Halloween

[TXmom]

:happypump Anybody else thinking of Halloween yet? I absolutely love Halloween. I'm really excited about living where we do this year - there are housing additions upon housing additions. Should be a blast! I've always said I like this holiday so much because you don't have to buy anyone a gift or go to your MIL's for dinner lol!

[beth c]

Donna, you are too funny! I bet you will have fun being around so many people. I like Halloween too, I think cuz its in fall and thats my favorite season. I am always looking for fun ideas so share yours and if you know of any great websites please share them too. Thanks!!

[AnnW]

ROFL Donna!!!! I don't tend to do up Halloween much, but I dh and do fight about who gets to stay home and who gets to walk around...we have several neighbors who give out margaritas to the grownups!!! LOL


btw..how was lunch?

[Melody]

LOL
I love halloween. Dh and I switch every year about who goes out with the kids and who stays home. I don't like being home, I'd rather go and check out all the houses done up.
Last year the kids looked so cute. Youngest was Pooh and the oldest was Frankenstien. He looked so cool. It was disappointed that the kids didn't dress up for school, here it is a 'tradition' that only the junior kindergarden's dress up.
I'm not sure what they are going to be this year, usually we get to planning it by Sept.
I can't wait until the kids are older and want halloween parties instead of trick or treating. I would love to throw one big bash for them. :blackbat:

[TXmom]

2 AnnW

Lunch was great! The restaurant was wonderful as far as presentation, but I think I'd rather go to On the Border next time. Dh's tea had a peach flavor to it which was good.

You've got to be kidding - your neighbors give out margaritas on Halloween! :) To think I was impressed by the news that the street over from us has a weinie roast!


2 beth c

My favorite thing to do is the Halloween phantom, which Pam and David have on this site, and is also on my web page. I'll let you know when I find other cute stuff. I'm giving dh a new digital camera for his birthday on Friday (shhhh - don't tell lol), so we can update the site now!:happypump

[TXmom]

2 Melody

I wish my kids would be something fun. We've got about 20 Ninja costumes! Well, last year ds did go as a Nerd, that was cute - I've got that picture on my refrigerator right now.

When are they too old to trick-or-treat lol?! I thought oldest ds (12) went out for the last time last year, but his friends here are saying they're going out, so what can I do? Just have to make sure he doesn't dress up like a punk rocker or something and make people afraid to open their doors!

[AnnW]

Donna...glad you had fun!!

We do a "Boo" which is alot like the phantom thing..well some adults started a "You've been BOOZED!!" lol They put a bottle of tequilla with the poem on your door step and you have to make margaritas to pass out! LOL Gotta love my neighborhood! :newwink:

[TXmom]

2 Ann W

Oh that is just too funny! Wonder if that would go over down here? Probably ought to give it a year. Don't want to be known as that new family that gives out alcohol! Hide your women and children!

[AnnW]

Donna...it WOULD make you rather rememborable! LOL

[kacee]

Y'all are too funny. Here I am trying to get used to the school thing and y'all are thinking of Halloween. To be honest, it is still to early for me. But I should catch up to y'all soon.


OK Gotta ask!! What type of candy do you get? I always buy my favorite, so I can eat the leftovers!! :D

(PS. AnnW - I just ate a Krackel.. Yummy. It was just a minature. Now I want another!)

[AnnW]

Donna..if you want GOOD mexican food, not a chain try Casa Rosa in Inwood shopping center on Lovers (great Casaritas!) or the Blue Goose on lower Greenville.

Kacee...yum, but eat just the one! LOL

[KarlaB]

I haven't really thought about Halloween yet, but I love it! We usually go to my mom's and then we meet us with my sis and the dks/cousins trick or treat together. We are never home on Halloween, but I always buy candy!! :D We also did the "Boo" thing in my old neighborhood (not Ann's version LOL!) and I think I'll do it in this neighborhood this year! :)

[Amy2]

Originally posted by TXmom
:I like this holiday so much because you don't have to buy anyone a gift or go to your MIL's for dinner lol!

Donna my MIL's birthday is on Halloween!! It's been hard because we want to be with our kids and do wacky stuff, but it's her birthday and she loves Halloween so much and we always feel like we should be with her.

We go insane on the kids costumes. Two years ago ds was a crocodile. My dh made this huge papier mache croc head. It looked like the kid had been swallowed by a crocodile with his little face in there! I told dh we better be careful, or the kid will end up on a float by the time he's sixteen!

