Halloween News

Each year at Halloween, children put on scary costumes and head out into the night in search of the best treats. Trekking from house to house trick or treating is a long held tradition. But before heading out, parent remind their children to stay safe - check your candy before you eat it and stay in a group. But being careful as a treat provider is just as important. Read on for some safety tips for providing treats this Halloween.

Stay safe. Women and older couples are the ones usually at home during trick or treating. And with the growing popularity of trick or treat with teenagers there’s a growing feeling of mischief. Some demand candy with menances - threatening to toilet paper homes if the best candy is not handed over. If you’re happy to give treats this Halloween, keep your home well lit and all door and windows are secure. Invite over some friends to help, so you’re not alone when handing out candy.

Parents will appreciate a careful choice of candy. Check that none are damaged and the pieces are individually wrapped. A healthier option like a granola bar or trail mix will be appreciated. To stop the spread of germs, hand out the candy rather than have each child pick from the bowl. And to stop squabbling and help the parents get round all the houses quicker, give each child the same kind of candy.

Keep track of the children that come trick or treating. Ask their names and where they live. If there’s a problem when they’re with you, you’ll know who to speak to. Children can wander far from home lured by the thought of free candy. If a parent comes searching for their lost child, you’ll be able to tell them if they’ve visited you, when, and which way they headed.

Having spooky fun at Halloween with trick or treating is a great tradition. But it’s not just all about the children. If you’re giving out treats on Halloween, take care of yourself and your home. By protecting yourself and your visitors you’ll make it a fun Halloween for everyone.

Is your house the typical spot for a Halloween party every year to loads of guests? Then the Halloween recipes you make are probably the same year after year. While there are many favorites that cannot be overlooked for a traditional Halloween party, it is a good idea to explore the ways in which the same old can be made into brand new Halloween recipes while keeping the terrifying tastes.

1. Eyeballs and Fingers. A bowl of peeled grapes and raw hotdogs as eyeballs and fingers is a Halloween tradition. But no one ever eats them. At the end of the night, you throw away these inedible leftovers. Body part snacks that everyone can eat is a much better idea. “Intestine stew” can be simply curly cue noodels. “Brain mush dip” is really guacamole and chips. Gross out your guests with yummy food this Halloween.

2. Dirt Desert. Pudding with broken Oreos and gummy worms is a winning Halloween desert. To remake this classic can be tricky. Instead of making a pudding try other types of deserts. A dirt pie with Oreo crusts and cheesecake filing or a dirt cake with chocolate frosting are both great ideas. Add as many gummy worms as you like. And serve the desert like dirt. Put it in little buckets or in a big bowl with a shovel for serving.

3. Apples and Pumpkin. Basically making anything out of apples and pumpkins in late October is a treat of the autumn season. Spicing these fruit up to something spooky and smoking is not as hard as you think. Steer away from pies and explore some more rustic varieties. Bake apples whole for side dishes and toast pumpkin seeds for appetizers. Having rich fruit as a part of Halloween recipes can be filling and sweet. For children parties do not forget activities around food like bobbing for apples and pumpkin picking. Dipping apples in caramel may be typical, but why not try other dips and set up a buffet of candied apples. As for those who do not like the taste of pumpkin, hollow one out and use it as a serving bowl.

The best Halloween recipes are those that are both good to eat, nice to look at, and fun to make. Take these things into consideration when brainstorming your same old Halloween recipes. Also, do not forget to ask guests for suggestions or create a potluck type list of what dishes your visitors would like to bring to share. Great for adults or children, there are some treats that are best served in the dark, spooky time of Halloween. By keeping your Halloween recipes hip and updated, you will be guaranteed to throw the best party of the whole year!

If you, like many parents, are concerned about the safety of your children on holidays like Halloween, know that there are many different ideas you can implement to provide a safe, viable, fun alternative to traditional Halloween trick or treating. All you need to do is use a little imagination and effort, and your Halloween celebration will be even more memorable than traipsing around the neighborhood trolling for candy. Let’s look at some creative ideas to come with an alternate Halloween activity.

