Chucky, Chocolate, and Chainsaws – Halloween, TJM Style!

October is a frightful month, as we all know. As Halloween approaches, we asked our staff here at TJM for some thoughts about the haunted holiday. Our answers include something for everyone – a chainsaw, a “Star Wars” droid, Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo and even a flaming skull!

Shannon Moore  

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

-Anything chocolate is my favorite. Licorice always a no-no.

Costumes, Yes or No?

FOR SURE dress up. My favorite is either Chucky or Spider-Girl. Funniest was when I was pregnant with Jameson and my belly was R2D2.

About bad costumes:

No clue for a really bad idea …maybe lots of makeup, or hot outfit, those stink.

[Editor’s note: Shannon clarified that “hot” outfit in this case means temperature-wise, not “sexy” fast-food worker/garbage collector/marsupial, etc.]

Halloween in general?

LOVE Halloween. I love the creepy and weird stuff, so this holiday/month is when I can let my freak flag fly.

Matt Maio

 Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

Favorite Halloween candy is probably Snickers bars. Second favorite would be Baby Ruth bars. Least favorite is Butterfinger by far, followed by candy corn.

Costumes, Yes or No?

I like to dress up for Halloween, but in the least invasive costume possible. We get 250+ Trick or Treaters in my neighborhood. I don’t really want to wear a mask or makeup when I’m handing out candy for 3+ hours.

My all time favorite costume wasn’t really anything crazy, but one year I carried around a real chainsaw (chain removed) to scare people as they arrived to a party we threw at the local Moose Lodge. [Editor’s note: We think this has serious big screen potential: Moose and Chainsaw – Bullwinkle’s Revenge!]

About bad costumes:

My idea of a really bad Halloween costume is anyone dressed as Harley Quinn. It’s just so played out and cliché. [Editor’s note: Darn! There went our costume for this year.]

Halloween in general?

I definitely look forward to Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday, although I don’t take it as seriously as some people that I know. Especially now with the amount of Trick or Treaters that we get in the neighborhood, it’s really fun.

Matt Fischer

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are top tier candy, the best of the best.  Candy corn and Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses (those nasty black or orange wrapped pieces of molasses) are absolute trash and should be thrown in the garbage.

Costumes, Yes or No?

I love dressing up for Halloween and can take costuming seriously. We don’t do pre-purchased costumes in my household. We focus on bespoke creations that seem more authentic, original, and comfortable.

The local thrift stores are our go-to spot for the base layers, and then we make alterations as necessary and add pieces to it that we already may own. Being comfortable and in “real” clothes is always preferred over those hot, itchy, and flimsy pieces you get at the store.

My most successful single costume was Beetlejuice. It was a thrifted suit, paired with combat boots and some great hair and makeup!

My wife and I have had a strong run of couples costumes in recent years. My favorites were Fred Jones and Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo! And Finn and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. We have a daughter now and this will be her first Halloween, so we are seeing how we can incorporate her into this.

Matt Gray

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

Favorite Candy – Reese’s Pieces and Peanut Butter M&M’s.
Worst Candy – Apples and pennies (I got both every year while Trick or Treating as a child.)

Costumes, Yes or No?

I dress up several times throughout October during different events I do (Trunk or Treats, Halloween parties, etc.) Can’t pinpoint one particular favorite. [Editor’s note: Matt G., in addition to his work at TJM, is also a professional DJ.]

Halloween in general?

Halloween is a very big deal for me, including horror, gothic, baroque etc. My house is a museum of such for this, and other oddities and curiosities. I add to my decor with Halloween decorations starting mid-August every year.  We have multiple Halloween trees (much like a Christmas tree, only better).

Halloween is my favorite holiday, as I remember it really being the only holiday that brought joy to me as a child. Now I host different local events to bring that Halloween magic to kids. To me, Halloween isn’t a holiday, it’s a lifestyle. And I enjoy it year round.

Lena Ruotolo 

[Editor’s Note: Lena first took a moment to reflect on superstitions.]

I didn’t used to have superstitions. But then all of the Matts started showing up at TJM Promos, and now …. I wonder how long it will be before we are all Matt.

[Editor’s note: “The Matt Apocalypse”? “The Walking Matts”? Hmmm…]

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

My favorite candy is Smarties! Fun fact: Smarties in Canada/England/a good chunk of Europe is a small, chocolate candy that’s super similar to an M&M. When I found out they had a different name in Canada on my second trip to Toronto, I made sure to stop and get a giant bag of what they call Rockets! I still find Rockets wrappers in the backpack I took on that trip to this day.

My least favorite candy is any kind of licorice. Bleugh!!!

Costumes, Yes or No?

I haven’t dressed up in many years, and as a child-free teetotaler there aren’t a whole lot of festivities for grown-ups who don’t drink. So, even though it was my favorite holiday as a kid, (and I just love the dark aesthetic of it), I’ve sort of outgrown all of the things that I loved about it.

Stacy Holcomb

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

Candy corn is my least favorite Halloween candy. right next to black licorice, but I also dislike milk chocolate, so that eliminates a lot of candy options for me.

Costumes, Yes or No?

I’ve never been a big fan of Halloween and as an adult, I have not dressed up very often. However, this year, I plan to dress up as “Safety Stacy” with the Safety Patrol belt and all. This is a running joke in the office, and I plan on making Safety Stacy come to life this Halloween! I hope everyone at TJM Promos is ready for Safety Stacy’s arrival in a few weeks!

Halloween in general?

Halloween is not remotely a big deal to me. It’s my least favorite event of the year. I think it’s a big waste of money. I spend over $100 every year on my child to dress up for two hours and never touch her costume again. We also can not eat all the candy we get, so a lot of it goes to waste. So, for this reason, its just not my favorite.

Hope it’s not too negative but I hate Halloween. LOL.

Rick Cundiff

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

My favorite has to be dark chocolate anything. And I’m kinda fond of those Mary Janes that Matt F. so dislikes. Least favorite? Candy corn, hands down.

Costumes, yes or no?

Not so much. The last one I did was a door-to-door salesman. Standard dress shirt, dark pants, loafers, too-short tie, and carrying a vacuum cleaner.

Halloween in general?

I’m not really wild about it. I was terrified as a child by a flaming skull decoration a teacher hung up in school. Seriously, I had nightmares about that thing. I haven’t been fond of Halloween ever since. I am, however, a big fan of the half-price candy sales on November 1st (a.k.a., the day the department store Christmas decorations go up.)

Justin MacDonald 

Favorite or least favorite Halloween candy?

I have no favorite or least favorite, it seems silly to me to be picky about free candy.

Costumes, yes or no?

I do not particularly like dressing up. It is very much outside of my comfort zone. You would have never known that growing up because I always had VERY elaborate homemade costumes — Ali Baba and his magic carpet, Elvis, a WHOLE circus, a witch’s table that made the front page of the (Ocala) Star-Banner.

I would say my all-time favorite costume was my Shufflebot (robot head from LMFAO music videos) because my buddy and I went as a gold and a silver version. Every place we walked into started playing an LMFAO song. It was an overall good time.

Halloween in general?

I absolutely love the day of Halloween, but I dread everything leading up to it. I like the kid-friendly “spooky” vibes of Halloween but cannot stand all of the horror movie commercials that take over the airwaves and social feeds. I’m prone to nightmares, so October is full of nightmare fuel for me.