Things to do for Halloween

Everyone has been excited for the arrival of fall. It comes with boots, dark matte colors, new Starbucks drinks and more. The leaves change and the humidity isn’t as bad anymore – thank goodness.

Besides many other things the month of October is marked by one central holiday – Halloween. Luckily, although Halloween isn’t until the 31st, we don’t have to wait a whole, long month to do things to celebrate the holiday. Most of the fun that comes with the holiday is actually in anticipation of it.

Let’s start by decorating

Coming back from fall break is one instance that dorms receive a transformation in decoration. Students put up Halloween themed decorations in their windows including cats, pumpkins, skeletons, scarecrows and more. People decorate their doors with harvest type decorations and you can really begin to feel the beauty and colors of fall. Decorations don’t have to be expensive either, you can either make them yourself or buy them for cheap at places like Walmart.

Carve a pumpkin

For those that don’t mind getting their hands dirty carving pumpkins is really fun. I actually bought one for my niece to carve the last time I went home, but she wasn’t really into it. I believe her exact words were “Tanisha if you like getting your hands dirty that’s fine, I on the other hand don’t like to.” My niece is four.

Even though she left I continued Operation Pumpkin Carving and it was a success if I do say so myself.

By the way, you can always use the pumpkin “guts” to make some amazing pumpkin soup or other dishes. So it’s a win-win.

Go to a haunted house

There are always haunted houses open during October. Different clubs and organizations usually host haunted houses right before Halloween, so they are not very hard to find. If you can’t find a haunted house but really want to go to one you could always make one yourself. The resources (money) are always easier to acquire if friends pitch in to help. Plus it’s more fun!

Haunted parks or mazes

Theme parks like Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens have spooky attractions every year during October for Halloween. Even the commercials advertising it are pretty scary. Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream has seven haunted houses, all with a different theme. This year they also have two “escape room” experiences.  Kings Dominion has nine mazes with different themes and six different “scare zones”. However, it isn’t terribly scary. People have said it used to be much scarier but according to unofficial resources there were too many people that filed complaints about Kings Dominion’s Halloween Haunt being too scary for children (maybe theme parks’ Halloween attractions aren’t the place for kids that are too young to handle it, but that’s just my opinion).

During Halloween season, Ashland Berry Farm also turns into a haunted corn maze that is scary at every single turn. When you get there they take you on a hay ride onto the field and once you get dropped off the only way to get away from this haunted farm is to run for your life because there will be scary people chasing you down. It’s all in good fun, right?

Trick or Treat

Halloween means lots and lots of candy. Although we may be too old to go trick or treating, if we have little ones in the family it is very fun taking them out in their cute costumes and walking them door to door. Plus, if the kids are really young you can steal some of their candy if parents don’t want them to have it all (I stole half of my niece’s the first time I took her out. Happy Halloween to me).

If that’s not an option, UVA has trick or treating on the lawn which happens a couple of days before Halloween. Different clubs set up tables with candy and local families take their adorable kids out to the lawn to get some candy. It is definitely worth it if you love fawning over cute little kids.

Parties for those too old to trick or treat

College students may be too old to go from door to door asking for candy but that doesn’t mean we can’t party. Costume parties are always great and the bars on the Corner will definitely be busy for Halloween. It’s always fun to see what kind of costume ideas people come up with and just think about the awesome Instagram pictures you can take.

Scary Clown Sightings?

This seems obvious, but make sure to take care of yourself if you go out on Halloween and that you stay with a group of friends. With the recent clown craze, the scary clown sighting are becoming more frequent and whether these are empty threats or a serious danger it’s not a chance to take. Keep your eyes peeled and take care of one another. Have fun!