I may pass on the giant spider animatronic... giant spiders are less funny in a place with actual giant spiders. 😨 Last summer I spotted a giant huntsman outside of the bathroom window as I was closing it. Thankfully we have a fly screen but it still gave me a goddamn heart attack. Also, I think my partner would also faint - spiders are his fear.

It's pretty cool that community organisations run those Halloween parties. Never heard of extreme haunted houses till now and [link=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/30/extreme-haunted-house-masochists-mckamey-manor]reading up[/link] on it, they sound sooooooooo messed up. I can't believe that they can legally waterboard people, that people willingly sign up, and are okay with signing that waiver. I don't think that sort of set up would be legally possible here.

The fall festivals sound more my style. Though I suspect I would be allergic to the hay. Do they also sell fall foods (candy apples, pumpkin pie, etc.) at those places or is it just experience-oriented? Also, are they only available near rural areas and if so, do people travel all the way out there just to do those activities?

That party sounds wild... I feel sorry for the owner but hopefully they had a good time. Would your sister make mummy dogs and other halloween themed treats for her party? Ngl, some of the famous combos sound super gross especially the one with celery, peanut butter, and raisins. Though, we serve multicoloured sugar balls on bread and butter and call it fairy bread, so I guess we don't have a leg to stand on either foodwise.

My dad pranked me with a giant spider from Spirit once, it wasn't even an animated one, it was just a REALLY giant, fuzzy spider, it has like a 3-foot leg span or something. I used to go hang out at his house every week pre-pandemic and we'd drink beer and watch some show like Vikings or whatever and a few beers in, I needed to use the bathroom. Guess what he had left in there as a surprise, suspended overhead in front of the toilet in a perfect position where somehow I didn't notice it until I'd sat down. I screamed "OH JESUS!" so loud he could hear it from several rooms away and he knew his prank was a success. He named the spider Jesus and sent it home with me. X'D

Yikes, that one seems a bit much even for me. Although I do admit I'm curious what it would be like to be waterboarded, I'd only do one of those with a safe word, for sure. The problem with the one in the article is that it's too real to be fake...like, it goes beyond the line where I'd be willing to use lethal force to defend myself in real life, but I would have to refrain because I know they're not actually trying to kill me. Yet there's no safe word so there's no way to stop it without using force. It sounds like they might kill someone by accident anyway and those "actors" seem a little unstable. Just seems like a situation waiting to go really sideways eventually. If everyone who participates ends up happy in the end though, more power to 'em...

Well, to get a true farm experience you'd have to go to a real farm, but where I live isn't really rural by any means (Seattle suburbs) but we do have farms in my city so the one I've most recently visited is actually right down the street from me. They have fall treats too...roasted corn, kettle corn, I think they have candy apples. Cider. Probably pies, not sure. They also have an assortment of produce they grow there locally. People definitely do travel to get to these places though. When I was a kid, this farm just had dairy cows and they didn't do the fall festival stuff but I remember my family taking me somewhere quite a bit further away to pick out a pumpkin from a field. We never got our pumpkins from the store when I was little; that felt like cheating lol.

Yeah, I mean I can't even imagine having a tame party in my house. I don't like having multiple guests, especially if I don't know them well. Some people just don't care and have party houses though...hard to fathom. My sister would probably make mummy dogs and cute treats like that. Monster cupcakes, spider cookies, whatever she found on Instagram I guess. She would also want to keep her party somewhat under control since she has little kids.

Whaaat, you mean "ants on a log"? You've never had that? I love celery with peanut butter and raisins! That's a totally normal snack for any time of year lol. I've never thought fairy bread sounded as good as it could be, certainly doesn't sound like it would live up to its name. You know what's really good? Cinnamon toast. Just buttered toast with cinnamon and sugar. That is the correct way to do sweetened toast...leaving off the cinnamon and putting crunchy cake decorations on top just sounds disappointing to me. :P

Your dad sounds like a hoot! That would have been so satisfying set up - half the fun is in the set and and anticipation. You gonna get him back by hiding Jesus the Spider in his car or somewhere?? Or is he not scared of spiders?

And yeah, the people running those sorts of haunted houses sound pretty... concerning to say the least. In a video I watched of a different extreme haunted house, the owner mentioned that one guy did have a heart attack during his session. And [link=https://i.imgur.com/UinU9kF.jpg]here[/link] is my reaction to watching that interview. I always imagined that waterboarding would feel something like drowning or when you first put your water under icy cold water and you are gasping for breath. I think that reaction to cold water is a reflex. Looking it up, its called 'Cold shock response'. Hard pass on the waterboarding and dunking head in cold water from me!

The farms sound sooooo cute and homey!! Its really sweet that your family would do the whole pumpkin picking fall tradition. I love that they sold food made from their produce. Interesting fact about those carving pumpkins - [link=https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/11/without-us-pumpkins-may-have-gone-extinct]they were originally eaten by giant sloths and mammoths[/link]. I don't think they are a particularly nice variety to eat for humans, so without the tradition of halloween they probably wouldn't still be around. Anyhow, that's probably why I've never seen them at all over here.

And I am with you when it comes to hosting parties. Ugh, I hate it when people touch my stuff unless they live with me. She could do a fun party if there are kids. Maybe like apple bobbing? Or ouija? Idk but they sound fun 😆

It's the celery in the 'ants on a log' that throws me off. So gross bleh. Such a weird combo. I'm also not a huge fan of fairy bread but I'll also pass on the cinnamon. I think in the Netherlands they eat chocolate fairy bread for breakfast essentially? It's called hagelslag. Growing up, my favourite combo was sugar and butter on mini toasts. BTW, if you've haven't tried it on [link=https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/always-fresh-mini-toasts-value-pack]mini toasts[/link], you'll love it. Not sure if you guys have it though, but if you do you gotta make your cinnamon toast combo on it - its sooo good!!