Everyone has favorite personal or family traditions for each holiday. Last October I asked what your favorite horror films and literature were, and then gave my favorite horror films and stories afterward (feel free to still contribute to those discussions). This year I would like to ask you a somewhat different question. Not all great Halloween films and TV specials are “horror,” though many are. What are your favorite movies, TV specials, and books to enjoy in the days and weeks before Halloween and why? I will share mine in a few days.
(Illustration: a still from A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Jacob A. Davis 
We love watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” during this season. Last year, we hosted 2 outdoor movie nights (called “Haunted Cinema”) in our backyard, and the second night (family night), we watched those animated flicks as a double feature. We did stove-top popcorn for everyone, along with sodas & candy & other Halloween treats. We gave the kiddos glow sticks & let them run around the yard in the dark. We invited the whole neighborhood, and it was a great way to get to know our neighbors & share our favorite holiday with them.
We also love decorating our home & front yard during the first week of October, and keeping the spooky decorations up month-long. (Some, we love so much, they never come down!)
Another of my favorite traditions is gathering with my extended family at my grandparents’ house every October for a Halloween celebration. Some of us dress up, but my mom goes all out with this awesome green-face witch costume, warts & all. She writes a Halloween poem (a different one every year!), which incorporates all the young ones in the family & explains how they have to find certain items which the witch has somehow lost. Then, the kids all grab their flashlights, and we have a nighttime scavenger hunt to look for Halloween-themed treats in my grandparents’ decked-out, creepy yard. It is so much fun, and something I look forward to every year… even moreso now that I have a child.
LikeLike
Wow. It sounds like your extended family has some incredibly fun Halloween traditions. What a great thing you did for your friends and neighbors last year as well. It’s good to hear stories of making the most of celebrating the holiday.
LikeLike