Your days of trick or treating may be dead and gone, but these 9 other Halloween traditions are definitely worthy of resurrecting this year.
1. Haunted hay rides
If you grew up in a small town, it's very possible your childhood fall festivities revolved around haunted hay rides, corn mazes, and haunted barns. The joy of jumping on a tractor trailer and sitting on a bail of hay while "monsters and ghouls" jump out from behind bushes to scare the pants off you was, pretty much, the quintessence of season. Why limit it to childhood? Spike that ho-cho and find a hay ride near you.
2. Appetizers that look like creepy things
I'm talking witch finger cookies with bloody almond-slice nails, dirt sundaes, graveyard taco dip … the eye-catching recipes that are starting to pop up on Pinterest right about now. These treats inevitably add more work to Halloween party planning, but your efforts will not go unnoticed. Plus, when was the last time you actually made something you saw on Pinterest, hmm?
3. The sensory feel box game
How great was this party trick? Sticking your hands into boxes of grapes that felt like eyes and cold spaghetti noodles that felt like veins while listening to the story of a dead man was the classic childhood Halloween party staple.
4. Costume parties
There's something really romantic about a Halloween costume parties. We may be stripped of our right to trick or treat past our teenage years, but thank God we'll never have to fight for our right to (costume) party.
5. Halloween Specials
Was there anything better than watching Halloween episodes of the Simpsons, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy, to get you in the mood for the big night? These one-off episodes rarely had anything to do with the actual plot of the shows, but damn were they ever fun to watch.
6. Getting a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch. And carving it.
Roll up your sleeves and let's make a mess. I think half the reason why we don't do this anymore is because it is a process and it gets really, really messy. Also, if you live downtown, pumpkin patches are hard to come by.
7. The school costume parade
You got to dress up in your costume, flaunt it all over the playground, and then cap off the day with a proper sugar overload and Halloween movie. This one might not be the most plausible to rally for a comeback in, oh, say, the workplace, but we do reccomend donning your costume the moment you deem it appropriate to do so. (You do have your costume planned out, right?)
8. Halloween punch
Swamp water has nothing on the Halloween party punch bowl. Now that you're an adult, you can spike it and everything. Or, you could always go classy with our Boneshaker Martini.
9. Eating candy until you puke
This is the one night this is entirely socially acceptable. We say bring it on.
Even if you don't have the time or the energy to spend bringing back any favourite Halloween traditions, you can still cash in on the fun of the occasion. Recycle an old costume or meet one halfway with a half-assed but fully awesome non-costume and invite some pals over for a good old fashioned movie night. Halloween is, ultimately, all about the really important things in life – staying up late and eating candy.
