# What are your Halloween night traditions.



## Bloody Freakin Mary (Jun 10, 2016)

Movies, music, activities, haunting s? But mostly what food do you make on Halloween?


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## Stochey (Sep 22, 2009)

Yay! These are my favorite kinds of threads!

Food -
Venison Queso with tortilla chips
Ground venison made with taco seasoning
can of rotel
big block of Velveeta

Sometimes pizza, always candy

Movies - 
Halloween (Carpenters)
Nightmare Before Christmas

Sometimes the ones below if I haven't watched them already during Sept-Oct:
Hocus Pocus
Trick R Treat
Sleepy Hollow (Depp and Cartoon )

We always turn all the lights off except for the decorative ones and JOLs and open the windows. I always make sure to keep everything lit past midnight.

Usually all that is after I hand out candy at my Aunt's house. They live in a rich neighborhood and get over 500 trick or treaters.


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## Bloody Freakin Mary (Jun 10, 2016)

I love venison but I've never heard of making Queso dip with it!!! I'll give it a try. And 500 is a LOT of trick or treaters!


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## Bloody Freakin Mary (Jun 10, 2016)

Does anyone take off work as a tradition?


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## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

I always take off of work. I start the day off with Tea and Cinnamon muffins in a Halloween plate & mug and put on The Black and White Classic Monster movies starting with Dracula. I just let them play so I can hear them. 

I usually make some kind of themed food for dinner Mummy Calzones, pumpkin shaped burgers, cute stuff I find on Pinterest etc... I have small kids. 

Getting ready for trick or treating I put on The Worst Witch (Tim Curry) I've done this since I was a little kid. 

I have my haunt set up but I always go trick or treating with my kids. I won't miss that. when we get back from tot-ing I hang out in my haunt and talk to all of the neighbors
When trick or treating slows down we come inside and put on Halloween (Original) 
My Jacks stay lit until after midnight. 
I go outside near midnight every year and stare up at the sky and watch for a witch to fly over the moon. I did this when I was around 8 or 9 and I've been doing it ever since. I love to look around at the graveyard when it's quiet and this year is over.


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## Mapleton Manor (Aug 2, 2014)

I usually take either a full day off or a half day off so I can do all the night of Halloween finishers for the TOTer's. Pumpkins lining drive, hot cocoa, CD player, and the such. Then we have TOTing and after that is done we go out to a certain restaurant every year where the wait staff are all in costume ( Which we are also in full costume that night so it makes it fun.) Although the year we were vampires in full theatrical makeup i went to the restroom and a 5 year old boy came in by himself. He took one look at me and quickly washed his hands (ran them under the water for a split second) and ran out. I tried to find him and his parents but it is a really large restaurant and i never found him. It was probably the first time he ever went to the restroom by himself and after that he will be 20 before he goes by himself again.


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## CherryBrandy79 (Nov 20, 2013)

Our Trick or Treat night tradition is kinda lame...we sit back out the decoration that we don't want to walk away from the yard or can't get wet...then we make frozen pizza and watch Halloween/scary movies.


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## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

After the haunt we always have a dinner party on theme. This year, it will be Louisiana!


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## Bloody Freakin Mary (Jun 10, 2016)

Not lame at all... it's perfect!


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## lisa48317 (Jul 23, 2010)

I always take at least a half day off work and the whole day after (for tear-down). 

I will do any necessary (or unnecessary) tweaks to the cemetery, get dressed and get the lights turned on, candles lit, candy ready to go, etc. Food will be frozen pizza & beer. I may or may not have husband / daughter / dog out off & on to keep me company or steal candy. The JOLs stay lit until they burn out on their own. 

One of my favorite things in the world is when the township sets off the outdoor warning / tornado sirens signalling the beginning of ToT, there's always that brief second of silent anticipation before you start hearing the kids pour out of houses to swarm the streets! The siren at the end of ToT always sounds so final and depressing, but kind of creepy at the same time. 

Afterward is when I like to do the official cemetery video, even tho the last couple years it's been in the rain. My sister lives out in the country, so she goes to Mom's house to pass out candy then she stops by my house on her way home. She intentionally waits to come by to see it at the best time! 

I miss those days when my daughter was in elementary school so I could go help out at school for the parties & parade! Damn kids get old.


