Mirth and Musings Part 20

I love Hallowe’en parties.  They are my favorite parties to give, to attend, to plan and to savor.  I’ve traveled hundreds of miles for a Hallowe’en party and I would not hesitate to do so again.  As I’ve got older I think they become more precious to me, being the lone remainder of the nostalgic seasonal occurrences of youth.  I can no longer trick or treat, and I’ve no more schoolroom parties awaiting me.  Haunts are months of planning and weeks of production and since we are the dreamers and designers and do-it-yourselfers of our haunts, it holds little surprise for us.  The Hallowe’en party remains to offer that feeling of anticipated wonder.  We get to don a costume and be thrilled and chilled and immersed in the experience. An evening, a few precious hours to indulge in the spectral spectacle.  What is it that makes it all so special?  It shares all the common elements of every other type of party; music, food, decorations…and yet.  There is that something other…a sense of whimsy, of mystery, of funhouse fear that is singular and potent.

The most fantastic advice on how to give a Hallowe’en party must have come from the Dennison’s Bogie Books, please click pic to link to an archived site to read further on how to give just such a bash, with perhaps a dash of Monster Mash.

 

Mad, Mod Halloween

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Some wonderful examples of how a design aesthetic can add fun to the fantastic – click on pics or links to follow back and check out other offerings of sweet and sublime mod monster examples of Halloween, and get your swing on in style!

https://shagstore.bigcartel.com/product/mad-mad-mad-monster-party-br-unframed-serigraph-print

https://www.kitschywitchdesigns.com/halloweenshop/

or

https://society6.com/zennykenny/s?q=popular+home-decor & https://society6.com/product/halloween-mid-century-modern_floor-pillow?sku=s6-9547930p60a204v721a206v723/

 

 

Mirth and Musings Part 12 – Waxing Nostalgic

charles-e-martin-the-new-yorker-cover-october-26-1968

Going to age myself a bit here, but couldn’t help it.  While sorting through my TNY  collection this Charles E. Martin cover made me smile wistfully as I remembered something from my childhood; something I couldn’t wait for when school days began in September as Halloween usually prompted the first one of the year.  The classroom party.  The chalkboard covered with the list of necessaries for a decent shindig and Mrs. Gresham or Mr. Argast signing up kids next to each one, invariably the “paper plates and napkins” and “cups” would go to that same kid in the front row whose arm would shoot up the moment the teacher asked.  I don’t know, maybe he was baking challenged.  The rest of us divvied up the cookies, brownies, other varied treats of no name, bottles of pop, etc for the Friday party. I remember classroom games, like heads up seven up and chalkboard hangman.  I remember a parade of students walking around the quad proudly displaying homemade costuming.  Teachers dressed as their alter egos (or true natures) best suggested.  Trick or treating room to room with each classroom decked out along its own theme.  The truncated lessons to make time to just enjoy the holiday undiminished by political correctness.  Madcap and mayhem would eventually ensue in the sugar tide, everyone going home clutching a paper plate with various goodies to enjoy over the weekend shared with family, if they survived the bus ride or walk home that is.