This Halloween, why not whip out your handy vampire makeup, glue in some fake fangs and pull on a dark cloak?
Of all the characters you can pretend to be, I much prefer a Dracula look and spend ages looking online for suitable vampire halloween costumes.
I live near Whitby where Bram Stoker wrote part of his classic novel, ‘Dracula’ and this is always a magical place to spend a Halloween evening. It’s even better when the Goth Festival coincides with Halloween!
If you’re in the UK over the Halloween period, why not visit Whitby? You can settle down with a pint in one of the many traditional pubs and tell ghost stories until the early hours of the morning!
Happy Halloween!
Children adore Halloween and scaring their friends. With the popularity of vampires, at the moment (both on TV and in movies), dracula costumes for kids are becoming even more popular than in the past.
In my village, kids vampire costumes are the norm when trick or treating and there’s a huge amount of thought and energy put into these outfits.
If you’re not going to make a vampire costume for your kids, the best place to shop for supplies is the internet. You can buy everything you need from fangs to vampire makeup. The reason many folks prefer cyberspace is because of the huge selection of outfits and accessories. Compared to Halloween shops and other stores, there is simply no question about which has the most choice. Not to mention, you can shop easily from the privacy of your own home.
So, if you’re ready to go costume hunting or just need to pick up some fake blood and vampire makeup, hop online and check out the selection. They literally have prices that compete with anyone.
It’s a funny old world. We spend all our time keeping ourselves (and our family) safe and yet when it comes to Halloween we seem to thrive on scaring the living daylights out of those we love!
The purpose of celebrating on October 31st was because the Celts believed that this night, the night before the beginning of the new year, was the one night the spirits of the dead came back to their earthly realm and could potentially cause havoc.
On this night, they believed that their priests, also know as the Druids, would be able to communicate with these spirits to predict the outcome of the new year more accurately.
I’ll certainly be joining in this year with my Frankenstein Halloween costume and my girlfriend has decided that she doesn’t want to look out of place, so a Bride of Frankenstein costume is her choice!
Yep, it’s a strange old world!
Do you have any challenging kids in your family?
I do – my youngest son, Ben. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s a great boy but he tends to do things differently from the rest of my kids. This is especially true at Halloween.
Most of the family tend to go for a Dracula look or even a traditional pumpkin costumes (not terribly flattering, but it looks the part and is traditional). Not so, Ben – he wanted a corpse costume to scare the rest of the family! Now at first I thought this was a little over the top and possibly too scary for my youngest daughter to witness, but in the end I gave in and sourced one from an online store.
Once he tested out the outfit… surprise, surprise… everybody wanted one, even my daughter. In her case, she wanted a Corpse Bride Halloween costume and my oldest son settled for a dead costume.
Strange? Well, not really – Halloween was traditionally a time to celebrate the dead and their passing over into the afterlife. We’re simply continuing the tradition.
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is a wonderful time of the year, but it can get expensive for parents when they have to buy decorations, costumes and candy… and that’s if you’re lucky!
You can buy outfits (such as a Dracula costume or Vampire costumes) but it’s also possible to be more creative and have a go at making your own Halloween mask. You’ll need a paper bag on which you’ve marked out the eyes and mouth (place over your son or daughter’s head to mark the exact spots). Cut out the nose and eyes. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to draw the eyes and nose in the same places – you could create some gruesome effects by placing the nose off-center and the eyes too high on the mask. Your kids will be able to see out of their mask, but in the dark only the drawn on features will be visible!
Next, you’ll need to decorate the mask and this is where you can transform an innocent paper bag into something much more terrifying! You can use glitter, feathers and our favorite – construction paper in different colors. Don’t forget, you can also stick on extras, such as ears or vampire teeth, and maybe color these in with fluorescent paint.
Have a scary and cheap Halloween!
The festival of Halloween (or Samhain) has a long and varied history but we still use it as an occasion to celebrate the dead (even if we aren’t aware of it).
In the dim and distant past, people would dress up as spirits and would encourage the dead to enter their town or village. They did this by wandering through the streets wearing a dead costume and carrying candles. They would knock on doors and ask for food or gifts (we continue this tradition in the modern version of trick or treat).
Europe, especially, had a tradition of believing in demons, spirits and ghosts and these symbols/figures continue through into modern day times.
So, this Halloween, continue the tradition of honoring the spirits of the deceased by wearing a dead Halloween costume and have fun at the same time!
Halloween is a day for celebrating the dead and in the past people began dressing as spirits to lure the dead into their town or village. A voodoo costume would be a prime example.
Creepy or what!
Anyway, masks were worn and folks wandered around the streets with candles and knocking on doors begging for gifts or food. This has led to our modern day trick or treating.
In Europe, many countries believed (and still do in some areas) in demons, ghosts and spirits. These are potent symbols and explains why we are still fascinated by them at Samhain (another name for halloween).
Christianity has done away with sacrifices (animal and human) but we still enjoy bonfires and scaring the living daylights out of friends and neighbors!
If you still need a scary costume for your celebrations, consider a voodoo priestess costume. It has all you need for a Fright Night!
Cops and Robbers – we’ve all played at being goodies or baddies as kids. But wouldn’t it be fun to continue this into our adult life, especially at Halloween?
A mens gangster costume can make a strong impression at a fancy dress party and there are stunning outfits for the lady in your life as well. Think of yourselves as Bonnie and Clyde.
The beauty of these costumes are that you can easily add accessories to make the basic outfit look more authentic (toy machine gun, cigar, etc). It’s a quick, but effective, way to knock together a fantastic ‘look’ when you’re in a hurry.
Got kids? Even they an muscle in on the act with a child gangster costume suitable for girls or boys.
You can also buy mobster outfits with inflatable shoulders to make you look bigger.
Becoming a tough guy has never been easier!
Samhain is the ancient name for Halloween and historians have traced its origins back to Celtic times.
This spooky holiday festival was designed so that people could get together and actually celebrate the dead who could then interact with the living. After this, the dead would move on to the afterlife as their souls were set free.
This was a time to celebrate as the dead could finally move on.
During Samhain, people would eat fruit and drink alcohol, maybe lighting bonfires and sacrificing animals. Eventually, Christians began to have a problem with this and they tried to change the Celtic mindset. Gradually, the notion of Halloween or All Hallows Eve) emerged. This is still celebrated on the night of October 31st which is the day before All Saint’s Day. Over time, this led to the veneration of Saints rather than being concerned with the dead and ghostly spirits.
However, we still enjoy dressing up on Samhain and a Halloween ghost costume is in keeping with the spirit of this atmospheric time of the year.
