Category Archive: Halloween

Spooktacular Yard Decorations

Categories:

Decorations, Halloween

August 21, 2007

by Anna

Have you ever been picking up your child from a friends house or running an errand late in the evening in October and just can’t believe how some people can completely transform their yards into a spooky graveyard or a haunted cemetery?  Have you ever wondered how they do it?  Depending on how “spooky” you want it to be, it’s actually pretty easy and a lot of fun, if you have the right props and decorations.  

We go all out on Halloween night, transforming our front yard into a eerie, fog-induced yard haunt.  Since you have to walk up our driveway to get to the front porch for trick-or-treating, our neighbors decided to start calling it the “driveway of doom”.  The younger children are so excited, but usually want mom or dad to walk with them the first time.  The older kids try to act cool about it, but it’s funny to see how slowly they come up the driveway.  Now mind you, we do have another walkway to come to the front door for the smaller (and some older) children that are too frightened to use the driveway.  That’s happened to my kids before at other houses and I didn’t want any children to think they couldn’t get candy just because our driveway is a little too scary for them.    

First, we put up a portable garage (they’re shaped like a tunnel with sides and top covered) for the night to put in the driveway and hang strobe lights inside.  Then we put stretchable cobwebs, which you can buy in a bag, throughout the ceiling of it and hang fake spiders throughout.  Every year we put one big prop in there.  Last year it was a coffin with a dummy that the kids had made and the year before that it was the grim reaper.  Finally to top it off we have haunted music playing.  Our kids love it!  They help us put it together every year and decide how they want to decorate it.  I think it helps to have the kids involved with it.  That way they’re not scared because they know it’s not real.

For the front yard we hang orange Halloween lights from the trees and change our porch light and light post to black lights.  Then we place old tombstones around the yard with cobwebs hanging off them and skeletons coming up from the ground.  Skulls and bats are hanging from the trees.  But, by far the most important special effect prop we use would have to be the fog machine.  You can’t have a haunted yard without one!  There’s nothing like a layer of fog floating through the night air adding an element of the unknown for your trick-or-treaters.

So whether you go all out this Halloween night or just put a few decorations in your front yard, the trick-or-treaters will love it!  Don’t forget to check out our website for all your yard decorating needs:  Halloween Decorations and Halloween Props

This post has no tag

Halloween Fun and Games

Categories:

Family Fun, Halloween, Let's Party

August 13, 2007

by Anna

A favorite for my children in October is their school Halloween party.  Being a room mom, I get the chance to go to their classes and try-out new Halloween games each year for the kids to play.  It’s fun to come home and play the games with my kids and some of the neighborhood children.  Here are a few you should try:

Candy Corn Relay Race

Designate a starting line and a finish line. Set out a bowl full of candy corn for each player at the starting line and an empty bowl at the finish line. The players must use a large spoon to scoop candy corn out of the full bowl and then carry it to the empty bowl and fill it. They cannot spill any candy corn or use their hands!  If any candy corn falls off the spoon, they must immediately pick it up and bring it back to the starting line bowl and start over with that scoopful.  This game can also be played in teams.

Eyeball Hunt Game
Fill a large pot with cooked spaghetti noodles and bury ping pong balls in the noodles. See who can find the most balls in a set amount of time. For an added twist you can color code the balls and have each color worth a different amount of points. 

Pumpkin Hunt:
Cut out 12 pumpkins from orange construction paper.  Let the kids use a black marker to draw on faces.  While the kids are in another room hide each pumpkin throughout the house and/or yard and have the children find them.  Whoever finds the most pumpkins wins!  It’s just like an Easter Egg Hunt at Halloween time.

Pumpkin Golf
For this game the object is to hit the golf ball into a pumpkin. First carve out a pumpkin and make the mouth extra large.  Then using cardboard, cut out a ramp about one to two feet long from the ground to the bottom of the pumpkins mouth and tape it to the floor for stability (you might need some support under the cardboard).  Mark a starting point a few feet from the start of the ramp – the older the kids, the farther away.  Each player gets to hit a golf ball three times – each time the ball goes into the pumpkin, the player wins a piece of candy.

Pumpkin Bowling
Get several small pumpkins about four to six inches in diameter (you’ll need extras in case a few split or break).  Place six or ten empty plastic water bottles several feet away on the floor – you can also use the children’s plastic bowling pins if you’d like. Give each child two tries to knock down the pins. A strike is worth two pieces of candy and a spare is worth one piece of candy.

Guess How Many Candies
Fill a jar with Halloween candy and, as each child arrives, have them write their name on a piece of paper and a guess as to how many pieces are in the jar. Everyone only gets one guess and the child who has the closest guess gets to take the jar of candy home!

Don’t forget to check out our website for even more great Halloween games for children and adults. Here’s the link: Halloween Games.

This post has no tag

Safety First

Categories:

Halloween

August 11, 2007

by Anna

How many times have you seen on your local news, stories about children being hit by a car on Halloween night?  That breaks my heart when I hear something like that.  For a child Halloween is such an exciting and fun night that sometimes they are so excited to get to the next house that they shoot across the street without thought of even looking both ways.  I’ve seen it many times in my neighborhood (thankfully no cars were coming); especially when kids are following each other and one falls behind.  They dart across the street just trying to catch up with their friends. 

