Episode #204: Halloween Favorites

It’s October and that means Halloween time!!! It’s one of our favorite holidays, so today we are discussing all our favorite Halloween things.

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Show Notes:

Read Emma’s blog post about her hypnosis experience

Favorite Halloween memory:

Emma – Making Halloween costumes growing up

Elsie – First Rountree Halloween

Favorite Halloween candy:

Emma – Any fun-sized candy bar, Popcorn Balls, Caramel Apples, and Puppy Chow

Elsie – Reese’s Pumpkins

Favorite Halloween movie:

Emma – Practical Magic and The Harry Potter Series

Elsie – Rosemary’s Baby and The Addams Family

Funny Horror movies – Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and Megan

Favorite Halloween costume:

Emma – Family Zoolander

Elsie – Beetlejuice

Elsie’s Haunted Mansion costume

Favorite Halloween decoration:

Emma – Skeletons and bats

Elsie – Harry Potter-inspired candles and black Christmas tree

Halloween traditions:

Emma – Soup and movie night

Elsie – Taking two weeks to decorate, sugar cookies, Chex mix, and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Guilty Pleasure Treasure (Halloween addition):

Emma – LED light nail lamp

Elsie – Pumpkin cream cold brew and Halloween puzzles

Miss an Episode? Get Caught Up!

• Episode 203: Our Autumn Bucket Lists
• Episode 202: Hocus Pocus – Comfort Rewatch
• Episode #201: Hosting a Party (Deep Dive)

Episode 204 Transcript:

Elsie: You’re listening to the Beautiful Mess Podcast, your cozy comfort listen. It’s October, and that means it’s Halloween time. It’s one of our favorite holidays, so today we are discussing all things Halloween. Halloween favorites episode. I love this topic. This is probably my favorite topic we’ve done in a while.

Emma: Yeah, Halloween’s the best. 

Elsie: It’s the happiest, most wonderful time of the year, as they say. 

Emma: This and Christmas, the best time of year. Yes. So, before we get into Halloween, I thought I would give a little update. So, back in episode 185, I talked a little bit about how I decided to try hypnosis. And my goal with it was to quit biting my nails. I’ve been a lifelong nail-biter. Like, I really don’t even remember a time I didn’t bite my nails. And I’ve tried a bunch of things over the years, and nothing ever really stuck. So I decided to try hypnosis. And I had never done it before. I didn’t even really know any friends who had done it. I had heard about it, I’d seen it in movies, and I’d heard this one really great podcast about it. Anyway, that was over five months ago, and I think I’ve only bitten my nails, like, once or twice since then, like, only once that I can remember. So it’s almost been half a year. 

Elsie: When you bit your nails that one time, was it, like, super stressful, or was it, like, you forgot, or what was the. 

Emma: I kind of just forgot. Like, I was feeling a little social anxiety, and that’s one of the times that I’ll bite my nails in the past was a little bit of, any kind of anxiety, it doesn’t have to be social, but like. 

Elsie: Yeah. I do that by picking my nail polish off when I get like really bored or really anxious.

Emma: Yeah. And if you ever see me biting my nails and you’re talking to me, please don’t think I’m bored or like you’re making me anxious. It’s just like my own little tick. You know what I mean? Because I’ve done it around you before. I don’t know. It’s just like a, I think anxiety is kind of a very internal thing and I’d never want anyone to think it was about them, because it’s really not. But anyway, I just wanted to give an update about it because I mentioned it in the past. Also, after that podcast came out, I decided to write a blog post about it so I can link that in the show notes where I like kind of in-depth talk about my experience. And I’m not necessarily, like, saying everyone should get hypnotized, but I also thought it was really positive for me. And so if anyone’s out there, like, looking for a way to, like, get out of a habit or just change your mindset about something that you feel stuck in, I think it is something to try. For me, I thought it was very much just, like, a customized meditation, and I am shocked at how well it worked. I honestly did not expect, like I hoped that it would work. I was very open to it working, but I didn’t really feel like this would for sure work or I would have tried it years before, you know?

Elsie: I can’t wait to try it. I still haven’t done it. But ever since I read your blog post, I’ve been planning to book a session. So that’s so exciting.

