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If you’re especially sensitive to Halloween’s siren song like me, you know Spooky Season never starts early enough. This year, I’m turning the 31 nights of Halloween into 61. Want to join in on my fangtastic fun? Grab your ghoulish gals and paranormal pals and dive into these 13 alluring activities.

Curating My Annual Horror To-Watch List

When September finally hits, my first order of business is getting a head start on my annual horror to-watch list. The list looks a little different every year, from new documentaries that have just dropped to classic slashers I ³¦²¹²Ô’t get enough of.

With only 31 days to pack as many screenings in as possible, I find that getting the jump on my final, frightful watch list before October starts is the way to go.

Related: 50 Horror Movie Trivia Questions That Are Frighteningly Difficult

Listening to My Halloween-Themed Playlist

I’ve been curating a Halloween-themed music playlist for years. It’s chock full of unforgettable horror themes — like Bernard Herrmann’s The Murder from Psycho, which never fails to give me a heart attack when it screeches on — baroque compositions, and modern scores the likes of which go unheralded.

Whenever I need to get into the Halloween mood, I just pop that playlist on shuffle and let it take my soul on a sinister ride.

Breaking Out My Seasonal Wardrobe

I’m a sucker for horror-themed clothing, whether it’s a mesh A Nightmare on Elm Street top with my favorite Freddy sayings plastered across the sleeves or a pair of comfy shorts with Linda Blair’s possessed face screen printed on it.

While I’m happy to add a little fright to my fashion sense year-round, everything gets tossed into rotation once September 1^st finally dawns.

Crossing Something Off My Horror & Thriller Book Rec List

I’ve made peace with the fact that I don’t have the same tolerance for reading that I did as a teen. It’s a major accomplishment for me to make it through a handful of books by the end of the year. Yet, I always reserve the fall for knocking at least one horror or thriller off my to-read list. And with my inconsistent reading schedule, it’s always better to get a head start.

Last year was William March’s The Bad Seed. This year? Possibly something by Riley Sager or Stephen Graham Jones. I’m still open to divine (or not-so-divine in this case) intervention.

Thrifting New Halloween Decorations

I’m a thrifter through and through, and spending a few hours browsing the shelves for scary knock-offs or decorations that can be repurposed into something Halloween-ready with a fresh coat of paint is the perfect way to spend the first weekend of September.

Given that my October is usually full of haunted houses and movie marathons, there’s not much time left for hunting down decorations. So, collecting this year’s decorations has turned into a September tradition of sorts.

¸é±ð±ô²¹³Ù±ð»å:ÌýDollar Tree Decor: How I Got Seasonal Style on a Budget

Lighting Up My Taper Candles at Night

Despite my intense fear of house fires (I’m sure two of my great-grandparents dying in one well before I was born has a smidgeon to do with it), I love winding down a fall evening with taper candles flickering nearby.

While I’ve stockpiled enough candles to last me well through the next few years, picking out the first candle of the season to light up always sends a little thrill of excitement up my spine. If the candles are coming out, it means Halloween’s right around the corner.

Kitting Up a Few Halloween Crafts

Any crafter knows that half of the struggle with starting a new project is getting everything ready to go. Halloween-themed crafts are some of my favorites of the year, but I’ve learned over time that if I push off putting the materials together until October, I’ll never get around to actually working on them.

So, finding the right color yarn or picking up the Halloween edition of a cross-stitch magazine is a September must for me.

Painting Pumpkins in My Spare Time

Being super sensitive to textures has plagued me my whole life, and it’s never been more of a buzz kill than during Spooky Season. If there’s one undeniable fact about me, it’s that I ³¦²¹²Ô’t carve pumpkins.

Not for lack of trying, mind you. I never felt a nauseating fear like the kind I swallowed down when we carved pumpkins as a 3^rd grade class activity. After many failed future attempts, I’ve settled on the fact that it’s just not in the cards for me.

But why despair when there’s a perfectly good pair of paintbrushes right there? So, a little pumpkin painting is a great (safe) way to get in on some Spooky Season action.

Heading to Halloween Stores as Soon as They Open

Halloween stores coming to town is like my version of the Southern Christmas Show starting up. I almost always have more fun just browsing than I do actually buying anything. There’s something poetic about the long-abandoned stores around town being haunted by corporate ghosts and vanishing into thin air after November 1^st rolls around.

What can I say? Halloween stores have their own siren song, and who am I to resist its call the minute it makes its way to my ears?

Planning My Halloween Dinner Menu

Although I spend most of Halloween shoving handfuls of popcorn in my mouth, I always reserve a little time for making frightful finger foods. We’re talking graveyard cupcakes and spiderweb pizzas.

Because I prefer to do as little planning in October as possible, I work up a final menu by September’s end. That way, Halloween is all about munching and movies.

Starting to Stockpile Halloween Candy

Candy is the bedrock of our childhood Halloween celebrations, and my fondness for it has never faded. Something about those Reese’s pumpkins and skull and bone Sweet-Tarts just hit differently this time of the year.

If a Halloween playlist puts my soul in the spooky mood, then a taste of Halloween’s sugary sweets turns my guts into the perfect ghoulish goo.

Related: Cosmic Treats: The Zodiac Signs as Halloween Candies

Grabbing a Few Seasonal Goodies

Halloween candy isn’t the only seasonal goodie you need to snatch up in September, like orange Oreos, Little Debbie pumpkin cakes, and pumpkin spice…everything (if that’s your thing). I’ve made the sordid mistake of passing up on the early seasonal selections until closer to the actual holiday, only for them to sell out by then.

Sure, mistakes were made. But I’ve learned my lesson the hard way, and that means I start shopping for seasonal goodies as soon as September hits.

Scheduling Any October Events

Much like many of the other activities on this list, this final one is dedicated to planning the perfect October schedule. There are new adventures to take advantage of every year, and I don’t want to miss out on the ones that perfectly align with my interests.

What does that mean? Exactly what you think. Spending many an hour trudging through city event pages to see which events are on the horizon and adding the best to my calendar.

Remember, Spooky Season Is There for the Taking

The only right way to celebrate Spooky Season is your way. For me, that’s cramming as many activities into September and October as possible. For you? It's whatever gets your goosebumps going.