Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 It's that time of year again, boils and ghouls! Spooky season has officially arrived on the scene, and Summer Summers of Summerville is just sick about it. She and her cronies are out here acting like that ghost pillow in their local HomeGoods means the beach is now closed until Memorial Day 2026 and the sun will not be seen again until next June. Did you know Halloween decor in July actually shortens people's summers? What a phenomenon!  Obviously, this is not the case. It's still, sadly, meteorologically speaking, very much summer. But those of us who want to look ahead have as much right to do so as thought that don't wish to look ahead have every right to do a strange little thing I'll never understand called "enjoy their summer". It doesn't have to be a battle, and yet, ever year, it is.  Sometimes I think summer people dwell on autumn and Halloween more than those of us that actually live for it. If you're so focused on what other people are...

Here we stand, at the edge of summer. It's that time of year again, when seasonal depression kicks in and the only consolation is the promise of Halloween soon hitting store shelves. This year, more retailers seem to be getting into the spirit of "Summerween", offering actual spooky themed summer merchandise, particularly bedding. I've seen sheets and pillows from TJMaxx , and blankets from Walmart . It's not a motif that I, personally, can really get into, but I'm happy that it exists. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the normalization of being spooky all year round. I'd like to think that soon it will be commonplace for a sheet ghost or skeleton to pop up on different holiday decor throughout the year. Valloween has already caught on, and Summerween seems to be the new thing, so why not Creepmas, Springoween, etc.? I have always said that for me, personally, Halloween is just my style, and is no different to me than it is for other people that decora...

 It was announced today that all Party City stores are going to be closing, very soon. I can't say that I didn't see this coming from miles away.  For the last several years, I've noticed much of their Halloween stock has been the same, save for the animatronics, which still seemed to be a very new thing to the company. The hanging ghouls, the skeletons, the cutesy, family-friendly stuff...they've basically just been recycling it all since at least 2019 or so, with a couple of occasional new additions thrown in. I can't remember the last time I went to Party City expecting to be "wowed", save for the Terrifier release.  And from what I hear, those that preordered the animatronics this past season, generally got shafted. Preorders being cancelled, items not actually coming in stock until a week or two before Halloween...I heard so many stories around the community. Not to mention the fact that the product that almost put them back on the map, Rattles the gr...

 As the Criminologist in The Rocky Horror Picture Show once said: I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey. It begins in the year of our gourd, 2008. It was, if I recall correctly, around the time of July 4th, and a Yankee Candle catalog appeared in the mail. This was shortly before the beginning of the layman's spooky season aligned with the Fourth of July, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when this catalog contained Halloween...featuring a collection of skeletons known as the Boney Bunch. I was immediately enamored with them (It's probably worth noting that I was also heavy into my Tim Burton, particularly Corpse Bride,  era at this point.) and felt compelled to make a wishlist. My mother was holding on for my Aunt Trish, who as you know if you've read previous entries here is the reason I got into Halloween in the first place, to decide what she wanted so we could just place one big order to save on shipping, and this took maybe a week or so. Now, at...

 Something I’ve been seeing a lot this year around the Halloween community, possibly more than any other year, has been talk of consumerism, how much money spent on Halloween is too much, whether collecting is really that important or if it’s somehow required to truly be a part of the community, etc. I’m in no way trying to copy anyone else who’s already spoken on this subject, but I thought I would chime in and share my thoughts, as it is something I definitely think about. Now, I’ve always been relatively fortunate when it comes to how much money I have to spend on Halloween goodies. As a child, I often received money for my birthday, September 8th, at the height of the shopping season, at least as I knew it back then. No, it wasn’t enough to collect the way I do now, but it was enough to make me happy, and you also could get a lot more for a lot less back then. I didn’t necessarily stop to think about my “hauls”, but I knew even at a young age that there was nothing I’d rat...

 As an adult who lives a perpetually spooky lifestyle, and whose main hobby is collecting decor and the like, I sometimes forget that there are people out there who go Halloween shopping, solely to find themselves a costume. However, after a trip to Party City and Halloween City, the former of which is still exactly where it's always been since I was six, I started remembering the days when I was none other than that eager little costume shopper.  Party City was the Halloween go-to in my childhood, at least in my area. I can probably count on one hand how many of my costumes over the course of a decade and then some didn't come from there. Long before Spirit Halloween, even before the smaller scale pop-up shops like Halloween Express, Everything Halloween, and Halloween Adventure, Party City was the place to go for all things Halloween. I actually was once asked, if I could go back to any store I visited as a child and experience it exactly as it was, what I would choose, and ...

 Everyone has moments in their life when they feel like giving up. That feeling of “This is never going to happen, so why keep trying?” Sometimes it relates to a thing that would be trivial to anyone else, sometimes it’s about something more life-altering. But, we’ve all been there. I have moments of discouragement with this blog. Times I’ve told myself, “No one cares”, or “No one will read this”, etc., but I continue on, for the joy of it. And sometimes, something amazing happens. If you haven’t read my previous post,  Have You Seen This Pumpkin? , I would strongly suggest doing so before continuing on with this story. The short version is, I saw a pumpkin in someone’s window when I was twelve years old, and have spent the last twenty-one years trying to find it for myself.  When I published that post, I wasn’t expecting much of a response. I was really just hoping to hear someone say, “Yes, my family had this pumpkin when I was a kid!” Or “I once saw this in a neighbor’...

If you somehow haven’t already figured it out, I love Halloween decor.        Or, as I tend to refer to it, “everyday decor”. I’ve collected a lot over the years. Even in childhood I’d often choose to spend my allowance or birthday money on Halloween-related items. I’ve amassed many different items of many different styles. Pretty much anything that relates to Halloween, makes my heart happy.  I have, however, always had a particular love for vintage Halloween, which seems to be reaching its peak in my adult life. I suppose if I had to describe my particular decorating aesthetic at this point in time it would be something along the lines of “haunted pumpkin patch meets 1950s Halloween party”.  I’d own a lot more vintage decor if I had more money and space, and also if it were a little easier to find. I was incredibly lucky this past September when I took a trip to Delaware to visit my Aunt Joanne. In her area, there are loads of vintage and...

  I said my New Year’s resolution was to finally start a blog, so let’s just get right into it, shall we? You may have noticed from my subject line here that my perception of the calendar is likely quite different from most.  Why is that? Because I believe we should do more of what makes us happy. And what makes me happy, is living in an eternal state of October. To say that Halloween is my life would honestly be putting it mildly. I became obsessed at the age of four, after being coaxed out from under a table by a favorite aunt and encouraged to go out and trick or treat. From that night on, I don’t think I ever really stopped talking about Halloween and looking forward to when the next one would arrive. My life became an eternal countdown to Halloween, until one day, probably much later than I should have, I realized, why wait?  Now, as what society deems an “adult”, I celebrate Halloween all year round. That is probably a good chunk of what w...