Fabulous idea that is fabulous:
While we’re having fun . . . Could we have a post next week where we speculate how various House Andrews characters (and Steve) would celebrate Halloween? Who dresses up as what . . . Who gives out the best candy . . . Who keeps the house dark and pretends not to be at home?
T. in the comments
Let’s get the Halloween week festivities started!
We have vampires who don’t sparkle, but swing a mean sword; mysterious eldritch abominations married to reformed Preceptors; hysterical hedgehog chefs who go all out on Halloween candy; Sirens and Beasts of Cologne, Nosferatus in Skittles sunblock, more werewolves than we can shake a jack-o’-lantern at and eerie bayous full of necromantic zombie squirrels.
But how would they all celebrate the spookiest night of the year? Did it survive in the future of the Kinsmen world? Does the Holy Anocracy know about All Hallows? If not, is Helen left Trick or Treat-less? What’s a Pancake Prime to do all by his lonesome on Samhain, as he wonders weak and weary?
To the Horde the speculation mic!
They did the bash, they did the shifter bash,
The Kate Daniels smash, it was a fearsome clash,
They did the bash, the Horde cheered in a flash,
It was House Andrews’ ultimate magic bash!
Then Roman arrived with his wicked grin,
Chernobog’s priest, stirring up sin,
With a flick of his wrist and a laugh so dark,
He cast a spell to give the party spark!
Ok, ok, I’ll leave it to the pros instead:
I have to pick one?
Not at all! Other than keeping it to House Andrews characters, it’s Halloween, everything goes 😀
I would pick Elara because Hugh would probably shut the door on the trick or treaters.
P.S. Surprised I was first.
Kate had turned down the Witch Oracle’s invitation every year but finally for the sake of the children decides to go, since it’s really Witch’s New Year after all. Rowena in her glorious red hair makes any costume into a sexy version just by putting it on. They eat, drink midnight margaritas but then someone has a prophecy and everything goes to heck when the Beast Lord senses danger and crashes the party …
Oops wasn’t meant to be a reply but a new comment
I think Kate would be very enthusiastic about Halloween, not having celebrated it as a child.No-one will let her do the decorations again, even though it’s obvious to her that making a frieze of real eyeballs is so much easier than faffing about with arts and crafts.
SO much easier! She could write one of those Pinterest Halloween Hacks article- “How to decorate your house in eyeballs with just 1 power word” :D. And Keelan would need to guard all the freaky poking devices from the other shifters 😀
Hanging from a putrid purple carpeted ceiling,
I would hate to see Orro’s crestfallen face when he gets told that his delicious but not commercially produced Halloween treats probably mean that parents won’t let their kids eat them because there’s a chance the treats are tampered with or unsafe….. *Shudder*
I would love to be willing to trade fun-sized snicker bars for them kids!
I feel like he would replicate the commercial candy exactly in looks but even the wrapper would be edible and made out of a dozen flavours 😀
And if he’s been allowed around the seasonal movies again…Orro letting his inner Willie Wonka flag fly free! Levitating bubblegum and caramel apples that let you see 100 extra colours lol 😀
I’m going with your thought, that Orro would plan for a wrapper. Then Gertrude Hunt would be THE house that all the kids would go to first each year. In my area, all the kids know which houses give out full sized chocolate bars.
Dina can’t decorate as much, because it would be too suspicious with the out-of-this-world candy 😀
Dina could put out the pumpkins and other gourds as decoration for the neighborhood. She would have to hide the apple trees just in case someone needed to go to the bathroom. 😀
And ofc the frozen Dushegub who messed up during the Dominion Bachelor show! 😀
Dina or Sean could decorate the Dushegub with orange and purple lights. Then they could put spiderwebs all over it. 😀
I can just imagine orro’s creations after watching Willy Wonka. Orro “I can indeed make candy that let’s them fly, but how did this human manage?” Dina,” you can’t give out candy that makes people fly to humans on Halloween!”
yes need this to be a short short story lololol
with Costco lady and the detective as co stars
Beast can be other form self.
omg! Orro sneaks over to the Marais house and helps with the snacks for the kids! I can totally see that!
