In case I haven’t said it enough, Halloween is my most favorite time of the year! So we celebrated it in a major way the past month. Maybe because I feel like I’m still a Wiccan at heart (I used to cast spells, call out spirit guides, and share my experiences in my old Wiccan blog), but more importantly, for some reason, I turn into a child-like nymph whenever Halloween is around the corner! Teehee. Suffice it to say that I’d like to celebrate it for as long as I can, even after it’s over. Haha! So this blog post here is my last attempt to still hold on to it. After I publish this, my next blog posts will be about other aspects of my life like Tuz’s exciting 5th birthday, our everyday life, travels, Christmas, etc.

Before the pandemic, and as far as I can remember, during Halloween, I used to go out, attend costume parties, and even host events during Halloween. It’s the most magical time of the year for me and doing those things really made me happy! I know it’s hard now that we are living in this new normal but it is still possible. I made it possible, and I will continue to make it possible. Haha! Watch my Halloween vlog below:

So how did we celebrate this major holiday? And how can we celebrate major holidays (like the upcoming Christmas) moving forward in this new normal that we are in? 

Simple. I followed a list I created to make sure I will achieve the same level of happiness I always have during the holiday season. You can follow the same list too and even add a few more based on how you want to do the celebration. I believe it’s not just the day of Halloween (or any Holiday per se) that I am happy about. The whole journey leading to this holiday, including the planning and preparations, is a big part of the fun too! Don’t you agree? For me, it’s the same for my second favorite season which is summer (I like planning, preparing, and making to-do lists for our summer getaways) and it’s the same for Christmas (my 3rd most favorite time of the year). So the list that I made for Halloween, I will also follow this same list when we celebrate Christmas even if we’re just at home…

1. SET ASIDE A BUDGET

Everything has  a price, right? Even if my plan was to do a DIY kind of Halloween, we still need to set aside a budget for it. So I set aside a part of my small savings for my most favorite holiday. Of course, I need money for the food, some decors, and what-not.

2. LOOK FOR A HALLOWEEN THEME TO DECORATE THE HOUSE WITH

I looked online and found a few designs I liked. We already have a few Halloween decors here from previous Halloween seasons. We didn’t have much because of lack of space at our tiny pad before. But now, I wanted to go all out and make our house feel creepy and eerie within the budget we’ve set aside for it. The rest of the decors, I asked Mahal to help me make. It was such a wonderful experience for Tuz to see me and his dada create bats, cats, haunted houses, moons, stars, tombs, webs, spiders, etc. as cheap but creepy wall decors. 

3. DECORATE THE HOUSE SLOWLY BUT SURELY

It took the entire month of October to have all the decorations I wanted in place. I did  it every free time I got which wasn’t a lot. But I enjoyed every minute of it. It was such a delight to see Tuz wake up each day (each night actually since we were both on US Time Zone) and see new Halloween decors around the house each time. 

4. ORDER FOOD IN ADVANCE

We really liked the food we’ve been ordering from my HS batchmate, Gerlie, who owns Seafoods Overload. We’ve tried her other food offerings before and for Halloween, I ordered one of her biggest food packages (with lobsters, crabs, shrimps, lechon belly, chicken, barbecue, and noodles) + cake of Tuz’s choice (Mine Craft design, ube flavor) + cupcakes of my choice (Halloween design, choclolate flavor). This way, we wouldn’t have to cook food ourselves since Mahal and I are both so busy with our business and being parents to Tuz. And of course, we added some more junk food in there like chips, chocolates, cookies, and candies for Tuz’s trick or treat.

5. CHECK IF WE HAVE COSTUMES TO WEAR

We’ve accumulated a few Halloween costumes the past few years here but Tuz wanted to wear a new one so I did a quick errand at SM City and bought the last two ones I saw just so he has a choice — a red riding hood costume and a dracula costume. He ended up wearing the red riding hood one, so I wore the Dracula cape over my rarely worn black lingerie and Mahal wore my old Dementor costume from 2018. The other costumes we have here, I used it to decorate the house with. 

6. THINK OF INDOOR HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES TO DO

I always have a list of activities during Halloween time. Of course the outdoor ones we can’t do anymore (like attend Halloween events outside and be with friends) so I improvised a bit to still make the season more fun. 

• scary movie watching (which we did almost every day a week before Halloween)
• play scary music at home to make the ambiance more Halloweeny
• read up about tarot cards, palmistry, scary stories (which I used to do frequently before when I still had my tarot cards and witch books with me… I think I left them at my parents house in Manila before we transfered here in 2017 to m y dismay!)
• host a zoom party! 

7. HOST A ZOOM PARTY WITH FRIENDS

It was actually while listing activities to do for Halloween that I decided to invite some friends to a Zoom Halloween Costume Party I was planning to host. And at the last minute, I decided to invite my best friend, Mer, and my goddaughter, Heaven, to really come over during our Zoom Party provided that they are feeling healthy and well and that we should still practice social distancing and disinfection at home. I’m happy to say that it’s been 3 weeks since our Halloween party and we are all still feeling healthy and well. 

The Zoom party was a success! Everyone wore a costume (except Ces who came as herself), we held a contest for different costume categories and I gave the winners certificates I created using Canva; we watched a scary movie together (Psycho circa 1960); we shared scary stories and we felt goosebumps all over; we had a feast; we talked, and laughed… it was really so much fun! It was such a success that we’re planning to have a repeat for Christmas. 

8. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES

As you can see, I did. It was such a special party that I will remember and cherish for a long time. After all, it was a first for me to host a zoom party and I was so gald it was a hit! I somehow forgot that we are still in the middle of this pandemic and that we all bonded, albeit online. 

9. MAKE SURE THE KIDS ARE HAVING FUN TOO

We only had two kids with us — Tuz and my 9-year-old goddaughter, Heaven. Tuz lacked sleep and so he was cranky when Mahal woke him up earlier than expected. He went back to sleep and by the time he woke up, the party was ongoing and he got to play with his Ate Heaven. The two of them bonded for the most part while playing Roblox. 

10. SPEND TIME AND BOND

Mer and Heaven stayed overnight and while they slept after the party, and my other girlfriends already bid goodnight, Anne stayed with me on zoom cam. We talked and just bonded until she fell asleep and I fell asleep as well in the wee hours of the morning. When Mer woke up, we bonded some more over leftover food and drinks. We had so much food that it’s what we ate the rest of the week at home. 

So that’s how we celebrated our Halloween and how I plan to celebrate Christmas. I’ll just follow a similar list for all the other celebrations we’ll be having (because I’m the to-do list kind of person, teehee) and enjoy every step of the journey. 

How about you? How’s your holiday season so far? 

Advance Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating!