Creepin' It Real: The JCI Team's Funniest Halloween Stories

As we've established, JCI isn't like a regular workplace, we're the cool workplace. 😎 This year, we reminisce on the funniest moments of Halloween's past. Read on to see some of our funniest Halloween stories!

Funniest Halloween story: When I was in 8th grade (circa 2003) – VH1’s “I Love the 80’s” was an incredibly popular show and 80s nostalgia was significantly higher than it ever needed to be. My best friend and I decided to go as...the 1980s for Halloween. We painted Rubik’s cubes on black t-shirts with puffy fabric paint and wore blue eyeshadow. Our approach to Halloween that year was low effort, mediocre execution, and laissez-faire attitudes that mirrored that of 1980s economic policies. The worst part about this Halloween was that while we were out Trick or Treating, a cold front blew through Houston. In a matter of minutes, the temperature dropped nearly 30 degrees and our handmade costumes were no match for the cold and wind. Most houses wouldn’t even open their doors to give us candy.

Funniest Halloween story: When I was in middle school I was trick-or-treating with my friends and this one house went all out and made a “haunted house” in their driveway. It didn’t look all that scary and my friends forced me to go in. I’m a huge baby (still am) and go through it shaking because I’m so scared. Someone ended up jumping out at me in a scary mask and costume and I started sobbing and literally fell to the floor. The owners of the house turned all the lights on and asked someone to get my mom. Looking back it was very embarrassing.

Funniest Halloween story: When I was in elementary school we used to have the Halloween parade every year, which just consisted of each grade taking turns parading in circles around the playground and showing off their Halloween costumes to the rest of the school. In second grade I dressed up as a witch and even took a broom to “fly” on as I paraded with my class. As we were walking around in circles, a few times I heard the girl behind me saying “ow”. It wasn’t until much much later when I realized I was actually hitting her with my broom! I think back on it now and still feel so bad, but laugh at how I didn’t realize my broom kept getting in the way.

Funniest Halloween story: When our family moved into a new neighborhood, we were so excited to go trick-or-treating. Arriving on the doorstep of a lovely traditional house we knocked on our neighbor’s door and a man grinning from ear to ear answered with three boys peering over his shoulder in the doorway. “What a nice family you have,” I said. Later, those three boys came to our house in costume. For the following two years we visited each other’s doors again on Halloween. The third year, we realized they looked awfully familiar, even disguised in costumes. Where have we heard those voices before? Then we realized, those three boys were not our neighbors; they were Malcolm, Reese, and Dewey, from the TV sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, and our neighbor was Bryan Cranston! Good times, good times.

Funniest Halloween story: When I was seven, I remember having the “worst” Halloween ever. I was excited to go trick-or-treating with my family. We weren’t particularly good at preparing for Halloween early so I remember arriving at Walmart’s costume aisle the day we remembered we needed to secure some costumes. The aisles were EMPTY. The only three costumes left were some obscure boy costumes I knew no one would recognize.

I remember throwing a tantrum saying we needed to go somewhere else to find more costumes. My dad, not putting up with my ungratefulness, demanded I either pick a costume then or no costume at all. We ended up walking out empty-handed.

The next day my mom came back with two Ninja Turtle costumes for my brother and me. I hated Ninja Turtles and told her I wasn’t a boy. But my parents said it was either that or no trick-or-treating for us that year. I wore the stupid costume and cried the whole night as we went door-to-door asking for candy. Such a tragedy for seven-year-old me.

Funniest Halloween story: In middle school, my family and I went to Disney to do a haunted house tour. We didn’t know at the time that it was one of those Horror Night events where people jump out at you as you walk down a dark hallway. The first one was terrifying, but what was worse was that we still had a bunch more houses in our tour. I was able to put on my brave face through the first house, and I kind of got away seeming cool in the second, but by the third house I started crying in the middle of the haunted elevator. One of the zombies felt so bad he tried to comfort me, but he just ended up scaring me more. The zombies guided me out through an escape route and I never looked back. Never again.

Funniest Halloween story: Last weekend, I went to Halloween Horror Night at Universal Studios with some friends. From the moment we walked in, people in costumes tried scaring us with fake chainsaws and blood. My friend was so scared, she pulled me in front of her to protect herself, but I accidentally tripped and fell directly onto the man in the costume causing him to lose his chainsaw. I stayed far away from her for the rest of the night.

Funniest Halloween story: As an only child I would always partner with close friends to trick or treat in our neighborhood. We would all dress up and start the trek from house to house to house. My biggest find was a wealthy family that gave each young person a $5 dollar bill to spend on the candy of their choice. Keep in mind, $5 was a lot of money in my era. The next best was a family that gave out large chocolate bars; I was one of the last kids in the line and the family dumped the remaining cache of large chocolate bars into my bag – needless to say – there was a long term sugar high on my end.

Funniest Halloween story: For many years, when my kids were little, as with many (most?) parents, I would “borrow” my favorite candies out of their Halloween bags – taken either during Trick or Treating while I distracted them with pretty decorations or later when they passed out early from all the excitement. Either way, always a win win for me – lots of good candy and fewer sugar sprees for my kids. :)