And then there’s the werewolf that’s stalking the bad kids in the neighborhood when they get out of line…
I was just telling a friend that Halloween is no fun for me any more because it has become so commercial. I remember home made costumes and mostly home made treats from my childhood (popcorn balls, rice krispie treats, brownies, homemade cookies, homemade fudge, etc.) But we also knew everyone in the neighborhood who’s house we visited.
I would vote for Orro’s treats every time. Or maybe whatever Catalina is baking.
Mom would ask which home gave us the homemade treats, and then she would approve or discard those treats. We had homemade costumes and used pillow cases to collect the treats. I live in the Des Moines, IA area now and they have Beggars’ Night (which is never on Oct 31), where the kids give a riddle and get a treat. It is so cute. Oct 25, 26 or 30 is Beggars’ Night this year depending on which town you live in.
Children LOVE to trick-or-treat at Gertrude Hunt Inn. I know that “normal” humans aren’t allowed to stay at the inn, but kids could walk up to the porch and knock for a treat. Plus, Dina could use inn magic for spooky/whimsical decorations without raising suspicions.
And you just KNOW that Orro wouldn’t settle for factory-made candy. Not on his watch! I don’t know what dessert he’ll make, but it’ll be complicated and spectacular (though he’ll have misconceptions on the holiday that Dina and Sean will need to correct).
Now I really need to read this. 🤣
Halloween at the Inn is one of my top requests when I nag House Andrews #sorrynotsorry
+1
We need this! I wish for your quest to be successful!
Ditto!!! Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*waves signal flag*
I’ve always wondered about the kid who tells Helen she’s lying about the inn experience.I would love to see them visit the inn!
front door the human kids. back door, Arland brings the vampire kids 😆 cause it would totally be Arland helping the kids be mischievous.
Thank you for looking out for the Horde’s interests, ModR!
On another note, if I have the “We all need to chill…” line put on a T-shirt, can I put a little ” – ModR” credit, or should I leave it unattributed? Of course if you don’t want it used at all, I will respect that.
I’m fairly sure I saw a meme of it and started saying it a while ago, can’t take the credit!
THat would be so awesome. The one time of year when all the guests are allowed to hang out outside while people admire the awesomeness that is the inn’s guests Halloween costumes!
+1 for Gertrude Hunt
Imagine all the fun decorating they could do!! Slides, mirror house, lighting, spooky cat. And Orro. Orro would whip up the best Halloween neighbourhood feast to share. We NEED this short story. Thank you Mod R!
Helen, in a vampire costume (of course), flying down a zip line at the stronghold tossing candy everywhere as she goes.
😀 Baby Dracula!
Dina will have to have a Halloween party so that Orro’s not-commercially-produced creations can be appropriately appreciated. I could see Hugh going all out on Halloween decorations for the castle and Curran obsessively sniffing Conlan’s collected treats and growling at any teenagers who get too rambunctious. Rogan seems like the kind of guy who would prefer turning out the lights but will refrain because Nevada undoubtedly loves Halloween, although not as much as Arabella. Kaldar Mar would be raking in the candy by encouraging the kids to wager on ridiculous things.
omg nefarious treat wagers! That’s brilliant 😀
Using nefarious Necco wafers?
No Halloween on the vampire worlds, but Arland flies himself and Helen to earth in order to celebrate. Still trying to decide what he would goes as, but Arland and Sean absolutely get into a contest to see who can get the most candy.
In light of Orro’s understanding of Christmas, I would also LOVE to hear his version of Halloween.
The contest is won by Gaston who is visiting Caldenia in is ongoing effort to be mentored by her.
No need to fly. Apparently Gertrude Hunt has established a connection to Daesyn. Wanting to make family visits easier?
Yes, but has that been shared yet? I got the feeling that needed to keep that quiet. (Of course, Dina would probably tell Maude or Maude would sense it.) I wasn’t sure, so I went with flying.
I think the contest is to Give the most candy. lol!!
They will have stalls and on opposite ends of the yard and a points system for every child/adult who comes to each and how many times they return
Can you imagine Arland’s disgust at the human concept of a vampire costume? Sean might wear one just to piss him off… either the white face makeup / tall collar / fake blood version or the sparkly one. 👀😆
Nah, just to mess with him, Sean goes as a Sparkly Vampire.
*urghk!!*
*almost chokes trying to not laugh*
Ooooo! Can you see Gaston trying to romance his way into an apprenticeship with her grace?
