Category Archive: Halloween

Celebrating Halloween Around the World

Categories:

Halloween

October 13, 2007

by Anna

Only 18 more days until Halloween!  Have you found that perfect costume yet?  If not, go to our homepage and take a look around.  At Halloween Express, we’re able to offer the absolute largest selection of costumes and related costume accessories you’ll find online anywhere.   

Halloween is celebrated the world over in differing spooky ways and consistently referred to as “the day of the dead souls”, when unearthly creatures become creatures of the earth and can either curse or bless people (personally I’d rather have the later).  Scary costumes and special treats are all a way to welcome the spirits and avoid their wrath.  
Check out some of the traditions for Halloween around the world:

Halloween in Mexico

In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, which takes place on November 2, is celebrated with a three-day celebration that begins on the evening of October 31. Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives. Candles and incense are burned to help the deceased find their way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of their departed family members. The grave is then decorated with flowers, wreaths, or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce.

Halloween in England

In England it is called the Night of Mischief!  Children play pranks and blame them on the “innocent” ghosts and goblins doing their rounds on earth. Halloween was earlier coupled with Guy Fawkes Day, which celebrated the execution of a notorious English traitor, Guy Fawkes. Today on Halloween, the English people light bonfires and the children go trick or treating, which originated from the practice of asking for soul cakes. Freaky parties with future-reading and fortune-telling are a fun part of the night. In England, Halloween is also called the Nutcracker Night or Apple Snap Night because people eat roasted nuts and apples on this day.

Halloween in Scotland

In Scotland, Halloween is celebrated with especially spooky traditions. Following the Celtic customs, children go banging on doors and throwing cabbages at them, as acts of mischief.  Children play a weird game of cabbage on this Halloween day. They pull out the head of a cabbage with their eyes closed and it is said that the type of cabbage they pull out, determines their future spouse.  A white headed cabbage speaks of a dreary old husband and a cabbage with soil on its roots means the spouse will be rich.  According to tradition, instead of saying “trick or treat”, the children usually recite “The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween”.  The groups of children must also impress neighbors with a song, poem, or dance in order to earn their delicious treats.

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Pumpkins – To Carve or Not To Carve

Categories:

Decorations, Family Fun, Halloween

September 28, 2007

by Anna

What would Halloween be without a great carved pumpkin?  To me it never really feels like the Halloween season until you see that big crate full of pumpkins at your local grocery store.  I’ll see costumes, candy and plenty of Halloween decorations, but that first pumpkin sighting means it’s officially Fall for me! 

We love going to the pumpkin patch in October.  Being able to pick out that perfect pumpkin becomes a mission that usually takes my daughters about an hour to complete!  But the look on their face once they find it is priceless.  Finding that perfect pumpkin is the easy part, it’s deciding between the 10 perfect pumpkins that they’ve found that’s the hard part.  It’s funny, but I find that I’m the same way.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this really was the biggest decision that we had to make in our day to day lives?  Anyway, pumpkins do come in every shape and size imaginable.  That’s what makes carving them so fun.  Never carry a pumpkin by its stem, it may break.  If it does break-off you can use toothpicks as a basic patch.  If you find a perfect pumpkin but it’s missing its stem, have no fear, you can still use it!  Just carve the bottom out for the opening the same way you would do the top.  Then, just sit your light source on the cleaned bottom piece and sit the pumpkin over it.  This works great and you don’t need the stem for a lid handle.

Many centuries ago, October 31st was a magical night when glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.  Soon after, it was the Irish who decided it was much easier to use pumpkins since they were much larger and easier to carve.

