Not Everyone Celebrates Halloween

We love holidays, especially those where we can decorate the house, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we enjoy Halloween. It seems to have gotten a bad wrap over the past few years and there have even been calls to ban, which makes no sense to us. Perhaps because everyone has been trapped inside for the past seven months, but we’ve noticed many more people decorating for Halloween this year. We have no idea if anyone will allow their children to go door to door to get candy, but if nothing else at least it feels festive.

Pumpkin on Display
Someone Walking the Streets of Carlsbad on Halloween
Our Sole Halloween Decoration from Frankfurt

When we moved to Germany a few years ago, we were surprised to find that there were little to no Halloween decorations. In fact, the only one we found to put in our apartment in Frankfurt was a little orange pumpkin with some flowers in them. There was one restaurant that was pretty well decked out and had a special party for the occasion, but that was all that we saw. We know it isn’t as popular in Europe as it in the United States, but considering the traditions started there and were brought to the States, it was a little surprising.

Day of the Dead, Halloween, and Flowers
Vineyard Shop Decorated For Halloween in Temecula
One of Our Many Halloween Decorations

Because we usually take a big trip in November, we don’t often travel over Halloween, but a couple of years ago we went to Carlsbad, California. It was fun seeing how the town embraced decorating and there were plenty of Halloween items on display. Even when we took our wine tasting tour in Temecula, we found some of them had decorated for the season. Regardless of what you think of the holiday, we think it is a fun time to divert ourselves from the typical day to day chores.

Another Vineyard Going with the Fall Theme
Sunflowers and Pumpkins at the Farmer’s Market in Carlsbad
Restaurant in Frankfurt

Spirit of the Season

To say that we’re into Halloween would be the understatement of a lifetime.  We’ve been throwing Halloween parties for twenty years now and every year we add a few more decorations, so we’ve accumulated a lot of really cool things.  For the ten years, the parties were for the kids, but now we’re all about the adult Halloween party.  This year’s party is tomorrow, so we’re frantically getting ready since our remodeling work didn’t finish until two days ago.  It normally takes us two weeks to decorate the entire house, so the pressure has been on to finish and get everything done in time.

Party Sign

Pumpkin Jack

Front Yard Scene

We decorate both inside and outside and every year the theme for the outdoor decorations change.  This year’s theme is spiders, so we had fun building a giant spider web that spanned the entire front porch.  We even have a body wrapped in spider webs hanging from the top of the porch.  We always do a small cemetery scene, so spiders are crawling throughout.  We also match our costumes to the theme, so we’re dressing as Frodo (assuming you get the reference from the Lord of the Rings) and a Black Widow.  Inside the house, we go as far as changing out our artwork and even change some of our curtains.

Animated Witch

Creepy Cat

Mantelpiece

Giant Spider

We’re making marinated mushrooms, antipasto spears (with olives, marinated peppers, prosciutto, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese), tea sandwiches, pumpkin sage shrimp, and a variety of other snacks.  Obviously we’ll have plenty wine and beer on hand as well.  We wish you could all join us for the party, but we’ve added some pictures to help everyone get into the spirit of the party.

Rising Corpse

Scarecrow

Witch with Curtains

Spiders in the Yard

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