Happy Halfoween//October 214th, 2024

Every year, it amazes me more and more how Halfoween has caught on. 

I mention every year, either here or on Instagram or both, how I started calculating the halfway point to Halloween when I was fourteen. It was something I did to make the wait feel less eternal, to know that we were getting somewhere. I had no one to really talk to about it, at the time, but knowing when we were halfway there was a comfort to my always-yearning-for-Halloween soul.

Years later, I finally heard the term "Halfoween", thanks to an ad for the tv series iCarly. I googled the term, and found that most people who celebrated (which at the time were mainly bars trying to draw a crowd), considered Halfoween to fall on May 1st. 

From that moment on, I did what I could to celebrate it. Even took off work on that day for many years, when my schedule was more flexible, to do whatever I could to make it feel like somewhat of a second Halloween. Movie marathons, photoshoots, cemetery walks...it was strange, in a way, to celebrate it alone, but I managed. I couldn't just not celebrate such a milestone toward the most important day of my year.

I always wished, though, that Halfoween were more of a "thing". I wished I knew more people who celebrated it, that there were more activities, events, etc.

And now, all these years later, Halfoween has become a true holiday.

The Halloween community never ceases to amaze me with what it creates, and Halfoween is probably the best example of that. 

Halfoween has gone from being something I celebrated on my own, to an actual event. Not only have I become part of a community of people who also post about it when the day (or days, as many people celebrate it on April 30th, and possibly May 2nd this year as it's a leap year), arrives, but it seems like it's really catching on out in the world, even outside of the direct Halloween community.

I see companies previewing their Halloween offerings and having sales. I see towns hosting events and festivals. I see a world that's just as excited for Halloween to come back around as I am.

That's something I could only ever have dreamed of when I was younger. 

Feeling this free to be myself, and knowing that there are so many other people out there who understand it, who long for Halloween the way I always have, is the best thing I could ever have asked for.