Welcome to the 13 Days of Halloween

A Countdown to Chaos, Costumes, & Creepy Charm

Growing up, Halloween has always been one of my fondest memories with my mom. The costumes were rarely store-bought; her proficiency at sewing and artistic talents made it possible to “be” anything (or anyone) I wanted.

Once I had children of my own, I carried on that tradition. For instance, the day after Halloween, my oldest son would start excitedly planning what he would be for the next Halloween, changing his mind frequently throughout the year. My daughter was born the day after Halloween, so there were many Halloween-themed birthday parties to attend. When my youngest son reached school age, we would throw epic Halloween parties that invited the entire classroom.

Then, one October, my kids and I had a conversation about how much we enjoyed Halloween and how we wished it lasted more than one day.

That’s when we came up with the idea for our 13 Days of Halloween (before ABC Family made it cool). Every year, when October 19th rolls around, we begin our celebration of Halloween by having different themed days (witches, vampires, zombies, etc.). Every day, there is a special dinner and a movie devoted to that theme.

All 13 days are celebrated and always lead up to the grand finale: Halloween Night and Trick-or-Treating.

Over the years, as my kids have grown older and outgrown trick-or-treating, it has become a tradition to host an annual Halloween party. Every year, friends and family look forward to attending this event. On more than one occasion, my family has been described as the Addams family of our hometown. For all these reasons, I have decided to create this blog to share the chaos, costumes, and creepy charm of all things Halloween. But I must warn you: here you will not find grinning ghosts nor cheeky skeletons.

At 13 Days of Halloween, you will find that hair-standing-on-end, bump-in-the-night enchantment that makes Halloween so much fun.