Emma: Yeah. And I’ve had so much fun painting my nails. I love painting my nails. It’s like a fun evening activity for me. And, yeah, so it’s really a small thing in life, but every now and again you just have a thing that you feel like kind of down about yourself, or just like, habits you feel stuck in, things you feel stuck in, mindsets you might feel stuck in, maybe you’re really down on yourself or like put too much pressure on yourself or you don’t have any confidence, or all of the above, this might be something to try. Yeah, it worked for me. Maybe it could work for you. Maybe it won’t work for you I don’t know, but I just thought I would give an update because I truly am shocked at how well it worked and It makes me happy because I really love not biting my nails and painting my nails more and just not having to worry about it. Because a lot of times my hands are in photos for work, like showing a spoonful of casserole or whatever I’m doing. And any time my nails look terrible, it just stressed me out and it made me feel like, oh, you don’t have your life together. Look at you, you can’t even stop biting your nails like a kid. You know, like I would just do this in my mind, like, you suck for this reason. And I just don’t have that anymore. I don’t worry about that anymore. And it’s really nice. It’s just like one less thing that I beat myself up about. And it really wasn’t a big deal. Like, it was a little, I felt nervous to do the hypnosis. I didn’t know if it would work. I felt skeptical, I guess. And yeah, I’m just really grateful that I tried something. new. Good for you. And it worked. 

Elsie: Yeah. I’m always super nervous every time I do something for the first time, like go to an appointment, a new doctor, a new anything. 

Emma: Yeah. You’re like, this isn’t going to work. Why am I even trying? 

Elsie: Yeah. Any kind of new thing, especially something like that, that you’ve never tried that’s kind of woo woo. I think it is a very brave thing to do and it shows that you really want to make a change.

Emma: Yeah, I did. Anyway, it’s been very positive. So, there you go. A little update. 

Elsie: Okay. So, Halloween favorites. Some of the things we’re going to talk about. Favorite Halloween memory, candy, movie, costume, decoration, traditions. And then guilty pleasure, treasure, Halloween edition. So, this is going to be a fun subject. Yeah. I love Halloween, I wish that it was even longer than the two months that I observed it. 

Emma: Oh, yeah, I wish it was longer, but maybe it would, like, ruin it if you got too much of it. I don’t know. You know how if you eat a little too much cake, you’re always like, dang it, I really shouldn’t not eaten the last few bites, it was too much, you know? Maybe no one else will sit with me. Anyway, maybe it would be like that. I don’t know. Cause you always want the perfect amount, you know? 

Elsie: Yes. I definitely have that with Elf on the Shelf, where it’s like so much joy. And then through the weeks, and we do ours for more than a month, there is a point where you are.

Emma: I think we’re not going to do that this year. I think I’m going to wait one more year. And I also think we’re going to do it where it’s one week long. I think I’m going to do it the week before Christmas. 

Elsie: That’s a good idea. Yeah. I think that I go too hard on everything in life and it is my fatal flaw. But at the same time, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it bites you in the ass. So we’ll see, whatever. 

Emma: I don’t know if it’s fun for you, but I’ll tell you as your friend, it’s fun for me!

Elsie: Okay, do you have a favorite Halloween memory? 

Emma: Okay, so, I was thinking about this, and like, our childhood, it was definitely a mix of church Halloween stuff, which was not really Halloween, it was like, trunk or treat, or like, harvest stuff. They would always call it harvest something, I feel like. So it was like a mix of that, and then also our parents would take us trick or treating, or I remember going to like the Spooktacular at our zoo in town, like things like that. So it was a real mix. I don’t feel like our parents were like, absolutely no Halloween, but we did go to churches where it was not so Halloween-friendly.

Elsie: Yeah, we didn’t have the like, I’m scared of Harry Potter parents, but we did have the church, and also I went to a Christian school, that was in that way. So, yeah. Anyway, I do feel like I got plenty of Halloween. Okay, so what was your favorite memory? 

Emma: Well, I was just gonna say I loved that our parents, at least when we were older, were I remember. Which would have been old enough to, like, use craft items, you know. They were very, like, make your own Halloween costume. Like, go downstairs, there’s all this fabric stuff our mom used to sew. She still sews, and there was just, like, stuff around. And it was like, make whatever you want. You know, or like, go in your closet and put things together or whatever. It wasn’t really like a, you’re not allowed to buy a Halloween costume. It was more just like, this was normal. Like, it was normal to just make something at home. And I really like that because I have a lot of fond memories of like, looking at my closet and being like, what could I, what kind of person could I be from these things, you know? And I remember one year making a tennis outfit, I wasn’t a kid who played tennis, so this was to me like a Halloween costume, but it was also one that I could wear to church because it wasn’t spooky because you weren’t allowed to do monsters or witches at church. So that was fun. And then I also remember one year, this is so random, but we made Halloween costumes and I feel like mine was just kind of like a pink glitter superhero. There was no actual, like, it wasn’t like a character from TV. I was just making stuff out of stuff we had, but I made this mask with some pink fabric and a ton of glue and a ton of glitter, so much so that it was, like, still very wet when I put it on. And it didn’t stick to my face or anything, but I just remember thinking, like, uh oh, I overdid it on the glue and the glitter, but it was, like, just fun to make your own thing as a kid. Yeah, and I remember our mom driving us around to different houses with this weird mask on. It was so much fun! I don’t know, it was very homemade, very, I don’t know, small-town Halloween. Feels very classic to me in all the best ways. 