I was looking through a Halloween magazine the other day and couldn’t believe all the cute pumpkin decorating ideas that are out there.  I absolutely love the idea of carving small holes all over your pumpkin and pushing each bulb from a small strand of white lights through each hole.  When lit up the pumpkin looks amazing – and it’s so simple.  Another idea would be to let your children “paint” their pumpkin.  My youngest daughter, Olivia wanted nothing to do with gutting her pumpkin last year, so instead I had her paint a face on.  She loved it!  And even if you have a child that is younger Halloween Express has a “pushpin” pumpkin kit that works just like a Mr. Potato Head.  You just push in the eyes, nose, mouth, ears etc… and you’ve got the perfect no mess pumpkin!  You can find it at Halloween Pumpkin Push Pins. 

Other great ideas include our Witch or Vampire Pumpkin Stand.   These are great if you want to carve your pumpkin with a witch or vampires face because the stand looks like the rest of their body.  You can see these, our stencil books, carving tool sets and much, much more at Halloween Pumpkins. 

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Are You a Ghost Hunter?

Categories:

Halloween, Horror

September 27, 2007

by Anna

Have you ever gone ghost hunting or ghost investigating?  It’s especially popular during the Halloween season.  It’s an annual tradition for my nephew Aiden and his friends to go “ghost hunting” in the month of October and especially on Halloween night.  Last year he stopped by to show me some of the video he captured while walking through an abandoned mental hospital that was shut down years ago.  It’s said that some of the “patients” still wonder around the halls late at night.  For me, just watching the video was so eerily frightening that it had the hair on the back of my neck standing up.  The inside of the building was pitch black and all they had were flashlights to see down the long dark hallways.  It was raining that night which of course makes for the perfect setting.  On the video you could hear the rain hitting the windows of the hospital and in several rooms the rain was running down the inside of the walls.  A couple of the girls with them were scared to death.  It was sort of like watching “The Blair Witch Project” but with a happy ending!  Aiden has been into the whole supernatural phenomenon since I can remember.  He loves to watch a good horror flick and can’t wait for October to come around when he can start his annual “ghost hunting” with his friends.  Not me though, I have to pass on the hauntings – if I went on a ghost hunt all you would here on the video is me screaming!   

Did you know that a haunting is a recurring presence of a ghost, demon, or similar supernatural being at a specific place?  Old houses, hotels, restaurants, pubs, prisons, cemeteries and graveyards are the most common haunted places.  Belief in hauntings and ghosts spans the world and is recorded throughout history in legends and ghost stories. 

There are five primary types of hauntings:

  1. Intelligent – may be a ghost or demon.  The entity is aware of its surroundings, including living people who may be present.
  2. Residual – the entity does not seem to be aware of any living beings and performs the same repetitive act (often the reenactment of a tragic event).
  3. Benevolent – a ghost that seeks to help or protect the living sometimes from an evil spirit.
  4. Malevolent – ghost or demon that seeks to inflict harm on the living.
  5. Benign – entity that is either unconcerned about the living or unaware of their presence.

What better time of year than Halloween to check out some of the “hauntings” in your neck of the woods!  Good luck and happy haunting!

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Fun Halloween Party Recipes

Categories:

Family Fun, Halloween, Let's Party

September 24, 2007

by Anna

Are you throwing a Halloween party this year or maybe volunteering at your son or daughter’s school party?  I’ve got some really fun recipes that are just the thing you need.  They’re easy to make and my kids were able to help with them.

Black and Orange Spook Cups

4 cups cold milk, divided use
1 (3.25-ounce) package Jell-O Chocolate Fudge Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
10 (7-ounce) glasses or plastic cups
1 (3.25-ounce) package Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
Few drops red food coloring
Few drops yellow food coloring
10 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed
1/4 cup Halloween sprinkles

  1. Pour 2 cups of the milk into large bowl. Add dry chocolate pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Spoon evenly into the glasses, filling each glass half full; set aside.
  2. Add remaining 2 cups milk to separate large bowl. Add dry vanilla pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Stir in food coloring until pudding is of desired shade of orange; spoon evenly over chocolate pudding layers.
  3. Top with crushed cookies. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.
  4. Top with sprinkles. Makes 10 servings

