16 Favorite Halloween Picture Books

One of the best parts of each holiday for us readers is finding the perfect holiday-themed picture books to share with our kids! Such a fun way to spend time together and get psyched up for the next holiday. So today we want to share 16 of our favorite (non scary) Halloween picture books to read aloud to kids.

Haunted Places in Utah: Are They for Real?

Every October as I pull out my fake cobwebs, three foot spider, and an array of skeletons from my closet (no pun intended), I also like to wipe the dust off of any literature that gives me to heeby-jeebies. For book club, we do the same. In the past we have given ourselves nightmares by reading books like The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, Blood Moon by Teri Harman, Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron, and Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice.

Now, I'm not one to fall for staged sightings of UFO's and I'm rarely scared by the Halloween haunted forests that come 'a callin' every October (though the Haunted Forest in American Fork did once make me scream). But, I'm not going to lie and say I haven't felt something akin to the paranormal before. 

Ever been in a place and felt your skin crawl or a rush of air when no windows were open? What about the strange feeling that someone was watching you? If you haven't had any of these feelings or sensations, you owe it to yourself this October to experience the paranormal. Let's take Utah: are there really haunted places in our own backyard? You be the judge.

Food Ideas for Any Haunted Get Together

“It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house ; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.” 

― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

We had SUCH amazing food for this book club that I had to share not one but ALL of our recipes and beautiful photos with you y'all!

Photo Credit:  Summer Nicole Photography

Photo Credit:  Photography by McKenzie

Doesn't the food table look to DIE for?

Alright, here was our menu for our haunted evening.

Photography by McKenzie

The prettiest salad you ever did see

 Summer Nicole Photography

 Photography by McKenzie
Autumn Pear Dumplings stuffed with cream cheese...SO GOOD!!

 Summer Nicole Photography

"Rotting" black fruit

 Summer Nicole Photography

Image & Recipe
I made these TASTY heavenly hasselback sweet potatoes and I'm not ashamed to say that I licked the caramelized drippings off my plate.

Cream of Pumpkin Soup...I wasn't sure I was going to like this soup but boy was I wrong! I went back for seconds before our discussion and slurped it out of my mug savoring every sip.

Photo Credit: Summer Nicole Photography

“It watches," he added suddenly. "The house. It watches every move you make.” 
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Image Source
Roasted Apple, Brie and Pecan Panini
We didn't get any photos of these gourmet panini because we ate them up so quickly!! EVERYONE loved these and what's great is you can always add or delete ingredients you prefer.

 Summer Nicole Photography

 Summer Nicole Photography
Blueberry Frightening Fizz mocktails that we drank out of our own "cup of stars"

"Eleanor looked up, surprised; the little girl was sliding back in her chair, sullenly refusing her milk, while her father frowned and her brother giggled and her mother said calmly, 'She wants her cup of stars.' 
Indeed yes, Eleanor thought; indeed, so do I; a cup of stars, of course. 
'Her little cup,' the mother was explaining, smiling apologetically at the waitress, who was thunderstruck at the thought that the mill's good country milk was not rich enough for the little girl. 'It has stars in the bottom, and she always drinks her milk from it at home. She calls it her cup of stars because she can see the stars while she drinks her milk.' The waitress nodded, unconvinced, and the mother told the little girl, 'You'll have your milk from your cup of stars tonight when we get home. But just for now, just to be a very good little girl, will you take a little milk from this glass?'  

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don't do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl." 

Photography by McKenzie
Dark and delicious chocolates

Photography by McKenzie

You can see all of our haunted outfits HERE
and don't forget to check out our family friendly Halloween craft HERE

FIND ALL OF OUR RECIPES & MORE ON BETHANY'S HAUNTED BOOK CLUB PINTEREST BOARD

RECIPES:

AUTUMN PEAR DUMPLING RECIPE W/ CREAM CHEESE FILLING

BLUEBERRY FIZZ DRINK

CREAM OF PUMPKIN SOUP RECIPE (You will jump for joy over how GOOD this is!!)

HASSELBACK SWEET POTATOES

ROASTED APPLE, BRIE AND PECAN PANINI

Get the Look: "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson Book Club Costume ideas

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

 "The Haunting of Hill House" is set in the 50's and there wasn't much to go on for dressing up, we choose to dress up in a more Victorian/Scary/Gothic look instead. Our book club ladies showed up in a variety of dress and styles which only added to the uniqueness of our groups look. 

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

 (Photos by McKenzie and Summer)  

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

We asked everyone to put on their best serious face for our group shot!

Photo by Summer Nicole Photography

A BIG thank you to Bethany (pictured above) who not only moderated our book but also opened her beautiful home to all of us. We all had a lovely little road trip to downtown SLC to visit Beth's home!

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

CHEERS to your Haunted Halloween Book Club!

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

(Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)

"The Kellies"

 (Photo by McKenzie)

We've got quite a few pregnant members at book club right now and here is a picture of four of them!  Summer ( the gal in the B& W) gave birth just a few days after our meeting...

...now that's book club commitment! 

(Photo by McKenzie)

All manner of witches and Gothic ghouls showed up to haunt our evening.

 (Photo by Kellie)

All of our Victorian gals getting ready to scare you...

 (Photo by Summer Nicole Photography)
  

(Photo by McKenzie)
  

Thank You for visiting our very own, "Hill House" manor and don't forget to check back for more posts on how to throw a haunting book club down to the food and decor!

Check out Looks from Books for "The Haunting of Hill House"

And you DEFINITELY want to see this Autumn Pear Dumplings with Cream Cheese Filling Tutorial that we had at book club, SO yummy!

Thank you SO MUCH McKenzie and Summer for coming to book club with your "cameras blazing" or I should say "cameras flashing". It was great having two very talented photographers at book club! Thanks to you both, we have many memorable and amazing pictures to recall our evening.