Elsie: Yes, the homemade costumes are my favorite. Last year, I made our younger daughter want to be Princess Hashbrown, and I made her a Hashbrown wand with glitter, it’s one of my favorite memories for sure, and I’ll never, ever, ever forget that wand. It’s very special. 

Emma: It was a good wand. Yeah. I saw the photos. I was like, that’s a great wand right there. It’s got a Hashbrown on it. 

Elsie: Okay, well, my favorite memory is just kind of random. Our first Roundtree Halloween, which is like the cute little neighborhood, it’s like very like Halloween neighborhood, which is why I love it, and they have a Halloween parade, and the kids, when Marigold heard about the Halloween parade, she was like, on a fuckin Fire! Like, so excited. 

Emma: Girl loves a parade. 

Elsie: So, it’s very special, and yeah, I really love that. I’ll never forget the first one, and yeah, it’s very exciting. And then, yeah, I would just say, like, my favorite, I think my favorite Halloween memories are more from now than from when I was a kid, by the way. I like to sort of blow my kid’s minds. So, like, you know, I recently did the Harry Potter candles and it’s so special. Like, they get to do it for, like, dinner and breakfast every morning because they like to sit on the island. And so they have these, like, magical candles. 

Emma: They’re at Hogwarts.

Elsie: Yes, we made the Halloween tree. And just, like, things like that, they’re sort of high-effort things that, like, I would do, like, while they’re at school, but then when they come home, I can, like, blow their mind. That brings me a lot of joy at this age, and it’s sort of, like, my personal, like, highest point of happiness right now.

Emma: I love it. It’s so cute. 

Elsie: Oh, favorite Halloween candy. I have a very strong one. Do you? 

Emma: I have a lot. Okay, tell me your very strong one. 

Elsie: Okay, I only have one, and it is Reese’s Pumpkins. To me, they’re the only good, really good Halloween candy. There’s like all kinds of cute, you know, Halloween candy and like whatever, but those are my favorite by a mile, love them. 

Emma: Yeah, I am definitely a chocolate person. I love gummy candy, too, and, like, sour candy, but if I have to pick one, it’s chocolate for me. Yeah. So, yeah, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that are shaped like pumpkins, or at Christmas they try to do trees. They never really look like it, though, but I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Elsie: They’re, like, proportionally the most delicious ones. 

Emma: Because it’s more peanut butter? 

Elsie: Yeah, unless, like, it’s not hard chocolate. It’s, like, very soft. 

Emma: True, yes. But I love any, like, fun-sized candy bar, honestly. Like, I will have a Snickers, I will have a Twix. Sign me up. I love chocolate, so I’m a big fan. But I also wanted to shout out a couple of homemade things, because although I don’t really think many people give out homemade stuff for trick or treating. I mean, there are times I think it could work, but, you know, you want to really do, like, candy in little packages, you know. More for a party I seriously, as a kid and now, love popcorn balls. 

Elsie: I love popcorn balls. I’m glad you have that recipe on the blog. I think it’s, maybe it was like a kid in the 1980s thing, but like, I always thought that a popcorn ball was the best thing we could make at Halloween. 

Emma: Yeah. And I love a Rice Krispies treat, but popcorn ball is like a next-level Rice Krispies treat in my mind. These are very similar. So I love popcorn balls and for whatever reason, Halloween and Fall is like the time of year to me for a popcorn ball, though you could definitely make them anytime. I also love caramel apples. I prefer homemade, but I’ll take any. Love caramel apples, and we have, Laura has a really good recipe on her site. And then also, I love puppy chow. Some people call it Muddy Buddies, I think it’s a regional thing. Where I’m from, we call it puppy chow. But it’s like Chex Mix cereal with chocolate and peanut butter on the outside and powdered sugar. I think of this more as a Christmas thing, but I do really like it for any holiday, and to me, like, Halloween and Christmas are, like, equal. They’re, like, sisters, you know? And so, I like to make puppy chow at Halloween and mix candy corn into it, like, just toss some candy corn in there, so it’s, like, Super candy trail mix basically. So anyway, yeah, and I’ve made a batch recently and brought it over to book club and it got devoured So I was very happy about that. But I love puppy chow. It’s so good. 

