[xPUMPKiNxKiNGx]

I've been decorating for Halloween for almost 20 years now and I'm losing the nostalgia. Don't get me mistaken, I love Halloween. I've spent so much money on props and decor over the years. I should probably be divorced with how much I spend on Halloween. I guess that is the part that hurts me most is; as an adult none of my friends can ever make it for the big night. I try to entice or hoax people into coming by serving beer and wine. However, I feel alone in my creepy obsession for Halloween... If any of you live in the Los Angeles greater area please come-by my haunt which would make it all WORTH WHILE. I'm off W. Kimber Dr. in Newbury Park, CA.

 

[Screaming Demons]

I know how you feel. I would love for my friends to come and see what I've done, but few of them ever do. So I have to accept that it's all for the TOTers and myself.

 

[Pretty Little Nightmare]

If I lived in your area I would totally come and have a look! I love seeing how other people decorate. But, I get it, nobody really understands my obsession with Halloween either. That's why I'm here amongst people who understand!

 

[Mrs. Barnabas Collins]

I feel the same . I've been doing my haunt for 25 years. At 61 this gal is getting tired but I keep on going . Drives my family crazy. Lol. I am having second thoughts about spending more money this year but Dang I'm getting a sprit halloween store in my town just seen today . I get maybe 30 kids but I have a blast. Hang in there and let's haunt on !!!!!!

 

[ichasiris]

This is the saddest thing I've read all day..... O_O

Don't lose hope buddy!!! Halloween is forever!! It's in your heart, it's in your blood.

 

[xxScorpion64xx]

If I could I would go but I'm too involved in my own haunt so don't feel like the lone ranger, many of us are in the same boat
Like PLN said, that's why we're here to feel at "home"

 

[rubensdesk]

I am a fellow haunter that lives in Newbury Park and I will visit your haunt. My wife and I are Healthy Haunters and we do a yard haunt for the Conejo Valley Food Bank. Like many fellow haunters its a bit hectic during the season so no promises that we will be there on the big night but we will definitely look for you
in October.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

I'd drop by if I lived in your area! I'm in a similar situation with family and friends by the sound of it. And I don't know what it is this year but I'm feeling less enthusiastic as well. Going through the motions of looking for things and finding some really nice stuff I like but I can feel my heart isn't in it like usual. Still a number of days to get the momentum back on track. Maybe I'll decorate and let hubby hand out candy while I tour the neighborhood this year. I say that but I know I'll want to be home to see the kids' reactions to our house!

I think in part I'm just tiring of the "hunt" not the "haunt". Been waiting for the BL witch...sounds like it might have been in limited supply in my area and sold out already...a few things I keep going back for at 99 Cent Only Stores...hoping SH has the prop I want this year knowing sometimes supply can be low....dropped by 2 Walgreens already hoping for the Night Before Christmas display to be up but no luck yet (just hallowen candy so far). It would be nice to still find some of these things but if I don't this year maybe not such a big deal.

 

[Nightlites13]

I had a year like this a few years back. I was completely unmotivated to get started. I trudged through it. Over the years I have tried to get co-workers and friends to come by and it's difficult. When they finally do they are always the same way - I had no idea and this is not at all what they envisioned when I explained it. You probably already have but I brought some pictures in once to show to a few people and that got their curiosity up enough to come. Happy Halloween!

 

[pumpkinking30]

I know how you feel Cloak_Dagger, my wife is having major surgery at the end of September, which will leave her in recovery mode through Halloween. This means that I will be on my own with any decorating that goes on. While I know I can do it alone, it makes me sad because decorating was always a team effort for us and something we enjoy doing together. I also know that she will not be up to having many guests come by or any kind of party, so it just seems that it would be easier to not do anything this year. I'm fighting the funk of being totally unmotivated to decorate by remembering how happy seeing the house fixed up makes her. Hopefully I will be able to surprise her by having it all done before she gets out of the hospital.

 

[Jenn&MattFromPA]

Oh, I'm sorry your friends aren't more enthusiastic & supportive! We always invite friends & family over, and while some do, others never come over. I try not to let it bug me since we do get a fair number of TOT's, so it's a busy night. We serve drinks, food (think buffet stuff that people can serve themselves), and we put a firepit in our driveway and sort of fence that area off so TOT's aren't around it. Some people just pop by briefly while others will sit out there most of the night & enjoy the environment. What about sending an open invitation to your neighbors to join you?

When all else fails to motivate me, I think about the wide-eyed glances of some of the kids as they look at our displays, and the kids who decide that they are courageous enough to finally come to the door after standing in the street for a while.

 

[LairMistress]

I'm sorry. It seems like it should be so easy to find people in your area, but it really isn't. You'd think with a big city, there would be so many, because of more people; or with a small city, you're closer to one another, not so spread out, but that still isn't the case.

