I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2023
As mentioned yesterday, Halloween is a rather uneventful holiday around here. Jon loves Halloween but we usually don’t do anything special. We haven’t been to a Halloween party in years and when Jon suggested we could try out a haunted house this year, I politely declined. I am a wimp and haunted houses are NOT my thing! I know he was not really expecting me to say ‘yes’ because he knows me well enough by now. I am afraid that it would give me nightmares and I really don’t have to have that kind of unnecessary stress on top of everything else that life throws at us.
I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween (in Germany, November, 1 – All Saint’s Day – is a national holiday, but we didn’t celebrate Halloween with costumes or trick-or-treating, although it’s been adopted as a custom over the last few years).
We also do not really decorate for Halloween but I sure do appreciate the neighbors who do! One of my favorite things to do for Halloween is to run through our neighborhood and snap pictures of all the cool outdoor decorations that people put up. I usually scope out the best decorations on my usual neighborhood runs a couple of weeks in advance and then try to plan my route for my Halloween run accordingly. I ran 5 miles on Monday morning – on a beautiful fall day here in Northern California, mind you – roaming the neighborhood and I loved every minute.
sarah
November 4, 2023 at 2:04 pmI love the skeletons just casually posed on porches— definitely makes me smile.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:44 pmYeah, I love the “casual skeleton displays” too :)
Kim
November 4, 2023 at 2:20 pmWhat a wonderful Halloween tradition! That is one of the few things I miss from living in a heavily populated neighborhood – seeing everyone’s decorations!
Not many decorate on our street and we don’t – you can’t see our front yard from the street.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:45 pmThat makes sense – if you don’t have many neighbors around and can’t see the house from the main street, no point in decorating ;)
Nicole MacPherson
November 4, 2023 at 2:47 pmWhat a fun neighbourhood you live in! Everyone’s getting into the spirit!
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:45 pmYes for sure :) I enjoy that.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
November 4, 2023 at 3:11 pmI love it! I don’t have the holiday decorating gene but my husband does. He and the boys made tombstones and he bought a bunch of fake bones to scatter around the tombstones in our front yard. One of my neighbors has a bunch of skeletons and she’s really creative with how she poses them. One year they were doing yoga poses, and now they’re set up to “chase” each other.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:46 pmI love the skeloton displays the most – so creative!
And it’s awesome that your husband has the decorating gene – I feel like it’s usually the women who do the decorating (and only employ the husbands’ help ;))
Melissa
November 4, 2023 at 3:14 pmAustralia sounds a bit like Germany. People have only recently started jumping on the Halloween bandwagon. We don’t decorate but I’ve enjoyed seeing the decorations in the US.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:47 pmYes, sounds like Austrlia is a bit like Germany :)
Grateful Kae
November 4, 2023 at 3:18 pmFun! I remember you doing this last year. I love the 3 black witches. I think I saw a house with those around here.
In our neighborhood someone set up a very elaborate skeleton display with lights based on the Taylor Swift Eras tour. Each skeleton is dressed up apparently in one of her outfits from the concert series. (No idea here since I don’t follow T Swift). Anyways it was highly popular and caused many drive bys. I saw in the local paper that it even made an appearance on Good Morning America!
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:47 pmOh wow, I guess some people really try to trump everyone else :) I see that happening with Christmas decorations, too.
Meike
November 4, 2023 at 4:05 pmI do love the Halloween decorations in our neighborhood and some people go all out. I would not go to a haunted house either. Last year my colleagues went and one paid extra to have a zombie follow her home. I am not sure I would sleep that night.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:47 pmSomebody paid extra to have a zombie follow her home??? What in the world LOL
Tobia | craftaliciousme
November 5, 2023 at 1:58 amI love looking at your pictures. Your neighbors really are all in, aren’t they. I think I like the three black witches the most. But the skeletons on the porch playing cards (?) are also fun.
We don’t do halloween. I even refused to open the door for trick and treaters (am I turning in to a mean old lady?!). But we do live in a residential area now with houses and some had some decorations out. I didn’t go looking for them so I just saw them when walking home from the bus on Halloween night and I need to get indoors quick because there were hordes of kids roaming the streets and I didnt want them to see where I was going. Ha.
