2 Months

...till Halloween. 22 days till the first decorations start going out.

Witch's Costume

Beginning to get Grandmother Holidays' ensemble together.

1 More Month

...till Summer is over. 1 more month till Fall begins. 1 more month till the first pre-haunt decorations start going out.

A Big Thank You

...to Father and Stepmother Holidays for spending about 3 hours helping me prepare for Spirit Grove III: advent of the coven. From collecting branches, buying & deploying a bunch of plastic ties, buying & installing metal hooks, and building cross tombstones, they saved me a lot of work come October. We will really miss them at Halloween this year.

Let there be light!

Spirit Grove I featured 65 luminaries. Spirit Grove II: an enchanted forest had 32. This year, Spirit Grove III: advent of the coven could have up to 100. And instead of just orange luminaries, there will be an array of colors to accentuate the magical ambience.

These 12 will be converted into purple luminaries and hung on the tall cherry tree in the front yard

2 More Months

...till the first Halloween decorations go out, which will be the first day of Fall. This year, I'm going to do a pre-haunt yard display, which will contain a host of classic Halloween decorations for the first month of Fall. Then, about a week before Halloween, I'll make the transition to decorating for Spirit Grove III: advent of the coven.

Spirit Grove III: advent of the coven

Since Mother in Law Holidays has decided to serve as Grandmother Holidays' assistant witch, I've decided to rename this year's yard haunt.

Passing the Torch

Since Father Holidays will not be here to pass out candy on Halloween this year, Grandmother Holidays has surprisingly agreed to accept the duty. Not only that, she's agreed to dress up as a witch. The vision is to get her a nice witch's hat, drape some blankets around her (if it's cold) and let her sit in the rocking chair by the front door. Maybe we'll have to set a broom by her too. And maybe we'll have to change the name of this year's theme.

Michaels

Toddler Holidays and I dropped by Michaels today, and we were surprised to see a little bit of Halloween stuff out:  crows, spooky paper wreaths, ribbon, and a row of empty shelving already marked with pricing for incoming decorations. This is the earliest I've ever seen Halloween decorations. Usually, the first week of August brings the initial wave of decorations. I wonder if they're moving Halloween up a bit so they can further extend the pre-Christmas season?

PS One more month till Father Holidays and Stepmother Holidays come to visit. By the time they come, Michaels, JoAnn's, and Home Goods should have a lot of decorations to peruse. Plus, Father Holidays will be helping me with a couple of Spirit Grove projects.

CNN Discusses Halloween in June

Halloween Fast Facts

By CNN Library

updated 2:16 PM EDT, Thu June 13, 2013

(CNN) -- Here is a look at what you need to know about Halloween, celebrated annually in the United States on October 31. In 2013, Halloween falls on a Thursday.

Facts:
The word Halloween is an abbreviated version of the phrases All Hallows' Eve or All Hallows' Evening.

Halloween comes from an ancient pagan festival celebrated by Celtic people over 2,000 years ago called Samhain (prono: SOW ehn).

The festival took place in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northwestern France.

Samhain means "summer's end" and marks the beginning of winter. Samhain is also thought to celebrate the beginning of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that Samhain was a time when the dead could walk among the living.

Trick-or-treating began in areas of the United Kingdom and Ireland. People went house-to-house "souling" - asking for small breads called "soul cakes" in exchange for prayer.

Adults also went door-to-door asking for food and drinks in exchange for a song or dance.

Jack-o'-lanterns are the symbol of Halloween. People in Ireland and Scotland originally used beets or turnips as lanterns on Halloween.

An Irish legend says that jack-o'-lanterns are named for a man called Jack who could not go to heaven or hell and was forced to walk the earth forever with only a coal from hell to light his lantern.

The name jack-o'-lantern can also be derived from the night watchman who would light the street lanterns every evening.

Immigrants from Ireland and Scotland brought Halloween to the United States in the 1800s. Haitian and African immigrants brought voodoo beliefs about black cats, fire, and witchcraft.

