Fun With Scary Halloween Costumes

Just like with things that are meant to be funny, scary is very subjective. There are some things that are obviously scary, but it is often a matter of who is looking at something. Though there are many types of costumes out there, the scary Halloween costumes are the ones that are generally the most common. This is because Halloween is supposed to be scary, and is the one time of the year when people find the most fun in truly expressing themselves. When it comes to scary, you can go in just about any direction. Just be sure to have fun with it!

There are some scary costumes that crop up each year. Those that love horror movies can probably predict which scary Halloween costumes are going to be the most popular in any given year. In the eighties, things like Freddie Kruger and Mike Myers were common. Though there are some that still wear these, they are very uncommon today. People always love to choose things from the current crop of horror movies when coming up with scary Halloween costumes. This does not mean they have to be generic, as you can do anything with any of them.

Scary does not have to mean pop culture. You may have your own idea of what is scary and if so, that is what you should do. It does not matter what has been playing on the big screen, as things in our real lives can be scary enough. If you think a dirty toilet is a huge horror, you can find a way to make that into scary Halloween costumes if you have the imagination and know-how to do it. You may think that school lunches are scary, and if so, you can always find a great way to make a costume out of that idea.

If you are pretty sure that you want to find scary Halloween costumes, but you don’t think you have the creative pull you need to pull something off, don’t worry too much. You can always shop for what you want. You can find complete costumes that will work for you, or you can mix and match what you find to come up with something new. Though you have to wait for things to come to your home when you shop online, that is where you can get some of the most inventive scary Halloween costumes that you can get anywhere. Order early so you know it’ll arrive in time for your Halloween events.

Avast and ahoy, ye landlubbers! Party hardy, in a pirate Halloween costume!

In the 17th and 18th centuries, pirates were notorious beings, ravishing the coasts of the Caribbean with particular fervor. Port Royal was the infamous base of these freewheeling thieves. While legs and eyes were commonly lost in their battles with the law abiding ships on the high seas, pirates have come to be romanticized figures today. Perhaps because of their bad boy reputations, a certain carelessness and rowdy, cavalier behaviors, pirate Halloween costumes are a popular choice for both kids and adults. As with most historical figures, authenticity is key to pulling this one off. Instead of golden doubloons, you get a fine largesse of sweets and treats.

Authentic looking pirate Halloween costumes aren’t nearly as difficult to put together as you might think. There are a number of telltale signs, which, properly imitated, make you unmistakably, a fearsome Pirate.

For example, the dyed in the wool pirate has got to be missing a leg. Here’s an easy way to follow in Bluebeard’s footsteps. Use a couple of sturdy sticks of a length to run from your knee to just above the ground. Wrap a length of cloth around the sticks, top and bottom and secure them with duct tape. Now, wrap a piece  of stiff beige or brown felt around the sticks. A glue gun works well to attach the ‘wooden’ leg to the underlying cloth. A sturdy tennis shoe, covered in felt nicely simulates your one legged appearance.

The macho pirate Halloween costume demands you be one-eyed as well. Eye patches are readily available at cheap prices. Another indispensable prop is your flagon of rum, matey. If you’ve got a small empty liquor bottle, great. If not, any glass bottle of the approximate shape and size works just as well. Maple syrup bottles often have a little handle, allowing you to take swigs at the twist of a finger. Just fill ‘er up with water and add a few drops of red and yellow food coloring for that proper amber tone.

You can find pirate style pants at the Navy surplus stores, as well as the Navy pea coats, which you can embellish with swashbuckling accessories. For a pirate Halloween costume that really walks the talk, Google images of Bluebeard, Captain Hook and other genuine or movie character pirates. Jot down notes on the detailing of shirts, bandanas, gaudy jewelry, knives, guns, sashes and such. Wearing just one tall black boot will enhance the peg leg effect. Add a rag-tag looking wig and you’re fit as a fiddle in your imposing pirate Halloween costume!

If you’re at a loss for words while trick or treating, you needn’t be too articulate. A throaty “Aaaargh, be it a trick or a treat, ye landlubber!” Your booty is, of course, candy!

Halloween Party Food Ideas

You want your Halloween party to be something that your guests will never forget. You have chosen a costume theme, gotten the right decorations, and sent out the invitations that you choose from a great selection that you found online. Before you settle down and think that your planning is out of the way, you have to think about some Halloween party food ideas. What you can come up with depends on your imagination, but there are some simple things to give you inspiration to come up with your own.

First of all, you can find some great Halloween party food ideas by going to your local store. You want to go to one that has a large selection of bulk candies if you can. Some grocery stores have these, and others do not. You can also see if you can find a store that sells candy exclusively. These will have Halloween party food items already in stock. You can find candy items that look like almost anything. You can get eyeballs, fingers, toes, and at times, brains. These are going to give you plenty of ideas once you have them in your cart. You can then get whatever else you need while there.

