Prime Time for Pinterest

“Best thing about Halloween is NOTHING,” one of my friends posted last week. He obviously does not have a Pinterest account.

I saved even trying to get into an online debate about it after reading someone else’s cute reply: “Debbie Downer nice to meet you,” which got more likes than the actual mini-rant.

Now is not the time for me to share my extreme discontent for Internet ranters. Now is the time to tell you all to get your faces on Pinterest.com.

In that world, Halloween has got to be one of the best holidays that exists. A quick “Halloween” search on Pinterest, and there’s not only zillions of ideas, but also a whole bunch of sub-categories.

Hey guys, Halloween isn’t just costumes. It’s drinks, games, treats, pumpkins, parties, props, movies and makeup. It’s glow sticks in water balloons tied to the trees outside to look like ghosts in your yard.

Getting tricky with dry ice and lighting back in the day now has evolved into shaving your hot dogs to look like fingers, melting crayons to make artsy pumpkins and just about every costume idea that was ever invented. This holiday is what brings out people’s creativity! It gets them out of their shell! It’s one of the rare times where it’s OK to simply stand around staring at everyone! How can that be bad? What’s good about Halloween on Pinterest? EVERYTHING!

Pinterest has been around for about four years, but I hardly hear anyone beyond crafty moms or event coordinators swear by it. Anyone who works in any sort of design or creative field is a huge fan, I’m sure, but this time of year, especially, is when we all should be fans. It’s really the best cure for any sort of mental block. It’s even good for when you’re just tired of thinking. You can scroll aimlessly through all of the images, stopping at one that may be particularly interesting, unlocking another couple hundred that are similar, leading you to more boards and pins until you’ve fallen down a beautiful rabbit hole of glitter and homemade baked goods.

If you don’t have a Pinterest account, I’m not sure where you are getting your inspiration from. There are a few other great scroll-friendly websites when you’re tired of reading ranty posts by others or looking at selfies. Try FFF-FOUND!, Booooooom, Designsponge.com and Absolutist to get a start. I probably won’t see you again once you look in to these.

Of all the sites, Pinterest has had the most success. Last year, it clocked in at 70 million users, 80 percent of whom are female. It is only behind social media powerhouse Facebook in social-based traffic referrals, coming up 50 percent in only a year, spanking other referral-thirsties Twitter, Google+, StumbleUpon and Reddit. There is a very loose, nonintrusive social aspect, but it’s more about the imagery and inspiration. You don’t have to follow people you know, you don’t have to post. You can just scroll.

Now that Halloween is over, it’s time to start thinking about what to cook for Thanksgiving, and cute, memorable (and cost-effective) gifts for our family and friends. And then what to wear for New Year’s Eve. In other words? This is prime time for Pinterest.

@SUPERCW

Christa Wittmier is “SUPERCW” on all social media. Find her on Snapchat, Soundcloud, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. By night, she is known as DJ SuperCW. By day, she is known as senior marketing director for Young’s Market Company of Hawaii. Her nightlife blog SuperCity runs every Wednesday on HonoluluPulse. com