Is Halloween the New Christmas?
#1
In days of old, the sight of houses covered in over-the-top light decorations, miles and miles of yard displays and extravagant spending on treats and sweets meant only one thing: Christmas was near.

Not anymore. Now, the celebration begins two months earlier, in October, for Halloween.

The holiday that once meant just quaint trick-or-treating, a costume contest or two and maybe a bob for an apple is now second only to Christmas when it comes to celebrating, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation.

Nearly 69 percent of Americans say they intend to celebrate the holiday this Monday, Oct. 31, the highest amount in the survey's nine-year history.

Nearly half of those celebrating will decorate their homes and-or yard, and each will spend an average $72.31 on decorations, costumes and candy, a figure second only to the amount spent by individuals on Christmas décor.

Need more proof that Santa Claus and Rudolph have ghosts and goblins close on their heels?

Check out this Riverside, Calif., home whose owners have strung thousands of lights to create a sea of singing pumpkin faces, tombstones and hand-carved pumpkins for trick-or-treaters', and passing cars', delight.

There's no sounds of "Silent Night" or even "Jingle Bells" here, however. This Halloween light show is set to the tunes of the LMFAO hit pop song "Party Rock Anthem."

The same house was decked out last year in the same lights but tuned to what could be considered more of the Halloween version of a Christmas jingle: "Thriller," by Michael Jackson.
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#2
If I was these peoples neighbor I think there would be war over this. I think this is maybe why I live in the woods instead. Smiling
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#3
Halloween has simply become a pain in the ass. The little ones, who arrive before 8:00 are cute and I enjoy them. It's the big ones who come later...

And that's just at the house. I have no idea what goes on out in the world and I don't really want to know.

An aside: I ride a Harley motorcycle. There is part of that culture that is all about death and destruction, skulls and crossbones. The other part is all about eagles, the flag, and reasonable exhaust pipes.
Kind of like Halloween. One can do it different ways.

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#4
(10-25-2011, 01:08 PM)PonderThis Wrote: If I was these peoples neighbor I think there would be war over this. I think this is maybe why I live in the woods instead. Smiling

Laughing Laughing
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#5
I love decorating our house, it is decorated inside and out. We make a lot of our own stuff and it looks so cool. We also make our own costumes. Now when we were in the Roseburg area we put on a haunt and it was a blast. I also go all out for Christmas too. Most of our stuff we make ourselves.
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#6
Hugo was fresh off the plane from Spain and eight years old, when we introduced him to Halloween. He went wild. He had to get two costumes to achieve the look he wanted. Hugo did Halloween with class.
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#7
(10-25-2011, 09:54 PM)illcommandante Wrote: Hugo was fresh off the plane from Spain and eight years old, when we introduced him to Halloween. He went wild. He had to get two costumes to achieve the look he wanted. Hugo did Halloween with class.

It's a fun holiday....we have a life size skeleton hanging from the eaves and a flying witch on a broom. We also have a half wine barrel with some mums and a couple of kid scarecrows. That's as far as we went. Smiling
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#8
Bah humbug.

I appreciate women dressing up like sluts (Jessica Rabbit was popular for a while), but otherwise I have little use for it.

My kids are grown. Kids don't come to my current neighborhood. The fun is gone.
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#9
I love Halloween. A true, magical time of the year . . . .
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#10
I LOVE Halloween. Today the outside lights went up, finally. I put out quite a few inside decorations to go with the outside ones and will of course be carving out a pumpkin for the Big Day.
It is sad when we don't have any kids come to our house, like last year. Maybe this year we'll get some. We lived in places where we had tons of ghosts and goblins and we all enjoyed it. I wear a Halloween shirt and jewelry which is really fun. Grandson will be a shark this year and baby bro will be a frog. So cute.
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#11
(10-26-2011, 07:53 PM)TennisMom Wrote: I LOVE Halloween. Today the outside lights went up, finally. I put out quite a few inside decorations to go with the outside ones and will of course be carving out a pumpkin for the Big Day.
It is sad when we don't have any kids come to our house, like last year. Maybe this year we'll get some. We lived in places where we had tons of ghosts and goblins and we all enjoyed it. I wear a Halloween shirt and jewelry which is really fun. Grandson will be a shark this year and baby bro will be a frog. So cute.

Hope you post some photos of the shark and the frog!
I have to enjoy other folk's grandkids. Sad
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#12
I remember Dubya's surprise visit with the troops. The plastic turkey made the headlines, but what went unnoticed, was when he was bobbing for apples with the Gis. He pinned a McIntosh to the bottom of the tub, and the water level didn't rise a inch.
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#13
So who is going to a Halloween party? Yeah, I thought so.

I am.Smiling
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#14
(10-26-2011, 08:34 PM)cletus1 Wrote: So who is going to a Halloween party? Yeah, I thought so.

I am.Smiling

What costume did you decide upon?
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#15
(10-26-2011, 08:38 PM)Crone Wrote:
(10-26-2011, 08:34 PM)cletus1 Wrote: So who is going to a Halloween party? Yeah, I thought so.

I am.Smiling

What costume did you decide upon?

Any good haunted houses in the area this year?
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#16
The one thing I dreaded about Halloween was costumes. I have no creative imagination and even less ability with arts, crafts and sewing needles. My kids always had store-bought outfits which they adored so it was okay. As for me, I wear my same silly shirt with all the Halloween motifs on it and pumpkin earrings. That's as dressed up as it gets for me.
No party for us but we recorded some horror movies and plan to have pizza and wine for dinner; every year. It's tradition. Oh, and leftover candy. I'd love to hear about anyone else's costumes if they plan to make some. It amazes me how clever people are.
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#17
(10-26-2011, 09:12 PM)Valuesize Wrote:
(10-26-2011, 08:38 PM)Crone Wrote:
(10-26-2011, 08:34 PM)cletus1 Wrote: So who is going to a Halloween party? Yeah, I thought so.

I am.Smiling

What costume did you decide upon?

Any good haunted houses in the area this year?

Theres' the morguetorium in Phoenix. Good one. We were all set to go as a family tomorrow night, but we had to cancel.Sad
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#18
I went out with DIL to root out good decorated neighborhoods for trick or treating. Apparently the Rogue Valley didn't receive the memo about Halloween being the new Christmas. We went all over CP and Medford and didn't find hardly a thing.
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#19
[Image: clown.gif]
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#20
If I had epilepsy I think I'd be going into a fit about now.
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