Shortage of "Halloween" friends?

[Snoopy/Red Baron]

Anyone get frustrated by how "boring" or conventional your group of friends are? How can autumn roll around and you not get excited about fall festivals, renaissance fairs and Halloween related activities? Every year, I have all these things I would love to do like the Texas Renaissance Festival (they have a Halloween weekend too) or Haunted Houses or Dewberry Farm's Halloween event, but my friends just want to do the same thing they do EVERY other weekend of the year: go to a bar/club and drink. I wish I knew more creative and fun and outgoing people.

[HalloweenMelanie]

Hah, I tell everyone this is why I keep having children. ETA: There are 17 years between my youngest and middle child...I swear I was bribing my oldest son by age 13 or 14 to keep trick-or-treating with me, LOL. Poor tortured kid. But being outside at night time is one of the best parts of Halloween! Running around the neighborhood spooking each other...it's dark...it's chilly...somehow that never gets old.

I'm lucky. My DH loves fantasy, plays online games (LOTR, EQ, Dark Age), watches my LOTR movies with me repeatedly...the one thing he probably doesn't share as much with me is Halloween. We try to do RenFest every year. The only thing that's stopped us so far has been my being too pregnant (back east, RenFest was in August/Sept. and I delivered in July and had a long healing period). We also did my dorky stuff like Oktoberfest, which we all enjoyed. This year there's a huge farm I hope we can go to which does a lot of seasonal stuff--somewhat rare around here. And one of these days we're going to leave the kids with Grandma and do Knotts Berry Farm's Halloween haunted hayride.

I do find that most "grown-ups" don't like Halloween as much, and certainly out here (in southern California) they don't in general make as big a deal of it. I mean they don't decorate as early and nowhere near as many people decorate at all. They're very friendly and we can trick-or-treat at virtually any house in our neighborhood, but it's not really a "seasonal" celebration here because, well, it isn't really a season.

Pride yourself on being the person who really knows how to break out and have fun and how to keep the magic alive. People may not seem to notice, but I'll bet they drive past your decorated house and have a million wonderful memories and are awed and just love it. People do a lot of good in this world. Scientists work toward cures and vaccines, doctors heal, teachers teach, workers in an office lift up their companies, parents parent, but we need magic, too. A little touch of it here and there to remember that life is not all work and no play. So, hurrah for the "fun people". Keep celebrating in your way and keep having this great time to look forward to every year.

I enjoy being the "fun keeper" but I do often long for a really great girlfriend who would love to do the things I love to do. But I have to think people who go this nuts on one holiday or one season are somewhat more a minority. C'est la vie~!

[ghostess]

I have no friends near me that are into it like I am. My youngest sister was for about 2 weeks, and she decided she didn't want to bother with it anymore (which is fine with me, I don't like to spend much time with her anyway). My other sister was born on Halloween, but ironically doesn't really care about doing anything for it other than getting drunk.

The rest of my local friends are all wrapped up in their uninteresting little worlds of carting children to soccer games, gossiping, shopping at the mall, carpooling, getting their hair and nails done, and drinking their wine.

I've made lots of Halloween friends on the internet to fill that void, and we have several haunters in Florida that all get together now once every couple of months to talk shop and make stuff.

My kids love Halloween, they love to talk about it and to make stuff for it. My husband is proud of my accomplishments, but he's not into it - he has his own hobbies. He;ll watch Harry Potter movies with me over and over again though.

[Snoopy/Red Baron]

HalloweenMelanie: What a wonderful perspective you have on the world (especially the part about doctors, parents and the good that people try to do), and thank you the kind words about my trying to keep the magic alive. I laughed mightily about you using your kids to go trick or treating! Here's to you never losing the magic either!

Ghostess: I'm glad you know what I mean. But you have given me inspiration to at least try to organize a few haunters around here to get together from time to time and have some fun. I wish the people on this forum all lived in the same neighborhood; now that would be a fun Halloween season!

[HalloweenDot]

Do you throw a Halloween party or other themed costume party? A Dr friend of mine through a "Pro's and Ho's" (tennis pros) costume party last summer in St. Augustine and everyone came dressed up. Sometimes I think that people get in the "bars and drinking" rut because there is nothing else to do - at least that is what they think. His party kind of shows that isn't the case and it might just take some effort.

I agree though, the bar scene is ok every once in a while but gets tiresome.

Anyone get frustrated by how "boring" or conventional your group of friends are? How can autumn roll around and you not get excited about fall festivals, renaissance fairs and Halloween related activities? Every year, I have all these things I would love to do like the Texas Renaissance Festival (they have a Halloween weekend too) or Haunted Houses or Dewberry Farm's Halloween event, but my friends just want to do the same thing they do EVERY other weekend of the year: go to a bar/club and drink. I wish I knew more creative and fun and outgoing people.