Sean and Arland have an apple dunking contest!!
I kind of feel that the two who who most get in the spirit and make an awesome extravaganza would be Roman and Orro. Roman seems like he would embrace the chance to be dark in a fun non evil way – just like he loved officiating the wedding. And Orro… he might not even care about giving treats out to trick-or-treaters but instead making some amazing carved jack-o’-lantern that would outdo everyone and then do some thing like explode into edible treats.
Awww, it would be so heart-breaking if parents didn’t let kids trick-or-treat with Chernobog’s priest because he’s bad news. He would have tiny costumes for the Kolovershi, in true twisted-Disney princess fashion hehe. And all the cookies!
And would Roman go as Eeyore?
People would stay home on Halloween in KD world, and monsters aren’t funny when they’re real. Parties are held where adults dress up as the most anodyne characters from the mid-20th century, as the “safest” era before magic rising: Winnie the Pooh (Disney version), June Cleaver et al., Andy Griffith, Little House on the Prairie, I Dream of Jeanie, Gilligan’s Island, the Peanuts characters in their costumes and of course Linus and the Great Pumpkin. (There’s a collection of videos that are brought out to watch when tech is up.)
I can see all the nechists digging up bones and bringing home animal remains from the woods to decorate. Roman has to rush around removing it all to avoid grossing out his party guests.
I’ve seen several references to Roman officiating a wedding – Kate’s? I must have missed it forgot that — where was it??
In Magic Binds, Kate Daniels book 9 https://ilona-andrews.com/katie-daniels-books/#binds 🙂
The upside for the Inns is that if one of the guests gets loose that night, nobody will notice them with all the fancy outfits going about 😉
No one in the KD world is going to open the door to anyone, let alone “lil monsters” nor would they take their family out a night if they didn’t have to, so i would expect there to be a party at the Keep or at a large house in their neighborhood.
For HL, kids would want to trick or treat in the fancy neighborhoods to get those full size candy bars. I could see Nevada and Rogan doing this with Author, as not miss out the event. I am assuming that when they lost their house and moved to the warehouse, they didn’t get to do the fun stuff like trick or treating.
For the Edge, there wasn’t a lot of money for that stuff, and people would be careful at night, so maybe a day party with close family. I am not sure Halloween was celebrated in the world where the Camarines lived. if it was, there would probably be some type of party and/or masquerade.
Kinsman is another planet, so Halloween doesn’t make sense. But they could have a masquerade occasion for kids and families.
Innkeeper – a package get away for guests where they can mingle at a party with other guests and enjoy festivities and decor and delicious treats from Orro. Maybe dressing up if it was part of their culture…though can’t imaging a vampire doing that unless it was to make fun of the Horde….
I would argue for kinsmen having Halloween but it might not look exactly the same. Traditioms that led to Halloween didn’t start in America. they migrated. Humans leaving earth and ending up on other planets would do the same. Would it be celebrated on the same day on a different planet or would it be during that planets harvest season. Which traditions survive, which don’t amd which transform would be interesting to see especially from planet to planet.
would be interesting if there was an equivalent. bet they’d serve delicious pastries
Given his curiosity about Earth literature… Arland definitely winds up dressed as a sparkly vampire when he and Maude bring Helen to Gertrude Hunt for Halloween. I’m not sure if it’s his idea, or Maude and Dina, or if Sean gets Helen conspiring with him to make it happen. But there’s definitely glitter.
+1 for Arland in glitter!
I see your glitter and raise you a (Sean instigated sneaky) coffee for extra mayhem and hilarity 😉
Are any of these worlds ready for Glitter Arland?
Now I’m imagining Karat giving out candy. O_O
*sniggers happily*
Arland would **obviously** dress up as Olasard!
and now i’m picturing him in kitty ears just for Helen 😄
Fluffy Arland! Snort…snicker…bwahahahahaaha
I’m thinking Arland goes as Red Riding Hood. Blood red cape and long flowing hair. Helen goes as the wolf. Fluffy ears and fangs.
The Gertrude Hunt residents could set up a marquee and chairs outside and hand out the goodies there. I have a neighbor who sets up a card table next to her porch.
