Be Prepared – It’s Halloween!
Halloween will soon be here again!!
October 31st is around the corner and frenzied parents are already rushing around for costumes,
decorations, treats and anything that will contribute to the ‘best Halloween ever’.
The competition is stiff – all the neighbours are decorating their homes and the children all want to have
the most unusual costumes to outdo their friends.
So much to choose from!! You can rush off to the nearest Department Store or you can sit at home and
order everything on-line. The age of technology has made this exercise pleasant, hassle free, and a key-
stroke away!!
Shopping on-line for Halloween accessories is even better than going to the store. You don’t have to
rubble through all the unpackaged and disorganized costumes. Shopping is orderly! It’s an adventure
finding decorations because there are so many to choose from as you sit comfortably at home, and
ponder upon what will make the biggest impact.
Once you find the perfect ‘one stop shop’ online the fun begins!
What will you shop for first? I think costumes are a great start. Now you need adults’ and children’s
costumes. Halloween will not be Halloween without the ever popular Vampires, Witches, Werewolves,
Frankensteins, Dead People, Bloodied people – just think gore and it’s there for you!
Some people prefer ‘pretty’ costumes, so you go right ahead and be a Fairy, Angel, Lady of the Night,
whatever you want to be. Halloween night is your night!! Be sure and wear a mask to add to the
intrigue of the evening and the darkness!
Children, particularly the teenagers, are extremely creative and many will opt to make their costumes
from old clothing, but will need accessories, like makeup, paint, glitter, so there again, online is the place
to be for all their needs.
Of course it is important to remember what your disguise was the year before!!
Having chosen your costumes the next huge step is decorations. Again, the list is endless. Halloween
is not complete with all the scary little insects, like Spiders, Cobwebs, Bats, Blood and anything that can
scare anyone. The latest electronic sounds are awesome and eerie!! There are those that scream as
someone passes by; some laugh like one imagines the dead would.
And don’t forget good old Jack-O-Lantern. His face can be happy or scary – the choice is yours.
The goodies!! The shops are overflowing with candy of every size, color and flavour. Although you may
be out collecting your treats, you must remember to have lots of goodies for your scary little visitors!
It can be really funny if someone dresses in a scary costume, answers the door to hand out candy and
scares the daylights out of the tricksters!! The fun you will have doing that can be quite an experience.
So go boldly – make this Halloween the scariest and most memorable one – until next year!
The Best of Halloween
Halloween creates almost as much excitement as Christmas!!
It is actually said to be the second largest commercially successful celebration second to Christmas. These two events are however, miles apart in meaning and portrayal.
The shops overflow with decorations and costumes that are irresistible to the over exuberant shoppers whose main objective is to be the scariest, funniest, most unusual and gory masquerader on the streets on the night that belongs to the ‘undead’.
BLOOD, becomes the order of the day for those evil spirits!!
Halloween with all the really scary and morbid characters in the form of ghosts and goblins still attracts little fairies, angels, rabbits, cartoon characters, actions figures and so many other characters that are absolutely unrelated to the true meaning of Halloween. This softens the gore usually associated with that supposedly gruesome night!
Perhaps this is what makes it such a festive occasion. The excitement lies in the ‘mystery’ of who is behind the mask! The idea of the mask came from the earlier days when people believed that on that night, spirits came wandering around. They wore the
masks in the hope that the spirit would not think they were human, and therefore they would be saved from the wrath of the spirits.
Halloween can, in my opinion, be described more as a Mardi-Gras of sorts. Costumes abound, and excitement and laughter fill the air on that ever so popular evening of October 31st.
The Pumpkin is the big symbol in Halloween – can you imagine Halloween without a pumpkin?? Fake or real, pumpkins are in abundance everywhere. The good old Jack O Lantern originated in Ireland where the Irish used them to keep away spirits on the ‘day of the dead’ – Halloween!!
Today – Jack O Lantern can be scary, funny or happy. Light him up and he delights everyone!
The seeds of the pumpkin make an excellent, healthy treat for all. This is quite a welcomed accompaniment to the hundreds of candy bars, bonbons and other sugar-filled goodies that the little Goblins hope to collect throughout the evening.