Elsie: I ate the shit out of that puppy chow. I was so happy. Okay, I want to discuss your opinion about full-size candy bars because, okay, so I always grew up thinking that if you were a house that gave out full-size candy bars, you have really made it in life. And that you are like the top tier wealthy rich person and also very generous, kind, and amazing. And so this year, I’ve never done it by the way, and so this year, I was like looking up how much would it cost, and I was like, oh, that’s fine, I’ll do it. So I told Nova, I was like, this year we’re gonna have big candy bars at our house. And I thought she would be like, oh mom, you’re so amazing. And she was like, I don’t want that. I want Halloween candy. And I was like, oh my gosh! What a sweet little perspective that’s so different. So I think I’m actually not going to do it now. Maybe later, but like, I don’t know. I’m kind of torn on it now. She thinks Halloween candy is special because it’s small and cute, I think. 

Emma: Yeah, and a lot of times the packaging has, like, a little bat or a little monster. You know, they package it for, like, this is trick or treat candy, you know, whatever. So, it, like, has little, I don’t know, figures on it or whatever. So, it is kind of fun. I see what Nova’s saying, but I must strongly disagree. I would very much like to receive a large-sized candy bar as opposed to a fun-sized one, personally. But, that’s cute. 

Elsie: I still think it’s pretty cool. But, I don’t know, maybe I might do a mix of both. I’m not very indecisive. 

Emma: Or we can buy our grandma some so she can be the cool one. You know? I don’t know if we can buy enough. We’ll have to get her small candy too, like regular. 

Elsie: Yeah. Maybe we’ll get some of everything. 

Emma: I mean, we’re doing well, but that’s a lot of full-size candy bars, so. I don’t know about that. Yeah, okay. So let’s talk about favorite Halloween movies.

Elsie: Okay. So, my favorite Halloween movie, an adult movie, is definitely Rosemary’s Baby. I couldn’t say another one because you would all know I was lying. It’s my favorite. I love it so much. There’s a million other ones that, like, I also love. My favorite kids one, I was thinking of putting Hocus Pocus, but since we just did the rewatch, I thought I would be original and unique and say The Adams Family because I also equally love the original Adam’s Family is really good, and the Adam’s Family Values is also a little bit of, like, more fun to watch movie, but I, for some reason, prefer the first one. They’re both good. 

Emma: They are both good. And I actually really liked it, no nostalgia to it yet, but the Wednesday, I don’t know if they did it on Netflix, I can’t remember, I feel like it came out last year. But it was really cute, and I really liked it, and I would definitely re-watch it. 

Elsie: I thought it was really cute, and I thought Jenna Ortega was amazing. But for me, it doesn’t live up to, like, the 1990s.

Emma: No, I would just say it’s different. I’m a very, like, love a franchise, happy to have lots of options kind of person. So my favorite. adult one for me is Practical Magic, which is an upcoming episode we’re going to do a re-watch, comfort re-watch about Practical Magic.

Elsie: Yes, I think it’s next week. 

Emma: All right. Yeah. And I love Practical Magic. I’d watch it any time of year, but I do think since it’s about witches, it’s great for the Halloween season, the spooky season. And then kind of for kids, but kind of for adults, I really love all the Harry Potter and just like, pick at random or will Marathon. And to me, at this point, they’re definitely something I can have on in the background if I’m like cooking or decorating or whatever because I’ve seen them a bunch of times. And some are more kid-friendly than others. You know, it gets a lot scarier as the franchise goes on. And they’re kind of Christmas movies, too, because I do watch them at Christmas as well.

Elsie: The first Harry Potter has Halloween and Christmas in it, so I think that it’s for me the most frequent rewatch and the one that, like, is the most seasonal, I think. 

Emma: Yeah, and in the books, like, it’s always a school year, so they always have both. They always have Halloween and Christmas. But some of the movies feature, depending on what the plot is, you know.

Elsie: The scene with the floating pumpkins is in the first movie, which is like, to me, peak, top, like, number one most beautiful scene in all the movies. I’m obsessed with that. 

Emma: Yeah, I do feel like a lot of people are like, the first one’s a little slow, and it is, like, more kid-friendly, and that’s true.

Elsie: The first one is slow, but they’re so little and cute. 

Emma: They are so little and cute, and it’s when they introduce Hogwarts, so I feel like they really go for it. 

Elsie: I’m not watching it for the story. Like, I’m watching it for the coziness, so I think that I remember when I was younger and I watched it for the first time and I thought it was boring, but I think that’s a very misguided perspective now that I watch it just for the vibes.

