Chris Riddle, the official Halloween transponder for American Greetings, a major national manufacturer of Halloween party supplies and cards, has earned himself the nickname of “Mr. Halloween.” He has been a featured guest on HGTV, Fox News, and his Halloween Trend Observations, has been quoted in Time, USA Today, and The New York Times. We sat down with Chris to learn more about his cool job, his Halloween tattoos, and some of his favorite holiday memories.
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Jason: Tell us a little bit about your job, what you do, and how you got to be known as Mr. Halloween.
Chris: Well, Mr. Halloween has followed me since my childhood. Being an artist I was always drawing, and it just so happened – this is a funny story – that way back, I want to say fourth, fifth, sixth grade, all the way through high school, they always had contests in Ohio where you would actually paint the outside of a business in any given city.
And so we’d start school and I was always sketching Halloween pumpkins and witches and all that. From fourth grade all the way through my senior year I won the contests for the school, and I was always out there painting Halloween stuff.
But I also have to thank my mom because she loved Halloween. Looking back on all the pictures that I have of the family, she was always the one that was most in-costume, with the biggest smile, encouraging us to carve pumpkins and make our own costumes at Halloween.
So, as you see all the time on TV with athletes, I’ve got to thank my mom. You know, it’s one of those things where it was real important. So that kind of followed me then when I started my career at American Greetings. Everyone found out that I was actually collecting Halloween antiques and that I had quite a history of that, and I have a couple tattoos that are Halloween tattoos.
It’s kind of weird. I like to play the scary one, so it’s been that way for a long time. In a sense, even though I started as an illustrator on the board at American Greetings and kind of worked myself up to an art director and all that, because I have such a love for the holiday and such an interest, they said, “Well, why don’t you help every year with trends? Think in terms of a year out, where we want to be in the way of color and subject matter. Work with as many of the staff as you need to to come up with new ideas based on a proven subject matter.”
So it was just the matter of then going out – it really starts about the end of August – and looking at a lot of different aspects. Mostly women’s fashion, because 95 percent of our products are bought by women. So you’re kind of looking at color.
We also have some color organizations in New York City that we are members of. We fly out to New York and look at the colors a couple years out at that point. But then you’re just projecting where you want to be the following year. I have a group of artists that do that, and it’s just wonderful to work with such creative people, but to also do something that is a part of your passion as well.
Jason: That’s cool. So what tattoos do you have?
Chris: Well it’s interesting. I also collect original turn of the century Wizard of Oz books, because I love The Wizard of Oz. In the actual second book, I think it was, Jack was a highly respected member of Oz, and so the tattoo I have on my leg actually has the pumpkin head of Jack and the symbol of Oz.
On my back I have a frowning and a smiling pumpkin.
And then I have the the pumpkin patch. The weeds and all the vines go down to other areas on my back. It’s something I’ve had for a while. But when you have a passion you don’t mind doing that kind of crazy stuff.
Well, my wife wasn’t happy, but hey, that’s just the way it is.
Kim: Oh, that’s so cool. Tell us a little bit about your antiques and memorabilia. How did that all begin and what’s your favorite item that you have?
Chris: Yes, it’s interesting. My parents passed away young and I inherited a lot of boxes. I found so much of my mom’s stuff that she had collected from the ‘40s and kept. I said, “Boy, now I know why she so loved Halloween as a family-oriented holiday.”
In my early 20s when my wife and I would travel around the United States, one of the first places I’d want to go visit would be the nearest antique store. Even though we might be at Mt. Rushmore or we might be in L.A., I was going through the Yellow Pages looking for antique stores. It just started clicking that way and it’s been probably well over close to 30 years that I’ve been collecting Halloween antiques, way before they got too expensive for people to do it.
So it’s just something I have up all year-round. I have display cases in all parts of the house, and I also have little sneaks of Halloween in the kitchen and the dining room and the bedrooms. When people visit, every part of the house is a little bit special about Halloween.
