Ghosts and ghouls are all over your favorite stores. It's time to embrace 'Summerween.'
And you might shriek in horror when you see ghosts and pumpkin decor on display. Summer has only just begun! How could they be stocking Halloween stuff when school barely just let out?
Relax, it's Summerween! The fake shopping holiday for those who want to put out Halloween decor in July.
This isn't the first Summerween, by the way — it's been around for a few years now. But it's growing: It appears to have started at the craft store Michael's, spread to T.J. Maxx/Marshalls/Home Goods. And now, this week, Walmart is adding "Summer Frights" decor to its stores.
In fact, rapper Princess Nokia just released a new song, " Drop Dead Gorgeous," that has a lyric: "Summerween and I wanna get my spooky on."
Summerween's origins appear to trace back to the cartoon show "Gravity Falls," where in a 2012 episode, the characters carved watermelons and went trick-or-treating.
But there's another element afoot: some adults (and you probably know one) just freaking love Halloween.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Like those who love the holidays, Halloween superfans have become their own subculture. They use phrases like "code orange" to alert others on social media when they come across fun themed merch. Retailers are using it to get a head start on fall, spurring people to buy their decorations now—a time of year when shopping enthusiasm is typically muted.
Lowe's first "Halfway to Halloween" push came in April 2024, and the retailer repeated it this year, even adding a second wave of products in June. Target released some of its more popular Halloween items, like $5 decorative birds, in May and more is planned for later in the summer. Michaels had its earliest Halloween launch ever this June. By late July, the merchandise will completely take over the front of stores, said Melissa Mills, senior vice president of merchandising.
I went to check out the selections in my local T.J. Maxx, Home Goods, and Walmart. I was particularly excited to see the Walmart offerings, since this is apparently the first time it has them. But my local store didn't have anything yet. (I did notice some open shelf space in the "Seasonal" section.)
Over at T.J. Maxx and Home Goods, the Summerween selections were in full effect.
There were pink candles with ghosts, dish towels, magenta velvet skeletons, painted driftwood candy corns, and framed art of ghosts and Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein at the beach.
Pink and purple were as prevalent as orange and black, which sets these Summerween items clearly apart from their October cousins. It was cute, not scary.
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind to actually buy some of this — a fuzzy pastel candy corn caught my eye. I am not one of those Halloween enthusiasts, but I'm sure my kids would love celebrating Summerween.
Halloween is one of the few non-denominational, non-political, purely fun holidays throughout the year — whynot double up on it?
Is this all just an excuse to sell people more junk? Well, sure.
But so what?
Do you think Thanksgiving is "real," too? That Christmas isn't overly commercialized? Or that Mother's Day isn't just a racket by greeting card companies? Do you worry about the real meaning of Toyathon? Grow up. Open your eyes and your heart and embrace Summerween.
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Eater
2 hours ago
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Rice Cakes Can Do Anything
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The team steamed the rice cakes to soften them, then seared them to create a crisp outer layer. Sauteed mushrooms, a dashi-butter pan sauce, and Parmigiano-Reggiano rounded out the pasta-like vibe. The Budo-gnocchi was 'so incredibly well-received,' Bedroussian says, that it had to become a part of the permanent menu. It hit the notes the restaurant was going for with every other dish. 'It's comforting and it fills you up if you've been drinking a lot,' he says. Once a happy accident, Budo-gnocchi has since become a signature dish at the restaurant, which was named an Eater Best New Restaurant in 2024. The dish has since evolved into a loose template, changing with the whims of the kitchen. The restaurant might upgrade it by finishing with black truffle shavings, or bringing in corn and tomatoes in the summer. 'It can be whatever we want it to be,' Bedroussian says. As Korean cuisine gains popularity across the United States, rice cakes — a popular street food — have established themselves as a promising ingredient for chefs cooking both inside and outside Korean cuisine. While you'll find them cast as other types of noodles (Sunny Lee's baked ziti-like rice cakes at New York City's Sunn's, for example, or chef Beverly Kim's tteokbokki pad Thai at Chicago's Parachute HiFi), chefs especially like the way their playful, chewy texture makes them a natural substitute for gnocchi. This idea isn't entirely novel; in a 2006 New York Times review of New York's Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Pete Wells recommended the rice cakes topped with Sichuan pork ragu and whipped tofu as 'dead ringers for gnocchi.' Chefs in Korea have been working on a similar culinary track for a little while now too. Traditionally, restaurants and street stalls generally use tteok to make tteokbokki, in which the rice cakes are simmered in sauce that's slightly sweet, spicy, and fiery red from gochujang. In recent years, they've been riffing with rosé tteokbokki, which adds cream to the typical tteokbokki base, inspired by both the Italian rosé sauce and Korean-style carbonara. 