The fall season – particularly the time around Halloween – is the second best time of the year. While nothing can beat the wonderful winter months, there are plenty of Halloween festivities that give the holiday season a run for its money. In the spirit of the 31st, I am going to discuss some of the best Halloween traditions from trick or treating to Halloween movies and Mischief Night.
Trick or Treating
Are you the fun house that hands out king sizes or the lame one that disappoints trick or treaters with raisins? Hopefully not the latter. One of my favorite memories from when I was younger was sorting all of my hard-earned candy for the annual trade ring. Raisins and pretzels were always thrown away first while other favorites remained as big prizes. Depending on the value of the candy, sometimes you would have to give away an entire handful of one kind in exchange for just one piece of another. Everyone would sit on the floor and lay out every individual candy by brand, variety, and flavor so others could shop and propose trades. The best feeling was having the most sought-after bar; you were the only one who had it, and everyone else wanted it. Trick or treating was my favorite tradition when I was younger, and now I like to continue that tradition by handing out treats to the next generation of candy collectors.
Mischief Night
Growing up in New Jersey, everyone knew about Mischief Night. Arguably more fun than trick or treating, all of the kids in the neighborhood would dress in black clothing and scheme for a night full of pranks. October thirtieth was the perfect time to get harmless revenge on someone or scare the life out of your friends. Whether this meant covering houses with toilet paper, surprising people with silly string, participating in harmless vandalism, or jump-scaring people, it was sure to be a night full of fun. There was no risk of getting in trouble because all of the adults knew about Mischief Night from when they were kids, and some even participated. The best part was having friends with older siblings who would level up the mischief by acting as chauffeurs – the ding-dong ditching was legendary. It’s crazy to me that Mischief Night – or something similar – doesn’t even exist in most of the United States. In New Jersey, it was always everyone’s favorite night of the year.
Halloween Movies
Another Halloween favorite is to grab a bunch of friends, blankets, and snacks, and get ready for a marathon of Halloween movies. Some people go for fun classics like Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, or Charlie Brown, while others gravitate towards the horror genre. Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Scream are some of the Sherman family favorites. Watching horror movies is all fun and games until the movie is over and you start hearing noises in the house. It’s probably nothing. Or it could be Michael Myers. Anyway, there are plenty of movies for everyone, and sometimes it’s nice to just relax (or not) and enjoy a night at home during the Halloween season.
Carving Pumpkins
One of the oldest traditions of All Hallows Eve, Jack-O’-Lanterns are a Halloween staple. There are so many different ways to carve pumpkins, so it’s a fun activity for everyone. And if you are not a big fan of pumpkin guts, you can always resort to painting pumpkins instead. It’s also always fun to head to the pumpkin patch and hand-pick all of the potential Jack-O’-Lanterns. My family carves Jack-O’-Lanterns every year, and they remain on the front stoop until the squirrels get to them. It’s always fun to compete and see who can design the best pumpkin without being sabotaged by the other teams. My brothers are not particularly gifted in the artistic sense, so luckily I never have too much to worry about.
Overall, there are so many fun and festive traditions to celebrate on Halloween. It’s a perfect bridge to the holiday season giving us all something to look forward to, especially as the days start getting shorter and the weather starts getting crummier. There is fun for everyone, from staying in with your family to partying with your friends.