Dark (Expensive) Preparations

I spent $40.00 on insects, shiver-worthy animals and eyeballs last night. That says Halloween to me. I have bought so many spiders, ants and flies it will be incredibly creepy at the ol' abode. Spiders are the theme this year especially after my sister found a particular decoration that she found frightfully gross which incorporates spiders (and thereby perfect). I hope next year to add mad scientist touches by purchasing beakers and test tubes to hold drinks.

For those wanting a little sinister elegance for Halloween I recommend going over to Target and looking around at their Grim Gables line. They have a black rose wreath, gargoyles, headstones, ornate black candles and other lovely, but entirely not needed things. I plan on hitting the store again right after Halloween to see if I can purchase any of the more expensive (and less expensive) items on clearance. Even the napkins and paper plates were the right mix of beautiful macabre (skull image with flourishes, jack-o-lanterns, spiders and such in blacks and deep, rich oranges). At Michael's they had these incredible resin pedestals that looked like stone with a raven or crow perched on top that I wanted, but alas it was too expensive for this year.

The amount of money you can spend on decorating for Halloween reminds me of a little headline I read recently on msn that mentioned how expensive Halloween is...Halloween has become BIG business. Think about the candy, the costumes, the decorations. As I was entering a party store last night a woman and her son were exiting and she (I think she had yellow heels which matched one of the flowers found on her dress) exclaimed with exasperation, "And Christmas is only around the corner!" as if to say she could not believe how much she just spent on his costume and the like. Upon entering the swarming store I was a bit floored by just how people were there purchasing their costumes and other Halloween necessaries. My very blasé sister told me how Halloween was their busiest time of the year (didn't you know that obvious fact, idiot was her tone and I am afraid I hadn't really given it enough thought to formulate that conclusion).

All this spending of money has me wondering--why? Why do I have this need to purchase all this stuff? Why do I have a somewhat guilty feeling about spending rather than being more creative and improvising? I think part of the reason why I feel like a child run amok in a candy store (actually me in a candy store can be equally as bad--I squeal, I dance about, I have the short attention span, I clap, you get the idea--I have no dignity) is because I haven't been doing anything for Halloween for ages and I do love the holiday. I need to fully celebrate this holiday and the upcoming ones to appreciate the passage of time and to have something special to look forward to each year. It is the same reason why I used to mark the dates of when books (or movies or music) would be released--I like to keep myself reminded of how much new (or repackaged) is being created and yet to be.