And from my standpoint, Halloween antiques especially are a little bit about the loving spirit of those people that actually kept that pristine Halloween antique over the decades. I end up getting something in my possession, and it brings me such joy because I know the love that that person had for the holiday has now entered my house and my collection. So it’s really special.
Jason: Do you have a favorite item in your collection?
Chris: Well, you know, I love my Halloween postcards and greeting cards, because that’s where it gets kind of personal. People are talking about the time of year and the harvest and missing the family, and “I can’t wait to see you during Christmas,” you know, things like that.
It’s interesting because the addresses are not like you have a long numeral address. It’s like 12 Central Street. I mean, that’s all it is, and even when they say “Give me a call,” the telephone number’s like three digits.
Kim: Wow.
Chris: Way back in the ‘20s and ‘30s, that’s all it was. So that kind of thing is very endearing to me because it was special enough that someone kept that close to their heart, and now I have it as part of my collection, so it’s wonderful.
Jason: So, as a trends person, how have you seen Halloween change over the years?
Chris: You know, I think it changes, but it changes fashion-wise, it changes in color. But I have to believe that everyone goes back a little bit to their childhood when they think in terms of Halloween. Of course, it’s like that as Christmastime as well. I think when you talk about Halloween to people and they bring up their memories about Halloween, they smile.
I think it’s a little bit about the fact that they remember when they were children and running around the neighborhood and getting candy. And going to school in costume and having a great time, and also the memories with their family at that time.
So when I talk in terms of what’s happening in the way of product, it’s a little bit of looking back, but looking back with an eye towards where color is going to be a year from now, or where styled art is going to be.
But yet, the subject matter and the warmth in the copy is always going to be there, and maybe a little bit from where you’ve come from. And in terms of what decade you grew up in. And then how can we put that into our product? So it’s a little about looking forward and looking back at the same time.
Jason: And it seems like adults really are taking Halloween back.
Chris: Yes, they really have. I mean, next to New Year’s Eve parties and Super Bowl Sunday, Halloween is the third largest celebration that adults involve themselves in. It’s become a $5 billion industry. You can just go through suburbia and people are decking out the outside of their homes with the lights and spider webs and all kinds of wonderful things.
And I think it’s just a wonderful release for people at this time of year with the pressure they have at work and all of that. They just kind of go back and say, “You know what? I remember how this used to be. And as an adult, and maybe part of a wonderful family, I’m going to continue to celebrate this.” So I think it’s just a wonderful time of year.
Kim: What was Halloween like for you as a kid? Obviously you say it was really great and you have some awesome memories. What do you remember the most?
Chris: Well, you know, it always started probably a week before when my mom and dad would get one of the largest pumpkins there were. All of us kids would carve pumpkins that we knew were going to be put out on the front porch. And of course you would have to make the yearly scarecrow in the front yard.
My mom would bake apple pies and things like that, so you’d have that smell in the house. And of course, it’s all about the smell outside, because with the turning leaves and the way that the light and the sun changes outside as well, it creates warm shadows at this time of year.
You can tell I’m excited just to be talking about it, but it’s what you see visually and the smells and everything else I think that gets you going. Then all of a sudden it’s a couple days before Halloween, and of course time has changed, so there’s no light out at 6:00.
You know, it’s the anticipation of going out and just running yourself ragged trick-or-treating with your friends. It’s just wonderful memories.
Then as you get older, instead of watching, going to the movies of course. And I remember as a child going to horror movies – they were black and white at that time – and being scared to death. And now of course it’s all DVDs and cable television but it’s just a wonderful time of year.
Jason: So what about these days? What do you do for Halloween? What’s your favorite Halloween activity now?
Chris: Yes, I have to say I’m running around now as an adult. I mean, there are probably three or four different neighborhoods that I need to go to, and I only have two-and-a-half hours.
And I have my video camera, my normal camera. My wife is with me, we’re running around, I’m trying to photograph families. I’m photographing the way people have decorated the outside of their homes. I’m invited inside homes now because people know I’m coming every year, so they need me to come in and they take pictures with me and their family.
Kim: It’s Mr. Halloween!