We had a really fun Halloween party for the kids last year. We had a fashion show that was a riot. We did all the regular games, and served punch in a cauldron (along with this little witch song "I'm stirring and stirring and stirring my breeeewwwww....tic, toc, tic, toc, tic, toc......BOO!" very cute) We made all the food black and orange, with spiders on the plate. It was really, really fun. We may do it again this year!

All that said, I think you are INSANE to be planning for Halloween already, and you're putting us all to shame!

Amy

[kathleen]

I think about Halloween all the time -- it is my son's birthday. He will be seven this year. We never have any problem coming up with a theme. And we just moved onto my husband's family's farm, so we are going to have a hayride for his birthday.

My mother and her neighbors have a chili and hot dog cookout (plus the main course -- dessert) on her driveway every year. When we can make it, my sisters and I and some family friends go. We all bring candy over to her house -- so any kid who trick or treats there gets a lot.

[KathyT]

What is the phantom? Can you describe it here or link me to your website please? It sounds like fun!

We haven't started thinking about Halloween yet, we have the first day of school, our anniversary, and dd's bday all in the same week in Sept so we will get through that first!

[TXmom]

Here it is on The Idea Box:

http://www.theideabox.com/ideas.nsf/cfedca9a5259700b8625661800581c0a/a1a5233748310b7c862566a6000e8eca?OpenDocument

[KathyT]

Thanks Donna!

[arianna]

MM! Last year at Rancocas Craft Fair I saw peek-a-boo ghost tricker or treaters on sale for $50. I peeked underneeth and figured out how to make one for myself. I used a pair of outgrown jeans and sneakers, a wire hanger, a 8 inch styrophome ball, an old white sheet and some faster plaster. Everyone loved it. I can't wait to put it up again this year.
I bought a baby pumpkin costume after Halloween to make another this year. I'm going to use a sleeper and some muslin to form the body and a mask to cover his face. The costume cost me a whopping $.50. I also have been crochetting in my "free" time, an assortment of pumpkins in various colors to fill the many baskets around my home.
It's never too early to think on the holidays. ßß!

[imamama]

I love Halloween, too!! :jack: I can't wait!!! I'm already planning a Halloween craft party for my daughter and a few friends. They're 3, so I'm planning on keeping it simple! A friend gave me a GREAT catalog with all kinds of craft kits in it. You can order a catalog from their website: www.orientaltrading.com (they have all kinds of themes, not just Halloween!)
:idea:
If you really want to be industrious, you can make homemade Tootsie Rolls:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tbsp shortening
4 tsp cocoa
2 tbsp evaporated skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine sugar, corn syrup, shortening and cocoa in a medium saucepan over medium/high heat.
2. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer candy until temp. reaches 275 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
3. Remove the saucepan from heat. When the bubbling stops, add the evaporated milk adn beat candy with an electric mixer in the pan for about 30 seconds.
4. Add vanilla, then continue to beat candy until it begins to firm up and you can no longer beat it.
5. Pour candy out onto waxed paper. When it is cool, divide the candy into several portions and roll the portions into long ropes that are approximately 1/2 inch thick.
6. Use a sharp knife to slice candy into 1 inch long pieces.
7. Arrange the candy on a plate and let it sit out overnight to firm up.
Makes approximately 60 pieces. :blackbat:


Now, where do you people live that you get Margaritas for Halloween?!! LOL That's a pretty cool idea!!!! I need to look there when buying my house (I'm hoping to buy after the first of the year)!!

Anyway, it's nice to read that other people get into Halloween as much as I do!!! Hope to get to know you all better!!

[RCT]

I too love Halloween:happypump this was my mothers Favorite Holiday when I was a kid, and the whole family really got into it...we would all do theme costumes....I was cinderella, dad the kind, mom the fairy godmother, and brother was prince charming...oh how he hated that...we used to do this every year and go to these great parties with our parents....oh how I miss those times.....


for our family now, since the kids are able to get the scary part....they dress up, we go to my sil neighboorhood, because hey, you can't trick or treat :jack: around here, it would take an hour to get to the next three houses :lol:....

this year we are having a party at our house, the weekend after:heks: my nieces husband, who is afraid of our house, cuz they all think its haunted, :ghost: he will take all the children overnight friday.....YIPPEE...and the rest of the brave souls:blackbat: will spend the night here, in the creepy farm house....no electric lights will be used, just candle light....we will have music, food and drink...... someone suggested we do a hide something in the barn game, dh wants to hide himself in there and scare the pants off some of our nieces and nephews....:biglaugh: ...anyway we are making bloody mary's and having some grown up fun.....

