Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates it! This is my favourite holiday of the year, so I’m thrilled to see October 31 come around again on the calendar.
In previous years, I’ve blogged about My Favourite Halloween Treats, Halloween Picture Books, and Halloween Things I’ve Never Done for Top Ten Tuesday’s Halloween Freebie post.
This time I’m going to talk about why I love this holiday so much, especially since I wasn’t allowed to celebrate it as a kid as I’ve mentioned before.
So what’s so fantastic about this holiday?
1. Presents Aren’t Needed
It’s a relief to celebrate without being expected to give or receive gifts. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that tradition.
2. Candy and Baked Goods
Halloween candy and baked goods are delicious. If I receive something I can’t eat for allergy reasons, there are a lot of other people who can eat it and who wouldn’t mind taking it home.
3. Free Expression
This is the only time of year when it’s socially acceptable for adults to dress in costumes (unless you’re going to a comic conference or something). I love having the freedom to be anyone I want for that night…even if, truth be told, most Halloween nights find me no longer dressing up at all.
4. You Can Eat Anything
I enjoy cooking, but I do not like the pressure that can come on other holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas to follow a rigid menu and make all of the dishes the exact same way every time. There is no set menu for Halloween. You could eat pizza, samosas, Pad Thai, or a nice, big salad if you wish!
5. Halloween Music
Don’t tell anyone, but I start listening to Halloween playlists in September. I love jumping around from lighthearted kids’ songs to the season finale song of Supernatural to all sorts of other spooky music.
6. Autumn Is Gorgeous
I love walking through crunchy leaves in the park and seeing the brilliant red, yellow, orange, and occasionally purple leaves still clinging to their trees or bushes. Halloween is often pretty close to peak colour here in Toronto, so this is yet another reason why I love this holiday.
7. Ghost Stories
Whether I’m going on a ghost tour, reading a ghost story, or watching a paranormal film, I think it’s interesting to explore the spirits’ motives for haunting a particular location.
8. Carving Pumpkins
Am I good at it? Not really, but it’s still amusing. When else are you going to have permission to play with food? (Or potential food, rather).
9. Acknowledgement of Death
A friend of mine died in a car accident when we were in high school. One of the weirdest parts of that experience for me was how quickly people stopped talking about him. We were all grieving, and of course I respected everyone who found it too hard to discuss him or his accident. Halloween is a relief to me because it’s one time of year when more folks are willing to broach such topics and remember the dead. Yes, there is pain in those moments…but over time there can also be so much joy to be found in retelling funny or touching stories about those who are no longer with us.
10. Fear Is Fun In Small Doses When You’re Not Really In Danger
Wow, that was a wordy sentence! But, yeah, I do see the value in feeling a little fear from a spooky movie or ghost story when you know that it is 100% fiction. This is such a different feeling than being afraid of something or someone who could actually harm you.
Such a great list. I love so many of these things about Halloween as well. #10 is my favorite. Halloween is definitely the only time of year where I think fear can be fun.
Thanks. I’m glad you get it. 🙂
Autumn really is gorgeous, and let’s add in some spiced cake and pumpkin latte. 🙂
Yes!
I love your post, so many great points. Presents are definitely not needed, just a lot of candy, ghost stories, warm drinks, and autumn colors make my Halloween great!
Thank you. 🙂
Wonderful list. I love Halloween and this time of the year. So much fun.
Yay! Glad to hear it.
Halloween is my favorite time of year because it’s the one day nobody questions my obsession with vampires (as I sit here in my glow-in-the-dark Dracula t-shirt).
But to point #9 – after my husband died, my boss actually told me he was surprised how much I talked about him. I was so confused. I spent thirty years of my life with the man, how could I suddenly stop talking about him?
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
That makes total sense. Thanks for sharing, Cholla. Of course you’d want to keep talking about him.
Great list! I think the autumn vibes are my favorite part of Halloween. When I was younger, my grandpa used to always quote “The Highwayman” on fall nights when there were wispy clouds semi-covering the moon, and Halloween in particular always makes me think of that.
Here’s my TTT for this week. Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween to you as well! I commented on your post before checking here.
the Highwayman is a cool poem to recite on Halloween.
Great post! Here is my post
🙂
Agree with all of the them.
Nice!
What kind of Halloween music do you listen to? The only thing I know that would qualify is the Spirit’s Eve theme from Stardew Valley!