I have considered starting a FB group for my specific town, and putting up flyers everywhere, asking people who decorate to join. I just might.

Last year, my son had to have several surgeries on his legs in August, and was getting his casts off in Oct., and had to learn to walk again (which unfortunately, is still an ongoing process, as he is handicapped to begin with). I was disappointed in my display last year, and the constant rain didn't help. I hate to share pictures of last year's setup, but it was still better than nothing.

In the previous year, I wasn't able to put up a display at all, and the 2 years before that were even more sparse than last year due to small illnesses with my kids and myself. I hope that this year is better. I've learned to not count on it, but just to do what I can, and know that other people still enjoy it.

 

[Laurie S.]

People suck, Dagger. As a society, we've become way too concerned with our virtual world to care about organic experiences..hope that changes. I haven't even had a big Halloween party since 2007, but I still decorate to haunt our humble little acre of land. I do it just for me, because it balances my soul, and anyone else happens to enjoy it as well (which, thankfully the 3 guys in my life do ), then that is all kinds of awesome.

 

[wickedwillingwench]

i can't make it this year but will definitely come by next year! I plan an October trip to Rogers GArdens and Disneyland next year.

I am not feeling the halloween this year either. I just have too much other stuff on my plate.

 

[byondbzr]

Sorry you're feeling this way, wish I lived nearby, I would totally come hang with you! i'm lucky that I have great neighbors who love Halloween as much as I do now. Last year I did a pumpkin decorating party for all of our kids, this year, I think I'll add a cookout/potluck and fire to the mix. The kids will have fun, the adults will party! lol. And all will dress up or have zombie makeup on. Simple, but fun and for folks who really want to be there!

 

[22606]

I fully agree with Laurie's post. If I could, I would be there with bells on (skull-headed ones, of course)

 

[StaceyLynn]

This is only my second year and I don't go all out like some of you talented folks (I'll get there eventually!) but I feel your pain. My town does Halloween the weekend before (aka the biggest Halloween party weekend of the month) and although it was nuts trying to get ready with 4 hours notice (we just moved here and had no idea they did the weekend before until THAT NIGHT!) we really enjoyed doing it together. I just found out that the company my boyfriend works for got a huge job and he will be working nights from now until the end of December. That leaves me to do everything alone. :-( My friends "like" pics I post on Facebook, but no one expressed an interest in coming down in person. Did I mention I live near an honest to God REAL castle that puts on a kid friendly Halloween production during the day and a scary production at night? So you come to my cool, very old, sometimes scary house for some fun and free candy, then go to a pro haunt practically next door (you can freaking walk there for God's sake!) and do you think they came? Nope. Not a one of them. So disappointing. Their kids would have had a blast. For the record I would love to come to your haunt, I am dying to see a home haunt, I don't know of any near me and mine doesn't qualify yet! I think you should do it and post pictures here, we might not be able to come in person, but we still want to celebrate with you!

 

[Scatterbrains]

People suck, Dagger. As a society, we've become way too concerned with our virtual world to care about organic experiences..hope that changes. I haven't even had a big Halloween party since 2007, but I still decorate to haunt our humble little acre of land. I do it just for me, because it balances my soul, and anyone else happens to enjoy it as well (which, thankfully the 3 guys in my life do ), then that is all kinds of awesome.

I disagree on the people suck thing. They do, but in this instance I look at it as Halloween is my thing. I don't go to other people's things just because it's their thing and they invited me. If I'm not interested, I don't go, so I don't expect others to go out of their way to see my haunt. Many of my friends are haunters and I understand the demands on their time that go into putting up a haunt. I drive by a handful of them every year that live within a half hour of me, but I know far more haunters that live an hour away, so I never have time to see their haunts. Halloween is a different animal as even those who start setting up early really don't have their haunts finished until the 30th or 31st. Every week in October, my haunt grows and the best stuff doesn't go up until the last couple of days. When it comes to that other holiday, everyone has everything up a couple weeks before the big day and unless they're still shopping, they have plenty of time to check out other setups. Like Laurie, Halloween is for me...I don't need the validation of friends and family to enjoy it. If others come see it and enjoy it, that's cool, if not, that's fine too. I don't look at my props thinking: I hope so-and-so sees it. I look and go: Yeah, I did that!

 

[xPUMPKiNxKiNGx]

I am a fellow haunter that lives in Newbury Park and I will visit your haunt. My wife and I are Healthy Haunters and we do a yard haunt for the Conejo Valley Food Bank. Like many fellow haunters its a bit hectic during the season so no promises that we will be there on the big night but we will definitely look for you
in October.

Oh wow cool. I'm off Eagle Ridge Ct. I look forward to seeing you there!

 

[xPUMPKiNxKiNGx]

Thanks everyone! I hope I get more ToT's this year. That would give me validation in my hard-work.