Watched The Scooby Doo Show at Tubi during breakfast. "The Headless Horseman of Halloween" invades a party Mystery Inc is attending at Crane Manor. Turns out the manor was built on the very place where a Hessian solider lost his head during the Revolutionary War. When the head and a priceless diamond necklace go missing, Mystery Inc explores a spooky graveyard to figure out what's going on.
Hurried out after the cartoon ended. I had a lot to do today, starting with a quick stop at PNC for money so I could hit the Collingswood Farm Market. I haven't been there in ages! The late fall produce is out now, cauliflower, hearty greens, cranberries, apples, potatoes, pears, and winter squash, but there were still plenty of late summer fruits and veggies out, too. I ended up with little apples, cranberries, Cherry tomatoes for sandwiches and snacking, red table grapes, and spelt wheat bread from one of the bakery booths. Got a pumpkin spice latte cream bar from the Bubba's Creamery cart for a treat. Said "hi" to one of the little girls from the after-school class, her baby brother, and her mom and wished them Happy Halloween!
Headed to the Westmont Acme next. They were a lot busier than I thought they'd be, considering it's the last day of the month. I did dodge shoppers long enough to restock yogurt, soda, Swiss cheese, cookies, and fruit preserves. I didn't want to buy 4 granola bar boxes, but the Nature Valley Wafers were a fairly reasonable regular price. Grabbed caramel apple lollipops and Starburst green apple lollipops (the later already on clearance) to give trick-or-treaters. Veggie chips were also a really good regular price.
Target was almost as busy. They have Slice flavors that are exclusive to them. I grabbed their version of Mountain Dew, Pacific Pop. Granola bars are cheaper here, too. Got another bag of candy here as well, white "Ghost" Reeces cups. Also got a small Iced Pumpkin Matcha Latte at Starbucks.
Sprouts was only slightly less busy than everyone else. Mainly picked up oat milk and bulk dried cranberries here. Found bakery chocolate chip cookies and Bob's Red Mill granola on really good clearance sales. Got the shredded chicken here when I couldn't find it at the Acme.
When I got home, I put everything away, then ate a quick lunch while watching the first of two Match Game Productions Halloween marathons on YouTube today. The one early in the afternoon showcased a wide variety of Halloween game show episodes. I came mid-way through the 1991 Family Feud episode with Ray Combs dressed as a very unlikely Robin Hood. Stuck around for the classic Match Game '90 Halloween episode and the 1988 Super Password Halloween episode with Christoper Hewitt and Edie McClurg. They were just starting the Classic Concentration Halloween episode when I realized how late it was getting.
Here's the entire marathon anyway, so you can celebrate Halloween weekend game show style!
I got into my black cat costume and put on the makeup, then took the candy and Mystery Bags, my stuffed black cat Luna, the purple pumpkin I used for my black cat table yesterday, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories and went outside to sit on the stoop. It was a gorgeous day to just sit on the stoop and read, regardless of what else was going on. It was in the upper 60's, sunny, breezy, and bright blue. Couldn't have been a nicer Halloween.
Due to it being Saturday, Oaklyn's trick-or-treat started at 1...but the kids didn't really start coming out until around quarter of 3. And when they came, they came in droves. I saw so many great costumes! There was a teen Scooby Doo group, with Velma and Shaggy and Fred. There was a darling pink and blue spider princess, a girl Chuckie, a mom witch and Chuckie, and a little girl Jessie the Cowgirl. One little boy really got into his Ghostbusting, pretending to "bust" the ghost hanging on the house behind me. Saw Spider Man, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and a Winnie the Pooh group with a dad Pooh, mom Piglet, sister Tigger, and baby Eeyore. The toddler boy from the Incredibles group was so eager to use his jack o'lantern sticker, he stuck it on the side of his pumpkin candy bucket right away. (I hope he didn't lose it.) There was a random Gandolf with a huge walking stick and an adorable mini Meridia with her parents as bears and lots of pretty princesses.
There were so many kids out, I was giving candy away right up until 10 minutes before it was supposed to end at 6. The Mystery Bags vanished in less than an hour. In fact, we gave away all the Mystery Bags, all of the leftover jack o'lantern stickers and spider rings from the Mystery Bags, the five bags of candy I bought today, and candy leftover from a friend's party yesterday that she gave me. All that was left by the time I finally got out the door was a quarter of the huge bag of candy my friend had.
