Here in Hungary, we have Halottak Napja, Day of the Dead, which is entirely about just going to the cemetary, lighting candles on graves of relatives, being solemn, then going home for nothing interesting to happen…
Honestly, what gets me through all the dreariness is Halloween. I LOVE the onslaught of Halloween themed stuff on the internet. Halloween podcast special with personal stories, Halloween episodes in TV series, photoes posted about the deocration, all that sort of stuff.
From the outside, and with only having a boring and solemn holiday during that time as comparison, Halloween looks like fun as hell.
What I wonder is… is it? Most part of American culture comes here either through the media, meaning it’s either romaticized or criticized to hell and back, so an inside perspective would be interesting.
38 comments
When you’re a kid, Halloween is pretty amazing. When you’re the parent of a small child, it’s great. As the kids get older, it becomes a little more of a drag. Then you start staying home and just handing out candy; that can be pretty fun sometimes.
Some people absolutely love it and go all out for it. If you’ve got a group of those, it can be a blast. I’m old, so my entertainment for the night is seeing the kids wandering around for candy.
I love Halloween. It’s probably my favorite holiday.
As a kid you dress up and go door to door getting candy. As an adult you get to go to costume parties.
Yes, it’s one of the best holidays when you’re a kid.
I’d say yes. It’s fun as a kid, fun as a teenager, fun as a young adult, fun as a parent. It’s my personal favorite holiday.
It can be. I think it’s a blast. I love the creativity and effort that go into some costumes.
I’m an adult and it’s probably my favorite holiday. I love a whole month of watching scary movies and ready scary books, decorating the house, seeing kids come by in costumes. It’s just a blast!
it’s so fun. people have already put up massive decorations in my neighborhood. someone has a skeleton up that’s taller than their house & another neighbor is in the process of putting up a huge spider web.
my neighborhood is huge for trick or treaters. there’s a fire station near us where the firefighters hand out candy, too. that’s a big hit.
even if you don’t have big plans, it’s fun to hand out candy and see all the costumes. it’s one of our best holidays for sure.
It’s pretty true that it’s fun. Not just the US. Most of North and South America like to have fun with the dead.
It’s a time to celebrate the long dead, enjoy life, or just have some candy while taunting demons.
And despite what you hear, it’s quite safe and enjoyable for all ages. From young ones getting candy, to teenagers cosplaying to parents spcializing while the kids are running around to the old neighbor couple sitting on tge porch handing out candy to smiling children.
It’s so fun that it seems that Japan and Korea, which have relatively strong presences of Americans, are starting to adopt some things.
I myself dress up like a viking and scare the kids cause they likely think im a mannequin.
It’s one of my favorite holidays. I especially love how low-pressure it is.
I just moved, but I used to live in a rowhouse, and all of my neighbors would hang out on the porch to drink and hand out candy. One of our neighbors’ houses stuck out a bit past ours and we’d project scary movies onto it.
It makes life worth living. It’s the 2nd best time of the year. (Christmas is 1st for me)
but dressing up, picking your costume. you have full creativity. going to class and making halloween crafts. watching all the Halloween episodes of Spongebob and The Simpsons.
as an adult it’s still fun. going out, going to parties. watching halloween movies. decorating your house and pumpkins. candy
it’s so amazing. i love it. it’s pure creativity. it’s embracing fear. embracing death.
Halloween is a blast, when you’re a kid it gives Christmas a run for its money as best holiday. It’s fun to dress up, it’s fun seeing everyone’s costumes, it’s fun “braving” the night, it’s fun getting scared, it’s fun getting candy, shit it’s fun giving candy. Thanks for a good question and a trip down memory lane.
I like it because everyone kind of does it to their own level as an adult. I slap up some fake spiderwebs, sit outside with a drink (otherwise the doorbell ringing would make the dogs nuts) and hand out candy. Meanwhile our neighbors start weeks ahead of time by building a temporary haunted house out of plywood and tarps and run around in scary masks and a chainsaw (with no chain, or course) and you can hear kids screaming like crazy.
