[A Guy In Town]

Do parts of the country have SNOW during Halloween? I grew up in Chicago and spent 40 years in CommieFornia, before moving to Kentucky, so I never gave much thought to kids TOT'ing in the snow.

How does the snow affect the lights, and the props? What about the costumes?




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[Trex]

Well, we can have bitter cold and snow. Our haunt is pretty much enclosed now, well tarped in areas, walls and ceilings in others. It is enough to keep our actors comfortable, toasty if you are lucky enough for garage portion! It definitely slows the kids down, mittens, toques, hats, As far as props, most Spirit retails type props are not intended for outdoors use anyways, snow and/or cold can really affect battery power and performance. Lights are usually okay, again depends on type and whether they are intended for outdoor service or not. Lighting has never cause us an issue, oh well except digging it out from under the snow....

 

[Hilda]

It happens... Ugh. Stuff gets ruined.



Then again. It was kind of pretty.




That said... hoping it never happens again.

 

[wickedwillingwench]

oh yeah. we live in Mass and a couple of years ago, we had a snowstorm on Halloween.

I don't put out things that can be ruined in snow. And hope...i hope a lot.

 

[WitchyKitty]

I live in Illinois and have had my Halloween decorations covered in snow, before. Our weather is crazy and we never know how it will be from one day to the next, so I always make sure my outdoor stuff is as weatherproofed as possible! I even remember going ToTing as a little kid and having it be sleeting/snowing on us.

These pics are from October 2013. It was a week or so before Halloween, thankfully, not on ToT night this time...it had just started snowing when I took these pics:

 

[EParisien]

I'm in southern Canada and this is always a concern. When I build my displays and walk through tunnels leading to our garage I build it so the weight of the snow doesn't affect it. We've been lucky the last five or so years and have had great weather....knock on wood.

As for costumes, we always buy them a little bigger in case it is cold and wet out, then we can at least wear winter clothing underneath.

Happy Haunting!!

 

[Pumpkin215]

It has happened here in PA. Once time it was maybe 5 years ago and it snowed either on the 30th or the 31st. (I can't recall).

Anyway, it was that thick and wet slushy snow. Everything was a complete mess. I had to make a costume change because the one I planned to wear would have been ruined. I was in an apartment at that time so I didn't have any yard décor to worry about it.

Hopefully it doesn't happen again! We have had rain on Halloween, but not for a long time. Luckily, it is often the perfect weather.

 

[kbpkitty]

I'm honestly shocked that you never experienced it in Chicago. I only grew up 3.5 hours east of you, and I'm positive we ToT'd in snow pants at least a couple times.

I grew up in Iowa, so we didn't have this experience, but basically everyone around my age here in MN has memories of this:

 

[queenswake]

I live in MN and remember this quite vividly. We ended up with 28" of snow that night. Granted, this was before most people put out so many decorations for the holiday, but still, quite the shock.

Google 1991 Halloween Blizzard to read about the details. I think it went over a big portion of the Upper midwest and Canada.

 

[WitchyKitty]

I'm honestly shocked that you never experienced it in Chicago. I only grew up 3.5 hours east of you, and I'm positive we ToT'd in snow pants at least a couple times.

This is what I was thinking...I live in Illinois, as I stated in my earlier post, just an 1 1/2 to 2 hours southwest from Chicago and I had seen, at least, light snow on or around Halloween. The weather we get, Chicago usually gets, too.

 

[Wolfbeard]

It happens. This was in Connecticut, in 2012. I had to run a generator, as we had no power for Halloween.

You do what ya' gotta' do...



Eric

 

[Hallow Girl]

wow, I have never had bad weather for halloween and snow to top it off.

Hilda, your bottom photo looks so pretty though. I hope a lot of your items didn't get completely ruined.

 

[hopelesslyinsane]

I went to college in Erie, Pa for a bit and it snowed 6 inches on Halloween. The locals said it wasn't unusual.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Yes, it happens. I lived in upstate NY until I was 12. One year we had a big snow storm roll in the day of Halloween. It was great from a trick or treating perspective because my dad still took me out and I got SO much candy. I bet it's a nightmare for decorating purposes though.

 

[Cloe]

Up here in Western NY I can think of at least a few Halloween nights that we had to deal with pelting ice (sleet maybe lol). Luckily missed all the snow surrounding us a few years ago due to our lake effect. It can be a good thing or really bad. Room for winter coats under costumes is a given though admittedly you just never know. I put battery things out in all weather. Black garbage bags taped and wrapped around bases under clothing to protect motors and batteries, duct tape over battery compartments of others. Whatever it takes as if I didn't chance it my yard would be pretty bare in our Oct. weather. Wind, rain, possibly freezing rain you never know up north. No choice but to try and prepare and think ahead best way I can.

 

[Jenn&MattFromPA]

I'm also in PA, not super far from Philadelphia, and in 2011, we definitely had snow! It was a few days (maybe a week?) before Halloween, and we had the bones of our cemetery put out, but not all the bells & whistles. So, luckily, nothing got too damaged.

It was actually quite pretty, but we had issues with mud in our yard as the snow melted because the way we set up, people walk on our front lawn to see the display & come to the door.

Then in 2012, we had Hurricane Sandy, which was disastrous even in the suburbs around Philly. We went almost 2 weeks with no electricity and Halloween was rescheduled. It was pretty crazy & not something I want to repeat! If we didn't have a fireplace, we'd have had to leave the house - it was SO cold! We made do with camping gear & after my MIL got her electricity back, she loaned us her generator.

Honestly, I don't really know what to expect from the weather at Halloween anymore, and I thought I was supposed to live in a pretty moderate area!!

 

[A Guy In Town]

I'm honestly shocked that you never experienced it in Chicago. I only grew up 3.5 hours east of you,

Sadly, at only age 58, my memory is failing me. There are large chunks of my life that are completely gone from my memory already.

I have no MEMORIES of TOTing in the snow, but that doesn't mean anything. We probably did on occasion. I just don't remember.

Then again, we lived in an apartment building with 63 apartments, so there WERE years when Mom would only let us TOT inside of the building. Perhaps those were the snow years? Mom couldn't handle cold at all.

I don't ever recall TOTing in the rain either.



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[WitchyKitty]

Oh, there has been plenty of rain for ToT here in Illinois, too...ug.

 

[byondbzr]

In Ohio it can be beautiful or it can be raining, sleeting, gale-force winds, etc. etc. LOL. Twice in the last five years our first snowfall of the year occurred the week BEFORE Halloween. It didn't stick around on the ground though, at least not for long.

 

[Wrench]

I grew up in Northern Maine and we were often pulling on our costumes over our ski pants. I bet my parents bought mine a little larger just for that reason...