Midsummer Scream 2025 -Horror Comic Books

It was exciting to return to Midsummer Scream for 2025 and I am thrilled to share my experience attending the world’s largest Halloween and Horror convention for the 6th year.

It has been nearly a month since Midsummer Scream 2025 has passed, but the details are still fresh in my mind. Although outside forces kept me from mentally enjoying this trip to the fullest, Midsummer Scream delivered yet another stellar event. The performances and presentations felt full of energy, the vendors brought their finest Halloween merch, and the energy was alive all throughout the concourse. I am already counting down the days to next year happening from August 7th through August 9th, 2026!

Weekend Webdrobe Choices

Each year, I feel like I go more and more towards comfort when attending Midsummer Scream. This year, with our time restraints, I didn’t get the chance to really plan anything special like a costume. Instead, I dug into my webdrobe for some of my favorite Halloween looks. All weekend, I felt spook cute. Believe it or not, I may have received more compliments than when I dress as Elvira!

Friday Fit Check

• Makeup: Bésame Cosmetics
• Earrings: There Will Be Cute
• Dress: Stephanie Buscema
• Shoes: Miss Candyfloss x Lola Ramona

Saturday Fit Check

• Makeup: Bésame Cosmetics
• Earrings: There Will Be Cute
• T-shirt: Sips & Spirits
• Skirt: Miss Candyfloss
• Shoes: Vessi

Sunday Fit Check

• Makeup: Bésame Cosmetics
• Earrings: Winchester Mystery House
• Dress: Miss Candyfloss
• Shoes: Vessi

Performances and Presentations for 2025

In case you’ve never attended Midsummer Scream (or fan conventions in general), a big part of most conventions are the panels presented by fans and industry alike. In years past, I’ve tried to cram in as many panels that call to my interests. However, the more often I attend, the more often I find myself leaning towards the creative performances over industry panels.

This year was as intense of line up as any. I enjoyed the Night of the Living Drag, caught Barry’s Truth or Scare and interacted with the Force of Nature Productions experience. Some of you may recall this was a 2023 goal! In addition, I caught a presentation for decorating tips by the Vogel Victorian. I attending two panels as well. One was about the creation and expansion of the Poppy Playtime video games. The other about how the Christmas and Horror communities share a lot in common.

Bonus thought! Almost every panel I attended, I was joined by one or two fellow Samhain society friends! Spooky Little Halloween and Ghoul at Heart also had Vogel on their schedule, Your Best Halloween Ever took us up on the offer of joining us for front row seats at Night of the Living Drag and I got to catch up with All Hallow’s Wife in line for the Christmas and Horror panel. This almost NEVER happens. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel like I missed out chilling with my creepy peeps outside of the convention.

Overall, I felt like Midsummer Scream really did a great job of scheduling their panels. The timetable felt like it distributed the flow of attendees throughout the day. I never found the vendor floor to be overwhelming in regards to the number of people around. Even navigating lines for panels felt easier to manage. Personally, the only struggle I experienced was with some of the presentations I attended. Often, my choices fell back-to-back and were at opposite ends of the convention center. Not a complaint at all, but something to keep in mind for those with varied interests like myself.

A Different Kind of Hall of Shadows

I cannot quite put my finger on it, but this year felt different in the Hall of Shadows. Lines for haunts began right at the entrance in place of a fantastical display by CalHaunts. Next, I noticed that the Decayed Brigade sliders had been relocated to their own back corner. This seemed to help a lot with foot traffic. In years past, it would get rather congested as passerbys were drawn into their performance.

Personally, I missed entering through the CalHaunts display. To me, it always sets the mood for the Hall of Shadows. As someone who only enters the Hall of Shadows to experience the displays, it felt less engaging to me. Still, once I stumbled across the CalHaunts display, I enjoyed walking through it. Additionally, I loved the look of the bar in this area. It was giving very middle of the cornfield scarecrow vibes and I was all in. Other notable displays for me was the Haunt with No Name…Yet. They always deliver a gorgeous Celtic graveyard. In my opinion, I would love to see this be a kind of walk through display some day.

Paranormal Pixie’s Pumpkin Patch

A long-reigning favorite for my littles has been Paranormal Pixie‘s pumpkin patch and this year was no exception. The crafts were back in addition to Skeleton Sam dance parties, story times and a stellar MC for the stage. Rex the Impossible brough his A-game to announce all the fun happening in the pumpkin patch. I was envious of his unyielding energy he continued to deliver throughout the weekend!

Honestly, though we did spend quite a bit of time here, it was not as much as the last time. I’m not sure if my children were just too distracted by all of the vendors surrounding the area or if they were trapped in post-move mode and struggled to get into the space. Both of my littles are a bit older and MUCH more independent compared to prior years. Sadly, they were more focused on shopping than the crafting or entertainment. Still, I made sure to enjoy my time when finding ourselves in the pumpkin patch. I still stand by it being one of the best hidden gems on the vendor floor.

Speaking of shopping…did anyone else manage to get through the full vendor floor? I’m blaming it on my kids, but I don’t feel like I saw everything. Thankfully, I did get to shop with HallowWoods AND discovered a couple new vendors to add to my watchlist. Don’t forget to check out for my haul post for the full list of those I discovered and shopped with.

Final Midsummer Scream 2025 Thoughts

Midsummer Scream delivered a spooktacular event for 2025. Any negatives I experience stemmed from being unable to get out of the weird mental funk I was dealing with from my personal life changes. I still found the event to be a wonderful experience. As always, it was lovely getting to connect with so many in the Halloween community. Especially since I’ve been feeling absent from the community. I hooked up with old friend and connected with new ones. It was such a wonderful reminder for me that I’ve not yet completely fallen out of this space.

Regrettably, we didn’t really manage to make time to hang out with some of our friends as in previous years. However, it was nice to return with no strings attached like my first year attending. I even played hooky on the after dark party for some better cocktail options. I feel a little remorse for not getting to connect with some people then, but no regrets. It was a very “go with the screams” kind of vibe. It sounds like that was the case for others I managed to chat with as well. Unfortunately, I failed putting this into words properly after the event because I was comparing prior years to this one. I always feel like I’m whining after this event, but I swear I had a real scream!

A Toast to Midsummer Scream 2025

I felt so good with taking photos this year. I was really on it and actually have proof this time around of all the people I got to converse with! It felt like the first year I did not feel the FOMO when looking back on photos. Woo! I blame the round table discussion on By Pumpkin’s Light that I was invited to. All weekend I had my friends’ tips and tricks floating in my head. Feeling like I took enough photos has been a constant regret at the end of the weekend each year. Surprisingly, that did NOT feel like the case this time! Ok, I lie. I wish I’d taken more of my podcast host and I together…but still! Not too shabby.

And so, I invite you to raise your glass to another spooktacular Midsummer Scream experience. But the fun doesn’t end there! If you’re looking for a more in-depth discussion, Erick and I ended up with a two hour episode on Sips & Spirits. The episode releases on September 21st and I would love if you give it a listen!

Will you be joining me in 2026 for Midsummer Scream from August 7th through the 9th?