Posts for October, 2011
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!