Halloween has always been my favorite holiday of the year! There is a thrill that comes along with watching a scary movie or walking through a haunted house knowing that nothing will truly harm you. There is just something magical and mysterious about the crisp air, the falling leaves and the spooky decorations that adorn porches and doorways throughout neighborhoods. Some of my fondest childhood memories were of Halloween!! Although it doesn’t look like it in the picture below, I loved to dress up, carve pumpkins and trick or treat.

When conducting research on the origin of Halloween, I came across the following fun facts and had to share them:

The holiday goes back more than 2,000 years.
Halloween all started as a pre-Christian Celtic festival called Samhain (which means “summer’s end”) held around the first of November. It celebrated the final day of the harvest and the crossing of spirits over into the other world. People in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France would ward off ghosts by lighting sacrificial bonfires, and, you guessed it, wearing costumes, according to History.com.

Trick-or-treating has existed since medieval times.
Back then, it was known as “guising” in Scotland and Ireland. Young people dressed up in costumes and asked for food or money in exchange for songs, poems, or other “tricks.” Today, the tradition has morphed into children getting dressed up and asking for candy.

The fastest pumpkin carving lasted 16.47 seconds.
Stephen Clarke holds the honor. The jack-o’-lantern had to contain a complete face, including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Skittles are the top Halloween candy.
The bite-sized candies outranked M&M’s, Snickers, and Reese’s Cups, according to 11 years of sales data from CandyStore.com. And even though candy corn also made the top 10, the tricolored treats also ranked among the worst Halloween candies, according to a CandyStore.com survey.

This year will be the first Halloween in 19 years to have a full moon.
Full moons on Halloween are rare. The last time there was a full moon on October 31, it was 2001 — and before that it was 1955. The next one won’t occur until 2039. In fact, the 21st century will only see six full moons on October 31: 2001, 2020, 2039, 2058, 2077 and 2096.

Halloween is the one time of year that you can escape back to your childhood! This year, we will embrace these last seasons of 2020 before we eagerly bid them goodbye and transition into 2021! As you make your final preparations for Halloween this year, stop by a Planet Beach near you to enjoy many of the automated spa services. I promise, it will be all treats and no tricks!!

Happy Halloween from your Planet Beach Family!

Source: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/halloween-ideas/a35150/halloween-facts/

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Written By: Jodie Mateu, VP of Special Events & Productivity