The Lazy Girl's Guide to Halloween

Updated on Oct 30, 2015 at 9:30 AM

It's common knowledge that Halloween is one of the best American holidays. Endless variants of candy? Check. Spooky decorations? Check. Donning costumes of fantastical beings, grisly monsters, or pop culture icons? Check, check, and check.

But once in a full moon, you simply don't feel like doing sh*t on Halloween.

You know what I'm talking about. Maybe you just don't have the money for a fancy getup this year, or maybe all the party invites seem a little lame. That's okay — you have our permission to be lazy on Halloween. Nobody's perfect. Here are eight ways you can spend this glorious day as a total couch potato, while still having the time of your life.

1. Buy a bunch of candy, and eat it.

This one's sweet and simple. Visit your local CVS (or Walgreens, if you're a hipster like that), buy a crap ton of candy, and eat a lot of it. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Extra points if you grab one of those big bags of mixed sweets plastered with fun Halloween cartoons on the front of it. Just be mindful that one extra candy corn could potentially throw you over the edge if you've been shoveling 'em in your mouth for three hours straight. But I say, have at it . . . Halloween only comes once a year! Huzza!

2. Play scary games with a friend.

Since you're lazy, invite one or two friends over (seriously, two TOPS — any more than that and you have to play hostess, which is too much work). Play a few classic scary games for a Halloween that's all that (note: some of these DO require you to leave your couch. Hope you'll forgive me). Hide-and-seek in the dark is fun at any age. Bloody Mary is timeless. And Midnight Man seems freaky AF. To spice up the night even more, keep a pack or two of beer close by. Hell, invest in a ouija board if your heart so desires.

3. Edit spine-chilling pics on your phone.

Download Corpse Cam if you're on iOS, or Rotten Friends Happy Halloween if you're on Android. Spend your night transforming all your besties into ghastly creatures, and posting all over social media (with their permission, of course). Yay!

4. Watch horror movies.

Ahh, the most uncomplicated and possibly best way to spend Halloween — a horror movie marathon. Seriously, grab a bucket of caramel corn and go all out. Psycho, Saw, Child's Play, Insidious, The Shining, Candyman, Evil Dead, Pet Sematary . . . the possibilities are endless. I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Happy Halloween, indeed!

5. Pull a couple spooky pranks.

Obviously, don't take anything too far, but here's a great list of spooky pranks you can pull on your friends or family this Halloween to make it memorable. All you have to do is put a bug or two in your roommate's bed, sit back, and wait. Could it get any easier?

6. Write creepy poetry.

Take a cue from Edgar Allan Poe and try your hand at creepy poetry. Who knows — you could be a master evil poet in the making!

7. Read yourself a hair-raising story.

Scroll through Creepy Catalog for a terrifying tale that'll leave you feeling scared to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. In the dark by candlelight, read a few of the stories to yourself. Reading aloud makes for an even more frightening experience. If you're more of a bookworm, try any one of these. Or you can peruse through Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is literally intended for this purpose, and definitely gave me more than a few nightmares as a kid.

8. Blast Halloween music.

It's hard to go wrong with this 85-track Halloween playlist, chockfull of classics like "Thriller," "Monster Mash," "I Put a Spell On You," and more. Also featured are theme songs to major horror flicks, like Poltergeist, The Exorcist, and Friday the 13th. And if your SO is around, be sure to jam in these Halloween love songs!