Although these ‘Goblins’ are supposed to exchange a trick for a treat, this ‘rule’ is hardly ever enforced. The original idea is for the tricksters to perform some mischievous act or a practical joke and having provided the entertainment, earn a treat. Most just collect the treat and run off to the next ‘victim’.
Halloween is just one huge, boisterous evening, filled with creative little ‘monsters’ running around collecting as many goodies as their bags can contain.
You won’t want to miss being a part of this festival. The color orange is everywhere as the harvest is over, autumn has arrived, the leaves have changed colors – and then – the Blackness of the night!!!
Happy Halloween!
Halloween – More Than Just Fun
Aside from the Christmas season I think that
Halloween is one of the most awaited days of a lot of people especially children because
they get to wear different costumes. Of course there is the usual trick or treat, but there is
just something about Halloween that seems special when it comes to kids. However, for us
adults who truly understand, Halloween is not really a time to be jolly and merry just like
the Christmas season. The true meaning of Halloween seems to be almost forgotten
because we are misguided by all the colorful costumes and decorations. This is not
actually a season of smiles, but of prayer and a bit of mourning.
Pray for them
There is a reason why Halloween is celebrated on the day that we usually
celebrate it— either from the night of the 31st of October to the 1st of November, or on
the day of November 1 itself. Traditionally, if we base it on the calendar, it is the day of
the dead. Meaning, we should all remember our deceased loved ones and pray for their
souls to go up in heaven. If I am not mistaken, this mentality of ours started in a festivity
that is celebrated in Mexico wherein they dress-up in hallow costumes or costumes that
look like skeletons to commemorate their dead loved ones. It also makes perfect sense,
because the term “Halloween” is derived from how our loved ones look like by the time
they are dead.
Not actually a time of smiles
As I have mentioned, the day of Halloween is not actually a day to be happy. We
should think about our deceased loved ones and pray that their souls will go up to heaven
so that they could look after us. Here in the Philippines, the concept of Halloween is
rarely observed. Although we do celebrate Halloween parties, it is just for fun but we
really do not get the gist of doing it. We probably got this idea from the west and so we
adopted it, but the most common way of celebrating this season is by going to the
cemetery to visit the bodies of our dead family members.
Something to smile about
But I think that this is just normal for us people. Even though Halloween is
supposed to be a sad day, we still find something to laugh about and to celebrate along
the way. It does not mean that we do not respect the dead anymore, but it is just that we
can still think of ways to cover up our sadness. If Halloween is celebrated by means of a
party in the west, you may find how Filipinos celebrate their dead loved ones as weird. I
personally do not get the idea of this because this is not how our family celebrates our
deceased members, but some stay drunk or sing merrily with their friends while looking
after the coffin of their dead ones. They also get to serve out delicious foods, which may
seem like you attended a birthday party instead of a dead man’s grave. Whatever the
reason for this, let us just say that we people have still something to laugh about
somewhere in the middle during tough times.
Decorating Your Home for Halloween
Decorating your home for a holiday gives you an opportunity to transform your home from the mundane to something a little more colorful and fantasy like for a few days or weeks. Decorating for Halloween can be especially fun as you can create so many decorations right from nature and simply add a few purchased Halloween decorations to the mix for added interest.
Pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, hay bales, and leaves all make wonderful Halloween decorations and really bring this holiday alive while adding bright spots of color to both your inside and outside décor. You can simply tie a few dried corn stalks together with a bright orange ribbon, place it beside your door place a few colorful gourds around the base and you have an inviting decoration with very little effort. Or add a few jack-o-lanterns with battery operated lights inside for an even more Halloweeny look.
Pumpkins make great Halloween decorations and can be used in a variety of ways to make this holiday a little more cheery and fun. You can hollow out the inside of a large pumpkin and place a vase of flowers inside for cheery floral centerpiece for your mantel or your table and turn those tiny pumpkins into candle holders as well. You can even create your own scarecrow for your deck or patio simply by stuffing some old clothes and using a pumpkin for a head! There really is no end to what you can come up with when you use pumpkins for decorations.
