Helping You Find The Best Halloween Night Theme Party
December 13th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
How do you throw a Halloween Night party to reflect your interests and character? Film buffs may choose a horror movie night, the artistic may host a craft party, socialites may organize a block party and the refined may opt for an elegant dinner party. There are almost limitless options for expressing your creativity, while entertaining your friends for some Halloween fun. To take the stress away, plan ahead, decide upon a budget, pick a theme and ask others to bring things if need be.
Comedian (”Strangers with Candy”) and Entertainer Extraordinaire, Amy Sedaris, recommends hosting a Halloween Night Movie Party. “The fun of the party to me is the movie I’m featuring,” says Sedaris, who personally recommends classics like Dracula and Frankenstein, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, The Trilogy of Terror, The Bad Seed, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Of course, there are countless movies from which to choose. To create the in-home theater, she moves the TV to the center of the room and arranges cushy beanbag chairs and furniture around it so everyone can see. Then she places food trays around the room in accessible spots.
She serves meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn because “you don’t have to see it to eat it” and she also highly recommends pumpkin pie dessert and pumpkin seed snacks. She likes to start the Halloween fun with a pumpkin carving activity too. Drinks can include a Bloody Mary, a Berry Rum Punch, Sangria or a witch’s brew. Sedaris also recommends sending out invitations that look like a movie ticket or film reel, draping red velvet around the room, playing elevator muzak, setting up 25-cent concessions booths and throwing a few of the more traditional Halloween decorations around. “Entertaining alone is one of the most creative and rewarding experiences I can think of,” she concludes.
A Halloween Night craft party is another great idea for the artistically-minded. Kid parties are made easy when you check out all the Halloween fun craft kits at www.orientaltrading.com for foam Halloween magnets, Halloween necklaces, suction cup Halloween characters and more. Also, pumpkin decorating and scarecrow building are two of the most popular craft parties for kids and can be easily arranged via the nearest craft supply shop. For teenagers or adults, you may be interested to know that www.goregalore.com and www.monstermakers.com have kits for building authentic Halloween masks and corpse Halloween decorations, although these may take several gatherings and a few months to complete.
An easy October 31st festivity is to plan a “Murder Mystery Party” by using one of the many boxed game sets out there. You’ll typically receive character and costume suggestions for each person, music and decoration ideas, Halloween recipes, music suggestions and scripts. Check out www.dinnerandamurder.com, www.acemurdermystery.com, www.tailormademysteries.com, www.mysteriesbyvincent.com or www.host-a-murder.com for starters. Some kits allow hosts to download all the materials they need, while others offer more person-to-person party planning advice. There are also murder mystery kits you can buy at game stores, notably the Bepuzzled brand “A Taste For Wine and Murder,” which comes with recipes, character booklets, invitations, a CD, secret clues and costume/decorating advice. Murder mystery games are great guides to hosting your first Halloween night party!
Personalized Holiday Cards
December 4th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It’s fall, and before you know it, we’ll be heading into that most wonderful, family-oriented time of the year. It’s the Holiday Season, and it’s on the way. Since Christmas, and New Year’s are just around the corner, be sure to grab some address labels for all those holiday cards you’ll be sending out.
When That Season rolls around, most of us end up spending a lot of time on our holiday card lists — and no, we’re not talking about the politics of who to send to or not to send to, based on who sent you cards last year. We’re talking about the act of actually preparing and sending the cards themselves, which, frankly, can be a huge pain in the neck. But here’s an idea — try to inject some fun into this mundane task. Why not sit down with the whole family, and use this as an opportunity to have a little fun?
Enjoy some Christmas cookies and slap those pretty winter address labels on your cards, crumbs and all. You’ve gotta do it anyway — you might as well make sure you enjoy it. It’s easy and fun to add personal touches to your holiday cards, and all it takes is a few inexpensive items to do it. This isn’t something you’ll have to drag your kids into — most kids love making imaginative little presents like personalized cards. Think of the big smiles that Grandma and Grandpa will have on their faces when they receive those personalized holiday cards in the mail!
Why not think beyond Christmas? Be imaginative — you don’t have to limit this activity to once a year, if you find you enjoy it. Return address labels and other supplies are surprisingly inexpensive, whether you’re aiming for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or even birthdays. The printers will be happy to rush them to you through the mail system; order today, and you should have them in a week or so! You’ll find that the variety of designs, formats, and colors is simple amazing. Ready to start clicking?
Tips To Find Your Halloween Costume
December 2nd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Costume design often encompasses all shapes, sizes, colors, fabrics, accessories and levels of craftsmanship. This concept is most evident in the Renaissance Halloween costume choices, which can cost as little as $20 or as much as $1400. Whether you want to win a costume contest or buy a corset for everyday use, there are scores of places on the internet that will be happy to accommodate you or your children with time period clothing.
If you’re looking for more than a cheaply made Halloween costume and want something that looks professional, from a theater performance, a movie or a Renaissance festival, then you can buy custom, high-quality, historically accurate Renaissance costumes at www.verymerryseamstress.com. If you’re looking to pay less than $155 for your adult costume, then you’ll want to order cotton fabric, rather than twill or satin. The “Reversible Peasant Package” is very popular because it embodies the traditional “Renaissance” apparel with a strapped front-laced bodice in any two colors, a cotton skirt and matching wrist bracer, with or without the short chemise.