There are a few curated playlist of dozens of Halloween (and Halloween-ish) songs on Apple Music that I’ve been rocking out to. I can’t list all of them in this comment, but here are some of my favourites:
Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett
Dark Horse by Katy Perry and Juicy J
Disturbia by Rihanna
This Is Halloween by The Citizens of Halloween
W.I.T.C.H. By Devon Cole
Bad Blood by Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar
My Oh My by Camilla Cabello and Da Baby
Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran
🙂
Bones by Imagine Dragons
Toxic by Britney Spears
Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.
Hahh, I forgot about “Monster Mash”. That did used to come on the radio around this time of year back when I listened to commercial radio. I’ll check some of these out tonight! Thanks!
You’re welcome. 🙂
These are all great things to love about Halloween. It’s a fun holiday because you can choose to participate however you want. Happy Halloween!
Yes, exactly. Happy Halloween!
I agree 100% with this list! Halloween is such a great holiday. I hope you have a Happy Halloween!
Cool! Happy Halloween to you as well.
This is a great post for today. I am pretty much indifferent to Halloween, I can take it or leave it. I plan to give out candy tonight, but I am not dressed up (unless overtired mom counts, LOL!). I just don’t have the energy for it. Have a great Halloween.
Thank you. I hope you get some rest soon.
I never celebrate Halloween as a kid either. Now that I have grown up I don’t see any reason to celebrate this holiday. I read and watch horror all year around.
That’s cool. There’s something for enjoying horror all the time for sure. 🙂
Autumn leaves are very pretty! Also there are some decent dry and not too cold (nor too hot!) days around this time too.
There sure are!
Great list! I love pretty much all of these things about Halloween, too. I also just really enjoy getting to hand out treats. Our entire neighborhood sets up tables full of goodies in the driveways, and all the kids come around in their costumes to each house. It is one of the only times of the year that our entire neighborhood does something together.
Thank you.
Your neighbourhood sounds awesome.
I am Mexican, so for me, Halloween is a holiday when I can have fun, eat lots of candy, and dress up and the next day celebrate Dia de Muertos so more music, more delicious food, make an altar, and dress up in a traditional dress. It’s like a 3 day holiday
That’s pretty cool!
I love autumn colors where I am, but by now, they’re gone. It actually snowed today!
Thanks for stopping by my Top Ten Tuesday.
Wow! I hope you enjoy your snow.
This is a fabulous list! I really enjoy Halloween, too. Of course, by September, I am definitely listening to Christmas music. LOL! Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.
You’re welcome. Enjoy your Christmas music.
Lydia – This is a wonderful list! Halloween is such a wonderful holiday for all of these reasons and more!
One of my fondest memories is going out trick or treating on Halloween and having to bundle up in a coat and kicking through the falling leaves – now I prefer to just look at all the beautiful changing foliage. But as an adult, I appreciate a holiday without any expectations more than anything else! I hope you had a wonderful Halloween.
Thank you, Leah! Yes, I did. Happy Halloween. I liked your trick-or-treating memory.
I agree with all these reasons. Happy Halloween, Lydia! 🎃
Cool! Happy Halloween to you as well.
I wish I had listened to more Halloween songs this year. I do love them! Awesome list.
Thanks. 🙂
I’ve never particularly liked Halloween, mostly because I’m not into dressing up or anything really scary (although I do love candy). I love your list of reasons you enjoy it. They all make lots of sense to me.
Happy Halloween and Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thanks, Susan. Happy Halloween!
I love this list and can only agree wholeheartedly with every point! I love celebrating Halloween but it’s also my birthday so I guess that’s a little different maybe but I still love it for all the points you mentioned.
Happy belated birthday. I hope it was fabulous.
And thank you.
Some interesting points there, Lydia. If you like dressing up, you have to come to Germany for carnival. I’m not a big fan but that is definitely THE occasion to dress up.
Same as you, I absolutely love autumn. However, I once carved a pumpkin and that is enough for the rest of my life. LOL
Thanks for visiting my TTT this week.
Ooh, carnival in Germany sounds fun! I hope I’ll get to see it someday.
And, yeah, I hear you on the pumpkin carving. It sure is messy.
I love this post! So many heartfelt reasons you love Halloween. And I agree that fear is fun in small doses. 🙂
Aww, thanks. 🙂
Fun list! #10 perfectly articulates why I love scary movies (and books, though that medium tends not to be as actively scary).
Thanks! And, yeah, books are often less scary.