For those of you whose taste in Halloween decorations are a little more on the creepy side there is also a number of interesting Halloween decorations you can make or buy. For those spiders and spiderwebs you can stretch across windows and hang from the corners of your doorways to those bats you can hang from trees to fly in the wind, to skeletons, and even assorted body parts that you can leave laying around to scare the dickens out of those little trick or treaters who come to your door there are literally hundreds of decorations you can choose from.
If you are planning a Halloween party then Halloween decorations are a must and choosing the right decorations can really make your party an instant success. You can choose from whimsical and fun Halloween decorations or frightening ones depending on the theme of your party. Halloween decorations run the gambit from window and wall clings to talking snack bowls and spooky shadows.
There are Halloween decorations to meet everyone’s personal style whether you are just looking for a few cute table decorations to add a little Halloween atmosphere to your home or whether you want to become the scariest home in the neighbor hood you can accomplish your goal.
So go ahead let those creative juices flow and add a little fun and mystery to your home this fall by making or buying some Halloween decorations and celebrating the holiday in style.
Cute Halloween Decorations
Great Ideas for Cuddly and Cute Halloween Decorations
Decorating your home for Halloween shouldn’t be stressful nor should it be expensive. There are many cute Halloween decorations that can be found at dollar and discount stores, and yard sales. There are also a lot of natural things you can use when creating your own cute Halloween decorations and many inexpensive crafts that you can created in just a few minutes.
Natural Items You Can Use to Create Cute Halloween Decorations
Tree limbs, acorns, pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks can all be used to help you create some really cute Halloween decorations. Tying several corn stalks together with a bright Orange or a black ribbon, placing a few pumpkins around the bottom of stalks and a wood cut black cat and you have a simple and inexpensive Halloween decoration to place by your door or on your deck.
Small dead tree limbs can be placed in a vase and acorns painted and made up like mini jack-o-lanterns can be glued to the branches making a cute and inexpensive Jack-o-Lantern tree. Gourds can be used in a number of ways to add to your Halloween decorations both indoors and outdoors.
Shopping for Cute Halloween Decorations
Looking for cute little ghost, witch, and scarecrow figurines, and picking up silk fall leaves on sale can add a little spice to your Halloween and help you create cute Halloween decorations by simply combining a few inexpensive items together in an interesting new way.
Orange and yellow mums, orange and black candles, and other small items can be added to created ambiance and charm to your cute Halloween decorating. Be sure to check out the craft stores. Many times craft shops will have simple kits, or ideas that are inexpensive and make great decorations.
Don’t Overlook The Obvious
Whatever you do don’t overlook the obvious in creating your cute Halloween decorations. Orange and black crepe paper can look really great hung and twisted across doorways or even hanging down a wall. Latex gloves, candy corn, and plain old pop corn can be used to create some scary looking hands that can be spaced around in various places or even used as part of your table decorations. Black plastic table cloths can be laid over with cheap spider webs to cover stands or even serve as Halloween table cloths. White and black garbage bags can be used to create ghost and black cat windsocks or wall decorations. Orange and Black balloons can be used as well to fill in empty corners and spaces or hang from the ceiling.
With Halloween being such a big holiday especially in the U.S. and now in Australia finding cute Halloween decorations is really a simply matter. By starting a little early shopping both online and locally, using things from nature, and your imagination you can create and display wonderful Halloween decorations. You can even have your children help with various crafts and decorating themes making for an even more fun filled holiday.
There are cute Halloween decorations abound so go ahead, look around, and let those creative juices flow, you will be glad you did when you see the wonderful decorations that spring from your ideas.
Funny Halloween Decorations
Hilariously Funny Halloween Decoration Ideas
While some people definitely get into the frightening side of Halloween decorations, others see this holiday as a way to get together, have a good time, and let their sense of humor shine through. Finding and choosing funny Halloween decorations to make your party fun rather than fearful isn’t as hard as you may think. All you need is an active imagination, a great sense of humor and some hints like these to get the ball rolling.
