Man, it used to be!
It would vary year to year exactly what was going on, but there was something.
In my twenties, I would mostly work my side job, as a bouncer. Since the place I mostly worked at was a drag club, it was always a party. Everyone would go all out. The queens would obviously go the extra mile ( and I do mean extra lol), but everyone could dress up, customers and staff, except for one person on the door and one inside. The rest would have security jackets to throw on in a pinch.
One year I dressed up as Jason from the Friday the 13th series, and did leatherface another year. Was going to do Krueger, but that year the boss wanted me on the door in mufti (which isn’t a costume). Decided I didn’t want to do Freddy the next time it came up.
But, sometimes it would be a party. I used to hang with a pretty wide range of people, so there were all kinds of groups the night of, or close to Halloween. My favorite ones were with pagans and wiccans. Those folk tend to go all out on Samhain lol. Feasting and fires and rituals and music and dancing. Just a damn good time.
A few years in there, I got into doing street performance. I did fire stuff. You know, breathing fire, spinning burning stuff, setting myself on fire and doing flashy stuff. Those parties were lit in multiple ways lol. There was usually some performance going on, but that crowd tended to get rather crazy. I’m talking people dancing on roofs, mini orgies, fireworks; you know, the usual :)
As I got into my thirties, I didn’t exactly settle down entirely, but I was in a long term relationship, and we tended to hang out with more sedate crowds. Our friends were getting into their thirties or forties, had kids, etc, so the parties weren’t as raucous. It was more about chilling, having some good music and food while handing out candy to kids that were out and about.
But the trick or treat thing died. Nobody really does it any more (which kinda pisses me off that something so fun is just gone). Now, me and my wife tend to just hole up and watch horror movies.
This year, we aren’t even bothering to leave the light on. It’s going to be just a movie night for sure.
I keep threatening to break out my old gear and do a back yard fire show, but my wife is scared I’ll burn my beard off again lol.
You know, I tend to forget how much shit I packed into my twenties and thirties until something like this comes up. I was disabled by the time I was in my mid thirties, if not as bad as it got a little later. But fuck me, did I make some memories before that :)
I find a camping site next to a lake and hope a group of 18-25 year olds will camp…
I enjoy the opportunity to do a little spooky stuff. We live near a primary school and there are lots of young families around so there’s always trick or treaters. We generally carve pumpkins and have a few decorations and sweets for them.
I tend to run a horror themed table top RPG for friends around the time as well which is usually good fun. I’m going to do Dread this year where you pull blocks from a Jenga tower instead of rolling dice and someone’s character dies if they knock the tower over.
Yes. I’m a goth sideshow performer, it lasts the whole month of October and leeches into September and November for me. October is my busiest month of the year, and I love it.
On a personal level, Halloween is the only holiday I actually enjoy. I’m a grump around every other holiday, ESPECIALLY Christmas