Gertrude Hunt should host a party for the neighborhood where kids can have a safe party, adults dress up, and Orro make all the treats–maybe every food looks like something its not, like hard boiled egg eyeballs (that look real), a life size dragon made of sashimi, etc. Arland and Sean could swap identities, with Arland the werewolf and Sean the vampire. Helen and Lady Imanie could visit and come in costumes of alien monsters. Dushegubs should be borrowed for the lawn ornaments (inner courtyard only, so as not to scare the humans).
On a side note before I forget, if magic works on food, we need passion cone love magic for Valentine’s Day.
This was a much needed moment!!
I could hear Helen telling Arland about an Earth tradition called Halloween.
Arland would get curious about it. Might ask Maud about it. She would most likely tell him about it and can go as himself since vampires are all the rage at Halloween. Helen probably would want to bring her fangs (aka knives) with her, but Maud would say not to use them unless it’s to rip open candy wrappers. A trip to the Inn is necessary.
Kate rolling her eyes at this whole Halloween stuff. Not sure if the family is in Atlanta or if they are at their compound in Wilmington. Hugh telling gory stories to the kids of his days as Preceptor of the Iron Dogs. Roman having lots of fun either as a Disney princess or as Eeyore. I don’t think he’s picked out his costume yet. 😉
I can hear Arabella complaining that it is Halloween time again. In true Arabella fashion tells everyone she’s not going to open her door to anyone who want candy. I have a feeling Arthur would smile in his diabolical way to get treats out of his “favorite” Aunt. Connor would shut the door and turn out all the lights. Nevada saying she and Arthur are going to her family’s Compound if Connor is going to act that way. Catalina and Alessandro warning everyone that the spider, Jadwiga, is still on the loose.
Kinsmen would give out treats to the kids. May not dress up in costumes unless someone hosts a masquerade party.
Not sure what the people in the Edge would do.
I could see a Jadwiga finally being captured Halloween story.
“Snack sized humans. Do you wish to discuss?”
+1
Watch a horror movie called The Munching Beavers or When Chainsaws Attack! or something along those lines. 🤣🫣
They would have to watch “Zombeavers” (real film which is so bad it’s hilarious!)
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I feel like Augustine would be embarrassed about his candy corn addiction and wouldn’t want to admit that he keeps a hidden stash in his desk.
😂 Liking sugar wax is so on brand for Augustine
I would be embarrassed, too, if I liked candy corn. I use to when I was really young. I ate too many of them back in the day. Now if I eat one, I have to discretely spit it out. Tastes like candle wax to me. 😝🥸
If it’s a bit slow guest-wise, Gertrude Hunt would be the ultimate haunted house. Dina and Sean would design the various scary rooms. Guests could get involved if they wanted and do some of the scaring – maybe a Donkamin or two for the ultimate “special effect”. The tour would end up in the ballroom where Orro would be free to create and serve eerie but delicious treats.
It would be the highlight of Red Deer.
I can’t decide if Augustine Montgomery, with his ability to look like anyone, would love or hate Halloween.
In KD world I think Julie would love handing out candy and things to children’s shelters, kids who are unhoused, she’d probably have fun making customes with the young children, maybe having some type of party event.
Conlan would have some fun shenanigans, maybe he’d go to Pennington and spook some ppl and also go trick or treating. I think he’s too much like his parents ❤️ to play a prey animal for a costume, but that’d be funny and cute. maybe he’d have a costume as an ancient scary being or something.
In Dina’s inn I think Orro would have an amazing time like the other ideas on here. Maybe Dina will get Sean into something fun and he could be a wolf in the neighborhood oh and Calendina could play herself and wear her majestic galactic supremacy outfit on the front porch and give away candy with only an occasional moment of scaring children hehehe.
In HL, Augustine would get to keep changing up his costume for fun with his illusion magic and he’d probably spend time with his younger siblings and maybe a beautiful animal mage he’s fond of 😉. Rogan would get roped into the festivities and he’d enjoy seeing Nevada’s joy at it. Rogan would get to use his tk to conveniently decorate and their son would make fun toy-like weapons for costume accessories (but they’d probably work too well and be removed for child safety 😆). Catalina would maybe take a break from people’ing and spend time indoors with family and friends. Leon would get up to some Halloween shenanigans and need to be rescued by Arabella.
