1. Carmel Apples: I just adore carmel apples, but especially the kind you can get at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. My favorite kind is the “apple pie carmel apple”. Other favorites include, the “classic carmel”, peanut covered and “apple pie alamode.” They are worth the price.
2. Fall Weather: I love how the sky looks during the fall when the weather is gradually cooling off. The evenings are so nice you can just sit on your porch and enjoy the outdoors after a very hot summer. We don’t really have the changing of the fall leaves in the dessert of Arizona, but it is still a nice feeling. In New York the leaves are really pretty this time of year. I love this picture I took while visiting Lake George in the fall. The reds and gold hues are so beautiful.
3. Pumpkin Carving: I think there is a rule that says you must do pumpkin carving the night of Halloween. We sart early in the evening so that we will have plenty of time to do the work. The inside of the pumpkin is such a mess, but also fun to stick your hands in and pull out all the insides. Freshly toasted pumpkin seeds with butter and salt fill our house with warmth and wonderful smells. I have an entire array of pumpkin carving tools, some are officially wood working tools, but they are good for pumpkins as well. I think the kits you can buy in the store are really great for carving too, and safer for kids. I like the stencil books you can tape on your pumpkin and use for a guide or design. I love putting out a freshly carved pumpkin for our “trick or teaters” as they walk up to our house.
I am also a big fan of luminaries. I have a set I made last year that spell out “Happy Halloween” and another set that say, “I’d turn back if eye were U”.
4. Trick or Treating: I haven’t gone trick or treating since I was a kid, but now that I have a little one of my own, we are taking him out for the first time this year. I am really looking forward to this new experience though the eyes of my child. I hope he has as much fun as I did.
5. Door bell divergence: I love passing out candy for trick or treaters that come to my door. Sometimes we play scary music up the walk to our front door. We have been known to use a “lightning” machine, which imitates the sound of thunder with the flash of bright light. Sometimes kids will get scared before they make it to ring our door bell. We usually dress up in costume to answer the door. I love looking at all the little kid’s Halloween costumes and see their parents at the end of our walk way winking at us as we pass out candy to their children.
6. Scary movies: There is no better time to watch a scary movie then on Halloween night, late in the evening. It just adds a little spark of magic. Give me some popcorn and candy corns and away we go.
7. Developing a good costume: I think a good costume takes time and money. Sometimes I have been known to work on my costume all year, other times a few months. I don’t sew, so it is expensive and time consuming to find all the necessary items for a costume and make it fit really well. I should learn how to sew, so I can make all my own costumes because I am sure it would save me a lot of money. My favorite costumes have been a skeleton bride, a renaissance queen, a masquerade ball attendee, an “Amy Brown” fairy, and a pirate wench.
8. Decorating the font yard: I think a big part of the holiday is decorating your house. The front yard looks great full of tomb stones similar to the one seen at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.
We hang a black wreath on our front door and cob webs, as well as spiders on the door bell and Halloween lights in the trees because the font yard is the first impression. We even have little purple lights strung on our back porch, which give off a sickly glow. I like to change my outdoor front porch light to a black light for full spooky effect.
9. Decorating the house: Inside our house we have fall leave garland, and candles all around. We put up our “spooky town” which consists of the “Haunted Tower Tours” with encircling gargoyle, the “LaGhosti Movie Theater”, complete with sound effects and marquee. “Grimsly’s House of Oddities” and mausoleum with grave yard and a pumpkin patch.
I have a “Krinkle” Halloween tree with ornaments and a pumpkin witch. I am a big fan of anything from Department 56. The couch and chairs are covered with Halloween themed throws (striped orange and black and black with white skeletons). I think there might even be phantom hands playing on my paino…..
10. Candy: I love how all the candy makers come out with Halloween themed candy. It’s all so creative and fun. I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate? Did I mention candy corn? It’s one of the best little treats around this time of year.
11. Pumpkin Patch: There is nothing quite like picking your pumpkin right from the patch. Traveling to the pumpkin patch at our local farm is a grand adventure. They take you on horse drawn wagons through the patch. You can choose the size, shape and color of your pumpkin, rather then be limited to whatever your grocery store has at the moment. Weaving your way through the vines and up and down the rows of pumpkins is a unique experience and good exercise too.
12. Corn Maze: Traveling through a corn maze is lots of fun, but even better at night with a flash light. Spooky times for sure!
13. The Element of Spooky Fun: Sharing Halloween with friends who also appreciate the holiday is most fun of all, like going to a great Halloween party or just getting together for pumpkin carving or to watch a scary movie. I love to set a great party table full of interesting foods and strange brews.
My friend Davina makes the most wonderful Halloween themed cakes you have ever seen, such as a haunted house complete with black iron fence and ghosts peeking through the windows of the house or a weathered old witches spell book with snakes and skull.
