When I was little and went trick or treating, we never went to many houses. Instead, we went and hit up friends of ours for candy. I remember going to my aunt's, way back when my uncle was still alive, and being given a full-size bag of Cheetos Puff Cheezies. We also went to see one of our neighbours down the road, and she once gave me a can of A&W root beer. Then there was the time me cousin decided to make good on the trick option instead of treat. He had a basket filled with full-size candy bars. Two words: Mother Load! He went to my sister first, and gave her a treat, which she was very excited about. As for me, my cousin decided to take advantage of the "trick" option. You see, on top of that basket of candy was an apple. He looked at me, said how great my costume was, and instead of giving me a treat, he gave me the apple. Not a candy apple, a Plain Jane ordinary apple, and since my mother had always taught me to say thank you for whatever I was given, I had no choice but to thank him. Then he felt guilty, and gave me the candy bar. At the time, the apple instead of a treat was cruel. Now, it's bloody hilarious!
Back when I was in elementary school, my community had the mother of all Halloween parties. They stopped once I hit high school, which was quite upsetting, because they were just pure awesome. Besides the fair, the Annual Halloween Party was the one thing that everyone at school was excited for. You'd dress up, there was always a ton of candy, prizes were given out for best costumes, and my cousins taught me how to make swamp water. I remember winning best costume once. My mum had made it for me. I went dressed up as Maid Marian from Robin Hood. That, my friends, was an awesome costume. Oh, we can't forget the music either! There were certain songs that were played every year at that party, and to this day, my October isn't complete until I've listened to them. We always did the Monster Mash...
You can't have Halloween without ghosts...
We also had our favourite kooky family...
There were always thrills...
We warped through time itself...
And even though we never went through Hell, we always saw paradise by the dashboard light...
These spook-tacular songs always bring back Halloween party memories. I still make sure I listen to them every year.
We have a creation, compliments of my papa, that we once used at the Community Halloween Party, that my mother and I put to foolish use a few years ago. This is something that my cousin, who's 6'7", put to use to scare small children, and even adults. My mum had an even better idea for it once we kept it for ourselves.
My papa, who's a very creative person, made a creepy guy on a bike a few years ago. I'm talking spawn of Satan and the Wicked With of the West scary. Seriously! Just look at this thing!
If you think he's scary-looking in the daylight, just look at him at night!
I like to think that I had every right to be scared. Now, picture this creepy creation pulling what mum and I kept from the old Halloween party...
Yes, that would be a coffin. My cousin used to hide in it, and then scare people when they'd walk into the party. When my sister was still in high school, mum had the awesome idea to make the creepy guy on the bike a grave robber. I think my sister was embarrassed by this. Everyone else we knew was amused. I had some fun with it myself:
Notice how he's riding off into the night with his casket...
...and that I'm unlucky enough to be going with him!
Of course, all of this was fun, but nothing says Halloween like carving pumpkins. This is my 2011 creation:
Besides dressing up for a party (here's one from last night when mum and I crashed a geriatric convention at the retirement centre where my great gram now resides)...
...the one thing that I look forward to hosting every year, and that my friends eagerly anticipate, is my Annual Birthday Film Fest. This is a tradition that I've had for more years than I can remember. My Film Fest celebrates the absolute worst in horror, sci-fi, thriller, and occasionally fantasy. These are films that are so bad that even the Razzies would be too embarrassed to embrace them. A certain personality is required for such shenanigans, and my friends all qualify. We've watched Plan 9 From Outer Space, which I believe was dubbed one of the worst movies of all time (the UFO is an old hubcap from a Cadillac), the original House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price, but the best of the worst were definitely the Thumb movies. I'm talking Thumb Wars,
Thumbtanic
Even Bat Thumb!
There's also Frankenthumb, The Blair Thumb Project, and the Godthumb. There might be more, but I'm not sure. They're so terrible, they're amazing.
These are just a few of my favourite Halloween things. Perhaps they've given you ideas for your own Halloween parties. If you're looking for more good, dark party music, I recommend "Dragula" by Rob Zombie, particularly the Hot Rod Herman Remix,
The "Phantom of the Opera" trance remix,
Golden Earring, "Twilight Zone,"
and for some reason, I'm partial to "Rasputin" by Boney M.
So break out the tunes, bust out the bad movies, and get dressed up! I'm celebrating my favourite things tonight. What are yours?
Videos compliments of Youtube. The pictures, however, are all me.
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