Halloween at Home – 5 Tips to Create Coziness

Halloween at Our House

 

We had a completely cozy Halloween this year.

I can’t remember the last time it was just me and the mate (and a hot dog).

How did we spend our day?

Here’s my recommendations for a quiet, relaxing, and cozy Halloween:

 

1.  Don’t Leave the House

 

If Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday (like it did this year), it’s going to be crazy out there.

Grocery stores, Target, liquor stores…and don’t even consider any kind of seasonal, Halloween costume store!  Sheer insanity, I’m sure!

It was sunny and gorgeous outside, so we considered hitting up some places we’d been meaning to visit this past week.  I’ve been wanting partake in a pint of Pumpkick and refill my growler at New Belgium.  And I would’ve loved to have had a Denver Zoo date with the mate, but I had to put them out of our heads on Halloween.  Especially without costumes and the desire to be surrounded be extra excited crowds, I knew there was no way the two of us would make it out of the day without major headaches.

Staying at home, we could eat whenever we needed to, Nick could nap at any moment, and it was quiet.  The only sounds constantly surrounding us were our balcony’s bamboo wind chime and the dry leaves rustling in the trees.

2. Drink Pumpkin Brews

 

I expected to have a full growler of Pumpkick for Halloween, but as we never made it up to New Belgium, I was down to only one bottle from the 6-pack I’d purchased weeks ago.

I knew it was a long shot, but midday, I ventured out to the closest liquor store to see about some more.  Sadly, not a single trace of Pumpkick was left.  As that liquor store was busier than I’d ever seen it, I definitely had no desire to drive to a different location in search of more.

However, in the spirit of supporting local Colorado craft beer, I decided on a 6-pack of Tommyknocker Brewery’s Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale.  It didn’t change my life like Pumpkick, but it was pleasantly festive.  Nick had a sip and enjoyed it enough to actually drink an entire bottle of it.  Cheers, y’all!

3. Carve Jack o’ Lanterns

 

This year, unlike our Midwestern Halloweens, we didn’t make it to an official pumpkin patch together.  I planned ahead and purchased pumpkins from King Soopers (our grocery store) at the beginning of the month though.  They were grown in Colorado, only $3.99-5.99, and they looked GOOD.  Such a sweet deal that the dog got his own this year! 😉

After breakfast, we cut them open and scooped them out.  Because of their size, it actually took us some time, so I was happy to take a break before carving them.  Before it got dark outside though, we knocked it out.

Between sips of pumpkin beer, I tackled an “easy” ghost design from our carving kit book and completed mine within an hour.  Nick freehanded his whole design (cleverly incorporating Batman into the mouth) and had his finished in about 15 minutes.

I took a little break and then looked up a dachshund silhouette on my phone, eyeballing it from the screen as I carved.  It’s an extra chesty dachsie.  With Scooby Doo feet.  But completing a carving in under 10 minutes was very freeing.

4. Bake Those Pumpkin Seeds

 

Separating the seeds from those slimy innards takes a lot of time.

Patience and Pumpkick help.

I’ve tried a handful of pumpkin seeds recipes over the years.  My favorite has to be this one from Martha Stewart.  Sweet and spicy and just right.

It actually took over an hour and a half at 250 for ours to bake just right, but again, they end up just right.  🙂

Snacking on these between meals and carving was very delightful.

 

5.  Watch Halloween Shows

 

While my DVD collection of Christmas movies is fairly extensive, I have nothing for Halloween.  And I’m completely fine with that.  Maybe even a little proud.

We do not subscribe to cable, satellite, or whatever regular TV is called these days.  We have Apple TV, and pull from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video for our comparable entertainment.  (I’ll admit that I’m proud of that too.)

Spending the entire day together in our family room for Halloween felt like a challenge at first.  What were we going to watch?  We don’t do scary movies.  Gory, ghosty, psychological?  Nope.  No horror films of any kind are watched in our house.

 

Between just Netflix and Hulu, I successfully filled our day with these festive finds:

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
2. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (a childhood favorite from 1985)
3. The Office’s “Halloween”
4. Parks and Recreation’s “Greg Pikitis”
5. Parks and Recreation’s “Meet ‘N’ Greet”
6. Parks and Recreation’s “Halloween Surprise”
7. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s “Who Got Dee Pregnant”
8. The Simpsons’ “Halloween of Horror”
9. The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror XXVI”
10. Futarama’s “The Honking”
11. The Family Guy’s “Halloween on Spooner Street”
12. The Addams Family (1964 TV series)
13. DreamWorks’ Spooky Stories “Scared Shrekless”

 

Spooky Buddies didn’t make the cut this year, but Netflix still had us covered on that one.

Also good to note: Hulu created a whole category on their main page entitled “Family Fright Night,” and their compilation covered a few of these and many more modern shows.

 

Tips for a Cozy Halloween at Home

 

1. Stay at home.
2. Drink pumpkin beer.
3. Carve pumpkins.
4. Bake and eat pumpkin seeds.
5. Watch non-scary Halloween shows.

 

 

Want me to email you every time I publish a new blog post?  Click here!

Join the Sweet Green Family!