'Italian food in general has become more popular in Korea,' says bar owner and forthcoming cookbook author Irene Yoo. Given that Korean-style carbonara is made with cream and served with ham or peas, breaking from Italian tradition, rosé tteokbokki is 'an interpretation of another interpretation,' she says. The rice cakes at Sunn's are topped with mozzarella cheese. Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY Across the U.S., rice cakes have recently transcended pasta dishes altogether. In New York City alone, there's the culinary boundary-blurring rice cake fundido at Haenyeo; the nacho-like chopped cheese rice cakes at Nowon; rice cakes bulking up galbi bourguignon alongside potatoes at Sinsa; and blanketed with mornay sauce until they resemble gratin at Gurume. At Yoo's Orion Bar in Brooklyn, rice cakes also turn sweet, morphing into churros: deep-fried until puffy and crispy on the outside, then tossed in cinnamon sugar and served with cream cheese-makgeolli dip. 'I grew up in LA, so I definitely had a lot of churros growing up,' Yoo says. While testing deep-fried rice cakes, 'I immediately thought of that as a taste memory.' For chef Nick Wong of Houston's new 'modern Asian American diner,' Agnes and Sherman, a dish of rice cakes with beef ragu filled the slot for a 'comforting, saucy starch' on the menu, since there's no pasta. It also represents a 'kind of 'if you know, you know' situation,' he says. Wong spent years cooking at Ssäm Bar, so the dish is in part a reference to the ragu rice cakes there, though with pork in place of beef because 'it's Texas,' Wong says, and to account for Houston's Muslim population. More specific to Houston, the dish has another reference: The Korean braised goat and dumplings, also made with rice cakes, was the signature dish at Chris Shepherd's now-closed Underbelly; the dish was beloved for the way it evoked the foods of many different cultures. With a sauce featuring Korean gochujang and doenjang, West African uda pepper, and Mexican chile de árbol, Wong's rendition is emblematic of Houston, where, he says, 'it's hard to tell where one thing ends and another thing begins.' When it comes to his rice cake dish, Houstonians 'just get it,' he says. With all its iterations, Budo-gnocchi is a 'chameleon' too, Bedroussian says. For a recent collab dinner with Indian sports bar Pijja Palace — an Eater Best New Restaurant that's known for its malai rigatoni (pasta with a creamy tomato masala) — the two restaurants served malai Budo-gnocchi. It's a little bit of everything: Italian, Indian, Korean, all through the lens of an LA riff on a Japanese izakaya. Between all those influences, rice cakes are in the middle, bridging the gap. Sign up for Eater's newsletter The freshest news from the food world every day Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Elle
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- Elle
What Time Is 'Wednesday' Season 2 Released On Netflix?
Three years ago, Jenna Ortega's Wednesday Addams pirouetted into our collective consciousness with Netflix's Wednesday, becoming an instant cultural phenomenon that spawned viral TikTok dances, and enough Halloween costume shortages to wear for the rest of time. But while fans devoured the first season's eight episodes faster than Wednesday could deliver a deadpan one-liner, the wait for season has felt longer than a Nevermore Academy detention. The good news? Wednesday's sophomore season is coming. Netflix confirmed the renewal back in January 2023, riding high on the show's record-breaking success as the platform's second-most-watched English-language series of all time. And finally, after what has felt like an arduous wait, Wednesday is about to grace the small screen once again, albeit in two parts. 'This season, Wednesday's journey is darker and more complex as she navigates family, friends, new mysteries, and old adversaries, propelling her headlong into another year at Nevermore,' teased the series' co-showrunners and executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (via Tudum.) This is everything you need to know about its upcoming release. The first part of Wednesday season two will be released on August 6 at 8am BST, nearly three years after the first season debuted in November 2022. As for other territories, please see below when Wednesday season two will be released internationally: There will be a total of eight episodes in the second season of Wednesday, with the first four being released on August 6 and the second batch of episodes due for release on September 3. Wednesday season two will be released on Netflix on August 6. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years' worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
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Every day is Halloween. Why theme parks are going big on year-round horror experiences
