Hell, Might As Well Let The Kids Have A Halloween Advent Calendar
Nothing wrong with a little extra ghoulish cheer this year.
I spent most of the early 2000s salivating over the Halloween movie lineup on the Freeform channel (listed as ABC Family in those days). Of course, these were pre-streaming times, which meant that you had to keep a running list of exactly which movies aired at 7/6 central. If you finished your pre-algebra homework in time, you could settle in to watch The Mummy or The Little Vampire. And while Freeform, previously ABC Family, previously Fox Family before that, still releases its annual Halloween movie roundup, today's kiddies apparently have another way to count down the days until Halloween: a Halloween advent calendar.
If you're unfamiliar, an advent calendar is basically an oversized monthly calendar that awards you with little goodies each day. They were originally used to celebrate the Advent, with a piece of candy or other treat to mark every day during the four-week period leading up to Christmas. (I made a giant one for my dogs a few years ago. They're very fun.) But I had no idea people were using advent calendars for holidays other than Christmas. Per the Food Network, that's exactly what's happening.
"Ghouls big and small will agree that the very best part of Halloween is the candy," the Food Network writes. "Though advent calendars are often thought of as a 'Christmas thing,' their mysterious and fun nature make them perfect for counting down all the days leading up to Halloween, too."
Nice! I like the idea of a Halloween advent calendar—especially this year, when it's still unclear whether the Delta variant will make Halloween trick-or-treating unsafe. The only problem: none of these calendar manufacturers can agree on an exact Halloween countdown. The Christmas Advent is four weeks on the dot, which makes things easy. However, one calendar in the Food Network roundup has 13 pockets; another inexplicably has 24, and the final option has 31. There's no logic to it—but do we really need logic during the Halloween season? Regardless, you can check out the Food Network list here.