Chris: Yes. It’s kind of fun. But for me it’s always about going out on trick-or-treat night and just hearing the laughter of the children and the wind blowing through the trees. And hopefully it’s going to be a night where it’s cloudless and there’s a moon out casting a wonderful shadow on everything. Oh my God, it’s wonderful. I can’t wait!
Kim: It’s coming soon!
Chris: Yes, it’s coming soon.
Kim: Well, we always end our interviews with a question that gets you thinking back to childhood.
Jason: Which is not too hard for you at this time of year.
Chris: No, it’s not.
Kim: This is a very easy one, but what was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?
Chris: Well, there was a time in my life when I was a teenager where I’d get pretty decked out. And I think one time I was a werewolf, and I spent hours and hours and hours on it. This was before I really bought rubber masks and things like that.
I made myself up really, really good. I would actually be on all fours a lot and then come up to the door and I’d be on my haunches. But I was so good that I’d scare everybody away.
So I just had to go in the house at that point because my mom and dad were going, “You know, no one wants to come to our house this year.” And so I ended up having to go out because they didn’t want me around. But from my standpoint, I created such a buzz in the neighborhood and everybody wanted me to go up to their house.
Kim: It must have been pretty convincing if people were so scared of it, Chris.
Chris: Oh, I know, but it’s all about the trick and the treat. People don’t remember that, I would always tell kids when they used to come to the house, “So, what kind of trick do you know, because it’s trick-or-treat? Do you know why you’re saying trick-or-treat?” and all that. There’s a little bit of that history that a lot of kids don’t know.
Jason: So, tell us about that. What was the original concept behind Halloween?
Chris: Well, boy, Halloween goes back so far, but I would have to say it started way back in New England, way back in I want to say the 1860s. There were farms back then and people had a lot more parties in those days. You’d go to a barn party and you’d have to entertain in order to get anything, whether it be the food or it was part of the harvest festival. So people put on skits, and actually had to do things. They just couldn’t come. You had to come with something in the way of an entertainment.
So it’s a little bit about the “trick” in treat-or-treat and you’d get a treat. In New England, they kind of said to people, “Well, is it a joke? Do you have to come in and say something? Something to make them laugh? What kind of trick?” You’re doing something magical or something when you ask for a trick-or-treat, and you have to do something in order to get a treat. So it kind of goes back to that, and I don’t know if people even know that these days. But it’s so funny to hear kids going “trick or treat.” They usually don’t want to do it anymore.
Jason: It’s all about the magic words. I guess kids will do whatever they can do to get candy!
Chris: Absolutely, yes.
In this episode of the Escape Adulthood Show, brought to you from studio 315 in Madison, Wisconsin, we talk about adults who are ruining Halloween, how the economy is affecting things, and a restaurant that is serving snake on its holiday menu. We also read some fun and funny Halloween memories submitted by Club K&J members. Just click “Play” to listen to the show, or you can subscribe to the show with iTunes…
Show Notes…
• Snake on Menu for Halloween (The Sun)
• Halloween Sales Reportedly Up (CBS59.com)
• Let Kids Enjoy Halloween (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
• Halloween is Best Left to the Kids (TulsaWorld.com)
• Cool Thing: BBQ Sword
• Show Music: Coyote Sleeps by Ethan Elkind
• Show Length: 38 minutes, 32 seconds
• Shout Outs: A big thank you to everyone who shared their Halloween memories!
• Feedback: Do you think adults are ruining Halloween? Would you eat a snake? What’s your favorte Halloween candy? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Add a comment below, e-mail us, or give us a jingle via the exclusive Club K&J Hotline at 608-554-0803.
In this episode of the Escape Adulthood Show, brought to you from studio 315 in Madison, Wisconsin, we interview Toby Sells, who runs his own creature makeup effects shop and makes creatures and gore effects for film and television. We also talk about the World Series, baby showers, and embarrassing teenagers. Just click “Play” to listen to the show, or you can subscribe to the show with iTunes…
Show Notes…
• Check out some of Toby’s gruesome creations on his MySpace page.
