Halloween

[xoxoxoBruce]

After last weekend, I noticed one of the neighborhoods I pass through on the way home from work, was lit up. I thought it was Christmas decorations but when I got there it was for Halloween.
Yellow and orange strings of lights on houses, fences and trees. Ghosties, goblins, pumpkins and witches everywhere.
These folks are going all out.
Do you decorate your house/yard for Halloween?

[wolf]

My house, in some important sense, is always decorated for Halloween. I love Ancestor's Moon.

I have a dilemma. I am attending a party tomorrow night, and have not made any moves to prepare a costume. I am actually not certain that it is a costume party. The invitation instructions "be as kinky as you want to be" may call for consultation with BrianR rather than getting a SpongeBob costume at the Walmart ...

Therefore, I need something that is clever, but relatively low key, in the event that I'm the only one that shows up dressed for Halloween rather than an orgy.

I have a full lady pirate outfit from the RenFaire, but in a small space I tend to knock expensive shit over with my sword if I turn around too fast.

I have considered a couple possibilities:

Tie some string to an index card. Write the word "Witch" on it in very fancy calligraphy

I have a teeshirt that has a print of Durer's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Since the great majority of the party guests will be city-livin' liberals, I had considered introducing myself, if asked, as the Fifth Horseman ... The Conservative. This, however, is a bit too close to what I wore to a party given by the same gentleman a few years back ... I went as a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

I could use the same Four Horsemen teeshirt and pick one of the four ... War, probably, because I have a set of OD green BDU pants right here handy. Pestilence might be fun as an alternate, but would require a good deal more playacting, including sneezing, sniffling, and coughing. The equipment necessary to carry off a convincing Ebola is not within my budget. There is no way that I could do Famine, and Death, well, that's been done to Death, so to speak.

[BigV]

yep.

[Trilby]

I have orange lights on my house and a plug-in Jack O'Lantern in the window (he has a very evil grin) and pumpkins, wreaths, a wind-chime thing-y of skulls and bones and window decals of scary cats and cartoon witches. I've a beautiful wooden statue of the Headless Horseman and lots and lots of indoor decorations, too. I LOVE Halloween. It's so much better than Christmas. Low stress, good weather, and you don't go broke preparing for it.

[elSicomoro]

When I lived in Philly, it seemed like people put up lights for every holiday: pink for Valentine's Day, green for St. Pat's Day, orange and yellow for Halloween/Thanksgiving. I have seen some houses here in St. Louis decorated with lights for Halloween...maybe holiday lights (beyond Xmas) are a nationwide thing these days. I guess I'll see over the next several months.

[xoxoxoBruce]

From Christian Century , Nov 15, 2000.

In 1999 Halloween became the second-biggest American holiday, based on the amount of money spent on decorations. According to Unity Marketing, Americans spent $659 million on Halloween stuff in 1999, pushing it ahead of Easter into the No. 2 spot. (Christmas is easily No. 1, with $1.9 billion spent on decorating.)

From How-stuff-works

Halloween continues to be extremely popular with kids of all ages; 85 to 90 percent of U.S. children go trick-or-treating or engage in other Halloween festivities every year, and many adults also join in on the fun. In a 2000 poll, the National Retail Federation found that 65 percent of U.S. adults between 18 and 34 attended Halloween costume parties or other celebrations.

Halloween continues to be extremely popular with kids of all ages; 85 to 90 percent of U.S. children go trick-or-treating or engage in other Halloween festivities every year, and many adults also join in on the fun. In a 2000 poll, the National Retail Federation found that 65 percent of U.S. adults between 18 and 34 attended Halloween costume parties or other celebrations.
In the United States, Halloween lags just behind New Year's Eve and the Super Bowl in total number of parties, and it's second only to Christmas in total consumer dollars spent. According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. consumers spent an average of $44 per household in 2002 on Halloween candy, costumes and decorations. Familes with young children spent an average of $62. The 2002 holiday brought in about $6.9 billion in sales in the United States.

From Pittsburgh live

Spending nationwide for Halloween is expected to hit an estimated $3.29 billion, up 5.4 percent from the $3.12 billion spent in 2004, according to the National Retail Federation, which began tracking Halloween spending in 2001.

We're talking big bucks here, but the per person isn't that bad unless you want it to be.
There will always be somebody on the block that wants to be "The Joneses"

[Elspode]

Wolf, but the SpongeBob costume, then make a great big penis out of yellow sponge, attach it to the BVD's, and you'll be prepared for any eventuality.

[zippyt]

so would that make him a Sponge "worthy" Bob ???

[Beestie]

I don't do all that much but this guy did something interesting.



The neighbors were less than amused,

[Elspode]

People need to lighten up. I used to make various Halloween-themed construction paper cutouts to hang in my front window. I always included a ghost smoking a cig. That would probably get me a visit from the Surgeon General these days.

[Tonchi]

I used to decorate the inside of my house very elaborately for Halloween, using mostly the harvest themes that would carry over all the way until Thanksgiving. I'd put stuff in the windows, but never outside because too many kids nowdays are budding vandals and like to trash the work of more talented families. Last year, as usual, I had a centerpiece of gourds, Indian corn cobs, mini pumpkins and leaves, changed all the candles and candle rings to seasonal colors, put the electric jack-o-lantern in the greenhouse window and hung a new windsock with bats on it. I was especially proud of my new lifesize rooster from Michael's, made in China with real feathers, which sat in the middle of the centerpiece.

I got to enjoy the atmosphere for exactly one day. Barely asleep, I was startled by a tremendous crash and rushed out to find T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, dragging the rooster across the floor in the wreckage of the centerpiece. She had stalked and "killed" it and now was trying to figure out how to eat it! Since she was just 5 months old and had only been with me for a few weeks, I guess she thought her space was being invaded. Or maybe just the feline killer instinct. But it has put an end to my decorating impulses for now

Just in case, I didn't put up the fiber-optic rotating Christmas tree last year either.

[wolf]

Best Halloween decoration of the year.

Suicide Mistaken for Halloween Decoration Thu Oct 27, 7:10 PM ET

FREDERICA, Del. -- The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.

"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.

[Rock Steady]

At the company I work, for the second year in a row, the halloween office theme is "dress up as one of your co-workers". I'm dressing as one of the girls that I'm going to the Gwen Stefani concert with. She has distinuishing features that I can duplicate and be recognized.

She always wears black low-top Chuck Taylors with ankle socks. Got mine Friday night. Black capri pants and black shirt; check. (shaved my legs below the knee). Since August her necklace is a hollow pink heart on sliver chain. I made one out of pink pipe cleaner and chain.

With that alone, I could pull it off. But the slam dunk is the hair. I got a halloween wig of long black hair with two big bleached streaks. I got the spray purple hair color and will do half the bleached streaks in purple. That will be a very good replica of her hair.

My 15 yo daughter is helping me with the project. She got me black liquid eyeliner and will put it on me with long points to make my eyes look more asian. I tried on all the clothing and everything looks great. This is going to be so much fun.

[Trilby]

uh----RS--where do you work, again?

[Trilby]

In an unrelated incident: I've suffered a Jack'O'Lantern carving accident to my left thumb. It was very painful and very bloody but, thankfully, I am recovering.

Thank you for your concern. And thank you, in advance, for your Jack'O'Lantern pics!!!!!!