Have a spooky Linux Halloween!

How can a Linux geek have a fun Halloween? It’s not as hard as you might imagine. Before you put away your costume and all those decorations that you put up to scare your neighbors’ kids, make a stab at turning your office into a scary place for a day. Here are some tips that might help you enjoy your spooky day and bring a little cheer into your office.

Carve a pumpkin using a template. You can make a pretty good looking pumpkin for the office if you download a template and use it to carve a special Linux pumpkin. You’ll find a free template for Tux the Linux Pumpkin by pumpkinlady and a pile of other Halloween templates at this URL. Or check out the collection on Pinterest.

You can learn all about pumpkinlady by reading her story here. And, if you want to carve pumpkins for every holiday, you’ll find more options than you likely ever imagined. You might even carve a pumpkin for your favorite political party — especially if you’re as haunted by this election as I am!

You just need to download the pdf, print it, and sit it next to you on the table top while you carve or, better yet, project the template onto your pumpkin and then do your carving. Just make sure old Tux is recognizable. And, if you need a little motivation for sticking up for Linux on this frightening day, read about the “Halloween documents” and how Microsoft planned to disrupt the progress of free software, open source software, and Linux in particular here. That’s pretty scary! The leaked documents and responses were published in 1998, but had been leaked close to Halloween in preceding years — thus the name “Halloween documents”. Yet Linux still knocks on doors in its many looks and styles!

Bring goodies into the office! It’s not too late. Nearly everyone enjoys some treats on this special day and not everyone wants to wait until they get home, take their kids through the neighborhood in their costumes, and then figure out how they’re going to snitch some of the goodies from the Halloween bags for themselves.

Come to work in costume – especially if you can dress up as a penguin, but nearly any costume will help make the day special.

Have a pumpkin carving contest! You might be surprised how creative some of your coworkers can be. Maybe you can carve a pumpkin to promote your company’s most recent product, to expose your coworker’s humorous temperament, or to poke fun at your competitors! You might be surprised by how creative your coworkers can be.

Whatever you do, enjoy the scary day, celebrate Linux, and don’t overdo it on the chocolate!