Candy Corn Fudge
1 (12-ounce) package vanilla or white chocolate chips, melted
2 (16-ounce) containers vanilla frosting
1 (10-ounce) package butterscotch flavored chips, melted
1/8 teaspoon or more yellow food coloring, divided use
1/8 teaspoon or more red food coloring
48 pieces of candy corn

  1. Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan with foil, leaving a couple inches of overhang on each end; butter foil.
  2. In a large bowl, combine melted vanilla chips and half the frosting; mix well. Spread 1/3 of mixture in prepared pan.
  3. Combine melted butterscotch chips and remaining frosting in another large bowl; mix well. Add enough yellow and red food coloring to turn mixture orange. Stir until well blended. Spread orange mixture over white layer in pan.
  4. If remaining white mixture has hardened, heat in microwave until just melted and smooth, stirring occasionally. Add enough yellow food coloring to turn mixture yellow; stir until well blended. Spread over orange layer in pan. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

Use foil to lift fudge from pan. Turn white side up and carefully peel off foil. Cut into 48 pieces. Press a candy corn into the center of each piece. Store in the refrigerator. Makes 48 pieces

Candy Filled Witches Hat

Self-sealing plastic bag
1 can chocolate frosting
20 chocolate ice cream cones
Candy corn or assorted small candies
20 (2 to 3 inch) chocolate cookies

  1. Fill plastic bag with some chocolate frosting. Seal bag and cut a very small end off one corner of the bag and set aside. For each hat, invert one ice cream cone and fill with about 2 tablespoons candy corn or small candies. Pipe some frosting from bag along bottom edge of cone. Press a cookie against frosting. Carefully invert right side up onto waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
  2. Decorate outside of cone with small candies, using additional frosting as necessary. Refill frosting bag as needed. Makes 20 hats

For some additional fun Halloween recipes, check this link: Halloween Recipes

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Classic Horror Films or Scary Family Movies?

Categories:

Halloween, Horror, Kids Costumes, Movie Themes, Teen Costumes, Television Themed Costumes

September 22, 2007

by Anna

Now is a great time of year to watch all the classic horror films.  With the weather cooling and the official start of Fall being right around the corner, Halloween is in the air.  I don’t know what it is about Halloween, but it’s the only time of the year when I’ll go out and rent scary movies and actually watch them.  What would Halloween be without a few frightening movies?  Of course, my children are still way too young to be watching scary movies so my friends and I pick a weekend in October to spend the day watching horror flicks.  We usually pick one movie (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street) and watch the entire series of sequels.  Last year we spent all day on the Friday the 13th horror series.  This year since there’s the new Halloween movie that was just recently released, we’ll probably do the Halloween series with Michael Myers.  Some other great horror movies that have you jumping in your seat are:  Carrie, The Omen, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Living Dead, Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Haunting.

Of course for every creepy, terrifying and gruesome Halloween movie character out there – there is a Halloween costume.  If you want to be Michael Myers, Jason, Carrie, Leatherface or Freddy Krueger (just to name a few) look no further.  Halloween Express has an entire line of horror/gothic Halloween costumes at   Halloween Horror and Gothic Costumes.

There are also some wonderful Halloween themed movies for families to watch together.  This year on October 31st on Nickelodeon, kids can watch Halloween themed episodes all day long.  One of the favorites among my children is definitely the movie Hocus Pocus.  It’s about three funny and wild witches played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy that return from 17th-century Salem after they’re accidentally conjured up by some unsuspecting kids.  They set out to cast a spell on the town and reclaim their youth, but first they must get their act together and outwit three kids and a talking cat.  It’s a great movie!  It’s an annual tradition at our house to make a big bowl of popcorn and watch this movie together.  Some more great Halloween themed movies for your family to watch are:  Beetlejuice, Casper and my favorite, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  If you have young children try starting a new tradition this year of watching one of these great spooky kid-friendly shows.  Your kids will love it!  And don’t forget to check out our “witches and monsters” costumes for kids at Halloween Witches and Monsters.

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