There are many things we as parents can do to protect our children on Halloween night and keep them safe:

  • If you’re driving, you have to be aware of the children.  Drive SLOW!  Watch for children to run out between cars or in the middle of the street.  When backing down your driveway be careful and look twice to make sure it is clear.
  • Have your child wear clothing with reflective markings or tape.  There are also glow sticks (and similar items) that you can buy to have your child wear around their neck or pin to their costume.
  • Accompany your child around the neighborhood.  If you can’t, make sure another adult is with them.  As a parent you know if your child is “old” enough to go around the neighborhood with their friends without you, however it helps to have them wear a  watch so they know when the trick-or-treat hours are over and when to head home.  Always know exactly where they will be and what route they’re taking.
  • When picking out a costume, look for one made of flame-retardant material.
  • Check your child’s costume and make sure it’s not dragging the ground where they could trip and hurt themselves.  Face paint is always a good substitution for a mask, however if they do have to wear one make sure they have nose and mouth openings and large enough eye holes.
  • Make sure they know to only go to houses that are well lit and ones that they know someone is home.  They should never enter a stranger’s home.
  • Have them bring their candy home first before eating anything.  Go through it with them and throw out anything you’re not sure about.  Have them eat dinner before they go out trick-or-treating – that way they’re not as hungry.  On Halloween night we always order pizza.  It’s such a hectic night with trying to get everyone situated that it just seems easier than fixing dinner – plus they kids love it.  But remember to order early because I think a lot of people do pizza night on Halloween.

Well, that’s some of the safety tips I can think of. You can find some more here on our website: Halloween Safety Tips.   As parents, we all want our child to be safe.  Just use common sense on Halloween night.  I think it’s really important that you go out with them, especially for younger children, so that you can be their eyes and ears.  They’re so excited to be running around to all the houses getting candy that safety is not their top priority – so it has to be yours!  

 

 

 

 

This post has no tag

Halloween Haunted Houses

Categories:

Halloween, Horror

August 9, 2007

by Anna

What is it about Halloween that makes people go out looking for ways to be scared?  Walking through the cemetery at night, watching scary movies with every light in the house off, or the most popular by far – actually paying for someone to scare you half to death by going to a haunted house!   

One thing I’ve always loved to do at Halloween is to go to as many haunted houses that I could find!  It’s amazing how much they’ve changed since I was younger and going to them with my friends.  Everything is so life like and seems so real that the fear factor is off the charts!  I remember when I was in middle school, I helped some friends of mine put on a haunted house for our school.  It mostly consisted of strobe lights, eerie coffins, spiders dropping down from the ceiling and jumping out at people as they walked through.  Compared to the haunted houses today, that would be a cake walk.  Now when somebody jumps out from behind a door they usually have blood all over them, their missing an arm and their face isn’t even a face – the elaborate makeup they use is amazing.  Then to top it all off they’re either wielding a 12 inch butcher knife or a chain saw!  Gone are the short little walk through one level haunted houses, now they are three and four levels in old condemned buildings that have you scared to death even before you go in.  If a haunted house is not your style, you may opt for a haunted hayride, haunted trail or even a haunted yard. 

A haunted house is defined as a building that is the center for supernatural occurrences or paranormal phenomena.  A house is said to be "possessed" or "haunted" when Satan or ghosts take up residence.  Some cases involve otherwise normal people hearing strange noises or having visions of dead people or of objects moving with no visible means of locomotion.  The illusions created by actors, animatronics, sounds, lighting and other special effects that are made to frighten us, make today’s haunted houses excellent scary venues.

It is estimated that there are over 3000 haunted houses operating every year in North America alone.  If you want to know where a haunted house is in your area, use this link: Halloween Haunted Houses.  It’s a great online portal for all the Halloween haunted house information you will ever need.   

Happy Haunting!!

 

This post has no tag

Halloween Around The World

Categories:

Halloween, Halloween Fun Facts

July 26, 2007

by Anna

Did you know that Halloween is one of the oldest holidays?  The American tradition of “trick-or-treating” dates back to the early All Souls Day parades in England.  During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.  The practice, referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given drink, food and money. 

In Ireland, where Halloween originated, the day is still celebrated much as it is in the US.  Bonfires are lit and all over the country, children get dressed up in costumes and go trick-or-treating.  Afterwards, most people go to parties with neighbors and friends where they bob for apples, go on treasure hunts and play card games.  A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barmbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home.  The Halloween Brack traditionally contains various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune telling game.  I love the idea of having a tradition like that!

In various parts of England there is a festival called holy day which falls on  November 4th.  On this night, children play tricks on adults which range from the minor to more serious such as taking garden gates off their hinges. Throughout England, as is common in much of the British Isles, children carve faces or designs into pumpkins. Usually illuminated from within, the lanterns are then displayed in windows in keeping with the night’s theme of fright and horror.  Before the introduction of pumpkin carving from the USA, they would carve large yellow turnips and this is still done today in some areas.

And who can forget the age old tradition of Cabbage Night?  In parts of the U.S. it is known as Cabbage Night, Goosey Night or Doorbell Night and is always on the evening of October 30th .  Tricks like toilet papering yards and houses, powder-bombing and egging cars, and smashing pumpkins are just a few of the tricks played by teenagers on that night.  In Northern England it is also known as Miggy Night, Goosey Night, Tick-Tack night, Corn night or Trick night.  In Liverpool UK, it is known as Mizzie Night. In Ireland, it is called Mischief night and is becoming so popular that teenagers get the week around Halloween off school.  I remember thinking it was pretty cool to go out on Cabbage Night when I was a teenager, but now that I’m older, I’m keenly aware of when Cabbage Night is so that I make sure to pull my car into the garage, bring all the pumpkins inside, and keep all my outside lights on.  Plus, I try not to go out on that night so that my car doesn’t get “egged”.  So remember to watch out for yourself on October 30th  because it’s Cabbage Night!

 

This post has no tag

Page 30 of 31« First...1020...2728293031

Videos, Slideshows and Podcasts by Cincopa Wordpress Plugin