Yeah it’s really fun when you’re a kid because you go with your friends usually and then trade candy at the end of the night. I still remember what most of my costumes were. Even though I don’t do trick or treat as an adult or go to parties, it’s still my favorite holiday because I love passing out candy to the neighborhood kids. The little toddlers in their costumes are so stinking adorable. People go all out with their decorations and the fall leaves are really pretty too. The vibes are just perfect.
Halloween is the best!
I think it’s better now that my kids are older. We go all out with decorations and fog machines. Our house has become a destination in our small town. We spend way too much on candy and have a blast!
Halloween is the best!
Yeah it’s really fun. When I was a kid I lived in the suburb so I just went out in my costume with friends and trick or treated as a kid. Now that I’m an adult with a child I take him to our town circle and let him run around the neighborhood with his friends. We live in a rural area so we do “haunted hayrides” and it’s really fun to help set up.
I haven’t dressed up since I was maybe 7 or so but it’s an alright time of year
I’m usually feeling too depressed because of the cold weather and sun setting so early to want to participate but I always got free candy even if I didn’t dress up. I had to walk family around going trick or treating after school and even just walking around midtown I’d get candy from people just handing it out by their building.
I guess I might try to do something inspired by [The Warriors](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BMTgxNjI1NzM5N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTg4MjMyMzI%40._V1_.jpg&tbnid=ngoN5OsiwqO7bM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0080120%2F&docid=jNEdFcX9aO491M&w=2048&h=1638&hl=en-us&shem=canimge&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F3) this year but my hair is usually in braids and idk if I want to take them out for a huge Afro for this
yes
I personally love Halloween. I will say though… theres way less trick or treaters these days than there was 20+ years ago. But its what you make of it. My husband and I go all out on decorating and making our costumes.
It is pretty fun. We make a big deal about it and it can last like a month. . Within someone’s house? It’s usually a non event. People decorate the house but it’s not really like a Christmas or an Easter.
It’s community event. So the library has event for the little ones, historic homes have events. I am taking my kids to a historic home that carves hundreds of [pumpkins](https://www.bostoncentral.com/pumpkin-festivals-jack-o-lantern-displays-near-boston), towns have bonfires and trick or treat. Sometimes the week before there is a “trunk or treat”. It gives the kids a chance to dress-up another time and people dress up their cars and hand out candy.
It is a fun event because it’s not focused around loved ones and missing loved ones and people that have passed. It’s just dressing up and getting creative and really fun people watching.
SOme people don’t care about it at all and don’t do a single thing.
Costumes don’t do anything for me. I put very little effort into it as a kid for trick or treating after my mom stopped making elaborate costumes and just went with a generic mask. In college my go-to was a nerd, I got some tacky cracked glasses, suspenders, and a pocket protector and tucked in my button down shirt into khakis which is what I wore every day anyways, it was functional. Now I’ve settled into Conner4Real from Popstar, picked up one of the STYLE BOYZ sweaters and I wear a chain and shutter shades with my normal pants and shoes. Every year. No effort required and I’m not the party pooper that doesn’t dress up. Could not possible care less what other people dress up as, I’ll be polite and ask them about it if I don’t know what they are but that’s it. Extends to concerts and stuff too, I don’t give a shit how elaborate an outfit the performer has on.
That being said, Halloween is one of the most fun weekends of the year in the same tier as NYE, St. Patty’s, Miami Music Week (niche), etc. I love it so much because the parties are the best. People’s inhibitions are lower and the music is fire.
Whenever I have a family I’ll let my kids dictate how seriously it’s taken, I’m not going to go out of my way to push them do do anything but if they express a desire to do certain costumes I’ll support it.
Halloween is pretty much just as fun as it looks on TV. As a kid you get to dress up in a costume and go door to door to get candy. Plus there are parties at schools and trunk and treats around town. Like the last 2 weeks of October is just a big kid party by me. Then as a teen it gets to be a little later but still normally costume party. As a college aged person it switches to big drunken costume party. Then when you become a parent you get to enjoy Halloween through your kids eyes. My neighborhood goes all out with most houses decorated, people will give out wine to adults who trick or treat and there are just tons of people all having fun.