The First Scholar and his students would need to have made reservations to visit Gertrude Hunt to observe and participate in the current form of these ancient rituals. They would have Dina set up desks and a big screen/whiteboard on the lawn and mimic the pattern but not the content of a third grade (8 years old) class.
Also, wouldn’t Klaus need to stop by?
Klaus couldn’t stop by. It hasn’t been twenty years yet.
I would think aliens would love to go to Halloween at Gertrude Hunt. They wouldn’t need to wear their obfuscators that day.
When you first mentioned Halloween costumes, I suddenly pictured Orro with cotton balls attached to all his spikes so he looks like a giant white dandelion (you know, the ones you blew on when you were a kid to make the fluff fly).
Ah, the monster mash! I highly recommend the version by low bass singer Geoff Castelucci.
I second this suggestion. Of course all his Halloween videos are fun.
This post and mission nav- possible made me smile during the tuff work day. I am an urban planner for some municipality, in some state in the northeast… I just want to say people are idiots and do not think about things like… permits… before doing renovations. The excuse “i did not know”, does not work for me. Thank you as always for the laughs House Andrews. Can’t wait for more snippets. Good luck and stay safe. Your books are extremely important to me.
Now imagining Halloween related Kate Daniels, HL and the Edge Shenanigan’s. Lol. Thank you again. I honestly think Kate would see it like she did the Slavic feast day her wedding was on. I don’t know if Roman would actually participate or not. Julie may con Derek to go trick or treating with her and they get up to mischief in the Warren. I could see Ghastek secretly enjoying Halloween and working with his vampires to give candy out to trick or treater.
As for the Edge: I could see the Mars family enjoying their first Halloween where the kids could do kid stuff, if Halloween is celebrated in the Edge. I could see Grandma Frida in HL throwing candy out of Romeo to the waiting children and Alessandro actually getting to celebrate a normal holiday.
Why do I see, a Halloween bash, at the Inn, with everyone who has done interviews, and their kids, if they have them. Why do I see Arland dressed as a werewolf, Sean a vampire, Rogen going as Beast Lord, Hugh playing Roman…oh and the food after Otto watch the old Wonka movie.
That was awesome’n
Is there something I’m missing? “Email the Store” is at the top of the post when I clicked the access from FB
It’s a banner for anyone who had issues with their merch order 🙂. It’s been there since for a few months, in case someone in the returns/replacement period needed to contact the store team. I think it’s probably safe to take down now.
Okay, so trick-or-treating can be a bit frightening in the Edge. For one thing, kids who shapeshift often go out trick-or-treating in their OTHER form (make sure you give them good treats because the mildest of the tricks they are likely pull is peeing on your house). Necromancers have a weird sense of humor, so sometimes they have a dead animal (or person) handing out the candy (for fun) and it can really rattle the kids (and their parents).
In the Hidden Legacy universe, people try to find clever ways to use their magic to create Halloween hijinks. Illusion mages can go all out on costumes and telekinetics might animate sheets so that “ghosts” swirl all around their houses. Animal mages have wolves and bats and black cats helping to add atmosphere and then it is always dark and stormy around a weather mage’s house on All Hallows Eve. A Levitator Mage might give children free “broom rides” or an Animator Mage might make contraptions that could carry children from house to house.
Kate’s world is pretty dark and scary and full of monsters already, so I figure they try to up the fun and drop the creepy down a few notches. I expect most of Atlanta tries to maintain a “normal” Halloween for their kids, but I could see Kate and Curran allowing the children from the nearby town to come to their Wilmington compound and pet or ride on baby megafauna. Just seeing the prehistoric beasties would be super fun, even without the added benefit of candy.
I expect Hugh and Elara would really do up a fun Halloween with traditional costumes and trick-or-treat and maybe a corn maze or hayride. They have all those kids, plus the children that belong to the rest of Elara’s people need a fun Halloween, too. And they are business-minded. If you invite all of Aberdeen to bring their children over for a Halloween carnival it will make you look less scary and have the townsfolk less likely to try to murder you with fire.
At Gertrude Hunt you know that Dina and Sean will have the Avalon Subdivision’s children over to get candy and treats. Orro loves any excuse to cook a huge feast, so I’ll bet he’d love the challenge of making delicious food that LOOKS scary. Let’s just hope he doesn’t watch a Halloween movie and take it literally and get all confused about earth Halloween traditions!
