Basically two...the first one being, is there anyone out there that has a spouse that doesn't care for Hallowe'en? And if so, how do you cope/compromise? I so envy those couples that both love Hallowe'en but then again, it's reversed here at Christmas so I guess it's all balanced out (I don't like Christmas, it's a headache, and an overcommercialized nightmare to me). I get the eye roll every now and then and the snide "ANOTHER skull?! There's something wrong with you! No wonder you're on antidepressants, you're always looking at dead things!" Naaaaag naaaaaaag naaaaaaag! But I can't complain too much, Mrs. Macabre puts up with my 'eccentric' hobby.
The second being, how long do you leave out your FULL display? The reason I'm asking is that I have seen where several great haunters put their displays up for Hallowe'en night and that's it. Just as a curiosity, how long do you leave up your display?
The third, (yes I said two but I just thought of this one), do you play the 'that old thing' game? You know, buy something (like a new Sony movie camera that happened to get hidden under the bed for a month and someone was wondering why the credit card bill was a little higher than expected but I'm not saying it was me or nothin') and hide it until you can pull it out and say "oh we've haaaaaaad that, it's oooooold, you remember don't you?". This last one is just for funsies.
14 comments:
I'm rolling on the floor with that last one--I am always the culprit when it comes to "that old thing?" amazes me that the spouse even takes me seriously when I say that...
first one--yeah, the spouse is far too busy to get involved in holidays--that's strictly my department; however, this year I demanded he assist with some 'motorized' props and I just had to have a crypt. well, lo and behold, once he got into building the stuff, he REALLY got into it. I nearly fell over. I can rest easy now knowing that when we're old and grey (and that ain't far off) he will have something to do at Halloween besides shake his head at me.
re the second--for the first time, I am going to have a Friday thru Sunday display/haunted house. If nobody rips stuff off the first night, I'll probably continue this.
I guess I am sort of lucky... We (my wife & I) were married on Halloween so we both love it. The issue is we kind of have different "visions" on what makes a good yard haunt. (I like realistic where as she likes "whimsical".) The other downside is she loves Christmas whereas me...not so much.
This is our first year here in Florida so I am not sure how long we will keep the display up. The last several years when we were in Salt Lake City, we kept it up the entire month of October and the first week of November. I am sort of afraid to keep it out that long here because the weather changes so much.
On the third third question...my wife has me trained. she controls all the money so I can't hide any purchases.
~ Bill aka Unklesatan
My spouse loves Halloween and hates, hates Christmas so I am lucky with that one. But for your second question, I put up my full inside display in late Sept. because I enjoy it and why not do what I want in my house and the outside display October 1st. People do their display for Christmas a month early so why can't we do it for Halloween.
my wife likes Halloween. just not as much as I do. I get eye rolls alot to. shes more of a Christmas person.
On the spouse question, he doesn't love it like I do, but he will tolerate the prop pieces scattered around the house and participate on Halloween night. He's definitely more of a Christmas person, so like you, it seems to balance out.
I usually set up props in the yard after Thanksgiving (that would be Canadian Thanksgiving - second weekend in October). That being said, October can be a rainy and windy month here, so the more "weather-sensitive" props often do not get set up until the weekend before Halloween.
And in answer to your "that old thing" question: heheheh . . . not as much as I used to. But I notice he has started doing it more often. :D
I'm with Hallowe'en spirit...my husband is fine with the props scattered about the house but only during the month of October. He'll get into any costume I put on him and he hands out candy on the night of but he's not a prop builder and he rolls his eyes a lot.
It was my wife that got me into Halloween, but I've gone well beyond her interests in it. It's become a year-round thing for me now (building props, going to monthly M&Ts, blogging about it) such that my wife thinks I'm too into it.
I tend towards extremes (a touch of OCD perhaps, but more likely just bipolar) so now I get nagged about all the furniture I've got on my list to build. Woodworking used to be my outlet, now zombies are.
Yet I also do think there's a time and place for everything, so October is Halloween month at least in terms of decorating. My wife will start pulling out all the interior details on October 1st while I begin setting up outside. Come November 1st though, and it's all immediately stashed away (cuz we gotta decorate for Thanksgiving and then December 1 we gotta do Christmas).
As for "this old thang," that's the wife's department. She's got a closet full of new clothes with tags on them that I'm supposed to believe are old just never worn. Um, yeah right.
Rich
Well, I'm not married, but my dad used to roll his eyes A LOT at my haunt. But I think I'm slowly getting him hooked with the "tech" side of haunting (my dad loves all things technology). As for length of the display, mine is smaller, so goes up and down on Halloween. As if it had vanished into the fog...