You can also think about making some common foods into Halloween party food ideas. You can think of what you would serve as finger foods at normal parties, and then put a Halloween twist on them. You can do this with food coloring and nothing more if you wish. You could make deviled eggs and then dye the filler orange and black, or perhaps a bluish grey to simulate brains. These Halloween party food ideas are only going to look different without altering the taste one bit. This can work on almost any food you can imagine, with a few obvious exceptions.

If you find that you are low on imagination, as we all are at one point or another, you can find some great ideas for Halloween party food on the Internet. You can find some you can order, and if you have a hard time finding that gross candy, you can find it through many websites that specialize in holiday candies. Use your own imagination, and then see what others have come up with. Many will post pictures and recipes for their favorite Halloween party food items, and even a place where you can get the special things you need to make it.

Grim Reaper Costume

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Usually, I spend weeks and weeks preparing for it. I make the best Halloween costume I can, and I usually get some very positive reactions. Nevertheless, last year there was a change. I was just coming into town the day before Halloween from an extended business trip, and I knew I would have no time to put together a costume. I had to find something that I could assemble quickly but that was still impressive and in the spirit of the holiday. That is why I wore a Grim Reaper Halloween costume.

A Grim Reaper costume is actually a pretty easy thing to assemble. If you want to keep it very basic, you can get by with a cloak with a dark hood and some face paint. Ad a scythe and you’ve gone a bit further. For my Grim Reaper costume, however, I wanted to get a better effect. I wanted to look truly creepy. I decided to shave my head and paint my entire face white with black outlines around my eye sockets and my nose. I painted my hands in a similar style to give a skeleton look to my fingers. It was done in a subtle way – I have a friend who is a great make up artist – so that it wasn’t immediately apparent. At first glance, I looked a little pale and sickly. It was only at second glance when I appeared as if my bones were showing through.

Needless to say, my Grim Reaper costume was a big success. Grim Reaper costumes and other distinctly Halloween outfits usually are. Even if you don’t put that much effort into it, people love to see ghosts and goblins and ghouls of all kinds. I was lucky enough to be the only person in the party I was at with a Grim Reaper costume. I had been to Halloween parties before with three or four different people all dressed up as the Grim Reaper, and I was afraid that that was going to be the deal today. It is nice to be at least somewhat unique, even if your costume is not very original. And thanks to my friend, I had one of the best Grim Reaper costumes there were. Few people take time to get the makeup right, and doing so made me outshine most of the other Grim Reapers who were no doubt were out that night.

Five kid-friendly, inexpensive and easy Halloween crafts for family fun and laughter

In an odd way, Halloween signals the beginning of the holiday season. Costumes and festivities are involved, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, with Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza and New Year’s following in quick succession. Kids and parents alike love this occasion to dress up and start warming up to the holiday season. If, by chance (!), you find yourself long on holiday spirit, but short on time, here are five quick, easy Halloween crafts that everyone can enjoy and which won’t empty your wallet.

Although many people don’t regard Pumpkin carving as a craft project, there are ways to make old Jack a really scary dude. With metallic acrylic paints, glow-in-the-dark stick-ons, glitter and a glue gun or school glue, you’re in business. These ‘accessories’ turn plain old Jack into an impressively scary and easy Halloween craft. Let each child have their own pumpkin and, with a marker, draw their own scary face. Do the carving for young kids. Older kids, at your discretion, can carve their own. Spread newspaper under each pumpkin and let them decorate eye, nose and mouth openings as they see fit. Now Jack has some bling with which to be scarier than plain Jack.

Jack may be showcased on his own paper plate stand, providing another traditional and easy Halloween craft. For safety, cover the plate with foil, which adds sparkle to his presentation. Alternatively, your child can paint the foil with acrylics. If the kids want add-ons like glitter, use a spray can of matte fixative to coat Jack’s seat, just before applying the glitz.

Kids most enjoy decorations they make themselves. Make some stylish, original streamers which they can hang all over their room or at the front door. It’s easy to find little plastic or rubber Halloween-themed creepy-crawlies at dollar type stores or craft shops. There are spiders, worms, ghosties, and apples. Don’t forget the cobwebs and sticker selections for detailed creepies. Just give the kids a glue stick and a sufficient length of streamer.

Ghosty balloons make an easy Halloween craft, enjoyed by young kids and teens alike. Kids like to take these trick or treating, then hang them in their room for viewing as they settle in to enjoy their haul of treats. Get plain white sheets from a thrift shop, helium balloons and add-on items such as the ones for your pumpkins and streamers. Cut the sheets to a size sufficient to cover the balloon, with a little to spare for (later) tying a string around ghostie’s neck. Mark eyes, mouths and eyebrows and then turn the sheet pieces over to the kids.

Face painting is a favorite of kids, which hardly needs instruction, but certainly supervision. Be sure your kit is non-toxic. Lions, kitties and monsters are popular. Whatever the design, you can be sure they can see where they’re going!

Happy Halloween!