Emma: Yeah, and I think, too, like, anyone who reads a lot or watches, you know, like, if you consume a lot of stories, then you also kind of know when there’s a long epic story, and Harry Potter is because there are so many movies, so many books, there is a lot of, like, groundwork a storyteller has to lay when they’re doing world-building. So I never really mind that. To me, I’m like, this one’s about establishing the world. Yes, it’s going to have a story. It’s going to have a plot. We’re going to introduce a bunch of different characters, but we’re mainly establishing what the world is. And I’m cool with that. But I think if you’re expecting, I don’t know, something else, then it might not be. Anyway, those are some of my favorite movies.

Elsie: Okay, over the last couple of years, I’ve watched two technically horror movies that are hilarious. And they are gross, and they do have blood, and they are horror movies, kind of, but like, one of them has Pete Davidson, and the other one is like, oh my god, it’s so unhinged, and they’re really, they’re like, cute and funny, also, in addition. So if you want something like on Halloween, if you’re a noncommittal horror movie person. Like, I think Emma would enjoy these movies. 

Emma: I’m interested in this Pete Davidson recommendation because I have not seen it. So I’m listening. 

Elsie: So the first one, this is the one that has him in it, is called Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. And it is sort of like a trapped-in-a-house whodunit type of situation. Really good ending, a really good movie, really funny. You would only watch it once for sure, but it’s like, it’s good. And I just didn’t like, really hear a lot of people recommending it, so I always want to, like, throw it in there because it’s fun, and it’s, it’s cute. 

Emma: I’m going to watch that for sure. 

Elsie: And then the other one is Megan, which is like a robot horror movie. It is sort of in the vein of Chucky. She’s like a Robot doll, and that’s really all you need to know. It’s really funny looking. It took me a long time to get my husband to watch it with me because he is a snob. And I feel like I’ve said that the last two episodes, like, maybe two, one too many times, but it’s true. But he loved it. He was like, that was funny. It’s good, it holds up. 

Emma: That one looked scary to me. 

Elsie: It’s a little scary. Along the same lines as Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, you would only watch it once pretty much for sure, but it’s just like kind of a cuter, lighter, sillier horror movie. And, like, has a sense of humor, it’s self-aware. So yeah, anyway, okay. Halloween costume time! What’s your favorite costume? 

Emma: Yes, my favorite costume of all time that I’ve done so far was when we did Family Zoolander. So, Oscar was tiny, tiny, he was born in June and this was his first Halloween, so he was itty bitty. And the whole time I was pregnant, whenever I would feel down at all, I would think, What should my baby be for Halloween? Because it was just a way, it’s just a thing I do to like, kind of get through hard times. And anyway, I was like, I’m gonna make it where he’s a baby Zoolander because I just think that’s funny and I love that movie and I feel like it’s very costume-friendly. Yes. It’s an extreme, it’s like about the fashion industry. So anyway, he was tiny Derek Zoolander. I was Hansel and Trey was the bad guy. We’ve got to. Yeah, Oscar’s outfit was very handmade because they don’t make baby Zoolander costumes on Amazon. You have to make it yourself. So I like hand stamped his little onesie and I bought this like, it wasn’t a wig, it was a hat, but it was like a fuzzy hat to be the hair and I put like a bandana around it. So, it was still like a very comfortable outfit for, he was very much an infant still. So, it was very comfortable for him. And then, my outfit was kind of like the stuff we own, stuff I put together. I did buy the jacket and I did buy a wig. But it was mostly just stuff from our closets. And then Trey’s was fully from Amazon. 

Elsie: I thought you really nailed it. I thought that you really nailed it. It was really funny. I love Zoolander. I need to watch that again. 

Emma: Yeah, and he was just so little that it was like, we really could do anything you wanted and he’s just this little newborn who like, you know, it’s the perfect time to put hats on him. So, anyway. And that was just fun and it fulfilled my little dream of having my first Halloween with my baby. 

Elsie: Aww. Yeah, my favorite fulfilled-my-dream costume was the time I did the Beetlejuice costume with Nova. But she’s still too young to watch Beetlejuice, so she’s never seen Beetlejuice. So, it was like just a costume for a picture, but it was fun. She thinks it’s funny. She remembers it, we have the picture framed in our house and someday when she is old enough to watch it, I think she’ll think it’s really funny that I dressed her as that when she was like four years old. 

Emma: I think it had a tie and she really liked the tie from it too. I remember her being part of it. 

Elsie: She has a thing with ties. Yeah. She likes wearing not bow ties but like a men’s necktie with velcro. She had a couple of those from various costumes that she would just wear with everything for a while. So it was cute. 

Honestly, you should try to just dress her like a tiny Diane Keaton all the time because I feel like that’s her vibe.

