It was Halloween night, 2023, and the last guests had finally departed. An eerie silence descended on the front driveway of our house as Elly and I went to work without a word, turning off animatronics, unplugging lights, and shutting down projectors.
We were exhausted.
Every year we went all out for Halloween. This year we'd outdone even ourselves. Elly had hand-sculpted a ginormous man-eating-plant that stood almost five feet tall. I had risked life and limb rigging a 20-foot-long screen on our roof for a life-sized projection of the Headless Horseman.
This on top of the usual litany of scarecrows, and giant animatronics, and jack-o'-lanterns above the garage. Our production had drawn hundreds to our quiet neighborhood street. The line to get halloween candy at our house stretched down the driveway. The chaos drew the attention of the cops at one point in the evening, who left without incident after inspecting our seven foot tall animatronic werewolf.
Add to all of this that Elly was a very seven months pregnant, and we also already had two young children to try to parent.
(above: a photo of the author being devoured)
In the quiet of the dark kitchen we both exhaled. The stillness after the months of insanity leading up to this most chaotic of nights felt... welcome.
Elly and I will never lose our love for Halloween. But that night in 2023, as we stared at each other beat up and bruised from the effort, we came to the same conclusion.
(pictured: Sebastian and Elly on Halloween night, 2023)
Something would have to change. Our monstrous, show-stopping displays had all but outgrown our quiet tree-lined neighborhood. We felt bad for the neighbors! And there was something sad and exhausting about having to strike the set and have it all vanish in the blink of an eye. That transience is, of course, an important part of the beauty of Halloween. It's one night only! So make the most of it.
But we knew we wanted more. We wanted our Halloween to reach more people. To delight bigger audiences. And to not end after October 31st.
In the next few months, Elly gave birth to our beautiful daughter and third child, Shayla. And we kept the conversation going. Our love for all things spooky and our passionate drive to create, give, and share the magic of Halloween and horror with even more people slowly crystalized.
And our fourth child, Muahaha, was born.
We're thrilled to bring our spookiest A-game to you, our customers, via bespoke products, decor, books, games, and fun, and we're excited to bring it to you year round.
So here's to 365 days of spooky a year! Thank you for being a part of that journey!
