Halloween haters say Boo Humbug!

Carlee Smith is hardly in the no-fun category.

She hosts a monthly girls' night out at a bar in Portland, Ore., and co-runs a plus-size vintage boutique called Fat Fancy. But there's one thing that brings out the hate in her.

Smith, 33, is among a contrarian contingent that takes a boo humbug approach to Halloween.

"As a kid I remember always sort of dreading finding a costume," she says. "I'm not knocking it for other people, but I'm just not into the spectacle and pressure of it. I don't like tacky costumes. I like when people dress up for no reason."

Halloween haters aren't as easy to categorize as that odd old lady on the block who always pretends that she's not home on Oct. 31, or people who protest the day on religious grounds. The new Halloween Hater is young, loud and proud.

Online T-shirt retailer Zazzle.com has a whole line of anti-Halloween offerings that speak for the movement. Slogans include the saucy slogans and the simple and effective "I hate Halloween," among more than 340 options.

Some Halloween haters say they've felt that way since childhood.

"I distinctly remember putting on one of my dance recital costumes, grabbing my pumpkin bucket, walking up to the door and bursting into tears," says Alejandra Owens, 27, of Washington, D.C. She has hated Halloween since she was 5.

"I felt like the moment I walked out the door everyone would be pointing at me and laughing — and not in a good way."

Does she consider herself a curmudgeon?

"Maybe in college a little, but now all my good friends know how I feel about Halloween so it's more like a running joke," she says. "One thing I DO like about Halloween: Now that I live in D.C. people are incredibly creative and smart about their costumes. It's not just gorilla suits and sexy nurses. People in this town really get into their politically-themed costumes."

If Halloween hating is born of childhood bad experiences, does that make it more of a phobia than a matter of taste?

The scientific name for extreme fear of Halloween is "samhainophobia," named for the ancient Pagan festival of the dead Samain. Jerilyn Ross, president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, says actual phobias take things way beyond just a dislike or anxiety.

"To have a Halloween phobia, you avoid it all cost," she says. The fear in a phobia, she says, is excessive and irrational and the person knows it.