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:49 pmI loved the three witches, but the skeleton displays are always fun, too. People come up with the most random ideas :)
I can understand that it’s a bit odd in Germany, where the tradition is not really established, to handle this holiday. My mom also refuses to open the door on Halloween for trick-or-treaters (but she loves when kids come by for St. Martin’s :))
Elisabeth
November 5, 2023 at 2:52 amI’m not a big fan of Halloween, but I can appreciate the elaborate displays other people want to spend money on – ha.
We trick-or-treated in a new neighbourhood this year and the decorations were EPIC. It did make the evening extra fun, I will say. Giant spiderwebs, giant inflatables, and some of the coolest pumpkin carvings I’ve ever seen.
These pics were so fun to look at – and what an entertaining running route this time of year <3
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:49 pmSame, girl, same. I enjoy these displays, but that’s about it. I am glad you had some fun with A and L in the neighborhood trick-or-treating though.
Lisa’s Yarns
November 5, 2023 at 5:29 amWe do not decorate for Halloween. I tried to talk Phil into getting a skeleton for our front bench but he was a HARD NO on that. Others in our neighborhood really decorate, though, and I love it!! It makes the season so festive and wonderful!! I would have been a hard pass on a haunted house, too!
San
November 5, 2023 at 3:50 pmHaha, Phil sounds like Jon. He’s a hard no for stuff like that, too… although I’ve softened him up a bit here and there :)
Jenny
November 5, 2023 at 8:42 amYou had some good decorations in your neighborhood! I love how creative people get with Halloween. I do put up some decorations, but nothing fancy- some orange lights, ghosts hanging from palm trees, and a few skulls. I want to make sure trick-or-treaters know to knock on our door!
San
November 5, 2023 at 4:11 pmI love the creativity too and I know a few houses that I need to go back to every year to see what they came up with :)
Ernie
November 5, 2023 at 10:05 amI love the photo of the steps up to the front door with the skulls on the way up and the pumpkins. It’s very symmetrical and festive. There is a house in a neaby town that has probably 55 sketletons, a pirate ship, and everything in between, I took the babies that I babyit there. First we visited a park down the street and then we walked to the house. It was a big hit and a fun outing. We do not decorate our yard. I have a few indoor decorations that I put up.
San
November 5, 2023 at 4:12 pmThat’s one of my favorites, too. It so visually pleasing :)
That house in your nearby town sounds intense – some people really try to trump everyone else :)
Anne
November 5, 2023 at 10:39 amYour neighborhood has a particular affinity for skeletons, it seems. I love the decorations. This was the first year in this apartment that I noticed a lot of new people (yes, I’ve been here long enough that I know who is new…) had Halloween-themed doormats, door decorations, etc. There has always been a bit of a trend for Christmas and general holiday-themed decorations but this was a nice addition. :)
San
November 5, 2023 at 4:13 pmOr I have an affinity for taking skeleton pictures ;) Who knows? (No, but you’re right – there are a lot of skeleton displays for sure!
Anthea Booysen
November 5, 2023 at 11:12 amThe photos look amazing! The skeletons are so original – must be so much fun walking around and looking at the decorations.
San
November 5, 2023 at 4:13 pmFor someone who doesn’t love Halloween, walking around the neighborhood for sure is fun!
J
November 5, 2023 at 11:25 amThose are some great decorations, I like your tradition of taking pictures of them all. We don’t decorate much for Halloween, more that I put up some autumnal flowers and that’s it. I bought a pumpkin, and now the squirrels are picking at it. I don’t think they’ve done that before.
San
November 5, 2023 at 4:14 pmOh no, the squirrels are eating your pumpkin? I haven’t had any problems with that here although we have squirrels around.
Suzanne
November 5, 2023 at 3:49 pmOh wow, your neighborhood has some AMAZING decor! I get such a huge kick out of people who go All Out to decorate for Halloween. We had some truly amazing displays around here this year, yards with dozens of inflatables or tons of skeletons. I am HERE FOR IT.
Stephany
November 7, 2023 at 3:18 pmI love this! My mom’s neighborhood has some great decorations. One of her nearby neighbors does this really creepy setup with a zombie girl on a swing, and it freaks me out every time I drive by it. Especially at night!
I think the three witches surrounding the cauldron is my favorite, although I also like the aesthetic of all the skeletons lined up on the steps!