* Host Your Own Halloween Party - While not entirely original, this one has the advantage of keeping you completely in control. You control the guest list, the treats, the games, you-name-it! Ideas for Halloween themed parties abound, and a great deal of fun can be had by making it a specific theme. Take care not to make it a too-expensive proposition for the parents to get their kids into the chosen theme, but for instance a Superhero party could be a lot of fun, with appropriate Superhero activities!

* Go To The Mall! - Many shopping malls make a big deal out of Halloween, for obvious reasons. You don’t have to make this a shopping excursion, but it can be a fun easy alternative to traditional trick or treating. It’s a fairly safe venue, and the treats will most likely be safe. Be sure to accompany your children and watch out for the traffic!

* Your Church - Many churches now sponsor kid-safe Halloween alternatives, many times eschewing Halloween altogether with a Harvest Festival. Games, rides, candy, costumes and fun are the hallmarks of these Halloween night activities at your place of worship.

* Alternative Celebration - If you’re a family that would rather not celebrate Halloween at all, either in its present form or with an alternative, then create your own traditions! Make this night a special night that your family chooses to do something special together on its own. This can be a great way to create memories and new family traditions.

* Floating Halloween Party - Another very cool idea I heard of was to organize a floating Halloween party. The idea behind this is to involve several families, each hosting a segment of the night’s activities. You might limit the number of houses to four or five, depending on the distance between them and number of children involved.

If you have many children, you might want to split them up into groups and have them take their turns at each home. You can have a scary haunted house, a Halloween craft house, maybe a contest at another, and of course lots of treats available at each home. This kind of activity creates loads of fun and a sense of community, and also keeps a tight lid on things!

Halloween doesn’t have to be a scary holiday for parents. With a little imagination and ingenuity you can create a safe, fun evening for both your kids and you as well!

Local stores are sure to offer to sell or rent Halloween costumes as the holiday approaches. Another option that will get kids involved in the fun, make them express their own creativity, and save you money at the same time is making the children’s costumes at home.

Consider some ideas for homemade Halloween costumes that won’t cost much at all.

The traditional Halloween costume themes are creatures from the underworld. Every Halloween sees thousands of children dressed like a Ghost, draped in an old white sheet with cutouts for arms and eyes, and don’t forget to cut out that all-important mouth to give access for those candies.

This simple and quick outfit lends itself to some imaginative work with fabric paint, marker pens or lipstick to add facial features, and it’s easy to accessorize with a treat bag made out of some trimmings or an old pillow case.

Ghosts are traditionally white, but there is no rule that states they can’t be of some other color as well. Remember that incorporating some black and orange will certainly keep the Halloween theme going. You could add some colorful dots, patches of material, a cape, and other details to make the simple ghost costume a bit more interesting and unique.

Using old colored sheets that are just lying around the house to make a ghost costume can be fun and easy, but remember that not just any old color will do. You want your ghost to stay scary, since that’s the whole idea of Halloween. A pastel sheet will not make your child terrifying to anyone. A well chosen color, though, could make your child’s costume stand out while maintaining an eerie Halloween feel.

Witch costumes are another easy and fun option. With a black fabric circle with head and arm holes you’re already nearly finished. Remember that a witch costume relies heavily on creepy details, especially a good pointed hat. A good witch’s hat can be made from a black cardboard cone and some glue. You can also choose to buy one in a local shop.

You may need to buy one of those witch face masks with a large, hooked and warty nose, or try making one with paper mache, paint and elastic. A broom made with a stick and a bundle of brushwood wired on at one end is a task to be assigned to the man of the house. Don’t forget the vital treat bag.

The fall season lends itself to the Halloween spirit. The long, cold nights seem to go right along with zombies, vampires, goblins, ghosts, and witches. If you choose to host a Halloween party, you just might be expecting quite the turnout of such creepy creatures.

How can you start planning your Halloween party?

To start, think about who will be attending. Depending on whether your guests will be kids or adults, the rest of the planning process will be completely different. If the partygoers will be of diverse ages or you want to have an event for the entire family, it will be important to make sure everyone has a good time. That might mean saving scarier fun for after the younger children have gone to bed.