You know Helen will wear a “costume” as a vampire (everyone will be so in awe of her “fake” fangs) and she can trick-or-treat with all the other kids in Dina’s neighborhood. Maybe Emony can come with her!
Maude and Arlen could take the evening off while Dina and Sean babysit and Maude might get Arland to watch earth vampire movies— just to see him scowl or hear him laugh depending on the movie.
I don’t know if the Kinsmen have Halloween. Maybe someone else in the Horde has the scoop on that!
P.S. I do audiobooks, so I may not have spelled some of the names correctly. 🙂
Sean goes all out having the inn decorated as an haunted house and dresses as a wolf. Wants Dina to dress like little red riding hood. Thinks he’s funny.
For the record, I was at Bran castle on Saturday. It’s pretty cool. More royalty castle than a lad the Impaler (who is also not really involved in this building)
The Carpathians are lovely and I highly recommend getting out to Braşov if you are ever in Romania. My brother just relocated there and I am now waiting at JFK on my return trip. So I squealed when I saw the photo.
I went to Law school in Brașov! 😍 So glad you liked it!
In KD, spooks and spirits really do roam on all-Hallows eve. Regular folks wear masks to hide their identities from malicious spirits. They put out jack o’lanterns to confuse and deflect wandering spirits from entering homes. People tend to stay indoors for safety.
The Pack has its own traditions, for example, Mischief Night.
The People promote spending all-Hallows eve indoors as an all-night gambling event, with a nice buffet.
Mercs charge time and a half for jobs that evening.
Meanwhile at Gertrude Hunt, Dina has put Beast into a shark costume, which the neighborhood kids think is cute and Sean thinks is on point. And she built a special chute so kids coming up to the house get candy delivered all the way from the porch to the sidewalk without having to come up the walk. Sean rigged a speaker from inside so the water monster roars can be heard intermittently. Orro had been watching Iron Chef and got a little carried away with the dinner menu that included pumpkin in all the dishes. Helen always visits, and enjoys showing her fangs to impressed local kids while helping with the candy chute.
ModR, please save me with Arland’s misspelled name and how is Helen’s friend’s name spelled? Could you fix that, too. And then we will just pretend I didn’t make ANY mistakes. 🙂
I fixed Arland, have to check the books to remember her friend 😅
You have to fix Arland more than one time— sorry!
Also, THANK YOU!
I see a Haunted House setup in Wilmington. Hyenna cackles, wolves baying and a muted Curran roar so as not to frighten the youngsters too much. Cookies in abundance and a magic apple pie for the select few.
Gertrude Inn could have its own party as everyone would think it is special effects and everyone knows Orro’s baking would be the best ever.
Maud, Arland and Helen come to the Inn and then next year take the tradition home. Coffee for the adults and candy for the young.
Hidden Legacy Nevada throws a big Halloween parade ending in a party in the main park for one and all
Mid R i love your alternate lyrics. How fun 🧛♂️🧌👾👺👹👿
OMG! 😂♥️😂🤣. Now I can’t get that song out of my head! At this time of year it’s usually Micheal Jackson’s Thriller.
I can imagine Orro handing out the ultimate box of Halloween goodies, a line forming around the block just to ring the Inn’s doorbell.
The older pack kids dressing up and in all scariness chasing around the younger pack kids.
The Witch oracle; noone goes to their door, curses abound!
Lol this is 😂
I’m imagining a certain Dwarven Smith from KD taking his grandson trick-or-treating at the nearest town. Possibly handing out treats from his own treat bag, since it can be difficult to get to his place. So maybe more of a Trunk-or-treat.
The druids and witches will get together and throw a party after all the sacred rituals are finished.
Roman would be the go-to chaperone to take the niblings and younger cousins trick-or-treating.
Bash! I want the whole bashing shebang! Cross all the streams! Have it at Gertrude Hunt and invite EVERYONE! (Roland can not actually come but he could host the respite corner for those needing a break.) Orro could boggle and Amaze! Can you imagine the food? What the “appropriate “ costumes could be?THE DANCING!!! All those swordspeoples? They can dance! The different Vamps could chat, the different shifters could compare notes ( noses, fur, claws etc) Magic systems could collab. The possibilities are endless! I really want to ALL OF THE COUPLES dancing to I put a Spell on you! ( especially Roman and Andora just because) I want Puffles and Maggie and , and, and!!!!!
