Halloween at Home

Halloween is without a doubt the spookiest of the holidays and has been celebrated since the 19th Century right up until the present day. Halloween falls on the 31st October and is renowned as the night when all things supernatural are especially active.

The origins of Halloween are somewhat blurry but are often linked to the Roman Catholic Church which in the year 835AD made 1st November a church holiday to honour all the saints. Although essentially a celebration, this holiday fell on the eve of All Souls Day, so in medieval times it became customary to pray for the dead on this date.

The name Halloween is believed to be connected to All Saints Day, another name for which is 'All Hallows', hallow being an archaic English word for 'saint'. All Saints festival began on All Hallows Eve, the last night of October, and so the name Halloween was born.

Another connection with Halloween is that of the Celts who thought the long hours of winter darkness brought with them spirits and supernatural beings. In an attempt to frighten spirits and keep them at bay the Celts used to build bonfires, a tradition still carried out today.

Pumpkin lanterns are another deviation of this belief and are an easy way to decorate your home for Halloween. If you fancy distributing a few jack-o-lanterns around your home you can have fun carving out the spooky faces and also use the seeds and flesh of the pumpkin to make tasty pies and soups. The perfect food to serve at your Halloween party!

There are plenty of other things you can do to your home furnishings to create an extra ghoulish setting and whether your style is classic, country or contemporary there are numerous ways to dress your home for Halloween.

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Halloween wreaths can be made out of seasonal leaves and shrubbery won't look out of place in any home as you can either keep them natural and simple for more classic homes or add creepy bits and bobs to suit your taste. These can be placed on mantelpieces, front doors or anywhere you fancy.

Another simple yet effective way to decorate your home is by placing orange coloured flowers in black baskets and scattering throughout the house. This creates a subtle and tasteful look that would work in any house whatever its style.

Dressing yourself in special Halloween themed costumes is another tradition with European and Celtic roots. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts could walk the earth, people feared they would encounter these evil spirits if they left their homes. And to avoid being harmed by ghosts and ghouls people would wear masks if they went outside after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. This is just another Halloween tradition which is still popular today and no doubt will be for many more years to come.

Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

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Fancy Dress Make-up Tips

Having bought your Halloween costume and accessories it's time to complete the look without the need for a mask. If you are planning on 'trick or treating' with youngsters, face painting is a safer option as there is no restriction of vision. Make-up is usually also a less restrictive and therefore less hot alternative for indoor parties….. Here is a quick guide to get you started.

Face paint is a great to achieve a low budget finishing look for your costume where you either don't want to wear a mask or a mask is not a suitable alternative. Before you start it's worth reading all of the manufacturer's application instructions to ensure tear-free results…. Having read the instructions, here are a few more tips worth consideration;

o Firstly, before applying make-up for the actual event it's always worth practising. It's what they say, practise makes perfect and the more you prepare, the quicker you will become – this is especially valuable if you will be a time pressured parent on the day!

o When using face paints on a large area, for example, background colour washing, use a sponge rather than a brush. This will allow you to blend the colour better and will be smoother and more comfortable on the face. Keep the sponge fairly dry and take the paint up to the hairline and just under the chin.

o It is important to use a clean sponge with each change of face paint colour. It may be better to invest in one sponge per colour of face paint rather than continually rinse a single sponge out during the application process.

o Ensure that you have all of the required face paints, sponges, brushes, water bowls, clean water and paper towels (kitchen towel works well) to hand before starting. Paper towels are a must as all face painting leads to some mess.

o Always apply face paint in thin layers as it is less likely to crack and will be more comfortable for the wearer. Thin layers of paint also dry quicker and this is important as each layer of paint should be dry before applying the next layer so as to avoid colour runs and inadvertent colour mixing.

o If you are creating a face pattern with fixed shapes, for example, squares, triangles, circles, stars and you are not confident in your ability to paint these freehand, cut yourself some templates and use these as guides.

o Face paints come in a variety of colours and most brands are suitable for mixing allowing you to create different shades as required. Nowadays, forward thinking manufacturers have pre-assembled collections of face paints to suit many of the occassions suited to the wearing of fancy dress. These are either themed to the event, for example, Halloween, or the character, for example, witch, ghost, devil etc. These are a perfect introduction to face painting and the novice face painter can follow the simple instructions and step-by-step guides.

