Happy Halloween 2020!

Congratulations are due to you - to us! It has been A YEAR and look at that: we've made it to the end of October and Halloween. Considering this year has been a challenge in every way - physically, socially, mentally, spiritually, creatively and more. Even the moon is a "blue moon" tonight and you know how often that happens! We thought we should take a moment to say "Glad you're still here, glad we're still here - hang in there and stay safe!" 

This year, most of us won't be doing our usual Halloween activities of trick-or-treating, going to Halloween parties and balls, gathering for spooky movie marathons or legend tripping, and it can be a downer. Some of us are still excited about Halloween and feel guilty for wanting to dress up and have fun today too, but we shouldn't. We should celebrate surviving the FEAR YEAR of 2020!

             

So if you haven't yet, take a moment to transform some of your space. It doesn't have to be extravagant - it can just be an artful arrangement in a corner of old fairy tale books (we know you have some!), a couple of pumpkins (grocery stores are still selling these in big bins outside for easy, safe access), some black cloth (pillowcases count), and a candle. Or you can go all out and turn your space into a witches apothecary complete with some great smelling soup on the stove, or just draw and cut out a bunch of bat shadows to stick on your wall for tonight for a spooky-magical edge. Transforming your space is a great way to mark the season, to acknowledge the time passing, and that you survived it.

We're busy at Fairy Tale News Headquarters with indoor candy hunts, making shrunken apple heads, pumpkin carving, spooky-fun movies full of magic and hope, and fairy tales - always fairy tales (this year, we might even write one!) and we'll also be popping in and out of the folkloric-filled fun happening in Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic's "Haunted: Online Halloween Extravaganza" - in costumes of course! We've earned a bit of respite from the monotonous and highly stressful norm of this year.

          

We thought we'd showcase a store in Newport Beach (Californa) that is known for going all out with their Halloween displays every year with the enthusiasm that's normally reserved for those gorgeously styled Christmas Windows in high-end stores. It'd called Rogers Gardens and they never disappoint. The Spooky Vegan took a lot of amazing photos, like the one below, so if you want to see more of the displays, go check those out HERE.

It's usually decorated around a theme and in 2016 that theme was Grimm Tales, and the pictures you see in this post are from then. There is a short but wonderfully atmospheric video of the display too. Take a look below and be inspired!

And don't forget there's a bonus: for those US states who have been on daylight savings all year, we get an hour back tonight! (Sleep in !!) So set your clocks back before going to bed and enjoy the magic of this weekend just a little longer.

Happy Halloween!