[HalloweenDot]

I'm in Florida and it isn't super "seasony" here either, but people seem to get into the Halloween spirit here in our neighborhood and in the area.

People here have been doing the "Boo!" sign with the wine/candy/treats and then you have to "Boo!" others which seems to get people in the spirit if you start early enough, maybe the first week in October. Now it goes on all over the neighborhood and the area.

If you aren't familiar with "Boo!"-ing you can see what we do here, maybe it will help get more people psyched:

http://www.halloween.com/how-to-boo-for-halloween.php

Hah, I tell everyone this is why I keep having children. ETA: There are 17 years between my youngest and middle child...I swear I was bribing my oldest son by age 13 or 14 to keep trick-or-treating with me, LOL. Poor tortured kid. But being outside at night time is one of the best parts of Halloween! Running around the neighborhood spooking each other...it's dark...it's chilly...somehow that never gets old.

I'm lucky. My DH loves fantasy, plays online games (LOTR, EQ, Dark Age), watches my LOTR movies with me repeatedly...the one thing he probably doesn't share as much with me is Halloween. We try to do RenFest every year. The only thing that's stopped us so far has been my being too pregnant (back east, RenFest was in August/Sept. and I delivered in July and had a long healing period). We also did my dorky stuff like Oktoberfest, which we all enjoyed. This year there's a huge farm I hope we can go to which does a lot of seasonal stuff--somewhat rare around here. And one of these days we're going to leave the kids with Grandma and do Knotts Berry Farm's Halloween haunted hayride.

I do find that most "grown-ups" don't like Halloween as much, and certainly out here (in southern California) they don't in general make as big a deal of it. I mean they don't decorate as early and nowhere near as many people decorate at all. They're very friendly and we can trick-or-treat at virtually any house in our neighborhood, but it's not really a "seasonal" celebration here because, well, it isn't really a season.

Pride yourself on being the person who really knows how to break out and have fun and how to keep the magic alive. People may not seem to notice, but I'll bet they drive past your decorated house and have a million wonderful memories and are awed and just love it. People do a lot of good in this world. Scientists work toward cures and vaccines, doctors heal, teachers teach, workers in an office lift up their companies, parents parent, but we need magic, too. A little touch of it here and there to remember that life is not all work and no play. So, hurrah for the "fun people". Keep celebrating in your way and keep having this great time to look forward to every year.

I enjoy being the "fun keeper" but I do often long for a really great girlfriend who would love to do the things I love to do. But I have to think people who go this nuts on one holiday or one season are somewhat more a minority. C'est la vie~!

[evilincarnate78]

Before my wife and I were married, almost all of our friends were really into celebrating Halloween. There were always parties to go to or costume contests at the local bar. Fast forward almost 6 years and the majority of those same friends could care less. Example: Two years ago a friend of ours decided he wanted to throw a mighty Halloween bash. We knew we were in trouble as soon as we arrived. The house wasn't decorated (not even a jack-o-lantern could be found) and the majority of the guests weren't even in costume! We had fun anyway, but I felt bad for those who weren't into it.

So you may be asking yourself, what makes Halloween fun for this guy? I'll tell you, my neighborhood is AWESOME when it comes to celebrating Halloween. When we bought our house in late Sept 2002, I was very concerned that I would be the only guy on the block who decorated. Man was I wrong. Almost every single house is decorated to some extent. I've had neighbors stop by and tell me they had to better their displays to keep up with me. What a great compliment! Every year I have parents come up to me on Halloween night and say "all my son/daughter has been saying for the past week is I can't wait to trick or treat at the "cemetary" house." That my friends makes it all worth while. Who needs boring friends who aren't into Halloween when you have a neighborhodd that goes all out!!!

Happy Haunting

[HalloweenDot]

We have a few houses on one of the streets in my neighborhood that go all out and raise money for a local charity. They rename the street "Boo Boulevard" for Halloween (informally of course) and have many, many people come through it. The local paper has had information about it the last few years.

My two daughters (they were 8 and 10 last Halloween) got scared out of their wits. They had some very realistic figures of witches etc. They also had 3 or 4 people dressed up and these people looked very much like the fake ones and they would sit among a group of them. Of course, they wanted to get up close and see the decorations and as soon as they did the witch stood up!

Let's just say they screamed extremely loudly.

Before my wife and I were married, almost all of our friends were really into celebrating Halloween. There were always parties to go to or costume contests at the local bar. Fast forward almost 6 years and the majority of those same friends could care less. Example: Two years ago a friend of ours decided he wanted to throw a mighty Halloween bash. We knew we were in trouble as soon as we arrived. The house wasn't decorated (not even a jack-o-lantern could be found) and the majority of the guests weren't even in costume! We had fun anyway, but I felt bad for those who weren't into it.