The sun was just going down when I started across the White Horse Pike to West Clinton. Had a really quick pizza dinner at Phillies Phatties. I ate a slice of cheese and a slice of mushroom while listening to a family in Star Wars costumes (a Leia mom, a Jedi dad, and two brothers as Darth Vader and a stormtrooper) and three teen girls in very short skirts as characters from Clueless. I loved the huge flowered hat I suspect was home-made that one girl wore with her houndstooth suit.
I was surprised to see the parade was already lining up when I finished dinner. For some reason, it started at 6:30 this year instead of 7. Maybe they didn't want the kids waiting around that long. I'd never seen so many people at the Halloween Parade! There was a tiny, adorable Elmo, Willy Wonka and Veruca, a girl Stitch, a dad Sonic, a little boy Shadow, two elementary school Pikachus, and another Spider Man. One boy wore a really nifty home-made volcano costume. Another was dressed as a Krispy Kreame donut box. One of the pre-teen girls was a gorgeous dead bride. There was a mini toddler cop, Lightning McQueen in a Cars push-cart, and an utterly adorable two-year-old Maverick from Top Gun with his Kelly Preston mom.
Another pre-teen girl was a spot-on Mary Poppins (and deserved the 1st place prize she got), and there was a darling Batgirl and a lovely little Cinderella. A Nintendo group had a bubbly Princess Peach mom, a Mario dad, a big sister Luigi, and a little sister Toad. Jack Skelleton towered over the crowd on stilts, accompanying an adorable little Sally. A mom and dad were Seymour and Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors, complete with a plastic Audrey II in a flower pot. Twin Wolverines showed off their claws for the crowd. An elementary-school age Lisa Simpson played her inflatable saxophone. A really creative Beetlejuice group had a mom bride Lydia in red, a dad Shrunken Head man, and a teen sister Beetlejuice. One of the teenagers was a severed head on a plate. (Incidentally, the Shrunken Head Man deservedly won the adult division, followed by Audrey and Seymour.)
(I am disappointed that I never ran into Rose and Finley tonight. Maybe they were busy, or they didn't realize the parade started at 6:30 instead of 7. I'll have to call Rose soon to see what's going on with her.)
Did a few chores when I got home, washed off my makeup, and put the pieces of my black cat costume away before watching this year's Match Game Halloween marathon. The closest they got to a Halloween episode on the 1973-1982 run of the show was the episode where Charles showed up late and Mark Goodson sat in for him. They asked a question about what Charles would dress as for Halloween. Questions about vampires, monsters, Frankenstein, and what they all did in their spare time abounded, though, especially as it allowed Gene to indulge in his idea of a Bela Lugosi accent. Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour actually started on Halloween. The rare pilot episode is included here.
Halloween 1990 wasn't the only episode where people dressed in costume, either. Gene turned up in an old man wig in one syndicated episode, claiming he was Old Man Periwinkle. (He was really showing off his wig for a stage Christmas Carol he did with Bill Cullen.) Another time, his head was wrapped like a mummy. Jon Bauman did the Match Game '78 and syndicated episodes in his goofy greaser "Bowser" persona, complete with jokes about his heavily pommaded hair. Gary Burghoff imitated Frankenstein in one episode, lumbering after Gene.
Nighttime episodes had even more fun with Halloween jokes. There were Dracula questions on the PM episode with the contestant who looked like Barry Manilow. Bill Anderson, Debralee Scott, and Jonelle Allen did a hilarious spoof of the then-common commercials for K-Tel rock collections. Brett and Charles used the Audience Match "__ Minded" to tease each other in another episode.
Come to the wildest Halloween party ever at Television City and Prospect Studios with these ghoulishly hilarious episodes!
Finished the night with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Linus is excited about this year's big (non) visit from the Great Pumpkin and spends his Halloween waiting for the elusive visitor in a "sincere" pumpkin patch. Against her better judgement, Sally joins him. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown has trouble trick-or-treating, Lucy gets zinged at a costume party, and Snoopy spends Halloween preparing for Veteran's Day fighting the Red Baron.
And I hope you have a wonderful Halloween weekend, with all the ghouls and goblins you love to match with!
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