Halloween doesn’t always go quite as planned. But what does? Check out these stories of spooky nights gone awry and you may just feel a bit better about forgetting to buy a bag of candy.

Sorry, Halloween Is Cancelled
Our daughter, Blair, was 2 years old on her first Halloween and she was incredibly excited. We decorated the outside of the house and got lots of candy ready. But when she went to answer the door for our first trick-or-treater, a scary mask peeked through the doorway and set her literally flying into my husband’s arms. "No Halloween!" she screamed. So we proceeded to turn off all the lights and shut up the house so no more scary visitors would ring the bell.
-Marla, Toronto, Ontario

Orange Wedding?
My husband Peter and I were married on Halloween in 2002. The day was flawless, except for the fact that my husband forgot to bring black socks and had to wear the Halloween socks I wore the day before the wedding. That's a stinky oops!
-Tara, Atlanta

Slicing Off More than Planned For
One Halloween season, my girls requested that we carve an elaborate design for our jack o’ lantern, so we bought a stencil and planned it all out. I came home from work, exhausted and stressed and in no mood to carve, but I felt it was my motherly duty. Distracted and jittery, I accidentally cut my finger with the carving knife and spent the rest of the evening with wet paper towels pressed to my wound, debating whether a trip to the emergency room was warranted.

Now, my daughters are both teenagers and whenever we talk about carving pumpkins, they kindly volunteer to do it themselves. "We can’t let you near the knives," they remind me.
-Nancy, Thornwood, New York

Who Are Your Calling a Little Old Lady?
One year, my husband dressed up as an old woman for Halloween. He was running late from work and was going to join us for trick-or-treating when he got home. My four kids and I stuck close to our home so he could find us easily. Still, we were all startled when we saw the "old lady" approaching. I figured it out right away—he did have on one of my dresses, after all—but my two daughters thought he was a real old woman. They pulled in close to me and my 8-year-old said, "Ugh, she looks like Mrs. Doubtfire." When I laughed and my husband came at us, the girls screamed at the top of their lungs. The boys just laughed. It took us awhile to calm the girls down, but now every year we laugh about it.
-Lisa, Tampa, Florida

Scared for Life
When our son Harley was 10, we went to go visit the "cool house" on our street—these people spent a fortune decorating, with lights, scary decorations and people in freaky costumes. What appeared to be a fake person sitting slumped on a chair was actually our neighbor in disguise. And when Harley approached the chair, our neighbor jumped up and gave him quite a scare. Our neighbor felt so bad that he took off his mask to show Harley his true face. This didn't much help, though. In fact, to this day Harley still won't speak to the guy.
-Richard, Toronto, Ontario