So you may be asking yourself, what makes Halloween fun for this guy? I'll tell you, my neighborhood is AWESOME when it comes to celebrating Halloween. When we bought our house in late Sept 2002, I was very concerned that I would be the only guy on the block who decorated. Man was I wrong. Almost every single house is decorated to some extent. I've had neighbors stop by and tell me they had to better their displays to keep up with me. What a great compliment! Every year I have parents come up to me on Halloween night and say "all my son/daughter has been saying for the past week is I can't wait to trick or treat at the "cemetary" house." That my friends makes it all worth while. Who needs boring friends who aren't into Halloween when you have a neighborhodd that goes all out!!!

Happy Haunting

[HalloweenMelanie]

Before my wife and I were married, almost all of our friends were really into celebrating Halloween. There were always parties to go to or costume contests at the local bar. Fast forward almost 6 years and the majority of those same friends could care less. Example: Two years ago a friend of ours decided he wanted to throw a mighty Halloween bash. We knew we were in trouble as soon as we arrived. The house wasn't decorated (not even a jack-o-lantern could be found) and the majority of the guests weren't even in costume! We had fun anyway, but I felt bad for those who weren't into it.

So you may be asking yourself, what makes Halloween fun for this guy? I'll tell you, my neighborhood is AWESOME when it comes to celebrating Halloween. When we bought our house in late Sept 2002, I was very concerned that I would be the only guy on the block who decorated. Man was I wrong. Almost every single house is decorated to some extent. I've had neighbors stop by and tell me they had to better their displays to keep up with me. What a great compliment! Every year I have parents come up to me on Halloween night and say "all my son/daughter has been saying for the past week is I can't wait to trick or treat at the "cemetary" house." That my friends makes it all worth while. Who needs boring friends who aren't into Halloween when you have a neighborhodd that goes all out!!!

Happy Haunting

Hah! That's New Jersey for ya. They really go all out! I grew up in northern and partially in central NJ and my memories are incredibly fond. I lived there until three years ago and miss it!

Hey, when you were little, did you every go to that huge haunted house that was down the shore somewhere...I think? Brigatine Castle? Brigantine Castle? I think it burned down and now it's gone...I just remember that it was a heck of a scary tour. Wonderful!

Ever go to Tarrytown (Sleepy Hollow) and/or Bear Mountain in NY? We used to go to Oktoberfest at least 2-3 times at Bear Mountain.

Sorry to derail the thread! Maybe we should start a "northeastern" one.

[witchy]

No one here (St. Louis erea) does much for Halloween either, but I still go all out!!! My neighbors think I'm loco, we had 3 trick or treaters, but they all said they loved the place.We also had a Halloween Party but everyone around here got the flu around that time too. itchy

[Snoopy/Red Baron]

Wow, I'm jealous of those of you who get to live in those great "Halloweeny" neighborhoods. Maybe its a northeastern thing....

[William]

I am lucky in that category cos i have friends that are in to halloween btw i am back sorry for the long absence but i had work and i was reallllly stressed out ^^

[ghostess]

Our neighborhood does get into Halloween a little. Over the past 5 or 6 years, more and more people have started decorating. I think I had a little to do with it though. We live in a kind of tight knit gated community, and everyone knows everyone. All my son's friends come over when I'm working on props and I have been slowly teaching them how to do stuff. Then they bring their parents by to show what I made, and suddenly I see replicas of stuff I made in their yards...lol My kids tell me that the other kids' parents are taking me lead and trying to make stuff themselves. I think it's fantastic. My kids also get really mad when someone copies something I've made. I tell them that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and that it is a GREAT thing that they are doing SOMETHING to bring some Halloween goodness to the neighborhood.

The mass production of decent looking props selling at WalMart and Target help a lot too for those that can't make stuff. There have been a whole LOT of those inflatables popping up in the neighborhood too. The younger kids love those things. Now, I personally hate inflatables (no offense, I just really do not like them for my display), but, I'm glad to see them in other people's yards, because it means that people are getting into the Halloween spirit and THAT, my friends, is a very good thing.

They just aren't really my friends, just people I know that live in the same neighborhood... and they don't think about Halloween 365 days a year.

[HalloweenMelanie]

Ghostess, you're a great inspiration for your neighborhood. I agree that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When we grow up, we often forget how to have fun. You're re-teaching your neighbors how to have fun.

[DeSiBeauTii]

I agree with you, thats all my friends what to do. This year was worst than ever my friends went walking around town, i was like on halloween night????? I ended up going home and doing nothing . However the weekend before i did go to an amusement park were they were doing a fright fest, that was my real halloween celebration this past year!