Halloween?
It’s a celebration that beautifully merges together horror movies, bats, pumpkins, murderers, chainsaws, trick-and-treating, candy, good ol’ pumpkin decorating and a valid excuse to get drunk in the middle of the week. In the Western world, there are very few people who haven’t heard of Halloween. Some practice it actively, some passively by buying a bag of candy and grumpily open the door to every third pack of trick-or-treaters, and some simply treat it as a day like any other.
Regardless of which group you belong to, Halloween is an interesting celebration. Also known as All Hallows’ Eve, Allhalloween and All Saints’ Eve (that’s what the books say, at least, no idea who still calls it that way), it is celebrated throughout the world on the 31st October.
Halloween Party Ideas That Step, Nay, Shoot Out of the Box
Aside from the traditional Halloween activities people engage in, we at SerenataFlowers.com have devised a list of unusual Halloween party ideas that will be sure to amuse you, make you happy and/or horrify you and others into years of counseling.
- Do absolutely nothing and watch a movie
Regardless of what your feelings towards Halloween are, this one is always a good idea. Let the children and the sugar-craving adults ring doorbells, let men and women immerse themselves in the Halloween hysteria by dressing up, attending parties, etc.
A Halloween party idea that quite a few of our staff members actively praise and live by is to unplug the doorbell, unplug the phone, put on a good movie, get some popcorn going and spend a lovely, relaxing evening with your family or significant other.
There are words of “commercialization of a Pagan festival” and “capitalism at work” milling around the office; but disconnect yourself from the politics and motivations behind the celebration of 21st century Halloween, and enjoy a beautiful night in. Alternatively, you could prank-call all the people in your phone’s address book. You’ll love it. They most probably won’t.
- Scare trick-or-treaters into oblivion
If you are in the mood for surprising and scaring trick-or-treaters, do the following: for ladies – apply some white concealer, wear a nun’s outfit, and paint your mouth red (coupled with a bunch of fangs sticking out of your mouth); for gents – wear a very high top hat, make yourself look very pale, do not communicate with anyone and just stare at them.
Also, whenever you open your door, do it slowly and play a creaking noise from your phone. In the full spirit of Halloween, your little show will undoubtedly send kids off running from your front door and into the arms of their parents. The pros: you’ll save money on candy and donuts, you’ll never again be harassed on Halloween and, if you are that type of person (we sincerely hope that you aren’t), get some joy out of children screaming and running for their lives.
However, there are some cons to the idea too: you’ll most likely be labeled as the weird person in the neighbourhood, someone the children should steer clear of. And, you know, this might not be ideal for nurturing healthy relationships with your neighbours. Your call.
- Throw an anonymous masked party
Wouldn’t it be exciting to evoke the gothic times and dreary general atmosphere of literary works such as Matthew Gregory Lewis’ Monk, Lautreamont’s Maldoror or the incredibly popular Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera in a modern, 21st century setting?
Your guests are required to do only one thing: wear masks/costumes/makeup that make them completely physically unrecognizable. They have to do whatever they can to mask their voice – voice changing gadgets, rags over their mouths, speaking in a different register, get a cold (not recommendable, mind you), etc. For the entire evening, they are not allowed to do anything that might convey their true identity to people around them.
Complete and total anonymity. Naturally, if your party is good enough of a matchmaker and two people fancy each other enough and decide to take off, the masks are off – literally and figuratively.
- Celebrate Halloween on, say, the 15th Or, you know, sometime in July.
The people around you will surely be stunned by a bunch of witches and cats and Frankensteins and ghouls walking around giggling in the middle of summer. Why someone might even call the Old Bill on you.
But if you’re up for a particularly unusual Halloween celebration, this is the way to go. Gather your friends, family, relatives, whoever is up for it, and dress up. Get your pumpkins, carve them out, decorate your house and turn Halloween into a summer holiday. Who’s to say you can’t celebrate Halloween in July, Christmas in May or, for that matter, anything you want when you want it? Just make sure to stay hydrated and wear waterproof makeup because chances are you will be sweating a lot. Heck, you may even end up in the local paper.
Or the loony bin. But don’t let that stop you-you only live once (disclaimer: the author vehemently refuses to use the popular four-letter social media acronym, and should not be associated with it).
- Confuse the holiday
Mummy, mummy, look, it’s a group of… Santa Clauses. Why is there an Easter Bunny with them too? In order to be a rebel without a cause, a holiday anarchist of sorts, if you will, you can dress up on Halloween as characters representative of other holidays.
Or, if you prefer to keep certain anonymity, looks-wise, you can go around the party/town/venue wishing everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, Happy Hanukkah, etc. To their baffled and questioning looks, you ought to reply with equally baffled and questioning looks yourself.
