Halloween season feels like it takes forever to arrive.
Once it finally does, it speeds by so quickly it’s almost impossible to see, do, and taste all the magical things that only come this time of year.
You may not have the time to do everything on your Halloween bucket list, but with a little planning, you can ensure you squeeze in the most important experiences.
It’s easy to get caught up in the merriment of the season and lose track of time though. To keep focused, we rounded up the top 5 things we’re looking forward to most this Halloween season.
1. Costume Hunting at Goodwill Southern California
“Going to secondhand stores and finding a little treasure … that meant more to me because it was more of stab in the dark … because you didn’t know if you were gonna be able to afford it and you don’t know really what you are looking for, and when you find it, it’s more special to you…” – Kurt Cobain
We couldn’t agree more. As much as we love Halloween shopping at major retailers, it can put a big fat dent in your wallet real quick. That’s why we love shopping for Halloween costumes and decor at Goodwill Southern California.
Not just during Halloween season either. We shop Goodwill all year for movies, retro clothing, books, and trinkets.
Halloween season is especially fun though because you discover unique pieces you’d never find in a traditional store.
Every year, Goodwill is our first stop when hunting down pieces to complete our costumes. And when we say “hunt”, we don’t mean a casual browse. The Mrs will spend HOURS searching through all the pieces to uncover the gems that add that special touch to our costumes.
It wouldn’t be Halloween season to us without a trip… or several… to Goodwill!
2. The Mystic Museum Art Show
The Mystic Museum is one of our favorite places in Southern California. With rotating art exhibits, a gift shop, and events like fortune-telling, witchcraft classes, movie nights, seances, ghost investigations, and more- this place is a mecca for the southern California spook-loving community.
This season they’re bringing The Evil Dead to life with an immersive experience featuring original props from the film, photo ops, and an art show. The Evil Dead experience is open now through December 7th!
3. Local Home Haunts
Our neighborhood goes CRAZY (in the best way possible) every Halloween. The streets are closed and filled with costumed families trick or treating.
Each house is decorated to the extreme, there are flash mobs, and our favorite part: home haunts.
As much as we enjoy seeing professional productions, there is a contagious passion that pours out from these amateur creators. It doesn’t hurt that we live in the entertainment capital of the US.
We aren’t talking some string lights and a fog machine. These homeowners go all out, and make Halloween night unforgettable.
4. LA’s Haunted Hayride
We’ve checked a lot of items off our Halloween bucket list over the years, but we’ve surprisingly never been on a haunted hayride!
This year, we’re excited to take our first ride on LA’s most popular haunted hayride attraction. Located in Griffith Park, the Hayride is brought to life by Ten Thirty One Productions and was even featured on ABC’s Shark Tank.
We’re excited to see the scares in store for us this year at the LA Haunted Hayride.
5. Halloween Parties
We love to have a date night out, but we’re happiest celebrating Halloween in our cozy home together. That’s why we’ve made it a tradition to throw our own mini Halloween parties for two!
Mini parties are budget-friendly and the perfect opportunity to bring a little celebration to an ordinary day. Plus, they give us an opportunity to test out some of our favorite Halloween party theme ideas.
We have 3 mini parties planned for Halloween 2019. If you’d like to get a sneak preview of our themes for this year, be sure to sign up for our newsletter Click Here!
Visit Mr. and Mrs. Halloween for horror news and Halloween treats throughout the year!
For more, celebrate 365 with us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, & Instagram.
That is so amazing and cool. I may live on the East Coast, but I can tell both of you will love cuddling up and going through a haunted hayride. My list is a little bit different, but I am still looking forward to a few things for this Halloween. Just want to share with you both:
1) Pumpkin Spice Flavors – Nothing calls out to me like Pumpkin Spice coffee or Pumpkin Spice tea. The weather is transitioning over from Summer to Fall (even though Fall’s official first day isn’t until the 21st of September, but still…. lol).
2) Decorating my home – To be honest, this isn’t just for Halloween in general. I love decorating my room with fake me out pumpkins and leaves from Party City. It can be not just for Halloween, but for Fall season. I think its so cute when I see these fake pumpkins with glitter.
3) Candles, Candles and more Candles………..Oh My! – There is this cute little store that sells these lovely smelling candles. My problem before was the extreme scents they gave off, but these candles didn’t have a strong smell. These were light and fluffy and made me feel like I was walking in a dream. Pumpkins are associated with Halloween, but for Fall time, I love smelling the spiced apples candles. It makes it smell similar to apple pie or even apple cider. Yay!
4) Haunted Trails – I am NOT the bravest in my group of buddies, but I still love going to the Haunted Attractions with my friends. Safety in numbers. I usually always find myself grabbing a death-like grip on a friend’s hand. Scary, but it is fun to be scared during this time of year. One year, I actually went to the Bates Motel. Pretty cool effects. Who knows what I’ll try this year with friends. Maybe Frightland.
5) Trying out different recipes – I love practicing my baking and cooking skills. So, if there is a day or night where I’m not doing anything much, I will check up what recipes to try for the first time. My favorite go-to recipes? Fall time soups such as butternut squash from scratch and I use this recipe book called Cooking with Greek Yogurt. I was amazed at how my butternut squash soup ended up tasting so delicious. The recipe was easy to follow and I love those types of recipes.
We love your list, Amber!
So many fun things planned! We too love the flavors of fall and just went a little pumpkin spice crazy this weekend at Trader Joes. We got cookies, jams, candles… anything not glued to the floor!
We prefer apple scents this time of year too! Never have been too keen on pumpkin scented candles.
We’ll be cooking a lot this season and would love to try your Butternut Squash soup recipe! It sounds delicious!
Hope you have an amazing season and get to enjoy all these things and more!