Las Vegas — I turn a bend and see a figure in a cornfield. The gray sky is foreboding, a storm clearly on the horizon. When I take a step forward, I'm hit with a gust of wind and fog. Suddenly, it's no longer a silhouette in the haze but a scarecrow, shrouded in hay, lurching toward me. Only I am not on a Midwestern farm, and there is no threat of severe weather. I'm in a warehouse in Las Vegas, walking through a maze called 'Scarecrow: The Reaping.' I jump back and fixate my phone's camera on the creature, but that only encourages them to step closer. I'm hurried out of the farmland and into a hall, where giant stalks now obscure my path. Welcome to Universal Horror Unleashed, which aims to deliver year-round horrors and further expand theme park-like experiences beyond their hubs of Southern California and Central Florida. Horror Unleashed, opening Aug. 14, is an outgrowth of Universal's popular fall event, Halloween Horror Nights, which has been running yearly at the company's Los Angeles park since 2006 and even longer at its larger Florida counterpart. Like Halloween Horror Nights, there are maze-like haunted houses — four of them here themed to various properties such as 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'The Exorcist.' Their more permanent status allows for a greater production factor — think disappearing walls and more elaborate show scenes — and they are surrounded by brooding bars, a pop-up rock-inspired dance show and a host of original walk-around characters. 'Hey, sugar,' said a young woman as I near the warehouse's main bar, a wraparound establishment themed to a large boiler. The actor's face was scarred with blood, hinting at a backstory I didn't have time — or perhaps the inclination — to explore. Horror Unleashed is opening just on the cusp of when theme parks and immersive-focused live experiences are entering one of the busiest times of the year: Halloween. The holiday, of course, essentially starts earlier each year. This year's Halloween Horror Nights begins Sept. 4, while Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort launches Aug. 22. Horror shows and films are now successful year-round, with the likes of 'Sinners' and 'The Last of Us' enrapturing audiences long before Oct. 31. Culture has now fully embraced the darker side of fairy tales. Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the Universal Horror Unleashed. 'You can make every month horrific,' says Nate Stevenson, Horror Unleashed's show director. That's been a goal of David Markland, co-founder of Long Beach's Halloween-focused convention Midsummer Scream, which this year is set for the weekend of Aug. 15. When Midsummer Scream began in 2016, it attracted about 8,000 people, says Markland, but today commands audiences of around 50,000. 'Rapidly, over the past 10 or 15 years, Halloween has become a year-round fascination for people,' Markland says. 'Halloween is a culture now. Halloween is a lifestyle. It's a part of people's lives that they celebrate year-round.' There will be challenges, a difficult tourism market among them, as visits to Las Vegas were down 11.3% in June 2025 versus a year earlier, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. And then there's the question of whether audiences are ready for year-round haunts that extend beyond the fall Halloween season to winter, spring and summer. I entered Horror Unleashed for a media preview on an early August night when it was 105 degrees in the Las Vegas heat. It's also been tried before, albeit on a smaller scale. Las Vegas was once home to Eli Roth's Goretorium, a year-round haunted house that leaned on torture-horror and shuttered after about a year in 2013. But Universal creatives are undaunted. More than a decade, of course, has passed, and Horror Unleashed is more diverse in its horror offerings. A maze themed to Universal's classic creatures winds through a castle and catacombs with vintage-style horrors and a mid-show scene in which Frankenstein's monster comes alive. Original tale 'Scarecrow: The Reaping,' which began at Universal Studios Florida, mixes in jump scares with more natural-seeming frights, such as the aforementioned simulated dust bowl. TJ Mannarino, vice president of entertainment, art and design at Universal Orlando, points to cultural happenings outside of the theme parks in broadening the terror scene — the success of shows such as 'The Walking Dead' and 'American Horror Story,' which found audiences outside of the Halloween season, as well as 'Stranger Things,' which he says opened up horror to a younger crowd. Theme parks are simply reflecting our modern culture, which is craving darker fantasies. Universal, for instance, recently opened an entire theme park land focused on its classic monsters at its new Epic Universe in Florida, and even Disney is getting in on the action, as a villains-focused land is in the works for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. 'We think our audience really wants this,' says Mannarino, noting theme park attendance surveys were prodding the company to give horror a permanent home. And at Universal's Orlando park, Halloween Horror Nights starts earlier, beginning in late August. 'Just a couple years ago, we started in August, and we were selling out August dates,' Stevenson says. 'On a micro level, we're seeing that, boy, it doesn't matter if you extend past the season or extend out before the season — people are coming. People want it.' Universal is betting on it, as the company has already announced that a second Horror Unleashed venue will be heading to Chicago in 2027. Smaller, more regional theme park-like experiences are once again something of a trend, as Netflix has immersive venues planned for the Dallas and Philadelphia regions, and Universal is also bringing a kid-focused park to Frisco, Texas. There are antecedents for what Universal is attempting. Disney, for instance, tried an indoor interactive theme park with DisneyQuest, for which a Chicago location was short-lived and a Florida outpost closed in 2017. Star Trek: The Experience, a mix of theme park-like simulations and interactive theater, operated for about a decade in Las Vegas before it shuttered in 2008. 