Halloweenish

What do you give as a sophisticated gift for Halloween? What do you give your Halloween weekend hostess? What do you send as a gift to make up for having to cancel a dinner engagement at the last minute? Flowers!

For Halloween you might send a nice arrangement of autumn flowers—or any selection that you feel the recipient would like. Obviously that’s easier if you have been to their house and have some idea of their taste, but some flowers are so classic—like roses, for example—that they are appropriate for any occasion.

An amusing Halloween hostess gift might be white lilies, alluding to all the old paintings of beautiful people (presumably deceased) holding one or more white lilies. In Victorian times apparently white lilies were associated with death. If you are going to send flowers UK, the witty reference will not be missed by traditional or sophisticated hostesses

In America in the early 20th century chrysanthemums were often associated with death. Apparently they were popular flowers as gifts for funerals. That makes orange chrysanthemums great Halloween gifts.

In Mexico orange marigolds are the flower associated with death. They are used everywhere on the Days of the Dead. That makes orange marigolds another great Halloween or Day of the Dead gift.

Whether I send cut flowers or a potted plant, I always like to provide the recipient with the means to keep them fresh and healthy for as long as possible. Besides the floral preservatives often delivered with the flowers, it is nice to also send an email with a link to directions for plant care or for preserving flowers—or to print out the instructions and mail or take them to the recipient as a personal touch.

Halloween monsters can be scary. But bargains can be scary-good. Now there’s a place to get scary-good bargains—not just at Halloween, but all year long. It’s called No More Rack.

Like Halloween, these bargains do not last forever. They are posted at 12:00 noon EST, and they disappear in 24 hours—or sooner. The most popular deals sell out.

There are eight daily deals, plus one deal that donates money to charity. All the daily deals are 50% off or more. I’ve found some amazing bargains.

Even better, there are Insanity Deals so crazy you won’t believe it. Earlier this week one Insanity Deal was an iPad for only $43. Another was a Louis Vuitton purse for $18. And another one was Gucci sunglasses for $9. And that was all on the same day!

So you really want to be on the site when the day’s new deals are displayed so you can grab them while you can. If you wait, you’ll miss out. Especially on the Insanity Deals. They go fast.

Other people are catching on. There are lots of nomorerack reviews on line now. Everybody seems to love bargains so good they are almost scary.

So now you know where you want to be tomorrow at noon, Eastern US time. I’ll be there, too.

Do you remember your scariest Halloween ever? James Henderson does. It was the year he turned ten. What started out as a sensible plan to collect the most candy while trick-or-treating soon turned into a terrifying adventure for James, his two friends and his kid brother,

Read More

Guest post written by Shelley Wilcox

I’m always on the lookout for a new craft to make and Halloween season is ripe for all kinds of ideas about that. But the most important thing that I need to make when it comes to crafts during the Halloween season is my son’s costume. Of course that’s the priority, so I started looking up ideas weeks ago.

He told me that he wanted to be a mummy, so I started looking up some ideas about how to do that with my wireless internet Nashville. I got all kinds of really great ideas about it and decided to put some of them to use.

It seems that a mummy costume is pretty simple. I thought about using actual strips of fabric for it, but I decided that I could just take white pants and a shirt with black fabric paint to paint on the strips. I thought that would be a whole lot easier to make and wash in case he needs to wear it to any Halloween parties that I don’t know anything about yet.

Jack-?O’-Lantern Toilet Lid Cover & Rug. ?Bathroom fun in soft, polyester plush. Hand wash. Imported. Cover, 15″L x 13 3/4″W, fits standard lids; rug, 25″L x

Read More

A friendly faced jack o’ lantern is perched atop the Halloween Water Tower and because the tower is 11 inches tall can be seen from everywhere in the village. There are several black bare branch trees and additional jack o’ lanterns at the base. The Village landscape accesesories are designed and manufactured exclusively by Department

Read More

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date:

Read More

Set of 4 Grippy cutters. Set includes ghost, cat, pumpkin, and

Read More

Already planning your Halloween costume for next year? Here’s one you may not have thought of—with a hidden dividend. Why not be a barbarian?

Here is a practical reason why you might want to plan on being a barbarian for Halloween—or for Mardi Gras—and why you might want to start preparing your costume now: ComfySheep sheepskins rugs.

You see, the defining feature of most barbarian costumes is fur and leather. Leather is easy to find or fake, but fur? Not so much.

And fur is warm. It’s really nice during that Halloween norther and especially nice during Mardi Gras weather. So if you are not going to go out and buy a swathe of mink, what do you do?

Here’s my secret: Buy a nice sheepskin rug and wear it as part of your costume. Sheepskin rugs are divine on bare toes. Having one beside your bed to step out on in the morning is decadently delicious. It just feels wonderful.

And you can easily add a sheepskin rug to your costume without sewing or glue. Just tie it on with leather shoestrings, the kind used for work boots. You can get them at shoe shops and even at some grocery stores.

The rest of your barbarian costume is easy—a beat up leather vest and some old brown and gray raggy clothes from the thrift store. The more drab, nondescript and tattered the  clothes are, the better.

The more leather bits you can add, the better. You could tie burlap bags or fake leather around your legs and feet and bind them with strips of fake leather—or more leather shoe laces. A few clunky chains here and there add to the look if they are dull black or gray.

For women the unisex barbarian warrior look is OK, or the warrior princess look. (Think big, clunky gold jewelry with rounded—not faceted—gems.) You can even wear layers of brown & gray tattered skirts—maybe with a tiny touch of red here or there.

But the point of this costume is partly to justify buying a lovely ComfySheep sheepskin that you can keep and use for years as a gorgeous rug. Besides sheepskin rugs, they also sell beautiful sheepskin seat covers for automobiles, animal beds, and other lovely sheepskin products.

And, then, too, in barbarian costume you can party like a barbarian and not have to worry about tears or stains—except for your lovely sheepskin, of course. You’ll want to be sure to keep that safe.

Who’s There On Halloween? encourages readers to play along and use the clues to name the holiday characters hidden inside. Featuring charming text by Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp and adorable illustrations by Charles Reasoner, these two Halloween books are sure to delight and entertain. Illustrated by Charles

Read More