Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Mau, what you are describing is pretty much the way it already is around here. There are tons of Halloween-related things to do leading up to TOT night. I love our Halloween just the way it is. Leave it alone!

And you can definitely build a TOT base in your neighborhood as word spreads that you are decorating highly. I have seen these things happen over the years. That's what I call the "destination streets," the ones people will drive to. If you can get some of your neighbors on board, it can happen.

That sounds pretty awesome Murf! I really wish we could be more like that around here. There's plenty of "old-timey" feel to the place that could really feel great if the town could incorporate more Halloween, but alas most people aren't interested, and the churches monopolize giving out candy. If they did some other festivities that weren't on Halloween, that would be great. I don't know exactly when they give out candy though but I think some churches actually do do it on other nights (I don't look too much into it myself) and the parents probably figure the kids have enough candy from them and don't bother to do anything for Halloween. It's sad.

When I get more money and time I'd love to do something like that. But since we live outside of town we only have very few neighbors. People would have to drive up here to get candy. So it's a combination of living outside of town, and not enough people into Halloween. Still I was surprised to get more trick or treaters last year than I counted on. So next year at least I know who I can count on showing up, and then maybe have a little extra candy set aside in case we get anyone else. If not, more for me! lol

Also because I will be an English teacher, I'd love to have holiday themed literature for the season, although I wonder if that would be allowed as well. Maybe a ghost mystery book of some kind. Nothing too scary or frightening. I remember reading one in 5th grade but I don't remember the name of it. This particular story was a little depressing though since it had to do with slavery and was about the ghost of a former slave child. I think the mystery was solving how he died. Depressing is not the tone I want for Halloween, but that's the only book I can remember reading, aside from a Christmas Carol in 6th grade, that had ghosts in it. (Edit: I wonder if this might be the story: http://www.amazon.com/Something-Upstair ... 0545214912 )

If they had more Halloween events in town or Halloween charities I'd love to get involved in those. I'm not sure what they do have if anything though.

Still, there are other nearby towns and cities to go to. I definitely want to do the Lexington Ghost tour again and make it into a new tradition. When I do become a teacher, assuming I'd be allowed to do this, I plan to have a bucket of candy for my students and decorate the classroom. I would love to see the kids dress up, although I am not sure if the school itself allows that or not. Again assuming I'm allowed to do this, I'd love to have my class room decked out, and get the students involved. Maybe I could convince the school to do a charity event that's Halloween related depending on what school I end up working in. I remember they had a Halloween themed school dance once, so I could probably chaperone for something like that. The more I think about it, the more I think I'd like working for the school system, but again assuming they'd allow this stuff. I know there's a lot of worries about offending people, but I think the milder stuff like pumpkins, and black cats shouldn't be a problem. Gory things on the other hand are an out.

What grade level do you anticipate teaching? One year I taught English to 7th graders. We read The Dark Is Rising over Halloween, and I turned out the lights & told them ghost stories on the day itself. They loved it. (The Dark is Rising is actually a series of YA novels by Susan Cooper. They are based on Arthurian myth & Celtic lore, although they are set in contemporary times. TDIR is the second novel in the series and can be read as a stand-alone.)

My kids' grade school always had a "book parade" around Halloween. Some parents get freaked out by the holiday, so you have to be careful. I mean, the Spanish teacher wasn't even allowed to teach about Day of the Dead! Or if she did, one or more of the students had to be dismissed from class during that lesson. And I knew parents who wouldn't let their kids read Harry Potter because it had witches and magic in it. Whatever.

But during the book parade, the kids could dress however they liked (as long as it was within dress code, of course). They had to carry the book they were representing. There was a wide range of interpretation. I used to see little kids dressed as Spiderman and carrying comic books. My daughter often dressed as a generic witch and carried whatever Harry Potter was out that year, even though she wasn't dressed as a particular character. And in 2008, I saw a little black boy in his Sunday suit carrying Barack Obama's autobiography. The administrators would get in on the act as well, but they would do a theme, like, say, Alice and the Mad Hatter, something like that.

Most of my kids' grade school classrooms gave Halloween parties. The only rule was you couldn't bring anything macabre, just friendly Halloween stuff.

There is other lit that could be taught around Halloween, depending on the kids' ages. I think The Hound of the Baskervilles would make a good Halloween assignment.