'I know there's horror fans and Halloween fans who are always looking for something to do,' Markland says. 'What [Universal is] doing is very ambitious and big, and so I'm nervous along with them. We'll see how it goes. I'm sure people will go as soon as it opens and through the Halloween season, but after that, I don't know. ... They've definitely invested in Halloween and horror fans. They're all-in.' Horror, says author Lisa Morton — who has written multiple books on the Oct. 31 holiday, including 'Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween' — is thriving in part because today it is taken more seriously by cultural critics. The genre also has metaphorical qualities — the struggle, for instance, that is life, art and creativity in 'Sinners' or the underlying themes of PTSD that permeated the latest season of 'The Last of Us.' That makes it especially appealing, she says, for today's stressful times. 'I suspect that's part of the reason horror is booming right now,' Morton says. 'Everything from climate change, that we seem to have no voice in, and our politics, that don't seem to represent us. Many of us are filled with anxiety about the future. I think horror is the perfect genre to talk about that. When you add a layer of a metaphor to it, it becomes much easier to digest.' To step into Horror Unleashed is to walk into a demented wonderland, a place that turns standard theme park warmth and joy upside down. Don't expect fairy tale-like happy endings. The space's centerpiece performance is twisted, a story centering on Jack the Clown and his female sidekick Chance, who have kidnapped two poor Las Vegas street performers and are forcing them to execute their acts to perfection to avoid murder. The deeper one analyzes it, the more sinister its class dynamics feel, even if it's an excuse to showcase, say, street dancing and hula hoop acrobatics. The space has an underlying narrative. Broadly speaking, the warehouse is said to have been a storage place for Universal Studios' early monster-focused horror films. That allows it to be littered with props, such as the throne-like chair near its entrance, and for nooks and crannies such as a 'film vault' to be renamed a 'kill vault.' Somehow — horror loves a good mystery — the space has come alive, and don't be surprised to be greeted by a vampire or a costumed swampland figure that may or may not be related to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The goal, says Universal creatives, is to give Horror Unleashed a bit of an immersive theater feel, something that can't really be done among the chaotic scare zones and fast-moving mazes of a Halloween Horror Nights event. But here, guests can linger with the actors and probe them to try to uncover the storyline that imbues the venue. One-to-one actor interaction has long been a goal of those in the theme park space but often a tough formula to crack, in part because cast members are costly and in part because of the difficulty to scale such experiences for thousands. 'As we've evolved this style of experience, we have given more and more control of the show to the actors,' says Mannarino on what separates Horror Unleashed from Halloween Horror Nights. 'It's less programmed. It's less technology. I've had conversations with tech magazines, and they'll ask me what is the most critical piece, and I'll say it's the actors. ... The lifeblood of our all stories — we can build all of this, but it doesn't go without the actors. 'It's what really drives this whole animal,' he adds. It extends a bit to the mazes as well. Audiences should expect to spend about five to seven minutes in each of the four walk-through attractions, but unlike a Halloween Horror Nights event, where guests are rushed from room to room without stopping, in Las Vegas there will be one dedicated show scene per maze. Here, groups will be held to watch a mini-performance. In the 'Exorcist' maze, for instance, that means witnessing a full exorcism, complete with special effects that will have walls give way to demonic specters. In the '70s-themed 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' haunt, look out for a bloody scene designed to drench guests. The mazes are intended to be semi-permanent. Stevenson says there's no immediate plans to swap them out in the near future but hints that Horror Unleashed will be an evolving venue and, if all goes according to plan, will look a bit different in a few years. Thus, he says the key differentiator between Horror Unleashed and Halloween Horror Nights is not necessarily the tech used in the mazes, but the extended time they can devote to unwrapping a story. 'When Universal builds a haunted house, the level of story that starts that out is enormous,' Stevenson says. 'There's so much story. All of our partners need that because they base every little nuanced thing off of that story. Unfortunately, we don't always have the chance to tell that story, and all our fans tell us they want to know more story.' Story percolates throughout the venue. Flatbreads, for instance, are shaped like chainsaw blades. Desserts come on plates that are mini-shovels. Salad dressing is delivered in syringes. In the past, says Mannarino, no one wanted their food to be played with. ''Don't do horrible things to my food!'' he says in mock exaggeration. 'But now, people really love that.' Little, it seems, is obscene, when every day can be Halloween.
