around to get candy and you say trick-or-treat I'll give you candy.

So then there's still potential for me at your door!

[The Masked Man]

So then there's still potential for me at your door!

Yes indeedy!!!!

I couldn't help but notice a few things in the cabinet beside you. I have a large collection of vintage soda bottles and the cartoon character glasses that you have there

[Hepcat]

Cool! Show us some pictures of your bottle collection.

Here are some semi-recent shots of my bottle pantry:







I've posted shots of quite a few individual bottles in this thread:

http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=13957.0

[The Masked Man]

Cool...you have a much larger collection of bottles than I do.., I have more glasses.., I have had those since I was a kid...

I'll have to see what I can do.

We recently moved and we still have a lot of stuff packed up and in storage...

a lot of my collectibles are stored away right now.

Is there a way to post photos directly from your phone?

[Hepcat]

There is no way to post pictures to this forum directly from your phone.

[The Masked Man]

Drat....