The next step is deciding where and when to throw your party. Once you have a date, time, and location, you can send out invitations, which should naturally follow a Halloween theme. Invitations can be made truly unique, adding fun little touches that go along with the overall scary feeling of Halloween. Take your guests into consideration, though. Not everyone will think it is funny if plastic spiders fall out of their invitations. Ask guests to RSVP so that you can have a number of guests in mind while planning and be sure to remind guests to come dressed in a costume.

The entryway to the party location and any rooms where guests will be should be decorated in such a way so as to set a Halloween mood. The haunted house feel is always a good choice, using ghostly images, dim lighting, scary sound effects, a fog machine, spider webs, and jack-o-lanterns to create an eerie feeling.

After carving out jack-o-lanterns, you will be left with quite a bit of excess pumpkin parts. Consider using that to make pumpkin soup and pie. Other Halloween themed dishes can add a great touch to the festivities. Be careful though, since overdoing the horror theme while decorating might do away with your guests’ appetites.

You will also need to decide whether you will be serving snacks and finger food or a full meal. If you go with the latter, you also need to determine if a sit down dinner or a buffet style meal would be better. Party favors are a great addition to meals and they can contain games, jokes, and fun conversation starters for guests to enjoy while eating.

All plans regarding costumes should be handled well in advance, since you need to decide if you will rent, buy, or make them. Halloween costumes are an excellent way to make your guests feel comfortable in a party setting and will get everyone talking. Asking guests to wear masks can also help them feel less self conscious in their costumes and make starting conversations easier.

Halloween parties are growing in popularity as an excuse to have fun, and are one of the few high profile social events through the year where dressing up is what it’s all about. Choosing what to wear to a Halloween Party can be a little frustrating.

Several costumes are basically guaranteed to make an appearance at all the Halloween parties every year. Witches, ghosts, and Dracula (and maybe even his bride) are all popular Halloween disguises, but they are not the only ones available at local costume shops.

If you happen to have the time, money, and desire to do so, you could make a completely unique costume all by yourself. Most people, though, are missing at least one of these three things and thus choose to wear a ready made costume that’s uniqueness comes from its absolute lack of connection to anything even slightly related to Halloween.

Costumes that are controversial, clever, or daring are sure to stand out from the rest of the more conservative outfits. Some people probably would not feel comfortable wearing such an interesting get up, but with just a little bit of confidence and poise it can be done successfully.

You can make your costume unique and interesting by simply using a clever conversation starter that relates to your outfit somehow. If you like, you could even choose to make fellow party goers laugh with a short, funny story to go with your Halloween disguise.

Let’s take an example. Instead of going as a ghost, go as one of the Ghost Buster movie characters, and work the room meeting all the ghosts with the line you are there to bust them. Soon everyone will know you are there at the party.

If you go as a group, coordinate your costumes and show up, for example, as the Adams Family. It gives you an excuse to ham it up with each other. You won’t be the first to use that costume, but people will notice all of you and want to talk about your distinctive united approach.

If, when you go to buy a costume, the only one left is the all too common Dracula, you can still mix it up and make it your own. For example, you could opt to wear Dracula’s classic tuxedo top, but change the pants to golf pants and tell everyone at the party you are Dracula on vacation. This is sure to attract someone who loves golf and lots of curious party guests.

Your Halloween party decorations will probably include the standard range of items, but there are some simple little extra tricks you can easily add that will add a scary surprise, and give your guests a chilling fright and cause a few screams.

No good Halloween party could be void of spooky, creepy, candlelit, carved Jack-O-Lanterns spreading eerily dim lighting throughout the room. You can also buy ghostly glowing images to hang up in strategic locations and add imitation spider web or goassmer cloth to walls. Either one will create a scary haunted house feel to your party.

Suspending decoration items like bats, flying witches on broom sticks, large hairy spiders, balloons with ghostly faces, skeletons and the like from the ceiling, down to to face level, will have your guests dodging around among these horrors in the flickering candle light, and always on the lookout for their next fright. Distributing plastic spiders and other shocking surprises around where people sit, or on tables among the drinks and plates, will help to keep your guests on edge.