Emma: Yes, like a little bit of menswear. It’s cute. 

Elsie: Oh wait, I want to share my costume this year. Okay, so I decided I’m just going for like a simple costume because every year I feel like when you are a mom on real Halloween you’re mostly worried about your kids. And doing like all like be focused on them and stuff, so I just want like whatever thing I do want to dress up, But I just was looking for something that I could just like put on and like it’s gonna be fine for sure. So I got a haunted mansion costume. I’ll link it in the show notes It’s pretty much just a striped dress that kind of looks like a maid’s outfit and has a little hat and it’s just kind of cute I mean, it’s like what the I think it’s what the cast members wear at the beginning of the ride. I think that’s where the costume comes from, I’m not sure. But the detail that makes me so happy is that I realized I could buy one for our grandma and we could match. And she’s never worn a Halloween costume before as an adult. And she’s 89 and she’s like borderline, she didn’t say no, but she was like very reluctant. 

Emma: She brought it up to me and she was kind of like, I don’t know about that. And I was like, Oh yeah, Elsie told me. I thought it sounded wonderful. I thought it sounded like all the kids in the neighborhood would love it. Like I was trying to hype it a little bit. 

Elsie: She is wearing this costume and she’s like one of my children. I will make her, I will die on this hill. We are getting a picture in our matching costumes. So yeah, I’m excited and she might not want to wear it. But, she will, she will wear it. 

Emma: We have brought the candy. We have brought the costume. You are doing it. 

Elsie: It’s a pretty easy costume to wear. I think it’s a good mom costume. So that’s why I’m going to link it. If you’re looking for something that you, like, don’t really have to think that much about.

Emma: I have a feeling she’ll get into it. I don’t know why, but she’s like one of those people who like, it’s like she’ll be like hesitant about something, and then all of a sudden she’s just like into it. You know what I mean? I don’t know. 

Elsie: She’s definitely had time to prepare. I’ve explained to her how, like, her house is kind of on the most busy trick or treating street, so I’ve like really taken a lot of time to explain it to her, and I think she’s excited. I think she’s gonna get into it. 

Emma: I think she’ll like it, too, like if your girls, when they’re done, come back and help her, which I think they, at least last year, they loved doing that, handing out candy. You know, it’s like, it’s fun to trick or treat and get candy, but it’s also kind of fun to hand out candy. It’s very fun. You feel kind of powerful because you’re handing out the candy to all the kids. So anyway, I think she’d really like that because then it’s like just spending time with her grandkids, you know. Anyway, all right, so we talked about Halloween costumes. What’s next? Oh, favorite Halloween decorations. 

Elsie: Okay, so this year I got a couple of new things. I got three boxes of these Harry Potter-inspired candles. And I put them above our kitchen island, so I guess it’s like 36 of them. I think one was broken, but yeah 35. Pretty close. They’re so much fun. They’re bringing us a lot of joy. And they’re pretty affordable. I actually think I spent quite a lot more on the batteries than I did on the actual candles, which is fine, cause I will reuse those at Christmas. Yeah, and then I got a black Christmas tree, a Halloween tree, and I really like the Ray Bradbury Halloween tree book. So I like wanted, I want to do like his mini Halloween. I would really like to do a big tree with the lanterns the way it is in the book. It’s like, kind of like a tree with pumpkins all over it in the book, like an outdoor huge giant tree. I think that’s maybe too ambitious for me for this year, but it’s definitely like a dream. There’s always next year, and you always have to one-up yourself too, because we live in a Halloween neighborhood, and it’s important. It’s not a competition, but, you know what I mean? 

Emma: But it is.

Elsie: So, anyway, that’s what I got new this year. Do you have any favorite Halloween decorations?

