This year, the hype for October stood out more than ever. We anxiously waited for sweater weather, Pillsbury Pumpkin Shape Sugar Cookies and scary movies. Memes about Spooky Season™ started strong and early, but the new fad is “spooky baskets.”
New game take a shot every time you see “spooky szn” on Twitter
— Tarzan (@cole_wilson_) October 2, 2018
Spooky baskets have taken over almost everyone’s Twitter feed and Instagram explore page, so let’s discuss. Spooky baskets, which began this fall so that people could attempt to outdo each other with their love of Halloween, are simply gift baskets traded in relationships. As said in the name, they’re baskets of spooky (i.e. Halloween-themed) things.
One person puts together a Halloween basket full of their partner’s favorite things - ranging from Halloween-themed blankets to chocolate to makeup to weed - and the receiver obligingly posts it to their social media. In fact, many threads on Twitter and Instagram are dedicated to solely posting pictures of these baskets. Simply put, spooky baskets are a way of Valentine-ing Halloween. The social media takeover begs the question, are spooky baskets showcases of love or really just ways to flex?
Halloween - before the Millennials ruined it - used to be a time when dangerous clowns roamed the streets and people would watch scary movies without sexualizing the demon. The holiday was meant to be spooky, not romantic. Halloween was a time for rejoicing the odd adrenaline rush of fear and for ignoring hauntings caused by children playing with Ouija boards. Social media takeovers would be filled with couple costumes and the new 31 Nights of Halloween on Freeform (expanded from 13 nights).
me: good morni-
— goth turtle (@dubstep4dads) October 1, 2018
girl now that its october: fuck me 🦇🍂 in a spooky graveyard ⚰️🧡 its almost halloween bitch 😈👻 lemme get that spooky dick 👀👅
By adding romance to October, we have revoked the right to call it spooky szn.
Now, YouTubers post videos titled “HOW TO MAKE YOUR GIRL THE PERFECT SPOOKY BASKET.” You can find similar how-to’s on Instagram self-care pages or the Twitter account “SPOOKY BASKETS.” The most common items among the variety of spooky baskets are socks, candy, candles, blankets, beauty products, movies, letters, handmade items, drinks and snacks. Some people have even proposed through these!
guys.... i got my spooky basket AND a BEAUTIFUL ring from my soon to be hubby😩💍❤️ pic.twitter.com/6y3Cd3Hs9h
— Liana🎃 (@2896liana) October 24, 2018
WHAT TO PUT IN YOUR GIRLS SPOOKY BASKET: A THREAD pic.twitter.com/GACQpXb0zM
— SPOOKY BASKETS 🎃👻🦇 (@SpookyBasket) October 13, 2018
While the concept really is adorable, many of these baskets take extravagant to a new level. Economically, these showcases of love have made Halloween more of a blatantly capitalistic holiday than it already is. Some spooky baskets cost upwards of $200 (as calculated by adding up the prices of the various items), and probably have a baseline of $40. Spooky baskets haven’t ruined the Halloween spirit, but we need to skip the romanticism and get back to the spooky side of Halloween. Celebrate the holiday for what it is and get your freak on.