Summerween
noun
a Halloween-like celebration held in summer
What does Summerween mean?
Summerween refers to a celebration featuring Halloween-themed entertainment, décor, and other elements, that takes place in the summer. It is also used as a seasonal marketing term for selling spooky-themed merchandise during the summer.
Examples of Summerween
Summerween’s popularity is growing so much that festivals take place across the US to celebrate. The 4th Annual Summerween in Downtown Chattanooga is scheduled for Saturday, June 27, featuring vendors, fire dancers, and watermelon carving. The Midsummer Scream is being held in Long Beach, California, at the Long Beach Convention Center from Aug. 7-9.
—Krystyl Farmer, The Highlands News-Sun (Sebring, Florida), 10 June 2026
A few years ago my publisher was doing a Summerween promo to promote horror books in the summer rather than the fall because of the association of horror with Halloween/October.
—… come in a costume and join our spooky Summerween parade before the show.
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Where does Summerween come from?
An October 2012 episode of animated television series Gravity Falls, titled “Summerween,” is widely credited with the first use of Summerween as a term for Halloween-themed summer festivities. However, there is older evidence of relevant uses of Summerween.
The Yard will play host to a popular annual costume and dance party that uses Halloween as its inspiration. The theme for Summerween is based loosely on Tim Burton’s film “Nightmare Before Christmas” and will feature deejays, bands, masseurs, stilt-walkers, fire dancers, theme rooms and a haunted house.
—If you just can’t wait until October, Brister Street Productions is holding a Halloween-style costume party called Summerween this Saturday at Brinson’s Downtown (341 Madison). There will be a costume contest and photo booth and music by hip-hop acts …
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It’s possible that the first use of Summerween appeared roughly a decade earlier, for a hypothetical holiday, though it’s not out of the question that the portmanteau of summer and Halloween was devised even earlier, possibly many times, by many individuals.
Invite friends over to celebrate a made-up holiday, such as Seersucker Day or Summerween.
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How is Summerween used?
There is some debate as to whether Summerween should officially be applied to specific day, or hew to its current status as a catch-all for spooky hot-weather celebrations thrown between the summer solstice and fall equinox.
In the episode itself, Stan simply holds up a fairly detail less calendar (that does match up with Friday 22nd of 2012) but there’s nothing in the episode … that suggests Summerween must take place on Friday. It could just be a 22nd thing.
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