The Laughing Dead Zone
For those with a quirky sense of humor turning a portion of your yard into a humorous cemetery can be loads of fun. All you need is a few well made tombstones with hilarious names like “Ima Goner or Mysra Mains” and some funny epitaphs to add for effect. A simple search of the Internet can give you both names and epitaphs that will have your guests laughing or at least cracking a grin or two. To add a little character why not have a few ghosts dressed in hats, scarves, and brightly colored neckties with silly looks and grins on their faces. You can also give your ghosts their own names and personalities such as making a fat little round ghost and naming him “boo berry” a crying ghost named “Boo Who” and a ghost covered in bandages named “Boo Boo” You can also use “Peek a Boo, Boo T Ful, and Little boy Boo.
My Funny Jack-O-Lantern
Who says Jack-O lanterns have to be scary? Why not make a decorative display of funny Jack-o Lanterns with unusual looks on their faces. One of the funniest Jack-o-lantern displays of all time featured a Jack-o-lantern literally throwing up his insides. The squinting look on his face complete with the mess pouring from his mouth and on the ground may startled people at first but, in no time at all will have them laughing. Or why not use other vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, green peppers and the such to create a pumpkin version of Mr. Potato head designs.
Make Your Own Funny Decorations
Anyone with a sense of humor can turn ordinary things into funny Halloween decorations. Why not put those yard ornament animals into their own costumes, Use a small glass bowl and water with a set of Dracula teeth to set on the mantle or guest room stand. Place a small stuffed cat under a chair or sofa with only the tip of his paws and his eyes staring out.
Make Yourself Part of Your Halloween Décor
Don’t forget that you and the costume you choose for your Halloween party also becomes part of the décor. Let your imagination soar and devise or purchase a funny costume that is in keeping with the atmosphere you are trying to create.
Just remember the real key to finding and creating funny Halloween decorations is for you to let your imagination have free reign, gather ideas from any source you may find, and enjoy the little world you are creating for you and your guests.
Scary Halloween Decorations
Scary Halloween Decorations
One of the fun things about Halloween is scaring the daylights out friends and family members. Turning your home into a palace of horrors can be easily done and add to the fun of this unique holiday. By using a mixture of homemade and purchased decorations you can easily create whatever ghastly and ghostly effects you want. Here are some ideas for scary Halloween decorations that are sure to create lots of thrills and chills.
Spider Webs
One of the most cost effective and versatile scary Halloween decorations are spider webs. You can pick them up at any discount store and use them both inside and out to create some ghoulish effects when decorating. You can hang these webs from the roof of the house, spread across limbs of trees or bushes, weave through your deck poles, place in the corner of a room or across a door way. To top off this scary Halloween decorations idea make sure you make some ugly fuzzy and hungry looking spiders to go in your spider webs and throw in a few fake flies for victims.
If you really want to scare the daylights of those Trick or Treaters take a baby or toddler size doll wrap it in spider webs or cotton batting and hang it upside down from a giant spider web suspended in a tree. Make sure that you have plenty of creepy and crawly spiders attached to the batting in the dolls hair.
Bats Are Where It’s At
Bats are another creepy item to add to your scary Halloween decorations. You can purchase bats made from crepe paper or construct your own using black socks and construction paper. Hang your bats from trees using black elastic or clear fish line and make them look as though they are flying about in the breeze. Of course having a sleeping bat hanging upside down from the corner of a room can make visitors sit up and take notice as well.
Use Those Old Plastic Masks
If you have children then you may well have a number of those old cheap plastic masks from previous Halloweens. You can make some great scary Halloween decorations, putting them to use, by attaching them flat against the ceiling or walls of a room and then keeping the room dimly lit by black candles. It will appear as though there are faces without bodies floating around the room making for an unnerving experience.
Bloody Scary Halloween Decorations
Of course sprinkling a few drops and splatters of fake blood will never go amiss especially if you use it to create a path leading to a headless person sitting in a chair with their head and hat in their lap. If you really want to go all out you can even purchase a battery operated head that laughs, grins or murmurs frightening sounds.
