Counting The Days To Halloween

“How To Design Your Own Halloween Costume”

halloweencountdown — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 05:47:21 +0000

Designing your own Halloween costume can be easier than you might think. All it takes is a little time and some imagination. Start by deciding exactly what you would like to be for Halloween. Once you have made this decision your next step would be to collect the necessary materials to design the perfect costume. Be sure and allow yourself enough time to work on the costume, that way if you end up missing an important item you still have time to go out and pick it up. Waiting for the last minute is not a good idea.

Angel – For an angel costume you would need some white material for the body of the outfit. You can purchase some thin, easy to work with wire from most any craft department store. Use this to construct the halo that fits perfectly around your head. Also, pipe cleaners can be used for this. Dress it up by using lace or some type of silky material to sew around as a covering. Some white or gold color material would look perfect for the angel’s wings. Sew some wire through the edges of the wings to help them stand out.

Witch – Have you always wanted to be a witch for Halloween? If so, you simply start by purchasing the black material. Just sew a simple pull over dress then use a belt to pull it tight around your waist. You can either buy a black belt or sew one from left over material. Cut the bottom in a zigzag to add a touch of flare, add some black boots, an old broom for a prop and of course, the pointed black hat. If you want to make the hat yourself you can do so by using cardboard to form the wide brim pointy design and glue the black cloth to the outer surface of the cardboard.

Animal – Perhaps a cute little animal such as a cat, dog or even an adorable little bunny is more what you are looking for. Pipe cleaners sewed to a strap for support make wonderful whiskers, or just use a makeup pencil to color them on. Ears can be made by sewing together material with just enough stuffing to give them shape and body. Sewing wire along the edges of the ears will allow them to be shaped into different positions. To make a tail for a cat or dog you simply need to cut out and sew together a piece of material the correct length. Next, add the stuffing to give it the depth it needs then sew it onto the rest of the costume. A big ball of cotton glued onto a bunny outfit makes a perfect Peter Cotton Tail. (By Nicola Kennedy)

Woman seduces her husband at Halloween party, then finds out he switched costumes with someone else.

halloweencountdown — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 17:15:48 +0000

No matter how many times this one is passed off as a recent tale, nothing will change the fact that this joke-cum-legend is at least 40 years old. A 1965 joke book included a version involving a headachy wife who slips out of a costume party, switches outfits at home, then returns to the country club dance where she’d left her husband. She spots a figure wearing her husband’s costume, and a bit of dancing and wickedly persuasive moonlight leads to her romancing its wearer in the back seat of a parked car. They part, and (as in all other versions of this tale), she arrives home before her husband does. When she asks her hubby how his night was, his description of the evening has him trading places with the bartender, a dour fellow who had previously complained about never having the opprtunity to get in on the usual ribald Halloween party fun.(more – www.snopes.com)

“Halloween and Pets”

halloweencountdown — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 04:13:52 +0000

Halloween is a festival many of our pets could do without. Our dogs and cats don’t appreciate the symbolism and revelry of All Hallow’s Eve; to most of them the evening is a frightening collage of trick-or-treaters and party-goers who noisily shuffle from house to house, pound on doors, and engage in a variety of mischief. Even worse, pets who remain outside on Halloween are subject to becoming the targets of pranks ranging from the comic to the cruel.

Unfortunately, Halloween has also been a time when some people acquire pets — particularly cats — to use as living decorations or for displays of fun and sport, only to discard or abandon them afterwards (as often happens with chicks and rabbits at Easter time). Accordingly, many animal shelters have taken steps in recent years to limit or eliminate the adoption of cats in the days leading up to Halloween by either deferring feline adoptions until after Halloween or by more carefully scrutinizing the prospective adopters. (full article-snopes.com)

“A Simple Way To Carve Your Pumpkin”

halloweencountdown — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:50:03 +0000

Play Video

Carving can be a very time consuming process. I actually enjoy it, but if you are looking for a quick and easy way to get the job done, this video shows us how.

“The nefarious midnight ninja has been nabbed”

halloweencountdown — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:16:07 +0000

The people of Sioux Falls, S.D., can finally sleep soundly in their beds: (FOX News)

Cops responding to numerous 911 calls last week pulled up to a 41st Street curb to find a ninja patrolling the shadows armed with a pair of nunchakus and a sheathed sword, according to the Argus Leader.

However, the 15-year-old shadow warrior, Cal Geiser, was apparently just doing his job, promoting a local store selling Halloween costumes called Halloween Express.

“I was just out walking around in my ninja costume, twirling my nunchakus,” Geiser told the Argus Leader. “After 20 minutes of that, I took out my sword and looked at it. I turned around, and there was a cop pointing his gun at me.”

After the officer took off his mask and cuffed him, Geiser told the Argus Leader, “They were like, ‘Oops.’”

The Jack O’Lantern is the symbol of Halloween.

halloweencountdown — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:12:20 +0000

The Jack O’Lantern is the symbol of Halloween. (BBC News)

Irish immigrants took tradition of Jack O’Lantern to America

It was said that if a demon were to encounter something as fiendish looking as themselves, they would run away in terror.

In Ireland – the tradition was to carve out turnips, but now it seems pumpkins are all the rage.

According to folklore, the Jack O’Lantern is named after a blacksmith Stingy Jack who tricked the devil into paying for his drinks.

Unable to enter heaven or hell when he died, the devil threw him a burning ember.

He was left to wander the earth carrying it about inside a turnip – or should that be a pumpkin?

Ronald Greenway grows up to 10 acres of turnips near Dungannon in County Tyrone.

Hallowe’en used to be his busiest time – but not any more.

“When I was small, I didn’t know what a pumpkin was really, so I suppose we used the next best thing, a turnip.”

Jack O’Lantern is named after a blacksmith Stingy Jack

At the Ulster American Folk Park – they have been growing pumpkins in the run-up to their Hallowe’en festival.

Irish immigrants took the tradition of the Jack O’Lantern with them to America, as Rachel Craig, an interpreter at the park explains.

“In Ireland, people cut out heads and faces of turnips and hid them in the hedgerows as a prank during Hallowe’en and they would have carried the tradition over to America.”

But when they arrived in the New World, they just could not find any turnips, so they used pumpkins instead.