You can add any number of accessories from skirts, sashes or headpieces. Made of cotton and sans chemise, the package is just $99 but it ranges to $195 for twill material, with a short chemise included. The next category up from the Peasant Packages are the Merchant Packages from $155 - $250, which are simple and middle class Renaissance, yet stylish nonetheless, with chemise, skirt, brocade purse and sash. If you would like to dress as an aristocrat, then you can find “court” apparel ranging in price from $251 - $300, or nobility for $351 and higher. For instance, you can dress as Jane Grey or Mary Tudor for $1300 - $1400 with a costume made of silk, lace, pearl, faux fur and jacquard.
At www.medievalcollectibles.com you will find a great selection of renaissance costumes. Fans of “The Tudors” on Showtime will love the high quality, two-piece “Anne Boleyn Gown” with its golden champagne floral fabric and burgundy lined sleeves, for $270. The Renaissance maiden Halloween costume includes a corset with attached sleeves, a skirt, with attached sash, drape and headpiece for $187.50. By contrast, you can buy a “Lady Guinevere” green velvet dress and headpiece for just $62.50. Men can also choose between “Robin Hood” and “Lancelot” for under $70. For kids costumes, your daughter can be a princess or your son can be a Renaissance pirate for $20-$40.
If you’re looking for a costume for Halloween or a Renaissance fair, you must first decide upon a character. Peasants will wear lighter, cheaper fabrics in aprons and tankards, while royalty dresses in heavier silks and velvets. You can sew your own basic chemise or skirt if you’re particularly handy with a sewing machine and then simply buy a few accessories, like a lace-up bodice or corset. To look your best, it’s worth it to pay a little more for your Halloween costume. Nothing is worse than seams busting, hems unraveling and buttons flying while you’re trying to impress.
Time To Get The Home Ready For Christmas
November 20th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It is always fun when the time of year comes around to start decorating for Christmas time. Years ago it seems that time did not roll around until right after Thanksgiving, but over the last several years it seems to have started even earlier. It is very noticeable in all the stores right after Halloween ends. Seems the very next time all the Christmas decorations are out lining the shelf’s.
Though most people probably start the actually decoration process until after Thanksgiving ends, there is more to it then that. Depending on how much effort you will put into the decorating of your house you may need to start months before mapping everything out.
Part of that is getting a list of all the indoor and outdoor decorations you would like to display. To get some ideas you can browse websites to look a products or view pictures of homes decorated for Christmas from years past. There are many unique thing people do to decorate for the holidays, but most people follow a similar theme.
They all typically put lights on the house and maybe some outdoor decorations get put out, and then there are those that go to the extreme with their holiday cheer and end up doing so much that people drive to their house from all over the place just to see it. Those people must really do some serious planning.
Where the average person falls is usually somewhere in between either doing nothing or going to the extreme. If you plan to do things outside in your front yard and want to go somewhat beyond doing nothing you may want to make sure to buy some commercial grade Christmas lights for the house. In addition if you do not want wires hanging out everywhere another good idea may be to look into using wireless Christmas lights as part of your display. Just make sure to have lots of fun and make it great for the kids and adults alike to enjoy your hard work and efforts.
Halloween Safety Tips Ensure The Fun
October 31st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Halloween is a holiday that most children anticipate with great excitement, and it is usually a holiday that most people remember for many years. Children plan for months in advance trying to figure out which will be the very best costume available. They plan on the route for their adventures based on the possibilities of collecting the most treats in the least amount of time. Most children finish the evening with great contentment and anticipation of an even better adventure next year. Halloween means moving around the town with other children so many potential dangers do exist.
Halloween Recipes are a Tasty Treat
October 31st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Halloween is a great time for all kinds of treats—and they’re definitely not hard to find! Starting in August and September, most grocery stores and convenient stores put bags and bags of candy assortments out for sale. Everyone has a favorite traditional, store bought treat, but why not take your Halloween offering to the next level? Using Halloween recipes to make your own treats can result in some of the best treats of all.
An Apple, Even Today
One of the most popular homemade recipes on the Halloween circuit is the candy apple. Candy apples are easy to make, and they are perfect for treat-seeking kids and sweet-toothed adults alike! To begin making candy apples from Halloween recipes, the following ingredients are needed:
- 1.5 cups of sugar, 10 apples, 2/3 cups of water, 1 pack of Cherry Kool-Aid, and 2 teaspoons of vinegar. You will also need skewers to put the apples on.
- First, mix the sugar water and vinegar. Boil this mixture until it reaches 300 degrees. At this point, set the mixture aside to cool. While waiting for the mixture to cool, you can put each apple on a skewer to prepare them for dipping.
- Next, add the Kool-Aid to the cooled mixture and stir well. It is now time to dip the apples in the mixture. Do so quickly and then set aside on wax paper. Make sure to individually package these treats before handing them out on Halloween.
Pretty Poppin’
Another easy and delicious treat that can be made from Halloween recipes is the popcorn ball. The popcorn ball is also another longtime favorite—any child would be happy to see this treat in their goody bag! To make popcorn balls from a Halloween recipe, you will need:
- 8 cups of popcorn, ¼ cup of butter, 1 cup of candy corn, and 1 bag of marshmallows.
- Place the popcorn (make sure it is popped) and the candy corn in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan. When the butter is fully melted, add the marshmallows to the mixture, stirring them until melted.
- Pour the marshmallow-butter mixture over the popcorn-candy corn mixture, and stir with a large spoon. When the mixture is cool enough to work with using your hands, grease your hands with butter and begin working the mixture into small balls.
- To give out on Halloween night, package individually.
Kids are used to looking into their bags on Halloween and finding the usual loot—Snickers Bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and 3 Musketeers Bars. Halloween treats made from recipes that are just a little out of the ordinary will make for an unexpected surprise that trick-or-treaters will never forget.
