This Halloween was crazy with costumes!  Adults costumes ranged from humor to horror – one end of the spectrum to the other.  Teens, tweens and kids wore everything from the latest big screen blockbusters to fairytale princesses.  All the costumes that graced my front porch were wonderful.  It’s so much fun seeing how creative and bold some children can be when it comes to costumes. 

Here are some more great costumes to be seen on Halloween night!

 The “General Lee” ain’t got nothing on this Hogg.

He was smart enough to figure out the puzzle but forgot about needing his hands for trick-or-treating.

The box has two purposes, (1) a trick-or-treat bag and (2) he sits on it to see over the steering wheel of the UPS truck.

I can’t tell if this is part of her costume or if it just jumped on her while she was trick-or-treating.

No question about it – Halloween is a great family holiday!  The children love to go out trick-or-treating for candy and the parents enjoy walking them around the neighbor.  It’s sort of a social thing for the parents as they stop and talk with all their neighbors as their kids run from house to house.  A lot of neighborhoods that have streets in a cul-de-sac will set up a long table at the beginning of the street and all the parents will sit there with their candy making it easier for the children.  It’s just like one-stop candy shopping for the kids!

For years it’s been a tradition at our house that my whole family (brothers, sisters and their kids) all get together at my house Halloween night.  It’s pizza and chaos as we help all the younger kids get dressed in their costumes.  Then it’s off to trick-or-treating we go. 

This year I’ve decided to have a costume party at our house once all the kids are back from raiding the neighborhood candy bowls.  Everyone has to come dressed in group themed costumes (or as I like to call it “family” themed).  We’re dressing as all the characters from the Wizard of Oz!  I love the idea and the kids are actually excited about it!  Wizard of Oz costumes are so easy and fun and make for a great family costume idea!  I’m going to be Glinda the Good Witch, my husband is going to be the Wicked Witch of the West (which I think is hilarious), Sydney is going to be Dorothy, Olivia is the Cowardly Lion and my son Caden is going to be the Tin Man.  We still need someone to be the Scarecrow so I think we’re just going to throw a flannel shirt on our dog with some hay sticking out all over!

Here are some other great “family” or group costume ideas for your Halloween:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Superheroes
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Power Rangers
• Star Wars
• Toy Story
• Sesame Street

Start a new tradition this year with your family by throwing a Halloween costume party!  Use themes such as; horror and gothic, humorous or even movie costumes.  No matter what you decide, just have fun and enjoy spending time with your family this Halloween holiday!

Wow, how many times have you heard that line before?  Every time you hear any type of heavy breathing it’s always followed by that infamous line by Darth Vader in Star Wars.  I love it – it always makes me laugh!  However, did you know that it’s actually a “misquote”?  The line, from The Empire Strikes Back, was never actually said and is the most misquoted line in movie history!  The real movie quote was, “No I am your father,”  but I think the misquoted quote is so much better!  

No matter what the line,  no one is going to soon forget such great characters as; Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, etc.. from the more than six Star Wars films that have been released since 1977.  The most recent being Star Wars: The Clone Wars; an animated film that follows the Star War saga, was released in 2008. 

Since 1977 Star Wars costumes have always been a classic during the Halloween holiday.  You can never go wrong with a Darth Vader costume or Storm Trooper costume.   Want to have fun?  Go to your next Halloween party with a group of friends all decked out as  Star Wars characters. 

No matter your age, Star Wars costumes are the way to go this Halloween!  Don’t believe me?  Check out the ABC show, The View for great Halloween costume ideas.  This morning they had a catwalk of  awesome Halloween costumes on their show from HalloweenExpress.com; costumes ranging from Vader to Vampires! 

So stay away from the dark side and go to HalloweenExpress.com for all you Halloween costumes needs! 

 They have the largest selection in all the galaxy!

Growing up, one of my favorite movies of all time was Alice In Wonderland.  I must have seen it a hundred times over the years.  Now my children love it and I watch it with them.  What I like about it is that even my son, Caden enjoys it.  There are some really cool characters that the guys like.  It’s a great family movie as adventure and fantasy come together. 

