For the past three years, Josh and I have spent most of October doing fun fall things to take full advantage of spooky season. Because Josh’s work schedule is in the midst of changing, we wouldn’t be able to do anything really on the weekends (like we did in the past), so I took a few Fridays off from work because we weren’t not going to do fun fall things.

Friday, October 17

This is one of our annual traditions: Mike’s Maze Beer Tasting! My friend, Alex, and our favorite third wheel joined us; it’s funny because Alex and I are both rather short, so Josh is responsible for not losing either of us in the corn maze. In the maze, six local breweries are set up where you can get a tasting at each one, and there are also trivia questions throughout. The theme this year was Mike’s Maze’s 25th anniversary. We did a lot better with the trivia this year—I think we got seven out of ten correct—and we each got a tiny prize pumpkin.

We didn’t have time over the weekend to paint our pumpkins, but we got around to it one weeknight after Josh got home from work. I think you can tell who painted which pumpkin… 😂

Friday, October 24

This was Josh’s idea for one of our activities! It’s called Scarecrows on Main in Old Wethersfield, CT. The event is open to everyone in the community to create their own scarecrow, and you can go walk around the downtown area to check all of them out and vote for your favorite one. A lot of them were themed skellies; my favorite one was the two roasting marshmallows. We also popped into a couple of shops; in one of them, I got a baseball hat with “Born to read, forced to work” embroidered on it, along with a maple cinnamon candle.

For dinner, we went to Village Pizza and split a marghrita pizza, and for an after-dinner treat, we went to the Main Street Creamery and Cafe to get ice cream. Josh got pumpkin cheesecake, and I got pumpkin Oreo.

Friday, October 31

This activity was perfectly spooky for Halloween—“Light into the Dungeon:” A Jack O’ Lantern Experience at Old New-Gate Prison in East Granby, CT.

In the late 18th century, people incarcerated at New-Gate Prison were housed in the abandoned copper mine in total darkness. Celebrate the Fall season with us as we bring “Light into the Dungeon.” Explore the 100-yard loop of the underground copper mine illuminated by a display of 400 professionally carved Jack O’ Lanterns.

This was super cool! The mine was dark (only lit up by the pumpkin), and water was dripping from the ceiling. We went through the loop twice, and on the second time around, we both noticed different pumpkins we didn’t see the first time.

Afterward, you could walk around the above-ground prison grounds, which we did. It’s a small place, but it was a good idea for a low-key Halloween activity.

Then it was time for Spooky Night! We make pizzas in the shape of a pumpkin and a ghost, then have fun drinks (apple cider with rum) and festive cookies. Our movie of choice was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice since we watched the first one last year. Earlier in the month, we had a Spooky Night Lite with fun drinks, cookies, and we watched Sleepy Hollow.

Bonus day: Saturday, November 1

This wasn’t on our initial plans, but Josh and I crashed his sister, their parents, and our niece’s outing to a local orchard/bakery/small farm/ice cream place. We all went through the corn maze in the back that was spooky themed; there were five big set ups throughout the maze, including one for Stranger Things (left) and Bettlejuice (right). The other ones were for The Addams Family, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Ghost Busters.

Afterward, we got apple cider and bakery treats, and Josh and I spent most of the time passing our niece back and forth. She’s eight months old now and she’s definitely the cutest baby ever and you can’t tell me otherwise.