Around the beginning of October, I adhere myself to a very strict schedule. Every October 1st, I pull down the huge bin of Halloween decorations from my closet, put my normal decorations away until November and find a place in my room for every single Halloween decoration I own. The process usually takes a few hours of rearranging and humming Danny Elfman soundtracks to myself, but by the time I’m done my living space looks like the bargain bin of a Spirit Halloween, with ghosts and skeletons in various shades of purple, green and orange everywhere. This is exactly how I like it; I’m not happy with my work unless it practically gives you holiday whiplash when you walk in. I like to call this style ‘Ghoulishly Garish.’
I never tire of being totally over-the-top every year. However, coming to college has exposed me to new styles of expressing one’s love for the holidays. For example, my roommate prefers a more ‘White Pumpkin’ sort of aesthetic, with pastel oranges and tasteful splashes of black and white. My sister likes subtle, name-brand decorations, a style she calls ‘Halloween Town.’ Some of my friends gave me different answers, with tastes ranging from ‘Kindergarten Halloween Party’ (with old googly-eyed cardboard cutouts of smiling skeletons and grinning pumpkins) to ‘Actual Haunted House’ (featuring spiderwebs aplenty and scattered piles of bones). We all discussed how cool it was that everyone had such different styles of decorating for the holidays, which makes sense considering Halloween’s connection with the bizarre and chaotic. It just wouldn’t feel right if every place looked the same on All Hallow’s Eve, especially since it’s the one night of the year where the point is for everything to look different than it normally does.
I’m sure everyone has their own particular style and method of decorating for the holidays that they swear by, and that’s just fine. That’s what keeps the holidays interesting in my opinion; nothing is more fun than passing houses and seeing the variety of tombstones, gargoyles, witches, zombies, and the like. It was the best part of trick-or-treating for me; I felt drawn to the houses with elaborate decorations or simple festive touches, purely because they were interesting and helped add to the Halloween atmosphere.
That’s what decorating is about in my opinion. Whatever your style, I urge you to do what makes you feel best around this time of year; whether it’s no decorations or too many, I hope they help you get into the spirit of the season and make you feel just a little bit spooky.