All Neopian Failures: How to get the Halloween Theme

The moon is high up in the sky; all the other Neopets are sleeping, but you remain awake. Your alarm clock has been set to twelve o’clock AM NST, and your eyes stay glued to the clock, patiently waiting for the time to come. You try not to fall asleep from the darkness that surrounds you, but you manage to wait the twenty minutes until your time has come to get up, sneak down a few flights of stairs, breathlessly open your front door without making a sound, slowly turning the knob, gently pushing open the door, to find a midnight breeze fly past your darkened clothes, threatening you to stay away.

However, you keep going as you creep over to the Haunted Woods after following various roads. The vicious howls of Werelupes and Kyrii stop you in your mid-track, but you mange to keep on going. Minutes later, after wandering down paths of doom and darkness, you reach the Haunted Woods and feel a good sensation running up your spine as you feel that what you were after for will finally be yours. A clock stands before you, but you ignore it.

Through the recently opened gate you enter, reassuring yourself that these woods can’t be as scary as you think they are. You figure you have some time to kill, so you wander around the frightening woods for nearly an hour, but when you come back to receive your gift, you were already too late. The Halloween Site Theme has gone away for a whole other year.

Let’s face it. During our time on Neopets, we all make stupid mistakes such as perhaps feeding your Grarrl an expensive paint brush or two, donating one of your most treasured items to the Money Tree by mistake, or even, no matter how many years it’s been, you just can’t seem to find a way to keep that Halloween Site Theme permanently. It almost seems like it’s actually trying to avoid you. Year after year you wait for that sought out day, in hopes that maybe this year will be the year. You make sure everything is set up and ready to go, you wait outside the Haunted Woods gates for hours, but for some reason, you either fall asleep right before the time comes when you need to get it, or simply press the snooze button on your alarm. Perhaps you’re like me, where you forget that it’s Daylight Savings Time. One time won’t make you devastated, but when you’re me, and have been trying for four years (yes, count them, four), the doubt starts to get to you. You start to think that maybe it’s just not worth it staying up year after year. Even though I myself didn’t get the site theme yet, I do have some sure-fire tips that will help you greatly on Halloween to help you achieve that ever-so elusive Site Theme.

1. Don’t try to stay up the whole time.

Especially if you live in a different time zone than Neopets, it’s extremely important that just like any other species that you get your rest to have energy to get the Site Theme. It may sound like you’re setting yourself up for failure, but trust me, staying up will get you nowhere. Right before the time comes to get the Site Theme, chances are too high then that you will retire into a deep, relaxing sleep. If you want to prevent all this tiredness, someone may want to consider having a loud enough alarm, and a few decent hours of sleep, foods that will help you sleep, not keep you up, so that with the energy you build up from those hours, you’ll be much more likely able to spring up from your bed and get that little stinker faster and more awake than constantly drinking soda for a couple of hours.

2. Be around the Haunted Woods beforehand.

Just like any other event where millions of users are trying to get a hold of this prized possession, you’ll be doing yourself a favor as well if you’re outside the gates of the Haunted Woods and ready to go. If you think about it for a minute or two, just imagine how much of a crowd there is when millions of Neopets are trying to get in the same area generally around the same time. The time spent trying to get to the Haunted Woods and collecting your Site Theme takes long enough that the valuable minute may already be up by the time you get there. I would suggest camping out inside or outside the gate to the woods the night before, if you’re brave enough. Even if you have the fear of being scared, I would recommend that you scare the Halloween Neopets first. If you want to lay down the law from the start, try being Anti-Halloween by setting up a Pink themed campsite, filled with various Faerie Items, big fluffy portable carpets, a little bit of soft music here and there, and any other girly thing you can think of. That way, Halloween Neopets will know from the beginning that you mean trouble, and lots of it.

3. Make sure your parents know what you’re doing as well.

I’m sure any parent would be drastically concerned if they found out that their young Neopet had left the house to visit the Haunted Woods for the night. I would be too. Let’s just say I was found by Judge Hog a few years back from lack of communication to my parents on such a night. Even if they say no, you still have a chance to try to convince them before it’s time to head out into the woods. That way, you can arrange plans to bring whomever you need to in order to achieve your goal. Also, you shouldn’t need to act like a criminal in order for you to receive something that isn’t necessarily worth “being brought to Justice for.” Not to mention how much easier it can be if you take whoever with you, and get out with lighting speed! Just like the old saying goes, “Go with the flow.”

4. Brush up on your running.

Like I said, since there are so many Neopets trying to all get the same Site Theme, you may want to practice your running skills throughout the year, just so you can be one of the first ones to get it when the gate opens for that single minute. It’s better to get in and out as fast as possible, preferably with an adult, so you can go back to sleep and prepare your body for the next day. By no means do I suggest to fool around. Realistically speaking, you most likely will not be able to push through the crowd when you’re leaving the Haunted Woods, nor would you want to hang around for another hour while all the Neopets try to leave. So, even if you missed it this year, Halloween is almost a year away yet, so that leaves you plenty of time to practice and get better at your running, or flying, or floating, or rolling, or whatever your way of getting around is. I would recommend that you don’t practice every single day, since your body may not be used to it, thus giving you a greater mind set of refusing to try anymore. It may seem like it’s a lot of hard work, but it will all pay off after you flee from the Haunted Woods dramatically faster than the crowd does.

5. Be aware of your time.

Like this year with me, always make sure that you leave for the Haunted Woods at the right time, and you enter at the right time. I was so close to having it permanently with me this year, but due to Daylight Savings Time, and a few miscalculations, my goal has been postponed for another year as I once again try to take a whack at success. Now as far as when you have to leave, try to be at least five minutes early, just in case you get stuck on Neopet traffic or anything else along those lines. It’s better to be safe than sorry; I always say I’m sure you wouldn’t want to risk a whole year of waiting just from leaving when you absolutely have to. No Neopet is a perfect fortune teller, so no Neopet can predict what will happen to you on your journey to the Haunted Woods. Maybe you’ll have some setbacks, maybe you won’t. Who knows? Then again, with this much excitement of maybe that you’ll be able to get it this year, I’m sure that being early is not a problem.

6. Think positively.

Even with someone like me who has been trying for years on end, it always will come in handy if you think positively throughout the year. Just by thinking to yourself that you can do it, the motivation that you have toward it will give you that extra mental boost you need when you feel like you’re going to fail yet again. When first conceived, you may think that this is all around silly and pointless, but once you give it a chance, you’ll find yourself being able to do a lot more than you thought you could do. Pretty soon, that sense of doubt will be forever stuck in the back of your mind, far away from your everyday thinking. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself, and see exactly how much better you can focus on longer and harder tasks in your life, like getting that Halloween Paint Brush you always dreamed of.

Well, I’m just about out of tips to give to you. Actually, I don’t think there are any more helpful tips left! However, I do hope that if you are in the same situation as I am, and have been trying for many years now to get that addicting Halloween Site Theme, that you take these tips into consideration as you plan to once again attempt at getting it. And when next year rolls around, and you miss it, don’t sweat it! Everything happens when it’s supposed to. So maybe it wasn’t your year to get that Halloween Site Theme, but have you wondered that maybe fate matched you up with getting a different Site Theme that year? Maybe this year, you’ll find that it was much better to get the Holiday Site Theme than the Halloween one. No Neopet can really tell, but as long as you don’t give up on this road, I’m very sure that you’ll be able to get that tricky, old Site Theme somehow.