Emma: My favorite things are always my skeletons, and just hanging up bats. I feel like it’s such a big impact for such low effort and cheap and you can reuse them. And those are the two that to me are like a must. And then after that, it’s like everything else is gravy I guess after that to me. But I am gonna do something this year ’cause we’re planning to come trick or treat in your neighborhood. I think Oscar will just enjoy it more with his cousins. And anyway, so we’re gonna set up a candy station outside of our house ’cause we won’t be there to hand out candy. So I’m gonna do something with the skeletons where they’re kind of around the candy. I was thinking I might make them like witches where the candy is like, In a pot or something like that. So I’m going to do something like that this year since we definitely won’t be around to hand out candy. And then other than that, I just anticipate Oscar, he’s really into the skeletons, like stored in the closet he calls it the spooky closet and he requests to go in there all the time. He loves a spooky closet. And he also like had a dentist come to his daycare and he came home and he’s just really, we already brushed teeth, but he was just extra excited about it. Got some special toothbrushes and he met a dentist. So then we were in the spooky closet, cause he likes playing in there, and he got one of the skull heads out. And we, now in the mornings, we will brush the skull head’s teeth with a toothbrush with no water, no toothpaste, and then we brush his. And it’s kind of like my way to be like, let’s go brush Scully’s teeth, and he’s like excited about that, but he’s not that excited to brush his teeth. So then we brush Scully’s teeth and we all, it’s also like, this is so stupid. It’s like a way to like, it was hard to communicate to him like, you have to get all your teeth. You have to get the teeth in the back and behind your teeth. But now that he can like to see me brush the skull’s teeth. He’s like sees you open your mouth like this girl. A little dentist model. Exactly. It is exactly like a little dentist model. So his bathroom has been Halloween for a while now. But he just loves the skeletons. So once I get them out, I anticipate we’ll be playing with them every morning and evening. And they will probably move around the house and not really be, I’m not going to pose them in ways where they have to like stay. Which I’ve done in the past. I’m going to pose them in ways where he can mess with them. Because I know he will. And that will be part of the magic this year. 

Elsie: For sure. There’s never a Halloween decoration that I didn’t like. I do have a couple of skeletons like yours, but not as many as you have. I think I’m going to put mine on the porch. Like in chairs and, you know?

Emma: Yeah, they’re hanging out. Keep an eye out. Neighborhood watch. 

Elsie: Very joyful. Very, very joyful. Oh yeah, last year I put, or maybe the year before, I put one of them in my pool in the hot tub, but I left him in there a little too long and he got a little rusty, so. 

Emma: Whoops. Oh, the only other thing about Halloween decorations was I was going to mention, a couple of times I have taken Oscar to Home Goods, just as like, basically after the park, or like it got a little hot, but I wasn’t totally ready to take him home yet, we just pop into Home Goods, and he now calls it the Spooky Store, so he’ll be like, we go to the Spooky Store, and it means Home Goods, and we just like walking up and down the Halloween decoration aisles, and like, just look at stuff, basically. And he loves it, and he’ll point at things and go, spooky, spooky. 

Elsie: You’re raising him so good, yeah. 

Emma: I can tell all the other moms and grandmas in the aisles are just like, oh my gosh, that little toddler’s pointing at everything and saying spooky, you know, it’s adorable. 

Elsie: Yeah, we like to go to Target and push all the little buttons. It’s fun. 

Emma: It is fun. Yeah. Okay. What about favorite Halloween traditions? This doesn’t have to be Halloween night, just generally the season.

Elsie: Okay. So I’ve already mentioned that I like to decorate for like a solid two weeks. It’s like a little bit every day. It’s just like, I think it’s more fun. It’s like, it’s just happy. It’s like a little something to look forward to every day. And then also I think my children respond to it more because it’s like every day something’s a little different and they notice that thing instead of like five or ten things all at once where only one overshadows the rest, you know? And then, most importantly, I like three things. For sugar cookies, I will link the recipe, Chex Mix, and bake pumpkin seeds. I’m like very passionate about all of those recipes. Those are kind of the only Halloween things that are a must for me. 

Emma: Yep. Other than decorating and like Halloween night with the costumes and the candy and all of that. The other thing that I love in the season is soup night. Soup and movie night. Because I just love soup. And it’s not a Halloween food per se, obviously, you can enjoy soup any time, but to me, it’s just a very fall time. Must have chili, must have soup, very important to me. 

Elsie: Agree. We are on the same page.

Emma: Okay, so how about anything else on Halloween traditions? 

Elsie: Nope. 

Emma: Okay. Cool. Then let’s do our guilty pleasure treasure, the Halloween edition. 

Elsie: Okay. So, my guilty pleasure treasure is the pumpkin cream cold brew, which Emma just wrote the recipe for it on our blog, and it is my favorite. Starbucks drink for fall. I think it’s so good. I mean, I like Pumpkin Spice Latte, but I only like to have like one or two. And I like the new chai one. It’s pretty good. 

Emma: Yeah, it’s like apple crisp chai or something, right? 

Elsie: Yeah. But most of the time I’m in the mood for the cold brew because it’s really the only time I ever get a cold brew. I really like it. It’s really good. So yeah, that is my favorite thing. And then I have a couple of other little ones, but you can say yours. 