Lastly, there are many books, videos and CDs available for those who want to develop their skills further. These are inexpensive to purchase and will provide you with an endless supply of designs to follow - all you have to find are willing models....and if all else fails, use an inflated balloon.

Article submitted by: KV Sinclair. Keith Sinclair has over 35 years of business experience and in addition to being a part time University Lecturer on Business Studies, he is CEO of Cavalcade; a group of companies operating in the party sector. Cavalcade operates Karnival-House http//:http://www.karnival-house.co.uk one of the UK's leading internet Fancy Dress Retailers. With massive stocks for immediate dispatch and an ever expanding range, Karnival-House continues to strive simply to offer outstanding service combined with outstanding value.

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Spookily Good Halloween Party Invitations

It's time to get down to some serious Halloween party preparation. Halloween is approaching fast and you need to get your guest list sorted and those party invitations completed otherwise you will end up alone. So how do you make the best impression with your friends and family in-order to convince them that YOURS is the only party they should be attending this year?

In our associated articles on pirate and princess party invitations we have tried to convey that the party starts when you receive the invitation itself. It should convey excitement and really have your guest clamoring for their nearest pen with which to respond. Poorly thought out invitations imply that the rest of your party skills will follow the same pattern. And great invitations do not have to be expensive in anything other than imagination.Let's look at some basic principles for Halloween invitations. Most importantly is an understanding of the overall theme. If you have selected Classic Hammer Film Horror as your theme your invitations would be better themed to this than say, witches on broomsticks.

Staying with this theme, already you may have thought along the lines of either an invitation in the style of an old cinema (Movie Theater) ticket, or more colorfully, along the lines of the old bill board posters. If you are good on a computer have a go yourself using either royalty free or purchased artwork. If you are unsure, take your ideas along to your local printer and they will be able to translate them into the finished invitation or flat print (for you to complete).

Another basic is to write out what you want the invitation to state, this should include as a minimum; name of guest, name of party giver, date, time and location and can should also include dress code and importantly the theme of any dress code, if you want everyone to dress up. You can include some costume suggestions although you may want to do this on a separate piece of paper. And why not discuss your theme with your fancy dress supplier first so that they can offer a list of suggested costumes or help with your theme selection. They may also help by keeping a list of 'who's ordered which costume' for you in-order that you don't get 30 people all dressed the same.

Back to the invitations, having established the theme and developed your list of key information, you need the basic invitation. If you have a steady hand you could trace specific shapes onto art-paper (construction paper) and then cut these out, decorate or leave as simple silhouette, and use these. If you trace your design onto folded paper – keeping the fold (traditionally) to the left, when you cut the design out it will open out into the invitation. If it doesn't you cut the fold line too! Good shapes for this are pumpkin, ghost, witch all of which can be decorated in a highly stylized manner.

For something more stylish, why not use old brown coloured paper with crumpled and torn appearance, charred edges (responsible adults only) and made to look really aged. An alternative is to use white paper and give it the appearance of aging by staining it in a weak solution of tea and then leaving a few (not too many) coffee granules to add darker spots – these will spread with the dampness in the paper. Whilst it is still wet, use your thumb to gently distress the edges by pulling the fibres apart – you may need to try this a few times to get the process right. When dry crumble and tear as required.

To make them really stand out, once you have completed your invitation, why not stretch a little cobweb material and attach this. Do not be tempted to use too much, this is a case of less is more, you really just want a hint. Taking this further, you could drop a small spider (in keeping with the cobweb) into the envelope.

