“Harry Potter” scared me as a child. Still to this day, I get scared by the dementors and Umbridge’s quill. For a solid two years, “Halloweentown” was a horror movie to me. Most of the movies on Disney Channel made me turn the channel quickly. Now as a 21-year-old, I avoid most horror movies yet ironically will sit down and enjoy any thriller. 
For my fellow scaredy cats, here are some ways to celebrate and have fun on Halloween while avoiding all the scary parts.
1. Dress up in a not-so-scary costume
This is my favorite way to celebrate Halloween. You do not have to wear a costume that will frighten you or anyone else. There are plenty of ideas for you out there. Some of the easiest costume ideas involve a t-shirt and jeans or some makeup. If you happen to have a pet, you can also dress them up. You do not have to dress up as anything if you do not want to.
2. Enjoy all the candy (and other great food)
Halloween is the best holiday for candy. Every store has some sort of candy or Halloween baked good. There are shows and blogs dedicated to Halloween cooking. This holiday is for anyone who likes food similar to Thanksgiving.
Carve a pumpkin. Bake a spooky cake with ghosts and black cats. Make candy apples. We are in the middle of autumn, this is the time of year when food brands, such as Pillsbury, deliberately put out orange-colored cookies and pumpkin bread to make sure you buy it. You can spend your Halloween baking with friends and compete to decorate the best-looking cake.
3. Watch non-horror movies and Halloween themed Shows
Simple go for the classic “Charlie Brown’s Great Big Pumpkin.” “Hocus Pocus,” “The Addams Family” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” are great choices as well. Most Halloween movies targeted toward families tend to be more on the comedic side and avoid any scary effects or editing.
Also, there are several Halloween cooking shows on the Food Network, Hulu and Netflix that you can watch.
4. Realize that it is all fake
For the longest time as a child and up to my tween years, I failed to get over the fact that most things are fake on Halloween. From costumes and movies to haunted houses, it is all fake and an act. Most movie scenes use editing to make the scene scarier by injecting those loud creepy sounds or by zooming in on something. It is all editing, so prepare yourself before consuming any spine-chilling media by realizing that there are people behind it using psychology and marketing to make you scared.
5. Learn about fear itself
Finally, one of the more hair-raising activities you can do is actually going after one of your fears. Try that gross looking food. Ask that person out. Start that YouTube channel. Sing in front of random strangers. Fail at something. Watch a video of spiders.
You can even go as far as to read about what causes fear or learn more about your own fears. There are many phobias and fears out there, and the internet provides endless lists of them. The most entertaining one I found is the fear of long words, which is ironically the longest word in the dictionary.
To all the scaredy cats out there, remember, fear is just false evidence appearing real.