Oct 27, 2021 3 min read

This is the big week before Halloween and my neighborhood is decorated with all sorts of blow-up spiders, ghosts and other ghastly creatures. Some folks have covered their homes in fake cobwebs while others have opted for orange strings of lights. Then there’s my house adorned with only a Halloween door decoration. Sigh. I just can’t get into Halloween. Am I the only one?

Halloween has ballooned into a major consumer holiday now and rivals Christmas in spending. Consumers are expected to spend a record $10.14 billion on Halloween this year. Billion! Candy sales are up 29% over last year when COVID fears and restrictions put a lid on trick-or-treating and other festivities. Now candy buying is something I can totally get behind – especially peanut butter cups.

I used to like Halloween and haunted houses when I was a kid but still probably not as much as other kids. I haven’t watched hardly any of the horror movie franchises that people love, and they’re pretty hard to avoid in October since that’s all that’s on TV this entire month. Haunted houses were always fun, but once a year was enough. I went to a few of the theme parks’ Halloween-themed events years ago and they were always fun. Friends usually hold a Halloween costume party with a creative theme, like ’80s rock stars or something silly, and this year’s theme is based on a popular TV show. I always admire people who are so creative in their costumes or come up with something I never would have imagined!

Fortunately, my excuse for getting out of Halloween celebrations this year is that I have to work. That means I don’t have to buy candy for kids who I don’t know or wait outside to hand it to them. A few years ago, I bought a bunch of candy and turned on all of the outside lights to wait for the kids. When no one rang the doorbell after 15 minutes despite seeing kids on the street, I went outside to see my neighbors all sitting on their porches in the chilly air (wearing coats) and handing out the treats. It basically had become an outdoor happy hour for everyone with Halloween candy also involved. Do trick-or-treaters not have to ring the doorbell anymore? I must have missed something. Again, though, I can get behind the happy hour mixed with candy idea.

I’m sure I would be very much into Halloween if I had kids. It really is fun to see them all dressed up in their costumes, and teenagers seem to go wild for Halloween. As for spending tons of time and money outfitting my house or going all out for an adult costume party – I’ll take a pass and just hold out until Christmas. But I may still buy a bag of peanut butter cups.

Happy Halloween!

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.