• Visit dicksmithmake-up.com to learn more about Dick Smith’s work (he’s the guy responsible for the make-up done on the Exorcist) and get info on his highly recommended make-up course.
• Cool Thing: 500 XL Earbud Speakers
• Show Music: Coyote Sleeps by Ethan Elkind
• Show Length: 51 minutes, 24 seconds
• Shout Outs: A big welcome to all the new members from Milwaukee, WI, Pulaski, WI, and Lifeline Wisconsin.
• Feedback: What’s your favorite scary movie? What did you think of our interview with Toby? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Add a comment below, e-mail us, or give us a jingle via the exclusive Club K&J Hotline at 608-554-0803.
Halloween is the time of year when kids and adults alike exercise their creativity and imagination, often in the form of being gross, creepy, and scary. If this isn’t a childlike holiday, we don’t know what is! It’s no surprise that Halloween has become the favorite holiday of many adults. Hey, no gifts to wrap, cards to send, or birds to cook. It’s simply about having fun. Now you may be a bit too tall for trick-or-treating, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat healthy (boring) grown-up food at your Halloween party. Have some fun getting creative with your menu. From Boogers on a Stick to Kitty Litter Cake, we’ll get you started with 9 gross and gruesome ideas that are guaranteed to get your guests having a good time!
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This episode offers a tip on how to get into the Halloween spirit AND banish any Adultitis that may be lurking in your life (or in the lives of your loved ones!) It will teach you a new skill, strengthen a relationship with someone you care about (or a complete stranger), and it costs nothing — except for a piece of paper. Sweet.
iPod Version (23.8 MB) | Subscribe with iTunes
When you were little, were you ever afraid of the dark? I sure was. From horns and hair to scabs and skeletons, thinking about what lurked among the shadows was an all-you-can-eat buffet for my imagination.
In fact, I may not have made it through childhood without that humble but powerful life-saving device known as the night light. Although small in size and wattage, it did a remarkable job of keeping the creepy-crawlies at bay. Without it, I’m sure I’d have long been digested in the belly of a slimy beast from the netherworld known as “Underthebed.”
Many lives have been saved by the simple night light. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been needed if we only believed the advice from our parents: that there really aren’t any monsters under the bed; they’re only in our imagination.
But alas, parents are never very convincing.
Perhaps that is because grown-ups also deal with monsters. They just live in a different place. You see, as we get older and grow up, the monsters take up a different residence. They move out from under our beds, and move up into our…heads.
Think I’m nuts?
How many times have you laid awake at night, worried, scared, or anxious about any number of things? This stuff keeps us up, and it can wreak some terrifying results.
But our parents were on to something when they tucked us into bed and tried to calm our fears about the monsters. You know, the part where they told us that the monsters only exist within our imagination.
That’s the key word to keep in mind: imagination.
Think back to when you were five-years-old. Maybe you had a window in your bedroom. And maybe just outside that window was a tree. By day, that tree looked like an ordinary tree. Harmless. Almost friendly, even.
But at night, that tree cast some weird shadows into your room. Right before your eyes, it somehow transformed into an enormous, ravenous T-Rex, with dagger teeth and jagged claws, ever-reaching in your direction. Ominously, it eyed you, tucked into your sheets and blankets looking a lot like a ravioli-shaped midnight snack.
And yet, looking back with the advantage of years and wisdom, it’s obvious that there really wasn’t a T-Rex lurking just outside your bedroom window. It was just that tree, casting shadows that our imagination ran wild with, concocting spine-chilling possibilities that we couldn’t help but believe. It all seemed so convincing.
Our imaginations are pretty good at what they do.
Here’s the thing. As adults, no matter how creative we think we are (are aren’t), our imaginations don’t shut off. The stuff that keeps you up at night now is still largely the product of a very overactive imagination.
That’s not true, I hear you saying. The stuff I’m worried about is real-world stuff. Things like my job and my mortgage and my kids.
Ok, I hear you. But now hear this: Most of the stuff we worry about never happens.
