Unbreakable Halloween traditions.

[Nostalgiascape]

We've tal;ked about we're doing this year.

But what traditions MUST you do every year without fail?

[Haunt Master]

I am going to do my own yard haunt, set up everything like scarecrows, pumpkins, haystacks, etc. I know I will be going to work in my yard so hard this year, and do crave the pumpkins. My girlfriend is thinking about making witch's brooms and hang them on the porch rail. hee hee

Halloween tradition will never stop forever!

[Samhain]

On October 1st, we decorate outside. I get up early that morning and start.
Then there's pumpkin carving, which usually takes place about a week before Hallloween.
There are the haunted houses, trails, and hay rides, too.

[Morticia]

I keep asking how you guys are keeping pumpkins around carved and fresh for a week? Or do you just keep carving and then throwing them away and doing new ones?

[OctoberChill]

I just go buy new ones when mine rot. I go through a lot of pumpkins each year. Especially since I start carving them early. I've already carved two, just because I couldn't wait. I probably won't do anymore for a couple weeks. I think I might try the vaseline idea though and see how it works. I'm sure it'll work better than nothing at all. Mine last maybe 3 days here before I have to throw them out.

That's my main tradition, the good old jack-o-lantern. I remember my grandma used to carve the best ones when I was little. I don't think there's ever been a year I haven't done at least one.

Also I have to watch The Great Pumpkin and listen to Monster Mash about a million times.

[Desdemona]

Actually we have a few. The weather here isn't nice to pumpkins so about 1-2 weeks before Halloween we get a pumpkin for each of my 2 daughters (one almost always wants a short fat one and the other a tall thin one) and they get to plan how they want to decorate them. On Halloween, right after school, we carve the pumpkins then place them in water to let them absorb a bit. When it's time to put them out, we dry them off, place the candles and set them outside near the front door.
Another tradition we have is that we always save one of every kind of candy we give out (I like to give out a huge assortment of different candies that I find throughout the season) for each of the girls and this is the last house they trick-or-treat at.
Last, I buy one new Halloween book every year. All the books from when the girls were little (board books, Arthur, Li'l Critter) are gone, but we have kept a few of the really nice classic or unusual Halloween books and we put those in a basket with the Halloween magazines for anyone that wants to pick one up and read.

[Nostalgiascape]

Halloween of o2, I set out whole pumpkins in the front yard by one of my two trees. I let them rot in place and go into the ground. Sure it was ugly for a little while. But the next year a pumpkin patch grew where I let the pumpkins whither.

[jadewik]

Hmm... I have a very loose tradition of designing one pumpkin pattern a year.... though, I do fudge the numbers here and there (some years I do 2, and other years I do none).

I carve pumpkins my only free night the week before Halloween... and I lay claim to having had a pumpkin last a whole month before I let it rot.... though, I do miss the days of being single and having lots of fridge space to store a whole pumpkin...

Speaking of p-kins... it's becoming a tradition to drive down to Wilcox and pick out a p-kin from their patch. It's more expensive than rifling through the Albertson's bins... but it's more fun and the selection is very fresh. *grin*

... does "Halloween Shopping" count as a tradition? I love going around to all the different stores making price-lists and knowing who has what for what price as well as stocking up for next year's theme and getting a few last-minute details covered for this year. Muahaha!

Other than that... I just do what I've time to do. =)

[kirala05]

My traditions include watching all the Halloween TV special marathons! carving at least 3-4 pumpkins visiting the apple orchard and always starting to decorate the outside of our house the last week of September. I also always make little Halloween gift bags for my nieces and nephew.

[Frankenstein]

Each year, my mom and I bake up some Halloween goodies. We get a ton of magazines each year and get our recipes from there.
I try to carve a pumpkin, but in Houston it is impossible to keep a pumpkin alive. This year I am going to paint pumpkins instead.
During September, I get out all my Halloween magazines and books and go through them 2 or 3 times each.
On the second weekend of September, we pull out the decorations and start putting them out, except this year Hurricane Ike ruined that plan a bit.

[california ghoul]

We used to carve pumpkins every year until my mom got a styrofoam one...ugh! But last year my fiance bought a home and so we've started the whole pumpkin carving tradition again. We go to the local pumpkin patch a few days before Halloween and then come home and carve it.
Every year I like to make it down to Baskin Robbins or whatever ice cream shop is around and grab some pumpkin ice cream.
Mid-September I start going to the stores expecting some Halloween decorations, but I just window shop until about Mid-October.
I think once I have kids it'll be easier to start up Halloween traditions again. Like making crafts every year and what not.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Tradition is something that I truely love. Halloween, is an especialy important day for fun traditional things. I'm NEVER without a real pumpkin with a candle as a light source. I also have a couple of fake ones with a built in light bulb, which I have because they won't rot, but a honest to goodness real pumpkin as as indespensible a part of Halloween as a real Evergreen Tree is an indespensible part of Christmas.

Trick or Treat was also a most beloved Halloween tradition when I was a kid, but as an adult I've gotten to love being on the other side of that door giving out candy. I allways put on a costume, even though I don't leav home. It's either a vampire or a wearwolf. I have a bed sheat hanging in the living room window, and my DLP projector aimed at it. The old silent era classics "Nosferatu" and "Phantom of the Opera" is playing for all to see. The 'trick or treat ers" are greeted by a real jack-olantern with a candle in it on the front porch, and the headless horseman, who's seated on my motorcycle instead of a horse. A Halloween sound effects CD, or one of my "Dark Shadows' music CDs are on the stereo, and something decent for dinner is in the oven. A battery operated bat with LED red eyes that glow flys around on a teather, and my house, being almost 100 years old and looking much like a real haunted house truely lends itself to the spirit of Hallowen.

Then when 'trick ot treat' is over, I remove the headless horseman from my bike, ( provided it's not raining) and I go on a moonlight Halloween cruise to check out all the various decorations that are on display. Then when I go home I put on some of my favorite horror flicks in the DVD player and have myself a night full of horror movies. Some times a couple of buddies of mine comes over for a Halloween dinner.

Mike

[california ghoul]

Oh I forgot eating candy corn. Gotta eat candy corn.

[Andybev01]

if this means only time (or energy) for the bare basics then it would be at least 1 Jack-O-Lantern in the traditional triangle-eyed style.

A bowl of mixed candy by the door for TOT-er's (okay; me).

the original set of decorations I have hauled along with me since I was a teenager.

MUST watch the Great Pumpkin, preferably on TV with the rest of the world, but DVD if that's what time permits.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's how I am, too. Tradition calls for at least one Jack O'Lantern with the triangles for eyes and nose.

It seems that trick or treat, however is going the way of the probervial dinasaurs. In my town, it's only permitted between 3:00 and 7:00 . There are no exceptions and it's strictly enforced. A lot of people are getting more and more afraid to let their kids trickor treat, and more afraid to open the doors to trick or treaters for fear they could be home-invaded.

Mike