I ignore Halloween when it is at all possible. I realize that birthdays are better than no more birthdays, but I don’t particularly enjoy them. So, it is the one night a year my porch light is off. Bah humbug.
(Dressing up- how abot as Roland and his gold chariot!)
Thanks for a fun post. Feeling a bit disgruntled at Halloween right now, as it seems to be spreading to other countries which have perfectly good festivals of their own, and currently seems to actually be supplanting (outwardly at least) a local festival, which happens to fall at the same time this year.
People here don’t actually celebrate Halloween so there’s no reason for the shops to be touting it over the festival that people actually do celebrate.
Anyway, rant over. Reading the comments made me feel better…
Sounds like you live in my neck of the woods, as I may or may not have aired the exact same rant in recent years 😅😉
Omg I haven’t heard that for a long long time lol
i don’t do Halloween. I live in New Zealand. my daughter does. We burn Guy Fawkes and light fire works. and it’s spring.
I’m a kiwi too, I used to avoid Halloween for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about snowy christmas shopfront scenes in high summer.
These days I love seeing the little kids dressed up and putting some skulls out the front of the house as decoration.
It is definitely the wrong time of year and part of the world (and I’ve been enjoying the rise of Matariki in midwinter as something that does feel like it’s the right place and time) but it’s still nice seeing the kids having a good time (and to put sunglasses on a plastic skull and hang fake spiderwebs).
I do wish we had better carving pumpkins though…
The way Texas’s weather has been lately, I think the state forgot which part of the hemisphere it is in. Hopefully we will get colder weather soon.
Guests from Gertrude Hunt can wonder around the streets freely “in costume” and give out special treats Orro made, and say they are all friends of Dina, and help her build goodwill so the next time something weird happens it will all be considered very normal cos she just has fantastic/weird friends.
Oh!!!!!!
I thought this was a premise for a short( not too short) story. I didn’t realise you wanted input😂😂😂
Hey, I like the Mash! Nice work, Mod R!
Gertrude Hunt would become the Monster House, (but not dangerous) and entire families for miles around would come to watch the animated house change before their eyes while shooting out candies that Dena bought at the local Costco. Just think of the killer light displays and holograms. The “Haunted House” experience of a lifetime. Officer Morales could do crowd control while his wife snakes on Orro’s strawberry donuts.
Some costumes from the Baylor/Rogan halloween bash:
Catalina dressed up as Westley/the man in Black because she gets to wear a mask and carry a real sword…
Alessandro dressed up as Inigo Montoya (it’s definitely on the nose but he’s still working through some things…)
Arabella as a Magical Girl (with an ominous looking scepter that Linus gave her, that makes everyone in the family nervous every time she waves it).
Nevada, Arthur and Connor as Chili, Bluey and Bandit (Like many toddlers, it’s entirely possible that Arthur is an ardent fan and Nevada and Connor are just happy to avoid hidden anything cocomelonesque…Conor may or may not be taking parenting advice from a cartoon dog)
Matilda Harrison as Kaa the python accompanied by Sergeant Teddy and Zeus as Baloo and Baghera respectively (it was suggested that she go as Mowgli but she preferred the animal option)
I think that Rogan and Nevada would have the >BEST< time at Halloween. Connor would levitate stuff to be spooky and make it look like Nevada is really a witch or something cool. They could dress us incognito and Rogan would rent out a house in a neighborhood just so they could do it the old-fashioned way. Because of course Nevada would want her son to have normal experiences too. All the security is dressed up in fun costumes or disguised as decorations. Bug would disguise his drones as ghosts or bats for dramatic effect.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s asked in the comments, and maybe I missed it, but has the blog mentioned that “The Innkeeper Chronicles” comic is half off over on Tapas through Halloween?
I’m sure one of our quieter HA characters (maybe Been) would prefer to pick that up for Halloween to share with his fungi.