It’s awesome. As someone who has loved costumes and dressing up since childhood it’s super exciting.
Yes it is and it is awesome! As an adult I pass out candy at my spooky decorated house, always dressed as a skeleton. Then after the last teenagers (who smell like cigarettes) filter out around 8 I go to the adult Halloween Ball downtown and dance the night away. It is like the movie Hocus Pocus without the (real/wicked) witches.
I love Halloween. I’m 45 and still put on a homemade costume to wander around with my little neices and nephews. I love seeing how excited they get. Plus, I get the occasional halloween beer or shot of fireball. The past few years I’ve been a tooth fairy (a fat ugly bearded male toothfairy. Three kids lost teeth that night so they could yank one of those plastic tooth holders they hand out in schools. I had dozens superglued to my costume), a blind referee (I really am legally blind, so it’s ok – and really funny), a chicken (chickaletta for those in the know) and the Donkey from the Shrek movies. I have a blast seeing how excited the kids get.
Yes! Fun for kids, fun for young folks going to parties, fun for parents, fun for old folks who might not get to see excited kids very often.
Try throwing a costume party for Halloween. If your day of the dead is the same one as in Mexico, you’ve got a whole day to recover from the festivities before you honor your dead the next evening.
It’s my second favorite holiday.
It’s great when you’re a kid and it’s even more fun when you have little kids.
It’s also fun when you are youngish and single and people do more adult Halloween parties with drinking and dress up and food.
It’s an awesome holiday.
Couldn’t you experience it on a small scale by throwing a Halloween party? Costumes, pumpkin carving, candy & treats. With the right people, it could be fun for you.
Halloween is a fun as i seems in the movies. The only event left where we go to each others houses.
Yes, it’s a lot of fun.
It’s my favorite holiday. I like it so much, that as a 41-year old teaching English abroad, I help our university set up Halloween celebrations under the guise of cultural knowledge.
Yeah, pretty much. Its really fun at almost all stages of life.
Halloween isnt as popular as it was in the past. As a kid I remember Halloween was a major event, but now hardly anyone hands out candy or decorates. Last year only 3 kids came to my house to trick-or-treat. Its a slowly dying holiday.
Yes.
I think it is. Halloween is my favorite holiday by far! The decorations, trick or treating with the kids, scary events like haunted houses/haunted trails, carving pumpkins, and more. It is just a blast. And in many of the areas along the southern border, Dia de Los Muertos starts the next day. There are usually several places nearby that host ofrendas and parades, and there are cempasúchil flowers everywhere. Such a beautiful celebration.
I grew up in a rural location with a dad who thought trick or treating was “impolite” and “begging.” However, I’ve always loved it. For me it’s the entire “fall” season.
Even now, no kids in the house and in a different rural location with no trick or treaters, I have witches and skeletons across my porches, pumpkins on all available steps, and I’m wearing fuzzy ghost socks in-spite of the 90 degree temps.
Shows like Rosanne, Simpson, The Middle, Big Bang Theory, along with Hallmark provide enough episodes that I can pretend I live somewhere with cooler temps and changing leaves.
When I had a restaurant it was fully decorated by September 30 and we’d have spooky specials all month ending with fall food drives for local advocacy centers.
There are a few big haunted houses nearby that get a lot of press and haunted cemetery and swamp tours. I don’t enjoy “jump scare” so I avoid most of that, but I still think it’s a great time of the year!
Spooky classic movies and cheesy music?? Love it all. (Only downer is pumpkin spice triggers migraines so I stick with pine and sage.)
Small town New England was my absolute favorite place in the world to spend October. My only goal in life is to find a place where it is always October.
As a child you get a shit load of candy.
As a teenager you get a little bit of candy and get to hand out candy to little kids.
As a young adult everyone dresses as a whore, everyone gets drunk and everyone bangs.
As a parent you get to start over watching your kids enjoy it.