I am definately one of the lucky ones. Husband loves Halloween as much as I do....and so do our core crew of friends that have basically become family. I have myself a Halloween Army. I highly recommend one if you can get them, they are amazing.
Husband and I are not Christmas people...and this year all the Halloween decoartions finally pushed the Christmas decor out for good. Not a tear was shed :)
We are going to set up the scafolding for the abbey facade this weekend and stage the yard next weekend. We should be done with the final set up, including moss and webbing by October 7th. We will take it all down early November.
We joke that it takes about 24 working 12 hours a day for two days to set it up....if we only did that for a few day set up...no one would come back. This way give them time to forget how much work that was :)
#3 This is the reason Husband does has his own credit card. :)
Happy Halloween everyone!
Cheers!
Yeah, my husband isn't a Halloween fanatic (or any other holiday for that matter). He tolerates my addiction, but it would be nice if he shared in it. However, I still haven't given up hope of converting him. I think he likes seeing me get excited about things. Maybe I can train him like Pavlov's dogs to associate Halloween with fun...
I ease into my decorating, starting in September with fall-like items and gradually build to the scarier items. I feel as of October 1st, anything goes! I don't really have an extensive outdoor haunt though, just a few creepy decorations. I really should work on that.
And I so do the thing where I buy stuff and just casually bring it in unnoticed and POOF! at some later date, there it is! Oh, I got that for half price a while back... heeheehee. It helps that we keep our finances separate too.
I'm so happy to be able to read these wonderful artists' blogs to browse and become inspired. When your partner doesn't share your enthusiasm, it is great to have others to share with. My daily frolic through the blogs...
Thanks fellow enthusiasts!!!
On the spouse question, she loves it but not as much as I do. She does not help Mr PumpkinBrain with prop building or display setup saying she is not a manual person (yeah, I'm a programmer that really makes me a manuel person...) About Christmas, I like it but I do find it is over commercialized. She loves it more than I do.
I partially set up my props in the yard the day before Halloween and put everything back in the garage late on Halloween night (around 11pm). The reason being that I'm afraid that someone stole or breaks my hard work while I am sleeping.
And in answer to your "that old thing" question: Nope, I do not do this anymore.
Nope, hubby is not into Halloween much anymore. When we were teens and early marrieds, he was, but the stroke changed all that. He indulges me, though he can't help with building, set-up or take-down. This year I told him my theme and asked for any ideas, and it sparked his interest a little more.
In the past, I've been up to the last minute putting things out, especially last year when it rained cats and bats, but that's partly because I'm such a procrastinator and I keep thinking of just one more thing to do. Plus, I like it to be a surprise when the kids come by. I love to see their faces.
This year, I think I'll try setting up several days ahead of time, maybe even 2 weeks ahead on some of the stuff. The way the neighborhood kids like my yard, (no one else does much, so I have no competition) I don't think I'll have any problems with theft or destruction. I usually start taking down the outside stuff the next day and try to have it all put away within a week.
As for the prices, nah. Hubby's so mellow, he doesn't way a word. I also try to keep the spending under control, and I'm successful at it 10 months of the year--the two exceptions being Oct. and Dec., because I'm a Christmas nut, too.
Split personality? No, I don't think so.
I'm lucky that hubby allows me to enjoy all things Halloween. He doesn't mind a bit, in fact, he probably likes it more than he knows. As for X-mas...eeeh...we are skipping it all together this year (the decorating, the gifts, the awkward dinners at the in-laws). Told the little peeps we would take them to Disney over the holiday and that made them quite happy.
Kyle is not a nutty as I am about Halloween, I think he could take it or leave it, but this being our third Halloween together, he is very supportive and helps me with props and has even been collecting prop supplies he finds while working on the road. He is really impressed with this year's haunt which is really my first good attempt. Neither of us even bother with cristmas although I like to decorate minimally for the season.
Two, I had my witch ghost and some floods up for three weeks before Halloween last year and it was a pain in the ass between wet weather, very high winds, and the tendency for Kyle to trip over the lights when they were off while taking out the garbage. This year I will put out the tombstones a week or little more early, then a witch holding a flicker lantern on Thursday, witch 2 of Friday with her lantern, and Sat witch three with her lantern. I'll put out the floods on Sat and then Sunday we'll have it all out with the fogger and cauldron.
Three-we have separate bank accounts so if one of us overspends it's tough luck.
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