Today, Alice is once again in the spotlight with Tim Burton’s version of Alice In Wonderland being released on March 5, 2010.  The trailers are out and the movie looks wild!   This time Alice is 19 years old and returns to Wonderland, the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny.   The Mad Hatter is being played by Johnny Depp and he plays all those eccentric roles wonderfully!  It should be a great movie!

What I love about it, is that the characters in the movie make for great Halloween costumes.  You’ve got character costumes such as; Alice, Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat costume  just waiting to be a great group theme for Halloween!  Check out all the Alice In Wonderland Halloween costumes at HalloweenExpress.com and don’t be late – October 31st is a very important date!

Look no further for other great Halloween costume ideas!  HalloweenExpress.com is your one stop shopping spot for everything Halloween!  Happy Haunting!!

Disney has gone and made another wonderful movie called “The Princess & The Frog”.  Even though it won’t be released in theaters until December 11th, the movie trailers have been out for some time.  My daughter saw it the other night and can’t wait to see it when it comes out!

What’s so cute about this movie is that it’s actually an animated musical.  It’s about a prince by the name of Naveen who comes to New Orleans and is transformed into a frog by an evil voodoo doctor.  He mistakes a girl named Tiana for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell.  Unfortunately Tiana turns into a frog too!  They make their way through the Louisiana Bayou in search of the good voodoo priestess while making many friends along the way.   It looks like it’s going to be a great movie for the whole family!  I’m sure at Halloween you’ll see quite a few little Princess Tiana costumes out trick-or-treating. 

Halloween never lacks for Disney princess costumes!  Disney has made sure that little girls all over the world fall in love with the princess.  You’ll also see Snow White and Princess Aurora costumes from Sleeping Beauty since both of these beautiful princesses were kissed by a handsome prince.  Although it was much better than being kissed by a frog, I have a feeling Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen will still live happily ever after!

“To Infinity and Beyond”, gosh I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that over the years!  My son, Caden was obsessed with Toy Story and when he saw that they are bringing back Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D, well he was beside himself.  He had a Buzz Lightyear costume for Halloween a few years ago and wore it everyday for a year until it practically fell off him. 

To be honest I’m kind of looking forward to it too.  My husband and I loved the Toy Story films!  I know a lot of parents that saw the movie with their children and liked it as much as they did.  Just seeing all the different toys that we used to play with as a kids was cool enough for me.  I laughed throughout the whole movie! 

The 3D movie will only run in theaters for 2 weeks at two different times.  The first is October 2, 2009 and the second is February 12, 2010.  Both of these are in preparation for the release of TOY STORY 3 in Digital 3D on June 18, 2010.  Wow, we definitely can’t wait for that one to come out! 

Disney Pixar did such an amazing job with Toy Story!!  Even though it’s a computer animated movie, the characters are brought to life with their own funny and quirky personalities.   Of course the two main characters are Woody, the cowboy and Buzz Lightyear, the space ranger.  Here are a few other great characters that you couldn’t help but fall in love with.

• Mr. Potato Head
• Jessie (cowgirl)
• Hamm (the piggy bank)
• Bo Peep
• Rex (T-Rex)
• Slinky Dog

I even loved the army men in the beginning of the movie as they completed their covert mission of parachuting downstairs to find out what toy Andy got for his birthday.  The whole movie was a blast! 

This year Toy Story costumes are going to be all the rage with children and adults alike with the 3D movies coming out.  Oh did I forget to mention that since adults love the movie so much they also love the costumes as well.  What a great idea for a couple costume – Buzz Lightyear and Woody OR Woody and Jessie.  They’re perfect and sure to win you first place in any Halloween costume contest!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my… 

As parents we’ve all had our share of seeing our children running around on all fours roaring like a lion pretending to be king of the jungle.  Children, especially boys,  love to pretend to be the big bad animals they see on television or in the movies.  Girls are usually a little more low key leaning toward the lady bugs, butterflies and the cute kitty cats.