To make party goers feel a creepy ghostly presence in the room, you can attach lots of thin, darkly colored string from the ceiling. Make sure they can’t be seen. That way, people will walk into them and feel something strange touching them without being able to see what it is, which might even win you a few terrified screams.

The unexpected is often quite scary. Set up some frightening pictures and other decorations that are placed in front of timed lights. When these scary scenes are suddenly illuminated, or better yet, combined with loud, frightening sound effects, everybody will be surprised enough to jump out of their seat. If you invite a more adult crowd, your lights could reveal a headless corpse hanging in the darkness.

Combining good lighting effects with a fog machine can really make things creepy. To make the effect authentic, hide the fog machine behind some cleverly placed tombstones or other decorations.

Another great touch can be a horror movie. Just put on an especially scary film on a big screen TV and let it play quietly in the background. It will add a chilling touch to your party.

Music plays a large part in creating the atmosphere. At least for the early part of the party, Halloween sound effects and music like the classic Monster Mash will heighten the sense of tension in the room. With the party in full swing later on, your guests will expect to hear their favorite dance music tracks. A compilation interspersing Halloween sound effects would help to maintain the atmosphere.

Halloween, which falls each year on October 31st, is a holiday rich with tradition. In modern times, the celebration has come to include lots of frightening fun, like touring haunted houses, attending costume parties, and watching horror movies. Kids can be seen each and every Halloween donning costumes of Dracula, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and the like, trick-or-treating from door to door for candy and other goodies.

Originally a Celtic festival, Halloween arrived in North America when Irish, Welsh, and Scottish immigrants whose ancestors had celebrated Halloween continued the tradition in America. From there, Halloween has spread into most Western countries where English is spoken, including Western Europe. This is partly due to Halloween’s synthesis into American pop culture.

Originally Halloween was a pagan festival, around the idea of linking the living with the dead, when contact became possible between the spirits and the physical world, and magical things were more likely to happen. Like most pagan festivals, long ago it was absorbed into the festivals of the expanding Christian church, and became associated with All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day, which eventually fell on November 1 under the Gregorian calendar.

On the evening of October 31, All Hallows Evening, a vigil was held for the following day’s celebrations. All Hallows Evening was eventually referred to as Hallowe’en and finally the Halloween that is celebrated throughout the world.

Ireland is where traditional Halloween celebrations have remained the strongest. There, children would traditionally dress as supernatural creatures, getting stores of nuts, fruit, and sweets from neighbors that would be used in the celebrations. Each town celebrated the end of summer by getting together and setting a large bonfire in order to protect them all from evil spirits.

Foods that the children collected were made a part of games like bobbing for apples and other assorted items or eating apples on a string. Turnips were used to hold candles after having scary ghostly faces carved into them. This lead to the pumpkin carving that has become so popular in America. Kids were also dusted with salt in order to protect them from wicked spirits.

The trick aspect to trick or treating as it emerged in North America seems to have more obscure origins. It may be a merging of the collection of treats with another separate old tradition, especially in Ireland, where children would sometimes engage in secretive mischief at Halloween. The original intention was for the activities of mischievous Halloween spirits to be blamed.

Usually the mischief consisted of playing some minor or witty tricks on some adults - often the less popular ones - things like moving or hiding everyday items during Halloween night.

Halloween celebration traditions are held every October 31st. Today the ones who enjoy Halloween the most are the children. Halloween is a popular time to get up in fancy dress and go from house to house trick or treating. Some people take the time to set up displays in their homes and front yards with tombs and ghosts in a Halloween theme.

Halloween is an ancient Celtic festival, and has lasted down the ages most strongly in the Celtic communities in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. From those countries, with immigration, Halloween has spread around the world, especially to America. In recent times, the spread of popular American culture has generated fresh interest in Halloween to new places, such as Asia and Western Europe.

The early Celtic celebrations were pagan festivals about the changing seasons as winter approached. By tradition it was a time when people could communicate with the dead, and magic was about in the land. The early Christian church, as with many pagan cultures, absorbed these festivities into the Christian calendar. All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows Day, was designated on November 1st. All Hallows Evening, the night of October 31st, became known as Hallow E’en, later just Halloween, and the time for the customary celebrations.

