Halloween People Scary Adults Celebrate Children Costumes Organize

Children usually "go trick-or-treating" (knock on doors to ask for candy) on Halloween, but many adults like to celebrate the holiday, too. Many people have "costume parties" where everyone dresses up in costumes for an evening of dancing, eating, and drinking. Usually there are costume contests with "prizes" (something one wins) awarded for the best costume. The "hosts" (the people who organize the party) often decorate the "interior" (inside) and "exterior" (outside) of their home with "fake" (artificial) spider "webs" (the very thin white or clear threads that spiders use to catch other insects to eat), "bats" (small mammals that fly at night), witches, and ghosts, and play scary sounds or music.

People with a more "macabre" (dark, scary, connected with death) "side" (characteristic, aspect to one's personality) might enjoy visiting a graveyard on Halloween night, trying to scare themselves or each other. Or they might hide behind "grave markers" (pieces of wood or stone that show where a body has been buried) to "jump out" (quickly move from behind something to surprise another person) from behind the grave markers to "frighten" (scare) other people who are visiting the graveyard.

Still other people like to stay at home and watch "horror films" (movies that are intended to scare people, usually with a lot of violence). Many television channels show old horror movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th "leading up to" (on the days before) Halloween.

Not everyone participates in the Halloween "festivities" (celebrations). Some Christians believe that Halloween is evil, so their churches organize alternative festivals for "members" (people who go to that church regularly) to attend on Halloween night. These parties are sometimes called "harvest festivals" (celebrations of the food gathered from agricultural land), but the children who go normally dress up in costumes and receive candy, "albeit" (but; notwithstanding) from the church instead of from their neighbors.