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.

It’s that time of year again when the kids are waiting by the door for the UPS truck to bring them their Halloween costumes.  Well yesterday afternoon their prayers were answered with the ringing of the doorbell!  I almost think they are as excited about the arrival of their Halloween costumes as they are Christmas morning!

Caden, my 11 year old son was just a bit cooler than his little sisters when they heard the doorbell ring.  Olivia and Sydney nearly knocked him down running for the door (the two dogs were smart enough to stay out of the way)!  Once the box was opened and all the costumes were ceremoniously handed out, it was showtime!  (Just a little fyi – these are not pictures of my children, they’re just pictures of the costumes that we ordered online.  However, the costumes look just like this in “real life”.)

First we have my 6 year old daughter Olivia who loves the Power Rangers.  She started watching it a couple years ago with her brother Caden.  Since then Caden has outgrown the whole Power Ranger thing, but not Olivia, she still watches them religiously.  So this year, her costume choice was simple, she wanted to be the Pink Power Ranger.

Next, we have my 8 year old daughter Sydney who had a little bit harder time deciding on what she wanted to be this year.  But after many hours and days browsing through the website of HalloweenExpress.com, she decided that she wanted to go with the Hip Witch Costume (which by the way looks adorable on her).  I couldn’t believe all the cute witch costumes they had.  No wonder she had such a hard time deciding!

Finally we have my 11 year old son, Caden.  He had a hard time deciding between the Optimus Prime costume or being a Gangster.  The minute he realized he could carry a plastic Tommy Gun with the gangster costume, his decision was made.  The costume looked great on him and once we put on the Fedora hat and fake jumbo cigar the costume was awesome!  He loves it!

I’m sure you’ve been sitting on the edge of your seats just waiting to see what they picked out to wear this year; so there you have it!  The kids costumes look amazing and they all fit perfectly.  Now if only they can keep from wearing them BEFORE Halloween even gets here!

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!

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!

How many times have you heard the lyrics, “Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?”  Wow does that bring back memories of sitting in front of the television and actually enjoying learning something, even something as simple as counting.  Who can forget Count Von Count and his “number of the day” segment where we would count along with him and his pipe organ.

Did you know that Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969, and is the longest running children’s show on American television.  Plus, it is one of the most watched educational shows for children in the world!  I loved watching Sesame Street as a child and my children didn’t miss an episode when they were younger.

Who can forget such great characters such as; Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and Elmo!  All of these muppets are just as popular today with children as they were decades ago.

Children love Sesame Street and children love Halloween!  Why not combine the two and have your child dress as one of their favorite characters in Sesame Street costumes.  HalloweenExpress.com has everything from children’s costumes to teen costumes when it comes to Sesame Street.

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!

What little boy doesn’t like superheroes that live in the sewers, play with swords and loves pizza?  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the perfect “radical” crime fighters!  And this year they’re celebrating their 25th anniversary!

If you’re trying to think of a way to keep your son (or sons) and their friends busy this summer, look no further.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes are the way to go!  Your kids will have hours of fun running around the neighborhood disguised as ninja turtles battling evil criminals.  Since there are four Ninja Turtles – Raphael, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo, there are plenty of costumes to go around.   

HalloweenExpress.com has everything you need from costumes to accessories!  Don’t forget, those accessories are important.  How can Raphael fight Shredder without his trusted pair of sai?   

Give your kids a fun summer by letting their imaginations run wild!  Crime fighting Ninja Turtles – you can’t get more imaginative than that!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is coming soon to a theater near you!  Actually its release date is Wednesday, June 24th and my son Caden couldn’t be happier.  We took him to see the orginal Transformers movie back in 2007 and he loved it.  I was actually thinking about not going with him and my husband because I thought it was going to be a “kids” movie and I wasn’t a big transformer toy fan.  Wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong!  It was awesome!

Even though the transformers are actually “autobots” and are there to save the humans on earth, each autobot has a personality and before you know it you’re cheering them on; Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are so cute!

Now with the sequel coming out next week, Transformer costumes will be flying off the shelves!  Kids all over the world are going to want to put on an Optimus Prime costume or Bumblebee Costume and save the Earth from Megatron.  It will be a great summer costume as well giving your kids hours of fun saving the world!

Well, it’s finally here – Memorial Day week-end, the un-official start of summer.  The official first day of summer is June 21st and is called the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.  I would definitely much rather have the longest day of the year during the summer months than the winter.  Those months seem long enough as it is!

Memorial Day weekend brings with it picnics, parades, festivals and something the kids all love – a day off school!  Sales are bigger than ever this weekend with everything from cars to clothing being reduced in price.  Great time to get out there and get those bathing suits and flip flops.

The weather is finally becoming hot here in Kentucky.  We’ve had enough rain the past month to float a battleship, but finally a few days of sun, sun and more sun.  It’s going to be a beautiful Memorial Day weekend.

Don’t forget with summer comes school closings and the kids will be looking to you for ways to keep them busy during the day.  Kids costumes are a great way to bring out their creative sides and put those imaginations to work.  Disney costumes are really popular and so are superhero costumes!  Create a fun and learning environment for your kids this summer simply by letting them open up their imaginations!