Emma: Okay. Well, I was also going to say with the cold foam, which is kind of the whole thing with that drink you can also put it on other drinks because after I made the recipe, it’s kind of like for my recipe, there are different ones out there, but the one that’s on our site, it’s essentially a syrup and then I teach you how to combine it with half and half or heavy whipping cream if you want it to be more like whipped cream, but half and half is more like the Starbucks version. Anyway, you can read the post. But you can put that cold foam on really any cold or hot drink if you want. So you could make an Irish coffee that has this pumpkin cold foam on top. Or like, I will make a tea latte, like an iced tea latte, because I really only do coffee once or twice a day, twice at the most. And I don’t even always have coffee twice a day because I just sometimes wait too long and then I can’t sleep at night. So I kind of like putting this on top of other things just to make them a little more seasonal. So anyway, it’s just kind of a little hack that I thought I’d throw out there of like you can actually put this on a lot of different things.

Elsie: I’ll definitely make the chai at home because I let Goldie have a drink of it one time and it was like she loved it. 

Emma: She loves spices. She’s so funny. Okay. Well, my guilty pleasure is treasure. Halloween edition is I bought myself this LED light nail lamp. It’s like at the spa where you put your hand in there and it turns on. So I bought one for my house and I have like a little extension cord that I pull out and plugin so that I can like sit in front of my TV at my coffee table and do my nails and watch a movie and It’s not Halloween edition all year round so you could use this all the time, but I’ve used it for my Halloween manicure home manicure because I love to get a manicure out, but I sometimes get a little stressed by too many appointments. It’s just like if you have a busy season, I feel like I just can’t keep up with appointments and I already get my lashes done. So I do my nails at home a lot, and I honestly think the LED lamp makes a huge difference. One, it’s just like fun. It makes me feel like I’m having a spa moment, as silly as that might sound. It really just makes the home experience. I’m like, Oh, I’m at it so long as I’m using the little nail lamp, you know, this isn’t my home anymore, you know, it’s like just that kind of elevates doing it, and then also it really does dry your nails faster and if you’re like me, it’s like I finish my nails and I’m like, okay, I gotta wait for them to dry, but I immediately forget and like cuddle up in a blanket to watch my movie and then my nails are all f ed up.

Elsie: It’s a fuzz nail. 

Emma: Exactly! 

Elsie: There’s nothing worse than the fuzz nail. 

Emma: I actually think the lamp is a really good investment. It wasn’t very much money. I just bought one on Amazon and it works great. I like reading the reviews and got one where people were like, I’m a manicurist and this one’s great. I was like, okay. So, and yeah, it’s great. I love it. Use it for a Halloween manicure. I’ll definitely be using it for a Christmas manicure. Just elevates the home manicure experience. 

Elsie: Oh, nice. Okay. Well, my last mini one is, halloween puzzles. So I just wanted to link a couple. I got new Halloween and Christmas puzzles this year, just to have out and do during the season and it’s just like a joyful thing I think you can never really have too many puzzles because you kind of can’t do that. I mean you can’t repeat them very soon at least. So yeah, they’re definitely a good thing to trade if you have a puzzle friend.

Emma: Yeah, I was gonna say maybe next time I have the clothing exchange I should say let’s bring puzzles too and trade.

Elsie: But you remember, like, a year or two ago when you visited and we had, like, the hardest, craziest Halloween puzzle? 

Emma: It was, like, a weird clip art puzzle, too. It was so funny and fun. It was really funny. It was awesome.

Elsie: So, anyway, I’ll link to the new ones I got. I think 500 pieces are, like, you can do it kind of quickly and kids can be involved. And 1, 000 pieces is, like, good luck with that.

Emma: We also highly recommend puzzle tables. We’ve talked about them in the past. We both have them. It’s a great way to like if you have a bigger puzzle, you can like move it around the house. So if you need to get it off your dining room table so you can have dinner, you don’t have to mess up your puzzle.

Elsie: It’s the best. We have a little like, spot where our puzzles can sit, like an off the living room table, but then you can bring it to, like, to the coffee table and then bring it back, you know, back and forth, which is the coolest part. And also, like, if you need the table, that’s why it’s there, so that you can, like, move it without ruining your puzzle.

Emma: Exactly. Yes, absolutely. Okay, now it’s time for a joke or a fact meditation with Nova. 

Elsie: All right, Nova, what do you have for us this week?

Nova: A joke. 

Elsie: A joke? Okay. 

Nova: Which key opens up a banana? 

Elsie: What key? 

Nova: A monkey! 

Elsie: Yay! That was a good one. Alright, do you want to tell everyone to have a good week?

Nova: Have a good week!

Elsie: Thank you so much for listening. You can submit your questions at podcast@abeautifulmess.com or call our voicemail at 417-893-0011. Next week we’ll be back with another Comfort Rewatch episode and this time we will be doing Practical Magic if you’d like to watch along with us.