For Ellen Travolta, Halloween is filled with special memories and family ingenuity; Now, she gets to share the holiday with Hallmark audiences in her latest film

For the six Travolta children, Halloween was a big deal.

Back then, treats were homemade, so Ellen Travolta and her siblings, including actor John Travolta, would return home from a night of trick-or-treating with fresh popcorn balls and chocolate chip cookies.

Later, when buying loads of candy became the norm, Travolta’s parents, unable to spend a lot on Halloween, would tell the children, “When you get (a full bag of candy), circle around back and we’ll put it in our bowl and we’ll regive it.”

Costumes were similarly thrifty before stores stocked dozens of premade options. Ellen Travolta remembers a particular Halloween after her mother, who sold items found in old homes along the East Coast, discovered an antique dress from the turn of the century, complete with a bustle.

Ellen Travolta, age 9 at the time, wore the dress for a costume contest at the then-Plaza Theater in Englewood, New Jersey. Paired with the screw curls her grandmother styled for her, she won “most unique costume.”

She could not wear such a beautiful dress trick-or-treating though, so she proudly changed into a costume made from old sheets.

Once she became a mother, Ellen Travolta continued making costumes. She once dyed a burlap oat bag orange so daughter Molly could be a pumpkin. That year, son Tom dressed as Danny Zuko, his Uncle John’s character in “Grease.”

“It wasn’t nearly as commercial as it is,” she said. “We’re talking a long time ago. It was always great fun, and I loved it. Then my kids, they had a great time. My grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, everybody loves to get dressed up, but it’s way more of an expense now than it was then.”

Commercialism aside, Coeur d’Alene-based Ellen Travolta still enjoys celebrating Halloween, often spending it at her daughter’s home in Spokane.

This year’s holiday will be extra special, as she gets to bring Halloween magic to homes everywhere as part of the movie “Haul Out the Halloween,” which premieres Saturday on Hallmark Channel. It will be available for streaming on Hallmark+ on Sunday.

The movie is the third in the “Haul Out the Holly” series, following “Haul Out the Holly” and “Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up.” Travolta starred in those films as well.

“Haul Out the Halloween” heads back to Evergreen Lane, where Christmas reigns supreme and the residents, Emily (Lacey Chabert), Jared (Wes Brown), Mary Louise (Ellen Travolta), Pamela (Melissa Peterman) and Ned (Stephen Tobolowsky), have become known for their all-out holiday displays.

But when spooky new neighbors Luna (Kimberly J. Brown) and Marvin (Daniel Kountz) move in, the neighborhood decides to host EverSCREAM Lane to fundraise for a local charity. The holiday would not be complete without a few haunted hijinks, though through it all, Emily rediscovers her love for Halloween, a love she shared with her late grandmother.

The film was written by Maclain Nelson and Christopher Sey and directed by Nelson.

Ellen Travolta was excited about the switch from Christmas to Halloween for the third film in the series. Hallmark does not have a lot of Halloween-specific movies, so she knew this movie would interest dedicated viewers.

Fans of the “Haul Out the Holly” series are also familiar with the characters, so Ellen Travolta anticipated many viewers being interested in what the group was up to.

“Haul Out the Halloween” was filmed in May in Utah. Reuniting with Chabert, Wes Brown, Peterman and Tobolowsky was a lot of fun, she said, as was getting to work with Kimberly J. Brown and Kountz, who viewers will likely recognize from the “Halloweentown” series.

“For me to be doing these is a great treat,” she said. “There are beautiful young actors and actresses, and I get to play with them, and then we do other things outside of Hallmark. We meet in L.A., we’ll have dinner. We’ll have a weekend in Vegas, so we have a lot of fun together.”

Be on the lookout for a scene in which Ellen Travolta raps during a talent show the neighborhood is hosting as part of the fundraiser.

“The rap was fun because you have to do it right, and that makes me a little nervous remembering those words and then saying them as quickly as I can,” she said.

She is also excited for viewers to see the wedding ceremony that opens the film – “It was beautiful, and yet we still maintained our quirkiness” – and the scenes where EverSCREAM Lane is open for visitors.

In all, Ellen Travolta hopes “Haul Out the Halloween” can act as a treat in a time of constant tricks.

“It’s not scary-scary, but there’s ghosts, there’s monsters, but we’re not looking at Freddy Krueger,” she said. “It’s not designed to frighten people. It’s designed to make them use their imaginations, have fun and be a community.”