I’ll say it again. Most of the stuff we worry about never happens.
Think back over the last year and call to mind all of the things you spent time worrying about. I’ll bet you that most of the stuff didn’t amount to anything at all. And the few things that did come to pass were nowhere near as frightening as your imagination led you to believe.
Just as it did with the ominous shadows slithering across our bedroom floors, our imagination takes kernels of doubt and the vast unknown and concocts it into a possible future outcome. An outcome that more times than not gives us the heebie-jeebies.
It is an interesting trait of human nature that when it comes to imagination and our future, we automatically go more toward the negative than the positive. Think about it. You hear rumors about possible layoffs at work. Do you naturally assume that your job will be unaffected and begin expecting a promotion? Or does your train of thought lead to a scenario that has you being the first one cut, resulting in you being unable to pay your mortgage, having your house foreclosed, and living under a bridge eating Spam out of a can?
The negative outcome tends to be where our imagination spends its time, and it’s the one that keeps us up at night. So what’s a person supposed to do about this?
Here’s what I am proposing. First, let us acknowledge the stuff that contributes to our uncertainty and anxiousness is largely attributable to our imagination. Once we can accept that, then let us put our imagination to work for us, instead of against us.
If you are wracked with fear over a particular issue, be it relatively large or small, begin by letting your imagination do what it wants to do anyway: go negative. That’s right, pull out a sheet of paper and write down the absolute worst possible outcome you can imagine. This should come quite easily, as it is the thing that’s been stealing your peace of mind for so long. Don’t leave out any gory details, including instantaneous death by embarrassment or a new career as a bum or bag lady.
Now, once you are scared senseless and ready to pee your pants, take out another sheet of paper and write down the best possible outcome you can dream up. It may take a while for your imagination to kick into high gear, but when it does, reach for the sky. We’re talking fantasy land, pie in the sky, Hollywood-couldn’t-write-it-because-it’s-too-unbelievable type of stuff. Have fun with it.
Okay, now that you’ve balanced things out a bit, take out a third (and final) sheet of paper and write down what you imagine to be the likely outcome to your particular scenario. This will probably fall somewhere in between the first two outcomes. It might be a bit uncomfortable or unpleasant, but it will be nowhere near as terrifying as you first suspected. Take comfort in the knowledge that God never gives us any more than we can handle.
This activity is a simple one, but if you give it a shot, it won’t be long before a sense of peace starts to descend upon you. Writing out the scary stuff that’s in your head is like shining a light on the situation. It clarifies the facts – that tree really is just a tree – and helps us to see just how ridiculous our initial assessment of the situation really was.
A T-Rex?! Phfffft. Those went extinct a million years ago!
The monsters that terrorized you years ago have much in common with the ones that kept you up last night. Our imagination is a powerful tool, and with a little guidance, it can serve as a helpful night light that guides us to a present peace and a future that is better than we ever expected. Sweet dreams!
In this episode of the Escape Adulthood Show, brought to you from studio 315 in Madison, Wisconsin, we talk about llamas (again), the hidden danger of sour candy, our latest trip to Boston, and share 6 easy but awesome Halloween costume ideas. Just click “Play” to listen to the show, or you can subscribe to the show with iTunes…
Show Notes…
• Halloween Horror: California Dental Hygienists Issue Warning About the Dangers of Sour Candy (MarketWatch.com)
• Check out these sites for more cool homemade costume ideas: costumeideazone.com and www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com
• Me and My Llama: Here it is…the nostalgic and possibly disturbing video Kim remembered from Sesame Street.
• Cool Thing: Candy Corn Soapsicle
• Show Music: Coyote Sleeps by Ethan Elkind
• Show Length: 28 minutes, 24 seconds
• Shout Outs: A big welcome to all the new members from Greeley, CO, Jamestown, ND, and Belchertown, MA
• Feedback: What do you think about the terrors of sour candy? Do you have any fun homemade Halloween costume ideas? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Add a comment below, e-mail us, or give us a jingle via the exclusive Club K&J Hotline at 608-554-0803.