Halloween Statistics for 2012:
(ALL from the National Retail Federation)
Spending in the United States this year is estimated to reach $8 billion, up significantly from 2011's $6.86 billion.

Consumers are projected to spend $79.82 per person, with an average of $28.65 on costumes and $23.27 on candy.

51.4% will decorate their home or yard, and 45% will wear a costume.

15.1% will dress up their pets.

Top Children's Costumes for 2012
1 Princess - 9.7% - 4,845,653
2 Batman - 5.4% - 2,697,334
3 Spider-Man - 4.6% - 2,315,411
4 Witch - 4.5% - 2,267,670
5 Disney Princess - 3.1% - 1,551,564

Top Adult Costumes for 2012
1 Witch - 9.5% - 5,883,176
2 Vampire - 5.2% - 3,209,005
3 Pirate - 4.6% - 2,836,947
4 Batman Character - 3.7% - 2,325,366
5 Zombie - 3.6% - 2,255,605

Top Pet Costumes for 2012
1 Pumpkin - 12.7%
2 Devil - 6.9%
3 Hot Dog - 5.7%
4 Cat - 3.7%
5 Bee - 3.6%

Spirit Grove III: a new beginning

Happy Halfway-to-Halloween! 6 months have already passed since last Halloween, which means that it's time to unveil the theme for this year's yard haunt.

Last year, 'Spirit Grove II: an enchanted forest' was arguably our best-decorated yard haunt. You can check out the video clips, on October 31 and November 3, in last year's archives. We had our smallest crowd (133 trick-or-treaters) due to 'Hallocane' Sandy, but the haunt was truly magical. For the fourth consecutive year, we held the yard haunt at Mother in Law Holidays' home. Mrs. Holidays, Baby Holidays, Grandmother Holidays, Father Holidays, Stepmother Holidays, and several friends were in attendance. Father Holidays, Stepmother Holidays, and Mother in Law Holidays helped with the decorating. Father Holidays in particular was a huge help for the second straight year.

This year, the theme will be 'Spirit Grove III: a new beginning'. It's a new beginning because we will be holding the haunt at our house. We moved about 9 miles away from Mother in Law Holidays, so it'll be more convenient to host at our place. We still expect her to contribute to the haunt, though.

It's also a new beginning because, for the first time in two years, Father Holidays and Stepmother Holidays will not be here. They will be visiting us in August, and I plan on putting them to work on a couple of yard-haunt related projects.

So, what will 'Spirit Grove III: a new beginning' look like?

There will be a lot of purple and orange lights. Our front yard is much smaller than Mother in Law Holidays' which means the decorations leading up to the front door will be more densely packed. Here's a brief video clip to help set the scene:

At the entrance to the walkway, I'd like to place our two artificial trees, replete with purple twinkle lights. On each side, in the mulch beds, I'll place 4 shepherd crooks, each with a glowing orange lantern hanging from it. I will then connect each pair of crooks with an overhead archway of tree branches, which will be littered with hanging ornaments.

Also in the mulch beds, I plan on erecting 24 tombstones:  11 foam tombstones from years past and 13 wooden crosses. An orange lantern will be placed at the base of each tombstone. In the cherry tree, I plan on hanging 12 purple lanterns. Fog will be pumped in and around the area.

I think I'll put two glowing pumpkins on the steps, then an array of glowing lanterns on both sides of the brick walls. Probably a decoration or two on and/or near the front door. And of course, ethereal music will be playing in the background.

I'm also thinking about bagging a bunch of fallen leaves and strewing them along the walkway below the stairs, as well as all over the front porch. I could spray paint some of the leaves with fancy glitter.

That's probably a good, general outline. October always brings fine-tuning and new inspirations. This year, I'm considering holding 3 nights of haunting:  a separate night for the local Goodwill organization, trick-or-treat night on Halloween, and one night for All Souls Day.

I've heard that the Halloween crowds are fairly small around our neighborhood. We'll see if we can't figure out a way to boost the numbers.

One More Week

...till I unveil this year's Halloween yard haunt theme.