BTW yes we have grown up nices and nephews....scary huh....:ghost:
:jack:

[TXmom]

I wanna come!!

[RCT]

I'll leave a candle in the window for ya Donna....:ghost:

[TXmom]

OK, I can't stand it any longer, I'm decorating for Halloween! I got a new haunted house candle holder at Illuminations last weekend and I made a Frankenstine out of a clay pot painted green. His hair is grass. Pretty cute! I need to get the rest of my stuff out of the attic.:jack:

[strawberryfire]

I love hearing all you guys talk about this, especially since we don't do it over here, i hope you all have fun preparing and on the day, and please post afterwoods, so others can experinence the fun as well!

[KarlaB]

Renee - Your party sounds so fun!!! Definitely want to hear all about it when it's done. :)

Donna - Did you create Fankenstein all on your own or did you see a pic of it somewhere? Sounds like a cute/fun project, but I always need visual help. :D

[TXmom]

I saw it in a magazine. Want me to post a pic?

[KarlaB]

Originally posted by TXmom
I saw it in a magazine. Want me to post a pic?

That would be wonderful!!! Thanks so much!! :)

[Lynda/WA]

We try to keep the trick or treating to just this block and one other half block. First we go to the mall. The lines are long but you get to see so many cool costumes! Sometimes my BIL/SIL have a party on the closest weekend. In 1999 it was a themed party for Y2K. I went as a Y2K bug exterminator. This year I'll go as a witch, the Harry Potter type of witch not the black hat hag type. One of the local schools must have purple as a school color. Plenty of graduation robes in purple. I added some purple tinted glasses from the party section at Wal-Mart, a purple hued wig and a hand made wand. DD's costume has always been boughten. I try to get something she can keep for dress up later. Last year both kids were Pokemon. Not very origonal but the kids still love the costumes!

Halloween is my Mom's favorite holiday as well. I'll have to tell her the bit about no cooking and no MIL. She'll appreciate that! I've just started building up decoration supplies. A couple of years ago I made skeletons that were a real hit. I actually had two people come to my house after to ask for insturctions. That was the first year I made milk carton skeletons. Since then I've seen lots of variations. I used glow in the dark dimensional paint (peeled off) and threaded mini Christmas lights down the insides. They looked great! I also put up a witch that looks like she has smashed into the window. Just old black clothes stuffed with papers, black gloves, black boots, a wig, a witches hat, and an old broom. I string her up with clear fishing line and flop the hair around to hide that there isn't a face. i think I'll need to try Arianna's peekaboo ghosts. Sounds cute!

[pumpkin994]

Hi all

I just love Halloween too.
I buy a mixture of candies but mostly what I like so I can eat it too.

I also look forward to roasting pumpkin seeds every year.I always buy extra pumpkins so I can have lots of seeds.

I am going to start decorating this week, can't stand it anymore either(Last week Sept).

DH usually stays home while I take DS's out to the relatives, I usually leave about 5:30 then I can be back home by 7:00 the DH takes them around our neighborhood, we all have a load of fun.

Next to Christmas Halloween is my all time favorite..

Talk to you all soon....:jack: :pumpkin: :happypump :blackbat:

[Ryleigh]

we are starting to think 'halloween' around here too. The kids will likely go into the city to their cousins place with dh and I'll man the post here in case anyone drops by. I don't expect too many since we are out in the country this year. The kids would like a halloween party, but I really don't think I'm up to it this year. Maybe next year, when I'm not looking like the Great Pumpkin, myself. I just don't have the energy right now.

[Gilles Côté]

For the most extensive and best organized list of Halloween online resources created specifically for teachers I recommend you visit the web site of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers. The Halloween Resources section contains hundreds of annotated links to free online resources listed under the following categories:

History & Traditions - Pumpkin Patch (carving, history, recipes, facts) - Language Activities (in English, French, Spanish, and German) Activities, Crafts, Game, Songs & Stories - Clip Art - Colouring Pages - En français

The URL of the CASLT web site is http://www.caslt.org

Gilles Côté