halloween 2018!

Photo via Pinterest - Classy Girls Wear Pearls blog.

It is October 25th today, which means that Halloween is a mere six days away! Are you in the spirit? BOO! I can't help but feel spirited when I see the changing leaves and tons of Halloween decorations wherever I go! When autumn comes around, I tend to focus on the "autumn" spirit instead of the spooky scary Halloween stuff - so I wanted to make a post FULL of my favorite Halloween recommendations to get you in the spooky mood. Activities, podcasts, TV shows, and movies that are all totally freaky and will get you in the mood to be a little scary!

Spooky Activities:

• If you're able to get a date night with your partner or a night out with friends, go on a haunted hay ride or to a haunted house! I can't really deal with haunted houses (enclosed spaces with a bunch of people who are there for one reason only - to make me want to pee my pants from fear? Nooooo thanks.) That being said, I do love haunted forests and I would love to go on a haunted hay ride! If you live in Michigan, there are tons of these attractions, along with corn mazes and cider mills if you're not feeling like being freaked out!
• Play around with Halloween makeup! Practice on your friends and your own face to see what creepy looks you can put together, or try out different colors of eyeshadow and liner or lipstick! Go for a witchy look with dark lip colors and green liner.
• Walk around those strange pop-up Halloween shops! I love how they just take over in an abandoned PetSmart or sporting goods store and they're full of creepiest things - huge animated clowns and insane asylum "patients". It's always kind of fun to look at all the costumes and the cheesy decorations!
• Have a scary movie night with family or friends! Make some creepy and cute desserts or appetizers and have a movie marathon night. There are tons of cute ideas on Pinterest for Halloween-themed party foods that are really fun to make.
• Carve up some pumpkins - or, have a pumpkin painting party instead if you don't like dealing with all the pumpkin guts! 

Freaky Podcasts:

• My Favorite Murder with Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff. Their website is right here! This is an awesome true crime podcast if you love learning about serial killers and freaky stories. I love listening to their shows, but now that Ben is a little older, I have to be strategic about it because I don't want him absorbing all of these horrendous stories haha! Not for small ears but definitely super intriguing and funny.They really do their research and make the stories super intense, and you can't help but look up the stories after listening for yourself!

• Dirty John by Christopher Goffard. This podcast isn't as dark and freaky as some of the stories in My Favorite Murder, but it's a super interesting story about a dirty con man who ended up getting what he deserved in the craziest way. If you want to hear a dark story but don't want to end up with nightmares for weeks, I would recommend this one! It's like reading a mystery novel and watching it unfold.

TV Shows and Movies:

• The Haunting of Hill House. This is a new Netflix show and it is GOOD. Chris and I couldn't help but watch it every night, and we would be genuinely scared! It is extremely well-written and just put together really nicely. I love the fact that it's a TV show because it gives time to let stories and characters really develop. Does the Bent-Neck Lady scare me to no end? Did the surprise SHOCK me? Yes and yes.
• American Horror Story. This show honestly sometimes freaks me out too much. It can get pretty weird and uncomfortable, so it's definitely not for the faint of heart!
• Silence of the Lambs. This is an older scary movie, but it's my personal favorite - a lot of the newer scary movies don't have an interesting storyline and are just meant to shock, and this one is just a really awesome movie! I have loved it for years.
• Some other scary movies that I think are definitely worth the watch? The Shining, It, (both the older and newer version!) Insidious, The Woman in Black, and Get Out. What are your favorite scary movies?

So, what are some of your Halloween traditions? Are you passing out candy this year, going to a Halloween party, or doing a little trick-or-treating with your little ones (or for yourself - no shame in that game!) We are definitely going to be dressing up this year, and handing out candy in our neighborhood. We finally live in a neighborhood where there will be a lot of trick-or-treaters, and I'm really excited to sit on our porch with Chris and Ben and see all the costumes! Let me know below what you're dressing up as this year! 

Tricks and treats,

Megan

Happy Halloween! Image via Pinterest.