Countdown to Octoberfest

This picture - shamelessly nicked from the X-Entertainment blog - tells me that this year's countdown to the world's scariest day has officially begun.

Halloween really is becoming more and more like Christmas every year, is it not? [Granted, with less goodwill to all men and more blood and guts.] They're both essentially one-day holidays and yet these crazy limited edition brand extensions start appearing on shop shelves MONTHS before the actual event. [I'm always amused and bemused by Christmas cakes with sell-by dates on them that are before December 25th. When were they made? Last Christmas?]

Anyway, October and December must be like sweeps months for US candy and soda manufacturers in particular. Whilst their UK counterparts have been catching on slowly but surely [I sipped on a can of Barr's Slimy Limeade the other day and Cadbury's Screme Eggs are also back] those residing stateside really do get to go Halloween and Christmas bonkers at this time of the year. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their spooky and festive stock amounted to more than half of their yearly turnover.

Last year, I was lucky enough to take a trip to the States about six weeks before Christmas. For a self-confessed brandophile like me, it was utterly glorious. There were festive products literally popping up through trap doors everywhere you looked! Perhaps my favourite were those limited edition Candy Cane Oreos that me and my boyfriend bought in Walmart "to try them out", only to end up buying about ten packets and scoffing the lot of them between us.

Anyway, fast forward nine months and suddenly - like a serial killer in a scary movie that just WILL NOT DIE - its time for Halloween Oreos to make their annual comeback. To be honest, these taste exactly the same as regular Oreos but the creme in them is ORANGE and the biscuits have "boo-riffic" (see what they did there?) pictures on them. How amazing is that? I plan to eat A LOT of them when, yes indeed, I venture across the pond again... this time for Halloween... in VEGAS!

It's true that I plan to have a pretty darned amazing Octoberfest this year. The plan is to basically just lay about and watch horror films every night, whilst I tick off the days on the calendar until it's time for us to go on holiday. This year we're doing the whole Los Angeles - San Diego - Las Vegas - Palm Springs tour and it promises to be utterly wonderful, especially since we also have a trip planned to Knott's Scary Farm during that time.

Of course, the beauty of all this is that we'll also get to watch the seasonal displays in the supermarkets change from spooky to festive literally overnight. Best of both worlds, indeed!