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## Glitterati (Jul 27, 2016)

I am enjoying reading these and they inspire me to make more traditions. 
My child is still little, so we have just taken her to my parent's house (they have a huge neighborhood with tons of families) and do TOT, and we have had family themed costumes and TOT with her ourselves.
Now that we are doing a yard set up this year for the first time, I am hoping we go around our 'hood, then just sort of hanging out in our driveway with a firepit, and drinks and snacks set up for any TOT-rounding parents  I like the idea of a whole day of tradition though that was mentioned - cinnamon rolls on halloween plate, watching movies, etc.
For the past 2 years I started a tradition at work - we have a staff costume contest and let the clients vote on the winner by taking our photo in the morning and posting all of the photos in the reception area, and clients put a tally for their vote by the photo. My colleagues have gotten into it!!! I buy silly fun Halloween prizes for 1st-3rd place.


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## SaraB! (Jul 11, 2012)

Awww I like this. We don't get many TOTers where we live, but I wear my witch hat and hand out candy (and eat probably as much as we hand out...) and watch movies (Trick r' Treat and Nightmare Before Christmas at least) and Husband and I usually carve two little sugar pumpkins that we hold back from the ones we carve for the party (which is always the Saturday before.) 

It's usually pretty quiet but it's really nice.


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## MacabreWeb (Jul 28, 2016)

My Halloween night traditions..
Turn on a Halloween movie in the background, turn down the volume and have Halloween music over it. 
Make sure everything that can light up is turned on, plugged in, or on fire.
Make sure the candy cauldron/bowl is over flowing. 

Sit around, talk, play games in costume while we wait for trick or treaters!

Our dinner is usually something super simple because I have so much other stuff I'm getting ready. We've done pizza, chili dogs, sandwiches, something microwavable or something picked up like burgers for our main meal. Then I usually have Halloween themed treats on the table both savory and sweet accompanied by soft beverages. 

This year we're gonna try to find somewhere to go out to but if we don't find anything we like, I'm going to do a bunch of Halloween finger foods and we're gonna try a recipe or two for adult beverages.  I'm not a big drinker, I go more for taste than effect when I do drink. (Last time I had a drink I think was last Summer!) I've seen some tasty cocktails floating around Pinterest I want to try one!


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## JoyfulCrow (Aug 31, 2015)

I wish I could afford to take the day off! Instead I spend as much free time as I have doing Halloween-y things, especially in the evening.  

Usually I'll start with a cuter Halloween movie like Nightmare Before Christmas. Then, once it's dark out, I'll watch the original Halloween. After that it's just whatever horror movies I feel like watching--I try to pick things that will actually scare me, as I am a firm believer that Halloween should be about getting scared!
Of course all of this is accompanied by tea or hot chocolate in a Halloween or horror-themed mug...and lots of candy and sweets, haha.

Sometimes I'll go for a walk around the neighborhood at night just to see the decorations that the houses around here have put out. Plus it's cute to see the TOTers running around. I live in an apartment building, so I don't get any.

Later at night I'll usually take out my runes and do a reading with them; something about the spiritual energy of Halloween night just feeling 'right'...


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## redlandmaggie (Aug 22, 2016)

My kids, at 17 and 20, are (according to them) too old now for trick or treating - so they now help me get the 20 jack o'lanterns carved and ready, the lanterns hung in the trees coming up the drive, the graveyard set up, and speakers rigged up outside for our Halloween music. They outwardly moan that it's such a bunch of trouble, but would be inwardly bummed if I didn't set up all of our creepy and spooky "family portraits" and Halloween decorations around the house about mid-October. The neighborhood we are in has mostly older folks, so we are sort of Halloween-lite when it comes to attracting trick-or-treaters. We are definitely the most decorated house on our 1/2 mile street. We haul out all of the classic Halloween movies (even the Disney style ones), and end with Nightmare Before Christmas. Last year I made a whole bunch of Halloween fairies, hung them in the entry stairwell, and was surprised at how all of my son's friends loved them when they came up the stairs. They may say they are too old for this stuff - but they're really not, yet.

Last year I pretty much decorated for myself as we had monsoon rains the entire night, and had only 3 trick-or-treaters while I spent the whole evening trying to keep the pumpkins lit - Hopefully we have a traditional crisp Fall night, and have lots of little ones arriving.


