Year five at Midsummer Scream is in the books, and I can't believe it's already over. The weekend went faster than it ever has, but I did my best to see all the things.
If you aren’t familiar, Midsummer Scream is the world’s largest Halloween and horror convention that takes place in the late summer in Long Beach, CA. It includes a vendor floor with more than 350 small businesses, celebrity photo ops, the Hall of Shadows featuring mini haunts, and dozens of panels, presentations, and classes.
In short, it’s like stepping into October in the middle of the summer.
For me, Midsummer Scream feels like home. Since the start, I’ve called it my Halloween summer camp or my Instagram feed come to life. It’s exciting, surreal, and often times overwhelming seeing all the faces and businesses that haunt my social feeds in real life.
That’s part of what keeps me coming back.
The other part? Spending time with my friends and exploring everything Halloween together. We’re spread across the country, so this weekend is our one opportunity to celebrate the thing that brought us all together.
Here’s a peek at everything we saw and did in 2025.
Inside Midsummer Scream 2025
Each Midsummer Scream has a theme — this year’s artwork was comics. The Hall of Shadows was dubbed Le Carnaval du Diable (The Devil’s Carnival), and the Saturday night after party was The Devil’s Masquerade.
Welcome back to Long Beach, Spooky Little Girl!
Vendor Floor
This post uses galleries since I have so many photos to share! They’ll auto-advance every five seconds, or you can click/tap the arrows at the sides to navigate through the images.
Featured vendors: Carrie Anne Hudson, Black Mast, Abbybelle, Catfight Coffee, Major Crimes Division, Deadly Sweet, and Bat in Your Belfry
I could not have been more proud of @hallowwoods for vending at Midsummer Scream for the first time! He was my original partner in crime back in 2018, and it was a little surreal to see his booth throughout the weekend.
If you need a countdown calendar, you can order one online and keep an eye out for his brand new “Forever Halloween” tee!
After two years of waiting, I finally got my hands on my orange Catfight Coffee cup I missed out on in 2023. (And the coffees I drank were delicious — pumpkin cold brew and a mocha cold brew.)
My most-shopped booth of the weekend? The Punkin Shop. I shopped for me. I shopped for friends. And I shopped for my first-ever Labubu. More on that in the haul post…
And as long as we’re talking Labubu’s…how amazing are these two? They were part of a photo op at Bronson’s Shop of Horror’s booth.
Panels
I only popped into two this year, but they were both such great conversations.
First, I attended Diana Vogel’s “Haunted Home-styling and Hosting” on Saturday where she shared all her best tips and tricks for creating a luxurious gothic home like hers. She was such a delight to have on By Pumpkin’s Light earlier this year, and I’m thrilled I got to say hello in person.
Then Sunday I dropped into the “Scary and Bright: Hallmark Christmas and Horror” panel with a few friends from our group. The panel discussed the parallels between Hallmark Christmas movies and horror films, which was fascinating. We learned movies with cult followings, no matter the genre, really aren’t that different at all.
Hall of Shadows
The Hall of Shadows is my favorite place to spend time at Midsummer Scream. It’s like stepping into an October night with your friends.
The Haunt With No Name…Yet is always a favorite stop for its moody graveyard full of Halloween magic.
The lighting and colors in this space are always so rich and inviting.
The lighting was really next level this year.
Always choose the bear…even if he’s seen better days. 😉
And it only took five visits, but I finally checked out a full Decayed Brigade show! I needed five doses of ibuprofen after watching everyone sliding around on their knees like that, however. 😂
The After Party
We might have been tired, but we rallied for the after party! Andrew, Devin, and I grabbed a few themed cocktails at my hotel before we headed over to dance the evening away.
And fun surprise: this year’s party included custom cups! (Looks like Midsummer Scream was influenced by the best!)
Sights and Sounds
Everything else I snapped and documented that’s worth sharing! The greaser costumes at the Six Flags booth were a personal favorite.
The view of Midsummer Scream just never gets old.
Devin took a first-day-of-school photo of me with my ad in the special Midsummer Scream issue of Fangoria. So excited to be a part of this!
And finally…if you listened to the Midsummer Scream episode of By Pumpkin’s Light, you know I’ve never been brave enough to go chat with Michael and Jessica from Grimm Life Collective.
Well, James made sure I changed that with just two hours to spare at the end of the weekend. And they were just as delightful as I knew they would be. (Thank you for making sure this was part of our weekend, James!)
Me and my spooky dudes carrying on the end-of-weekend scream photo tradition.
What was your favorite thing about Midsummer Scream 2025?
Let me know in the comments!
I’m so grateful their team keeps inviting me back, even with skipping last year, and it’s just the best time I can imagine.
Didn’t know Halloween conventions were a thing? Then this list is going to blow your mind.
You can also read more about why I keep returning to Midsummer Scream, despite it taking place 1,936 miles away from me.
Until next time, Midsummer Scream!
