# In the Spirit of Halloween **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820 "2025-09-07T17:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/21 "2025-09-07T20:31:33Z")
Some Spirit stores will change over to being Spirit of Christmas stores in November. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/22 "2025-09-08T13:45:46Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > “I can top that. I’m going to put Christmas lights up this weekend!” 😄 Dooooooo ittttttt. Although, I _have_ seen orange/purple Christmas lights used at Halloween to good effect. I guess you could use all red lights, for that bloody Satanic look, then just throw some green ones into the mix for Christmas … that’d be efficient. > [@bodangus](#): > > I don’t wear sunglasses anymore. Um … okay? (Dafuq?) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/23 "2025-09-08T16:27:31Z")
There’s a small city in Ohio called Fairborn that has three or four _permanent_ Halloween/costume stores. Fun place to visit, especially in October. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/24 "2025-09-08T16:44:23Z")
I assume Salem, Massachusetts is similar? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/25 "2025-09-08T16:46:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What age makes one too old for the holiday? 1. Same as Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/26 "2025-09-08T17:00:12Z")
I recall reading something a few years ago to the effect that Halloween is now one of the biggest holidays in terms of adult participation and sales of party paraphernalia to adults. Maybe even the biggest. Thank you Hallmark. It definitely is not the child’s holiday it once was. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/27 "2025-09-08T18:14:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thank you Hallmark. Does Hallmark have much to do with it? They don’t own Spirit. I actually drove past a strip mall this weekend when I was away. On the marquee listing the stores I saw they had a Hallmark store. I can’t tell you the last time I was in one of their stores, or even bought one of their cards. When I need a birthday card, it’s whatever’s in the grocery store or Target. The cheapie cards can be just as good for half the price of the ones with the mark of the Hall family for something that is read & tossed (or _maybe_ read & thrown into a drawer, only to be tossed before moving) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/28 "2025-09-08T18:28:07Z")
I’m not suggesting any business connection between Hallmark & Spirit. IIRC Hallmark was a big promoter of the idea of Halloween as “not just for kids anymore”. Which they started back in the 1980s-ish when they perceived the public was becoming afraid to let their little darlins go trick or treating. So they needed to keep that revenue coming somehow else. Halloween as a holiday for adults, with sexy costumes, fancily decorated parties, and of course greeting cards was their idea and the result has been good to their bottom line. We Dopers are generally the right age that we grew into adulthood right along with the adultification of Halloween, or just slightly ahead of it. So for most of us it seems like Halloween was always for adults. But not so. As you suggest, Hallmark in general is now past their prime, and heading towards moribund. But the juggernaut of commercial Halloween that they conceived and launched is going from strength to strength and will outlive them in a nicely ghoulish manner. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/29 "2025-09-08T19:25:18Z")
That was a gag in _The Naked Gun_ when Police Squad was shut down. [![](https://i0.wp.com/nerdbot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-02-at-8.46.44-PM.png?resize=788,328&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/nerdbot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-02-at-8.46.44-PM.png?resize=788,328&ssl=1) I was a volunteer tech at the Museum of Pinball, (once) the largest collection of pinball machines and arcade games in the world. I once asked the lead tech where the owner got all the money to assemble such a collection: “You know those Halloween shops that pop up for just a few months every year…” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/30 "2025-09-08T20:25:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I recall reading something a few years ago to the effect that Halloween is now one of the biggest holidays in terms of adult participation and sales of party paraphernalia to adults. Maybe even the biggest. I mean, it is a pattern for pretty much ALL things that people enjoyed as children. Not all of them carry that enjoyment into adulthood, but a _large_ percentage of them do. Comics used to be mostly for kids, now the readers are mostly adults and the industry struggles to get younger audiences. LEGO used to be just for kids but now there is an apparently huge market of adult LEGO collectors and a plethora of extremely expansive, adult-oriented sets, the latest of which (pretty much) [cracked the thousand dollar mark](https://laughingsquid.com/lego-star-wars-death-star/). I could go on and on about the “kids things” that have deep penetration in the adult market, but suffice it to say that if someone honestly thinks that Halloween is “kids only”, then that is as unaware of the modern world as that tangent in the pit thread about the disreputablity of tattoos. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/31 "2025-09-09T10:31:12Z")
I’ve never heard of spirit before. A LOOOONNNNGGGG time ago there was a great little store that sold fresh pasta that you would cook. It was really, really good. I’m one of those that sees a huge difference between fresh and dried pasta. They would cut each order to whatever you wanted. Pepper, garlic, lemon pasta, cut fresh. They closed and what replaced it was a bird seed store. Umm… what? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/32 "2025-09-09T14:16:28Z")
Down the street, some Halloween decorations have appeared. And Halloween candy is at the grocery store. But since this is south FLA, there are no real environmental indicators of fall. So it feels really early for Halloween. I wish I was back up on the Blue Ridge Parkway right now. Now THAT is a place that feels like fall right now. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/33 "2025-09-09T17:11:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Down the street, some Halloween decorations have appeared. And Halloween candy is at the grocery store. But since this is south FLA, there are no real environmental indicators of fall. Same for me. Stores are loaded with Halloween stuff, other indicia are all but absent. Ref my earlier post, I’ve since driven by the two dead storefronts that have in the past been pop-up Halloween stores, and both show no signs of life. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/34 "2025-09-09T17:28:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Stores are loaded with Halloween stuff, other indicia are all but absent. The “seasonal” aisles of our local stores all switched over a few weeks ago, when they pulled the “back-to-school” stuff. It’s been starting to feel like fall here in the Midwest for the past week or so. August was _really_ hot and humid (and rainy), but around Labor Day, the air started to dry out, high temperatures have been in the low 70s, and it’s just delightful out. I’m starting to see a few trees that are just starting to lose their usual dark-green summer color, but we likely won’t be in actual fall foliage for another few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820/35 "2025-09-09T18:23:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The “seasonal” aisles of our local stores all switched over a few weeks ago, when they pulled the “back-to-school” stuff. The FL “back to school” sales tax holiday runs the entire month of August. So for stores that sell suitable merch, they tend to leave the BtS stuff up until Sep 1, then it changes instantly into Halloween. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-spirit-of-halloween/1022820.md?page=1)