And what will you use to write your invitation? Pen? As its' Halloween, why not go for the ultimate horror by using fake blood. Don't make it too neat and don't forget to leave a few splatters of this around the invitation to make it look really authentic. One of the thicker blood gels may be better suited to this task.

If you have to post your Halloween invitations, then you will need to fold them and put them in an envelope, but if you can avoid this, there are much more elaborate ways of presenting your Halloween invitation. For a little money you could buy plastic skeleton hands, either roll your invite up and fix it in the hand so that it 'grips' it or seal it between thumb and finger so that it appears that the hand is holding it.

If you have chosen something like a grand vampire's ball as a theme, you could roll your invitations using red ribbon and seal them with sealing wax using a seal made from a small coin (unusual foreign coin works best) or better still or own unique Vampire Clan marking.

Handing these stylish invitations should get your party off to a bewitching start and will be devilishly difficult to beat as others won't stand a ghost of a chance. Have a great time.

Karnival Costumes has a fantastic selection of Halloween party goods at: http://www.karnival-house.co.uk/acatalog/Halloween.html Feel free to browse our website for the very best in Halloween party goods, Halloween props and accessories as well as Halloween costumes for adults and children.

Article submitted by: KV Sinclair. Keith Sinclair has over 35 years of business experience and in addition to being a part time University Lecturer on Business Studies, he is CEO of Cavalcade; a group of companies operating in the party sector. Cavalcade operates Karnival-House http//:http://www.karnival-house.co.uk one of the UK's leading internet Fancy Dress Retailers. With massive stocks for immediate dispatch and an ever expanding range, Karnival-House continues to strive simply to offer outstanding service combined with outstanding value.

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It's Halloween, Let's Party! - 3 Halloween Party Ideas

Halloween is not just for kids! Adults can plan a Halloween or other themed party that everyone will enjoy. Three fun halloween party ideas are murder mysteries, a decades costume party and a triva game night.

Murder Mystery Party

A murder mystery game is a fun halloween party idea that's suitable for a variety of groups. Most murder mystery games are created for 10-32 people. However, when you add on Extra Characters you can accommodate a party of up to 200.

The Murder Mystery party game takes about three hours to play, including dinner. Guests assume the roles of characters in the plot, and at the end the killer - or killers - is revealed.

The murder mystery is great to play as a halloween party game because the available themes such as gangsters or '50's lend themselves very well to costumes.

Decades Party

This was a fun event that my singles group did a few years ago. It’s a fun way to have a themed costume party. This would be a great halloween party idea, but it could actually be a fun costume party that could be planned for any time of the year.

Every one comes dressed as their favorite “decade,” I dressed like the ‘80s with big hair, blue mascara and a “Thriller” jacket! At our party every decade was covered, including mobsters and flappers, hippies, and Seattle grunge rockers.

Entertainment depends on the size of the party. We played “Name that Tune” with songs from the 50’s til today. If you’re hosting a larger event, there could be a band playing cover songs.

Trivia Night

A Trivia night is a great halloween party idea. The trivia game can be held as part of a costume party or as the main attraction. It can be held at someone’s home, a sports bar or banquet hall and can work with groups as small as 6 and up to 500. The trivia party game can be played just for fun or as part of a fundraiser for a charitable cause.

The game is played in 4 rounds and during each round the host asks a series of questions and the teams, numbering between 1 and 15 participants, record their answers on their score sheet. At the conclusion of each round the sheets are collected and marked by either the host or an assistant. Once the entire round has been marked the sheets are handed back to the teams, scores for the round are read out, and then the next round of questions begins.

At the conclusion of the 4 rounds, total scores are added up and prizes are awarded to the winning team. Prizes can also be given for each individual round.

Create Your Own Party Game

These are just three halloween party ideas to help you get started planning a fun event. With a little creativity, you can plan a fun halloween party that everyone will enjoy!

About the Author: Sandra Sims coaches non profit organizations with issues such as fundraising and event planning. Find out more about planning fun events such as the trivia night game and murder mystery parties.

Permission is granted to reprint this article on other websites as long as the if the above links are included.

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