Why Halloween is the Best Holiday

Happy (Almost) Halloween!

This year is one of those fortuitous years that Halloween falls on a weekend, meaning everyone can party like crazy without having to get up and go to work the next day. Halloween parties in other years tend to get moved to a weekend either side, but it’s just not the same as doing it on the day itself.

Halloween gets referred to as a holiday, but, well, it’s not is it? No one gets a day off work to carve pumpkins and eat sugary sweets, but I think it’s one of the best non-holiday holidays of the year.

Halloween is a low pressure holiday, you don’t need to visit family, buy presents, or do all your shopping in advance because everywhere will be closed.

No, Halloween is a holiday of total selfishness and it’s about activities rather than gifts. At Easter we buy elaborate chocolate eggs, and Christmas is getting out of hand, but at Halloween the most you’ll need to do is bung some penny sweets to some children dressed as Witches.

You can get together with your friends, carve pumpkins, drink cocktails, and eat chilli dressed as a Ghost without anyone telling you there’s anything else you should be doing.

I have an exciting weekend of spooky Halloween fun planned. As you read this I will be making my annual visit to the Norwich Beer Festival, and tonight I am attending the closing party of an exhibition hosted by my friend, the artist Simon Pritchard. The exhibition is called Dracula A.D. 1972 and is based on those 1970s shlock horror movies.

This outfit is what I am planning to wear. That’s one of the things I love about Halloween, I do love to theme an outfit and this is the perfect chance. It’s not a costume, oh no. It’s merely some Pumpkin themed accessories.

The fascinator I bought from Siofra Connor Millinery a few years back (used to be Betsy Hatter!) and the necklace was from Pin Pin Finds last year.

It’s the perfect outfit, a nice stretchy dress to accommodate beer with a little touch of Halloween fun.

I’m still umming ahhing about the shoes. These really need reheeling, and beer festivals involve a lot of standing up and walking on floors that might be slippy with beer, so I might swap them out for something a little lower.

Tomorrow, on Halloween itself I will be costuming up properly (though it’s all a bit last minute!) and heading off to take in a bit of Burlesque with Missy Malone and Friends as it is the birthday of the lovely lady who made my Pumpkin fascinator!

So, now you know what I’m up to. Tell, me, what are your plans?

Top tip, if you don’t have any, try scaring yourself to death watching American Horror Story on Netflix.