Explain it to them in very simple terms that today is, in fact, not the holiday they think it is. If you manage to thoroughly confuse at least one semi-drunk person, your evening as a holiday-confuser will not be a total waste.
- Take a pumpkin carving class
Unsure whether these actually exist, the staff at SerenataFlowers.com thought it to be a wonderful idea. This way, your house could become the envy of all Halloween enthusiasts next time around. Learn to carve bears, deer, dogs, cats, witches and all sorts of other intricate designs.
Do lay off publicly displaying carved-out obscenities, though, for it is quite probable that young children will take an interest in your pumpkin extravaganza. Also, try learning various pumpkin recipes so your pumpkin insides don’t go waste.
- Toilet paper a house…
…and plant a couple of trees afterward. Regardless of your age, occupation, political, religious or other beliefs, this has always been (and always will be) an immensely fun activity.
Grab a bucketful of rolls and sneak up behind your “you-are-always-too-loud-and-disturbing-my-peace” neighbour’s house, and shower it with a hail of three-ply whiteness. However, after you’ve had your fun, in order to avoid karma/gods/whatever you believe in (or, you know, out of sheer guilt), find a patch of soil and plant a couple of trees to make up for all the wasted paper. Alternatively, you could use pressurized cans that shoot out the white sticky, thread-like gunk people use to destroy each other’s hairdos when they’re overly excited at social events.
You know the kind, right? As a last resort, simply order a bunch of pizzas (but return the money the next day, just leave it in the mailbox) or ring their doorbell until they go mad. Have fun, and keep the physical and psychological damage to a minimum.
- Run a marathon
You know; if everyone’s going one way, why not try going the other? Who says that you shouldn’t fly a kite, run a marathon, get your laundry done or get a haircut while everyone else trick-or-treats or watches horror movies?
And that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Grab your running shoes, music player and windbreaker, and go do something good for both your cardiovascular and mental health. It will certainly be a much more productive activity than having your brain overflow with pleasure hormones and adrenaline from watching a scary movie.
- Forget it’s Halloween
This year you could celebrate Halloween by not even thinking of the date. Go about your day as normally and mundanely as possible, not even wondering why there are myriads of dressed-up people in the streets.
Be grumpy, carry a Starbucks latte with you, go up into your office, say good morning good day good afternoon to your colleagues whom you don’t particularly fancy, tolerate your job, bosses, supervisors 45% of the time, hate it along with your life for the remaining 55%, pack up, say goodbye see you tomorrow goodnight to your colleagues and slog through the rush-hour traffic to get home. You’ll be exhausted, hungry and in no particular mood to focus on or entertain your significant other. You’ll also be up for a dip in the tub, but the tub will be dirty from washing the dog and you will be too tired to do it. You’ll settle for an uncomfortable shower. You won’t be happy. And it’s only Monday.
Tomorrow is the first day of November, and your partners from XX Corp. are coming in to evaluate your yearly financial statements. You go to sleep stressed out. You cannot fall asleep until 1 am, and you have to get up at 5. Get up at 5 and do it all over again… all over again… all over again.
This is not as much a Halloween party idea, as it is a reminder of what Halloween might look like for most of the people around us.
Avoid it.
At least carve a pumpkin, buy some drinks and turn that Manic Monday into a Relaxing Time with your Family and Friends.
- A completely over-the-top party where you and your guests buy a bunch of bouquets online (*cough* *wink*), and decorate your home for no real reason whatsoever
This is what you do: you invite a bunch of people over, you tell them to bring you as many flowers arrangements/bouquets they can carry, you prepare some antihistamines for the allergic lot, and you enjoy the weirdest and most ridiculous Halloween party ever.
The goal of the party is to allocate the most floral arrangements per square meter of your house or apartment – the person who manages to do so wins. And, you know, your guests can easily have the flowers shipped to your address at their utmost convenience. No carrying big wet bouquets of flowers around, shopping endlessly, roaming the markets for something fresh and beautiful and majestic enough to win the first prize at the party. They can order all that, well, you know, off the top of our heads, at SerenataFlowers.com. As much as they can.
No pressure.
So, ladies and gents, that’s it – you now know what to do on Halloween, what not to do and how to avoid Halloween altogether. Do not dread the 31st October, however (literally) dreary everything surrounding it looks like. Most importantly, do spend the holiday with people you care about. If you don’t feel like it, skip the fancy dress, the pumpkin carving, the horror movies, and just spend time with those dearest and closest to you – because in the end, that’s what it’s all about.
The team at SerenataFlowers.com wishes you a great, happy, relaxed Halloween.
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