Halloween
Halloween is one of those occasions you either over-do or completely forget about until Halloween week whereupon you abandon any pretence at normality and also need help. If you’re going all out then you want stuff that is good enough to actually warrant compliments, not just some sad office drone politely smiling whenever you talk to them. If you’re one of the Halloween forgetters then you need someone to do the thinking for you.. We have endeavoured to cater for both groups.
We were looking for stuff that just works when we put this gift guide together. Not a pile of novelty nonsense that will find itself shoved in a drawer by the end of November. Not a brown squash-shaped thing that is frankly lipstick on a pig and was clearly made to some kind of contrived brief. We wanted gifts that happen to be ideal for Halloween simply because they are good quality objects that have been well designed, not because someone digitally added an insultingly small pumpkin somewhere and called it seasonal.
There’s a real gap in the market for quality Halloween gifts. Halloween is this magical moment at the start of that mad dash towards Christmas and if you pay attention to it, it has its own personality. It rewards those who like their jokes darker. It rewards excess. It rewards that friend in your life who takes their bowl of sweets very seriously, or who hosts the kinds of parties that actually require a costume, or who just loves this niche more than anyone else that you know. We chose stuff that we would actually buy ourselves. Gifts for the Halloween party planner, the horror aficionado who probably has everything ‘interesting’ already and for the friend who really loves autumn in all its candle lit glory.
Keep was kept small because that’s how we like it. Hand picked rather than chosen at the last minute. Gift guides that are miles long might offer more options but they rarely offer anything truly considered. If something’s in this guide then we looked at it and thought YES, THAT IS THE ONE. Not “Oh this is pretty good but I can see you having this as well.” Halloween comes once a year. Don’t Fucking disgrace it.