Countdown to Halloween Day 31: It's Here! It's Here! Final Thoughts...

Well, this is it folks! The day has arrived. And as with every year, there is a certain amount of sadness that comes with it, especially after so much build-up... but I think I'm ready for it (this bigger, more mainstream part of it anyway) to be done with as well. Halloween kind of started late July, early August for me with my Halloween Read Pile. Then September was spent trying to get ahead of the curve blogging-wise by getting my first dozen or so entries written before the countdown even began. 

I've been binge-watching horror movies since about mid-September, and listening to almost nothing but Halloween music or Halloween themed podcasts since around the same time. Just this past week I've been kind of desperately trying to check the last few movies and things I want to ingest before the holiday is over. There will be things that definitely get left off the list. And I'm going to have to be okay with that. 

Sunday will be spent packing up Halloween decor and cleaning up... getting ready for the next season's decorations (they won't come out just yet... but SOON) 

We still have Trick or Treating tonight, and a visit from the Great Pumpkin to look forward to... and then after that, it will be looking forward to next year. But before I kiss it completely goodbye, let's look at some of the festivities I've enjoyed so far: 

September and October bedtime stories are always Halloween themed. This is a selection of some of our very favorite Halloween stories for this time of year. There are more favorites, but I tried to narrow it down to the top 12-14 or so. "The Bones of Fred McPhee" and "Scary, Scary Halloween" both by Eve Bunting still have to be some of my absolute favorite reads for this time of year.

Here's the Halloween Read Pile in it's entirety. All 31 books. You might count only 30 in this picture, but there is one more book that is actually tucked in, between Bruce Coville's "Book of Ghosts" and "SCARY!" the Three Investigator's in "The Mystery of Phantom Lake". It's just too far back to be seen in this shot. But I spent every spare moment not spent blogging, watching horror movies or TV shows, or spending actual human time with my family, reading the books in this pile. 

There is always that thrill of seeing the Halloween sections of all your favorite stores going up... and for me, one of the true signs that the season is beginning in earnest is finding the Halloween section up and ready to be picked through at Goodwill! I managed 13 different Goodwill Finds posts this season!

The morning of Halloween we spent some time watching a double feature of "Monster House" and "Ernest Scared Stupid," which made me sooo pleased. I was worried they would be added to the "not this season..." list. 

I got to try the famed Halloween Whopper at Burger King, as well as a pumpkin spice milkshake. I have to say I did not hate the Whopper. And yes, I experienced the same after-effects that everyone else was reporting as well. 

I made Halloween themed cereals a big part of the celebration this year. 6 different Halloween cereals in all were purchased and consumed. You can see the Frankensteined-together bowl of both Franken Berry and Count Chocula. 

Halloween Crunch, orange Krave, Apple Jacks with Skeleton Marshmallows, and Pumpkin Spice Mini Wheats: All pretty much wins in my book.

My wife and I enjoyed some Caramel Apple shots this past October as well. Yay for sweet grown-up drinks in superhero shot glasses! 

My wife and I were invited to an actual grown-up Halloween party this year! We got costumes just for the party, separate from what we'd be wearing on the Big Night itself. This is us all done up together. 

My wife did her very best to reproduce an Elvira costume. It's not like, 100% accurate, but man did she do an excellent job! She really had a lot fo fun putting this together!!! 

Me, I'm her pet Creature. She leads me along by my chain and keeps me in line.

The Mistress of the Dark, the Queen of Screams herself everyone!

This is the "costume" I spent most of my time in at the party. The mask and gloves would not allow me to drink or eat, and the rest of the get-up was just enough to roast me... so I went with a minimalist look for the rest of the evening, after our big entrance.

Elvira gets me... devilish?

The party was beautifully decorated...

And some of the make-up and some of the costumes were just incredible.

I was driving so my wife got to try a Zombie Brain Shot. Apparently "very tasty".

Skull sisters!

Pumpkin puke chip dip!

The least impressed Catwoman in the world.

The easiest to-care-for fish tank in the world! Overall the party was a lot of fun and we had a blast getting spooky with our friends. Now on to more childish things...

The decor around the Geek Cave, and the house in general doesn't ALL come from Goodwill. Sam from Trick R' Treat had a really fun time meeting this new Pumpkin King Funko Pop! toy that I got for my Birthday!

 This Dia de Muertos couple came from Walgreens and will most likely be making their home in the cave until next Halloween.

I found some Zapps kettle-cooked Voodoo potato chips earlier in the season which always hits the spot! 

I still haven't sat down for a full viewing of Halloween III: Season of the Witch this season... but it got so much love online this season that I felt like I had to post my own homage to it on instagram.

LEGO blind bags were fun this season, with an all-monster crew. These were the only two figures I Wanted, and they were the only two I got!!! This is sort of a historical achievement for me. 

Sam from Trick R' Treat finally met Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls. They're plotting something I'm sure... But at least it wasn't the Summerween Trickster.

Then the entire Gravity Falls crew met the entire Scooby Doo crew!

I just had SO much fun taking HAlloween-y style pictures of all the toys in the cave!

Gravity falls again... this time with the Monsters from Monsters Vs. Aliens.

And the Scooby gang solving the mystery of the most famous slashers and the stabbed pumpkin... That's really the beauty of the Geek Cave though... I keep Halloween alive in here all year long. Here are the updated decorations for this year:

This is the bit above my desk. Skully the vintage cardboard cutout and Midnight the black cat are permanent residents, as are the collection of McDonald's trick or treat pails. Scooby Doo get's some special attention here as well. 

This is the set up to the left of my desk, covering the window. Drac here is another vintage decoration, and he is joined by some of my mask collection and a couple of Mars Candy Halloween pails. Plus my Halloween cereal love is on display here as well. 

The Halloween/Horror shelf has both moved and expanded. This is the full wide-shot of the shelf. I took two half pictures below to show off some of the details closer up, which you can see below.

Here's the left end. Lot's of skeleton and pumpkin love on this end. Trick R' Treat and Nightmare Before Christmas in spades. I keep this up all year round remember. I love looking at these things! 

 Slashers and monsters tend to take up more of the space on the right end of the shelf.

And finally, this is my little shrine to Halloween right on my desk itself! This is the space I save for the real heavy hitters. The items I associate the most with the holiday. This is one of my favorite spots to let my eyes wander to whenever I'm sitting in the cave.

And FINALLY... SO I can get it all in one LAST Halloween post and have a clean break for November: Trick or Treating pictures!

I went as the Mad Hatter this year.

This was to fit an Alice in Wonderland theme...

But also because the Mad Hatter is a Batman villain!

My other son went as Michael Jackson, specifically from Thriller. He LOVE Thriller.

While we were on the prowl we saw a LOT of great costumes:

And overall, I think all of our kids had a really great time trick or treating.

 When we got home we found that the Great Pumpkin had left goodies for everyone:

And we did "The Big Count" before sending Michael Jackson and Batman off to bed.

And now I'm off to watch "Zombieland" with the family. Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have had as great a season as I have, and I'll see you in November!

I'll be back soon with more Goosebump-Raising Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting Hunting.