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

I normally take two weeks vacation at Haloween. This year it's the 23-Nov 5. Takes us a week to get the haunt set up. We do a trial run "friends and family night" the night or two before Halloween, just to work out any bugs and make last minute adjustments. The folks who come to this go through and give us their impressions and tell us what worked and what didn't. On Halloween day, we do final set up, bring out the good stuff etc. Since we have a crew of about 20 helpers, we have them come over around 4:00 pm or so. Traditionally we get a bunch of pizzas and wings and feed all of our helpers. Around 5 we tart getting make-up, costumes, etc.. and at 5:30 we get in our places. People normaly start lining up around 5:40 or so and given we get over 600 TOTs a year, we need to be ready. We do a last minute walkthrough to be sure everyone is where they're supposed to be and that they all have bottled water etc.. We power up the lights and sound and let 'er rip! The last of the TOT's usually come by around 8:15 or so. then we gather for some photos, and just hang our and swap stories about the best scares, etc.. We have a little after glow with some liquid refreshments and snacks and then we bring in some of the props and any electronics. After everyone heads home I love to sit and take in whatever good horror movies or classic Halloween re-runs happen to be playing. I rarely get to bed before 2 in the morning and the very last thing I do is step outside one last time and look down the empty street and see if our jacks are still burning. I never blow them out but let them burn long into the night. Love it when they're still lit that late!


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## GrimGrinningGhost (Sep 2, 2009)

I take two weeks off. This year I can only get the day before, the day of and the day after (which was actually a big favor from my boss this year: next year will go back to the two week stint).

Saying that my activities all depend on how much they struggle.


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## Dakuderp (Aug 15, 2016)

Typically, I try to watch 30 horror movies over the month. And then when Halloween comes around, I'll watch some more horror movies, some movies I've never seen and some regulars like Grinch Night, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Trick 'r Treat. I make sure that the lights are turned off and if I don't have class the next day, I'll stay up all night and play some scary video games. A bit more boring than some traditions, but I always enjoy it.


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## SallySkellington (Aug 13, 2016)

Nightmare Before Christmas MUST be watched and Michael Jackson's Thriller listened to every Halloween for me <3


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## SallySkellington (Aug 13, 2016)

Dakuderp said:


> Typically, I try to watch 30 horror movies over the month. And then when Halloween comes around, I'll watch some more horror movies, some movies I've never seen and some regulars like Grinch Night, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Trick 'r Treat. I make sure that the lights are turned off and if I don't have class the next day, I'll stay up all night and play some scary video games. A bit more boring than some traditions, but I always enjoy it.


Hey as long as you enjoy it then it's just what it should be


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## redlandmaggie (Aug 22, 2016)

We trick or treated in town for a number of years when we lived out on a farm when our kids were quite small. We would head to my brother-in-laws house in a very nice neighborhood - my favorite part was for the adults to bring a wine glass, so when the kids were handed their treats, we were asked "red or white?" by each host or hostess at each fabulously decorated house... Now THAT is my kind of trick or treating.


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## hopelesslyinsane (Sep 6, 2013)

Where do you guys live that you're getting 500 to 600 TOTs?! I'll be lucky to break 50 from what the neighbors tell me.

I'm loving this thread. With the recent changes to our small family I'm definitely open to starting new traditions. So far the only constant is my annual watching of Nightmare Before Christmas.


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## Pumpkin215 (Jul 31, 2013)

Halloween is always my vacation time. I take off the week of (this year I'm taking 2 weeks) and the day after.

All week for dinner, I cook Halloween themed meals. Nothing crazy but items like pumpkin shaped pasta and trick-or-treat turnovers (Google it. They are yummy!).

The night before is the Pumpkin carving. The day of I get up, get my pumpkin coffee and put on my Halloween PJs. I go around and put fresh batteries in all the props, make sure everything works, set up the fog machines, etc. I'll have on whatever spooky movie marathon is playing all day in the background.

Dinner is always pizza delivery, no time to cook that night! Candles get lit in the evening and the music goes on. I'll do my makeup before dinner so that I'm not rushing, (That has happened too many times). About an hour before TOT, I'll get dressed and crack open a pumpkin beer!!

Hubby normally a takes half a day from work or the whole day to help me set up. He will pick up the dry ice or anything else we need. I cant wait now that it is getting closer!!


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## JMummey (Oct 4, 2016)

A popular activity if we are going to have young children at the house is to make a Cake Blob of Horror - it is basically a normal cake you mess up with a fork, little kids really enjoy making this, here is a photo and step by steps: http://www.mummey.com/crafting.aspx#cakeBlob


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