Here is Exactly How To Celebrate Summerween
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Table of Contents
What is Summerween
Summerween is the celebration of Halloween halfway through the year. The holiday and concept originated on the television show Gravity Falls, and the exact date is said to be June 22nd. Most people, however, have taken to celebrating Summerween throughout the summer.
The original reference to the new holiday says that the town that celebrates Summerween does so because they love Halloween so much that they celebrate it twice a year! If you’re anything like me, you heavily agree! Summerween is the creative fusion of Halloween and summer aesthetics!
Summerween is the perfect occasion to celebrate aspects of Halloween that don’t always work as well in the fall, due to things like the weather! Outdoor activities like movie nights and carnivals are much easier to pull off in the summer. Summerween is also the perfect occasion to create events with a more playful take on Halloween, like combining Halloween and pool parties! Skeleton in the pool, anyone?
How To Celebrate Summerween
One of the best parts about Summerween is that there are so many creative ways to celebrate it. You can create an event around certain themes, like slasher movies or just the general Halloween in the summer aesthetic!
Most people opt to combine their existing Halloween decorations with a few summery-themed decorations. A few well-placed Halloween motifs can be enough, or you can go all out! Most people use this time to be very creative with decor by combining elements in unexpected ways, like a floating coffin in a pool, a skeleton with sunglasses, or pumpkin beach balls!
The food is one of the key ways people show off their chosen theme! You can take typical summer foods like burgers and ice cream and add a Halloween flair. Or you can make drinks and treats in a Halloween color scheme. More specific recipe suggestions are below!
The best way to decide exactly what decor, food, and drinks to have is to decide the vibe of your Summerween celebration. If you want a more laid-back, nostalgic approach, more casual foods that remind you of your childhood will be fun. Going for a creepy vibe? Time to pull out the edible brains.
Summerween Themes
You can absolutely just go for a Halloween in the summer vibe, and it will work really well! Ultimately that’s Summerween! However, if you didn’t know, I love a theme! So here are a few themes that I think could work really well.
- 80s/90s Slashers
- Scary Summer Camp
- Slumber Party Ghost Stories
- Cozy Nostalgia
- Hotel Transylvania Summer Vacation
- Nightmare at the Fair
To demonstrate how I would select my food and decor accordingly, I outline two themes and what I would choose for each one!
Scary Summer Camp Summerween Theme
This theme is an homage to the classic killer at summer camp horror movies. Most of the fan favorites are set in the 80’s and 90’s so that’s what you want to emulate. Throwback vibes meet horror.
Invitation
For both of these themes I would do a vintage post card invite with two different vibes. For the scary summer camp, the invitation I designed mimics the postcard sent from camp as a warning from the killer!
You can grab this invite here in both single-page and two-page versions and create a completely customized version for yourself!
Decor
The decor for this party is going for anything that says nostalgia and summer camp. Think about swapping regular cups for camping mugs!
Don’t forget to place a creepy, wooden plank sign somewhere that points to various activities and key locations.
This is also the perfect theme to make a central bonfire to tell creepy stories around and strategically placed lanterns, perfect for grabbing and running for your life through the woods.
Activity
You can opt to make the bonfire the location for the activities and do campfire stories or set up a projector and screen for an outdoor slasher movie marathon!
My personal suggestion: make the party a murder mystery moment. Keep the party casual, but let everyone know that you’re looking for a killer amongst them. You can secretly make someone the killer and give them identifying stickers to try and stick onto others to “kill” them. The last person standing or the first to identify the killer wins a prize.
Some Iconic Slasher Movie Suggestions!
- I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Friday the 13th
- Lake Placid
- Jaws
- Final Girl
- Sleepaway Camp
- Camp Murder
- Halloween
Vamps on Vacay Summerween Theme
This theme leans into the contrast and mix of summer and Halloween aesthetics! This is all about fun takes on Halloween elements done in unexpected ways! Send all of your monsters on a well-deserved vacay by placing them in a tropical setting.
Invite
The postcard theme also works for this theme because of course your favorite monster would want to send a postcard from vacation, so that’s what I leaned into with this design!
You can grab this invite here in both single-page and two-page versions and create a completely customized version for yourself!
Decor
The decor for this party is all things tropical with mixes of kitschy Halloween and monster references. This theme is perfect for a pool party, especially if it transitions into night! Nothing says Halloween like a night of fun under the moon!
Place a skeleton on a float, or coffin float, in the pool along with some pumpkin inflatable balls. Add some fun tropical decorations, like a traditional summer party, to mix with the Halloween elements. A cute banner and Halloween candy bucket garlands are easy, creative additions!
A quick and easy DIY is drawing Jack-O’-Lantern faces on orange paper lanterns and hanging them around your space!
You can also have some fun with your food presentation, like putting vinyl Jack-O’-Lantern faces on your cups or creating watermelon Jack-O’-Lanterns or Jack-O’-Lanterns out of pineapples. I really like the idea of a watermelon Jason mask!
Activities
Activities for this party theme are nearly unlimited, I mean it’s vacation, anything goes, right? Anything that screams pool party and summertime would be ideal!
This theme is the perfect time to whip out a board game or a fun game that brings everyone together for a moment. I’d recommend something that is easy to play, that can be easily played with any number of people, and that gets people to show their personality. Even better if it’s on theme.
Something like Pick Your Poison works perfectly because it checks all of the boxes, and it comes in adult and family-friendly versions and has extension packs. It’s a version of the familiar “Would you rather…?” game, but it fits the theme!
Some More Fun Activities
- Carve watermelon Jack-O’-Lanterns
- Make Halloween Pizzas
- DIY Spooky Cocktails and Mocktail Bar
- Movie Night
Summer Vacay Movie Recs!
- Beetlejuice
- Monsterhouse
- Hotel Transylvania 3
- The Addams Family 2
Summerween Food
Food is essential to any party, and this party is the perfect time to break out the Halloween foods that you don’t fit the fall!
Mains
Easily add Halloween flair to your burgers with some cheese cutouts.
A few minutes of slicing and some well-placed ketchup turns a summer favorite into a spooky spectacle.
Snacks
If your thinking of having a movie night, top your popcorn with some slasher-friendly blood splatter that tastes better than it looks.
Snack boards are always welcome and easy to make fit the theme, craft a friendly pumpkin with some orange, yellow, dark blue, and black small bites.
Desserts
Before your party, grab a box of ice cream sandwiches and make a few small cuts to create some cute coffin ice cream sandwiches that are a perfect blend of summer and Halloween.
Can’t have summer without s’mores, so make them Halloween delights by adding in some dripping blood!
Drinks
This float tastes like summer, but the color screams Halloween. Top it off with some Halloween cocktail garnishes to sell the theme. Even better, this has a cocktail and mocktail version!
Bring a little horror to your soda shop with a delicious soda float and some fun Halloween flourishes.
Don’t forget the presentation! Grab easy-to-add elements like themed wax paper and black and white food baskets!
The best part is that this celebration can last all summer long! This gives you plenty of time to try out different themes and activities! You can easily scale these down for a low-key movie night or game night! You can even create a bucket list and try to get as many done before the summer ends!
If you want more Summerween inspiration, you can check out my Pinterest Board, I make one for every event I plan! If you’re in need of more Halloween content, check here!