*Bern
This has probably already been mentioned, but I’m going ahead anyways … I’m imagining that the Gertrude Hunt Inn is the most popular Trick-or-Treat site in Red Deer, Texas. Because of all the great ‘Costumes’ worn by the people giving out the candy. With as many guests as they’ve had, some must find it amusing to answer the door in their natural form for one night.
I. Love. It. It’s 6:18 am here and my poet’s brain is not awake. Surely Arland will get in on the bashing and Maud will be slashing while Halloween candy comes crashing into Helen’s hands.
Then Helen would be mashing the candy she doesn’t like. 😀
New verse!
I love all the Gertrude hunt party ideas. While I see Helen at those parties, I also see her telling Lady Ilemina, Lord Otuber and Lord Soren about Halloween. The vampire interpretation of costumes, tricks and treats would be memorable!
Dina would buy the boxes of full size candy bars sold before Halloween at Costco. Orro would carefully remove the commercially produced candy, make homemade candy bars, place them back in the official wrappers and back in the box for handing out on Halloween.
Hugh as a tooth fairy please. Arland as a biblically correct angel would be great too.
I’m singing it in my head
Arabella and Leo bully the entire family into themed costumes and stage heists on each other’s candy stash. Ferrets may or may not be involved.
oooh this! Like a brooklyn nine-nine type Halloween heist contest!!!!!!!!!!!
So fun! Yes!
+ 1 on Gertrude Hunt being the center of all Halloween shenanigans. Nobody has to wear costumes, just come as you are and eat Orro’s delicious food! Can you imagine the edible witch house he could make? And he could be himself, but then he might get offended if the little humans don’t appreciate his artistry! Oh the speeches! All the decorations could be edible! OK, maybe I’m a little obsessed with edible decorations. And ferrets.
Wow I hadn’t thought about that song in decades. I don’t think I ever saw that video, fun! Thanks for a neat blog offering.
I can see Maud corrupting generations of vampires with a Halloween party and candy for the kids. Perhaps imported from Nuan Cee’s stash?
Don’t know if it has been imagined already (awesome actually if it has), but the Casino all decked out with purple orange lights, jack-o-lanterns and other inanimate objects for decorations, and then like one Ghastek-controlled multicolor sunblock covered + some cute costume wearing Vampire handing out candies to the kids in Nataraja’s old office – now the new childcare area.
LOL!
Now the music is cursedly playing over and over in my head and won’t let me go!!
Dastardly House Andrew’s Halloween Bash got me again 😩🙀🎃
I went to Predjama castle once, caste in a cave! now I am imaging that as a base for the Horde xD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predjama_Castle
I want to see Conlan’s friends turning up for a Keelan organised Halloween party in Wilmington. Ireland is the original home of Halloween (Samhain), so think traditional – he’s dismissive of pumpkins, they have to be real carved turnips that are scary af, treats needing to be earned with performance or trick etc., spooky stories by an enormous bonfire.
that sounds so FUN.
I want Halloween at the Inn where Orro can serve amazing treats “in costume” and Helen and her classmates can wander around as a group of vampire children demanding candy. 🍬
Yes!
Dina would have the BEST haunted house ever. I can totally see Sean and Arlan’s pitching in to help. Haha. It would be epic.
I can see Kate giving out candy but something would happen to mess it up. But Kate and Curran could throw a mean party and their friends would be thrilled with the chaos that always follows.
Arthur is going to have the best/ funniest costume. No way the Baylors would let him be anything but spoiled and adorable
When you’re done going through the haunted house you get a treat from Orro. Caldenia would watch everyone to determine their merit. Haha
I definitely want a Helen does Halloween story!
Halloween in the Kate Daniel’s universe sounds like something not for the faint of heart. Like, how do you know that’s just a costume for that slimy green monster? And what if that’s actually something else, just disguised as a human in a Buzz Lightyear costume? Never mind what could actually be in those treats.
Ok, okay, ummm… Can’t we get one from each? I love all the different series and Halloween is my favorite holiday!
When I read the Blog early this morning, I thought I remembered Boris Karloff singing Monster Mash many years ago. I Googled and found conflicting data. One source said no, and another said yes there was one on a bad recording. It looked like an AI product to me and a geek son. It looks like the Frankenstein Actor but who knows.
oh, I love the idea of Halloween in all the HA universes. Short stories would be so fun…
Arabella could go as herself. Heh.