A few large dog chew bones scattered around with bits of flesh made from clay and little fake blood will never go amiss either. Throw in a ghost and a really scary jack-o-lantern and with scary Halloween decorations like this you may even give yourself a nightmare or two.
Everything From Cute to Frightening
Choose from thousands of awesome Halloween decorations at extremely discounted prices. Just go to the shop on the right to start your shopping!
Happy Halloween Decorations
It used to be that Christmas was the major decorating holiday, but each year more and more people choose to put up Halloween decorations. Noting this trend, manufactures of housing decor have begun manufacturing a wide variety of Halloween decorations from cute as button to downright frightening.
As autumn approaches each year you can hardly pick up a decorating magazine without finding page after page of Halloween decorations that are for sale. Halloween decorations come in various forms from candles shaped like ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, to wreaths and even fake walls that can turn your home into a dungeon.
Monster Cut-Out Halloween Decorations
Skeletons are one of the most widely purchased large Halloween decorations. People hang these ghoulish delightful pile of bones from trees, doorways or bury them in the yard. The skeletons with glowing eyes can look especially frightful when you come upon one unexpectedly.
Jack-o-Lanterns of course remain the most popular of all Halloween decorations and people with an artistic bent are no longer content to simply carve a simple face. Instead, they create all kinds of interesting designs and even whole scenes in intricate details.
Mini Jack O' Lantern Halloween Decorations
Witches cauldrons complete with steam are another popular Halloween decoration. These bubbling cauldrons often decorate yards and even decks of homes. These decorations are particularly eye catching when accompanied by a Witch and an assortment of rats, frogs and snakes.
Homemade Halloween decorations for both inside and outside are still extremely popular. Making a few homemade Halloween decorations is a great way to spend an afternoon with your children. Children especially enjoy drawing faces on mini pumpkins to create artistic jack-o-lanterns to scatter about the house. They also enjoy making ghost and spider mobiles.
Dripping Blood Happy Halloween Balloons
Halloween decorations for the table can be homemade or purchased and come in a wide variety to meet everyone’s taste. Table decorations can be as simple as a few candles in Halloween shapes or with pumpkins or leaves painted on them, to flowers inside of pumpkin vases. They can consist of a small centerpiece or run the entire length of the table. You can even purchase small individual Halloween decorations to set at each individual place setting.
While some people place Halloween decorations in just one room, others decorate their entire house and yard even going to the extent of stringing Halloween lights on the outside of their homes. It is fun to drive down the street and view the yards filled with skeletons, ghosts, vampires and jack o’ lanterns. Kids especially enjoy the joy and excitement of staying up late to drive around with mom and dad and see all these wonderful imaginative Halloween decorations.
Bleeding Halloween Cups
It doesn’t matter whether you have scary Halloween decorations, cute ones or a combination of the two, decorating for this special holiday is both fun and enjoyable and gives everyone a chance to display their artistic talents in an exciting and original way.
The Origins of Halloween Decorations
Halloween is always celebrated on October 31st and originates from the Celtic’s and their festival called Samhain as well as the Christian celebration All Saints’ Day.
The Celtics believed that on October 31st the doorway between the living and the dead was open. This is the time they harvested their crops and prepared their supplies for winter. They believed that the dead could cause harm to their harvests or even to themselves by causing sickness. The Samhain festival was a way for the living to imitate the dead and the celtics dressed as ghosts and lost souls. Halloween decorations take their origin here as well as the Celtics decorated their properties to ward off evil spirits.
The word Halloween comes from the phrase ‘All Hallows Day’ an earlier term used for ‘All Saints’ Day’ and means the living in the dead can be together.
The most famous of all Halloween decorations is of course the jack-o’-lantern. The jack-o’-lantern was a popular Halloween decoration in the Celtic days as it was a cheap, fun and easy to make. The light from the candle placed inside the hollowed out pumpkin signified the dead coming alive.
The colours orange and black are the traditional colours for Halloween decorations, but these days they come in all shapes, forms and colours.