It's going to be a big, bad blow-out this Halloween, being our 25th wedding anniversary, too! We have people coming in from out of town for the week-end so we'll have a full house which is fine. The more, the scarier! Since Halloween is on Saturday this year we can have Halloween fun starting Friday night and go right through until Sunday morning.

Friday night schedule is a dinner party, a fancy costumed dance and cocktails. Not is that order, but cocktails, dinner and then a party and dance. We are setting up an 18 foot tent in the back yard with a complete sound system and computerized DJ. We want formal style costumes, fancy vampires, Gothy stuff. This one is just for our out of town friends, family and closest local friends.

Saturday night we will be all taking turns milling around the yard haunt, handing out candy and spooking the trick-or-treaters. When we finally send the last kid packing, we'll go back out to the tent for the big party for all friends, family and anyone else that drops by with an invite. We'll decorate the tent with gross, gory Halloween stuff and the costumes are whatever people want as long as they are wearing a costume.

Sunday morning will be a breakfast party for anyone still at the house. We'll do a big breakfast but on a Halloween theme starting with Bloody Marys, both virgin and non. Now we just have to start pulling all this together!!

I'm getting ideas for food, music and more at the following sites:
Halloween Music: Halloween Music 101
Halloween Food: Halloween Recipes 101
Halloween Decorations: Halloween Online Decorations section

Nothing perks up a Halloween party like lots of glowing Jack-O-Lanterns! They just shout "Halloween!" So, this year for our party, we want to make sure that we carve a bunch of them! Last years shortage and high prices kept the amount we carved down.

Probably the best thing to come around in recent years are the battery powered lights that take the fire hazard out of Jack-O-Lanterns. We still like to put candles in a few pumpkins, the smell is so nostalgic, we have to do it but any Jacks going outside have battery candles in them.

There's usually a new pack of pumpkin carving templates at the stores, too. We always pick up a couple just so we have the newest ones, if they look cool. And places that sell pumpkin carving patterns on line always have new ones for a really low membership fee.

We put together a carving tool kit years ago after seeing one at PumpkinCarving101.com and have added to it over the years. There's an article about putting one together yourself using things like old kitchen knives, ice cream scoops and things like that. I think this year we'll have to get ours out and take a look at it, see if anything needs to be replaced.

It's never to early to start shopping for Halloween costumes and CostumeKingdom.com has a great selection and the best customer service we've found. You'll like the wide selection of costumes that suite any need and all the accessories that go with them! Last year we got my mom three Nun costumes and her and two friends went as singing Nuns! It was a hoot! These ladies are all in their 60's & 70's! They also used them for a talent show at their Methodist church that got a standing ovation!


They have this great gorilla costsume, the head on that thing hangs down to the waist and looks like a screaming, mad gorilla! We got that for my 17 year old nephew and he had a riot with it, scaring the girls at the Halloween parties he went to with his friends. He'll have that costume the rest of his life, it's that well made! I can picture him grown with kids of his own, chasing them around in it.

We got a beautiful set of Devil and his Lady costumes from them last year for us. They were just beautiful! The Lady Devil was all satin and lace and deep red and black, I got a long red hair devil wig that had horns attached to it and that's all I needed. Spooky, he was Satan himself, all dapper in his suite with vest, cape and horns. I did a all makeup on him to give him Jack Nicholson eye brows, he looked positively demonic! We were the hit of the Halloween party!

What ever you want to be this Halloween, what ever you decide your Halloween costume should be, please check out CostumeKingdom.com, they are the best on the Net!

Halloween 2008's parties were a smashing success! We are already planning on what to do for this year since Halloween will be on a Saturday. We can have a party Friday night for friends, our usual Halloween Haunt party for trick-or-treaters and maybe something Sunday night as well. When you have a Halloween week-end, why not make the best of it?


We got lots of party ideas from Halloween Costume Party and Halloween-Online.com. We found some great ideas for music at Halloween Music and food ideas at Wanda's Halloween Recipes which really helped with all the party planning.

We want to make Halloween 2009 the best Halloween ever and really kick up the Halloween Haunt that we put on every year. Adding some new things to the yard haunt like a big iron grave yard fence, a Pepper's Ghost effect in a crypt and some other goodies that will scare the kids. Ah, tradition! It;s what keeps families together!