Halloween was celebrated in each village, and there was usually a large fire to keep warm and entertaining games. The apple harvest was going on, and games such as trying to eat an apple on a string or floating in a tub of water with no hands, were favorites. Children would go from house to house to gather fruit, nuts and other foodstuffs for the festivities, which was the origin of the “treating” visits of today. Notably in Scotland, the children would sing or put on a performance in return for the treats they were handed. Nowadays the treats handed out are usually candies and sweets, and perhaps some coins.

Early on, Halloween “tricks” were secretive and often clever pranks played on some adults by children. The mischievous spirits that were said to be abroad on Halloween were blamed. This activity was especially popular in Ireland. A long time ago, tricks and treating combined into an ultimatum: give a treat or become the victim of a trick. This undesirable habit led to such unpleasantness as tossing eggs at houses and soaping windows, and more serious vandalism. Nowadays such unruly behavior is not often seen.

Halloween parties are often held with a haunted house theme decoration. To the delight of children, Halloween menu items often include tomato soup renamed as vampire soup, spaghetti dishes renamed with cemetery humor as worms, and the ever-popular breadsticks tipped with sliced almonds and known as witches’ fingers. With so many pumpkins being made into carved jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin dishes such as pumpkin pie are often a feature of Halloween menus.

Over the last few years, the magical themes of the popular Harry Potter books have added fresh fun to costumes and decorations for children’s Halloween parties.

Halloween costume parties have also become popular events for adults as well in recent years. They are a great excuse to dress up and have fun. It seems the trend today is for any costume to be acceptable, not necessarily just the traditional witches, vampires and ghosts of Halloween. Costume design inspirations are now drawn from many sources, such as recent movies and television series. Some costumes are just witty, such as the seasonally appropriate theme of a “leaf blower”, consisting just of a leaf suspended from the brim of a cap where it can be blown.

Despite what many people believe, Halloween is not just for kids. Adults have just as much fun attend Halloween parties as children, and the costumes can be just as elaborate. Shopping for Halloween costumes can be very exciting, especially if you are attending the party with someone and want your Halloween costumes to be themed. Any businesses that cater to the public hold special Halloween parties where there are contests and prizes for the best costumes. When you are attending this type of party, it is important to have the perfect Halloween costume.

Although traditional Halloween costumes include witches and princesses, adult Halloween costumes are as varied as children. However, adult costumes include a completely different genre than children. Many adults choose costumes that have an adult theme that can surely win the contests that are held. A sexy costume will most likely beat a witches costume every time.

So, what are your options for clean adult Halloween costumes? Basically, your options are endless. Many costume shops now sell adult Halloween costumes. Of course, it is no longer cute for an adult to go as the little princesses they may have been when children. However, there are many creative costumes. Often very colorful shirts, shorts, and hats can be combined to make a costume. Old sheets, curtains, and games can be combined to make a costume. If not crafty at all, or not in the mood or out of time for making a costume, buying a costume is a good option.

Clean costumes that can be bought are almost endless. These clean costumes often take the ideas of being crafty and create costumes on a professional level. For example, a woman could easily take an old twister game and put the sheet on a dress or try to make some clothing out of it, putting the spinner board on a hat. Yet, that woman could also buy an adult Halloween costume that is a dress that is made with the Twister pattern and already has hat that is made with the spinner board on top. Other costumes that are not as traditional may be insects, other animals, and food.

Older standbys are both popular and easy to customize. There are witches and wizards at every Halloween party and this type of costume is easy to make. You have the choice of being scary or kindly. You can make the costume mainly or partly from your own clothes and add your own personal touches to make it yours. Pirate costumes are quite popular nowadays too. You can use different styles and colors when making a pirate costume. You might like to be a cheeky deckhand in black and white or a wooden-legged pirate with a bright stripy outfit. You might want to attach a toy bird to your shoulder for a fun touch! You can really let your imagination fly if you want to create an adult costume like this.

Choosing a Halloween costume is one thing that most people look forward to every year, not just children, but adults also. Creativity is the key to choosing any Halloween costume. Edited by Hetsil Protage