Disney movies are a great inspiration to children when it comes to animals.  The Lion King, Bambi, Dumbo, Jungle Book and 101 Dalmations are just a handful of great Disney movies that portray animals in a way that make children fall in love with them.

A trip to the zoo lets your child’s imagination run wild with thoughts of elephants, tigers, pandas  and giraffes.   If your child loves animals, then wouldn’t an animal costume be the perfect Halloween costume for them?   When my son was young I dressed him in the cutest elephant costume I had ever seen.  It was adorable and everyone that saw him thought he was the cutest thing ever!

So this Halloween let your child pick from hundreds of the cutest Halloween animal costumes you’ve ever seen at HalloweenExpress.com.  They have every size available from infant and toddler to child sizes so there’s something for everyone!

In the past, movies have always been the backbone of Halloween costumes and this year has been no different.  Blockbuster movie characters coming to life giving both children and adults reason to head for the Halloween stores. 

G. I. Joe is the ultimate fighting action figure for every  boy in America.  My brothers had every imaginable G. I. Joe action figure when we were growing up and they would play with them for hours.   There was nothing that G. I. Joe couldn’t handle.  Whether he was fighting the bad guys, jumping into enemy territory or manning the tanks there was no question who my brother would make the hero!

Now G. I. Joe has finally came to life on the big screen!  The movie G. I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra hit theaters August 7th with rave reviews.  How could it not having soldiers with names like, Duke, Snake Eyes and Heavy Duty!  If you love a good live-action adventure film you’ll love this! 

As far as Halloween goes, G. I. Joe costumes of the characters in the movie are flying off the shelves!  Better get shopping if you’re thinking about needing  a Duke or Snake Eyes costume for either a child or an adult.   My son, Caden already has his eye on one!  Don’t forget all the great Halloween costume accessories that go along with the costumes too!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen once again held on to the top spot at the box office this past weekend but shared the title with another great movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.  Both earned an estimated $42.5 million over the July 4th weekend!  I’m a big fan of both Transformers and Ice Age so it was a fun weekend here!   

I’ve been reading everywhere that this Transformers sequel is the “worst-reviewed movie to ever make the $400 million club.”  Well that just goes to show you what the critics like and what the mass movie-going population like are completely different.  Who cares what the critics say!  If that many people are going to see the movie then they must be really wrong on this one!  We loved it.  My son is a huge Transformer fan and has recruited his dad and I into that same category.  It really is a great movie!

However, my all time favorite movie – the one that can make you belly laugh through the whole thing – is Ice Age!  Sid the Sloth is hilarious!!  So it was no surprise to me that this new 3rd sequel Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs did well at the box office.  What’s so neat about Ice Age is that even though it’s a Disney/Pixar animated series the humor is for children and adults alike.  You never stop laughing!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is coming out on July 15 and is sure to be a huge hit!  People of all ages just can’t seem to get enough of old Harry!  This will be the 6th novel turned big screen hit by J.K. Rowlings.  They’re saying this might be just the movie to beat out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at the box office.  Well we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we!

Movies make such a big impact on Halloween that movie costumes are flying off the shelves.  Transformer costumes and Harry Potter costumes will be huge this Halloween.  If you plan on attending the movie premiere of Harry Potter be sure to get all your Harry Potter costume and accessory needs at HalloweenExpress.com.   Both movies make for great group costumes too!

Movies make up a large part of Halloween costumes.  There are so many great movie characters from the past and present that it’s hard to choose just one.  From adult costumes to kids costumes, HalloweenExpress.com has them all!

Superheroes are always at the top of the charts when it comes to costumes.  Batman, Spiderman and Superman are the three most popular superhero costumes.  They’re the classic tried-and-true of the crime fighting, save the world superheroes.

Of course you can’t have Halloween without Jason, Michael and Freddie!  Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare of Elm Street are old school Halloween and everyone loves them! 

Star Wars, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean are just a few movies that have stood the test of time when it comes to great Halloween costumes. 

This year with big blockbuster hits like Transformers, Wolverine and Star Trek making appearances on the big screen there’s no doubt that the Halloween movie costumes of 2009 will be spectacular!