MONSTER DAD: Halloween Oreos, 2018 Edition!

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Halloween Oreos, 2018 Edition!

Nabisco Halloween Oreos have become a bit of an annual tradition in our house--at least for the Little Monsters and myself anyway. They've actually been written about here before in the post The Overwhelming Onslaught of Oreos in October of 2015. In that one I chronicled the fact that Oreos have become one of the most varied snack foods of all time, with all kinds of new and limited-edition flavors being introduced on a regular basis. But that post also shared my experience of trying to find some Halloween Oreos that fall. We generally don't eat a lot of junk food in our household (mostly due to The Wife's odd insistence that we all try to lead as healthy a life as possible). Due to that fact, it's pretty rare to find snack foods like Oreo cookies in our cupboards. That's probably the biggest reason that Halloween Oreos have become the tradition that they have for us (or at least for me and the Little Monsters). The fact that we simply don't get a chance to eat stuff like that very often means that when we DO get a chance it's kind of like a special event. And it's probably worth mentioning that there is one other element to our little annual tradition beyond the Oreo cookies themselves. We'll get to that after a little more background.

I'm not sure exactly when I first decided to pick up a package of Halloween Oreos (or when I first realized that there was even such a thing as a special Halloween edition of Oreos for that matter). But the tradition goes back at least to 2013. I know that because I have some photos of the Little Monsters enjoying the special edition snacks.

The 2013 edition of the Little Monsters with the 2013 edition of Halloween Oreos

As far as I can remember we've gotten a package of them each year ever since (and probably earlier too, I just don't have photographic proof). The next that time I'm sure we had them was 2015. That was the year of the post mentioned above about the Overwhelming Onslaught of Oreos. That post covered both the amazing array of Oreo products available and the celebration that ensued once I was able to track down that year's special Oreos.

And suddenly three more years have passed by since that blog! I have not only been quite lax about writing blog posts over the past few years in general, I've also not done a very good job of chronicling our Halloween Oreo adventures during that time. But I'm very happy to report that back around the end of September I was able to snag a package of the 2018 Halloween Oreos when I saw them at the local grocery store. They were tucked safely away in the kitchen and nearly forgotten about until just recently when I finally broke them out and the Little Monsters joined me for our annual tradition. So, just what does that annual tradition include besides the eating of the special orange creme Halloween Oreos? Milk? Well yes, that's generally included, but it's not really what we're talking about. There's one other important element. You might have noticed something in the 2013 photo above that will give you a clue (actually it will probably give it away). It has to do with watching something on TV.

Each year when October rolls around I always like to try to watch as many Halloween-themed things with the Little Monsters as possible. Unfortunately, as they've gotten older tastes have changed, schedules have become more and more full and TV watching time has become severely restricted. Some of the things we used to watch all the time included: "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein", "Young Frankenstein", "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", the "Fright Night" episode from the fourth season of "The Brady Bunch", the Disney Sing Along Songs "Happy Haunting" video (a bit on the "babyish" side for the Monsters at this point to be honest, but still a household classic!), the "Trick or Treat" episode from the second season of "CHiPs" and as many "Tree House of Horror" episodes of "The Simpsons" as possible, just to name a few.

The Monsters watching A&C Meet Frankenstein way back in 2011

Time has become way too rare and fleeting to watch EVERYTHING anymore, but we do have to hit at least a few of those classics before Halloween. And one--which might seem quite random and oddball--is a definite must. There's a certain show that I ALWAYS try to squeeze in, and for some reason it has also managed to become attached to the annual unveiling of the Halloween Oreos. And that show is...the "Ship of Ghouls" episode from the second season of "The Love Boat"! Not only is it an episode of "The Love Boat" (which is one of the things the Monsters and I--thankfully--still enjoy watching together), it's also a Halloween episode. And the best part of all? It features the great Vincent Price as a guest star! While the Little Monsters may not have seen many of Vincent Price's classic horror movies, they are familiar with him from the Hawaii episodes of "The Brady Bunch" and the video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

Here are the Little Monsters partaking in our annual October tradition of eating Halloween Oreos, drinking milk and watching "The Love Boat" and Vincent Price. Mission accomplished!