If making some homemade treats is on the top of your list of fun things to do this Halloween, join the club! Kids normally choose the largest bag they can find to scare up a good supply of Trick-or-Treat candy. With the first Halloween party invitation, the mood changes quickly from school time to candy time!

There are many ways to turn an ordinary snack into a spooky Halloween treat, some very easy, and some a little more complicated. No matter how much, or how little, time you have to spend creating snacks for your party, you can find recipes and ideas for imaginative treats that fit your busy schedule. Even with limited kitchen expertise, you’ll find quick and easy treats that will be just as spooky and delicious as you please.

Cut-Out Cookies – A treat that many folks turn to first when searching for easy ideas is classic Halloween cookie cut-outs. With cookie cutters in pumpkin, ghost, and cat shapes, you are already on your way to creating fun, festive Halloween treats. Even if time is very limited, you can now buy ready to cut cookie dough and packaged frosting. You really only need three colors of frosting – orange, white, and black – if you stick to the basic shapes. What could be simpler? Of course, you can make your own frosting and get as fancy as you wish, but when time is limited, you’ll still be able to turn out a pretty festive cookie.

Popcorn Balls – Another Halloween favorite is the old fashioned popcorn ball. Use a basic recipe of equal parts dark corn syrup and sugar with just a pinch of salt. Cook in a pot over medium heat until the sugar is melted and the mixture just comes up to a boil. Drizzle over a bowl of freshly popped popcorn until it’s all nice and coated. Then, with greased or buttered hands, form little balls with the sticky popcorn. Form the balls in sizes that aren’t too big for younger children to handle. The size of your fist is probably big enough.

When forming popcorn balls it’s important to keep some ice water nearby to dip your hands in. This will cool your hands off plus keep the popcorn from sticking to your hands. Let the popcorn balls cool, then wrap in cellophane. Popcorn balls make a great Trick-or-Treat goody for family and friends.

Caramel Apples – Those glorious and delicious caramel apples are truly a feast for the eyes and the tummy! But, a big caramel apple is often a difficult treat for a little one to eat. You’ll find all kinds of leftover apples laying around after the party if you serve whole caramel apples to youngsters. Rather, cut the apples in wedges and stick them in individual serving size bowls with dipping caramel in the bottom of the bowl. You can even sprinkle on a few nuts for the traditional caramel apple look and taste. I little lemon juice on the apple wedges will prevent the apples from browning quickly.

Frozen Hand Punch Bowl – Everything on your Halloween party table is spooky, so why not your punch bowl? Create a simple yet spooky “floating hand” by filling a food-service quality glove, like you see at the deli, with fresh water, sealing the glove shut, and putting it in your freezer overnight. Just before the party, sneak “the hand” into your punch bowl and watch your guests reaction. You can make the frozen hand more fun by sticking some strawberry “nails” on it and maybe even a blueberry ring or other fruit bracelet.

When those ghosts come around haunting your house for some sweet treats, you want to be ready for them! Start looking now for ideas for creating new goodies for your Halloween guests and friendly Trick-or-Treat goblins. Whether you want to spend hours baking cookies with your family or you’re more of the make it quick and get out of the kitchen kind, you’ll want to have recipes and ideas to get you started. Creating a new tradition with your family this Halloween creating old fashioned treats may be just the thing this year. Or, perhaps you want to try some new spooky ideas out on your unsuspecting guests. Whatever you have planned for this Halloween, get ready now so when those goblins come knocking, you’ll have Treats instead of Tricks!

Halloween is fast approaching! Those ghosties and goblins will soon be knocking on your door, so be prepared. Delicious homemade treats and simple Halloween Costumes for your family will guarantee you’ll keep the little mischief makers happy. With easy and creative ideas for costumes and candy, your family will be ready for a night of merriment and memories!

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Although some places in the U.S. don’t really celebrate Halloween, it is still one of the most famous holidays in the country. When it comes to commercial potential, Halloween is just behind Christmas in popularity and commercial potential.

Commercial value

Halloween is not only popular with kids alone. The Halloween festivities are popular with a wide variety of adult communities around the world. Since a New York Times columnist already declared that, the world is flat, international parades like The Greenwich Village Halloween parade attracts over a million people on a yearly basis.

Events such as this one contributes positively to the economy. The amount varies from every year, but there was a particular year wherein Greenwich Village Halloween parade raked in sixty million dollars. Due to the high market viability and benefits that these events bring to the community, even religious organizations keep a blind eye on the festivities.

The U.S. and Canada

The Halloween festivities in Canada have been observed to generate roughly seven hundred million dollars in earnings. On average, American households spend around forty-five dollars for the Halloween celebration. Young urban professionals typically spend more for Halloween festivities.

The total amount of the money that the U.S. produces during Halloween is an incredible 6.8 billion dollars. Americans tend to spend a lot on Halloween products like:

- Candies/Chocolates

- Halloween Costumes

- Greeting Cards

- Party materials

Taking It Easy

It’s a well-known fact that Halloween is that time of the year when people could let off a little pent-up steam. Often, it doesn’t matter anymore what the celebrations are really for. All that people know is that they can go to rave parties, drink, and party all night.

In the final analysis, it seems that Halloween was able to live this long because of the adult appropriation of the celebration. Without the movement of corporatist entities, the Celebration would have probably died a very long time ago. With all the persecution, it appears that the only way for this ancient-rooted celebration is to be appropriated to something less offensive and more pleasurable for everyone.

Problems

What makes the adult celebration of Halloween a sore point for the conservative, religious Right? To an extent, two factors are very prominent with the religious Right:

- Alcohol

- Alcohol use

Homosexuality is a factor because of the celebration of same sex relationships. For the alcohol factor, alcohol is almost always present on adult celebrations. In all-nighters and rave parties, free flowing beer is very much appreciated.

The more beer, the more freedom. Unlike celebrations like Christmas, where the drinking of alcohol is discouraged, Halloween is one of the holidays that beer-lovers everywhere wait for.

The modern Halloween celebration is strongest in North America. However, other continents and countries are slowly embracing this holiday of sorts. Halloween themed merchandise are available in almost any country in the world.

For instance, in the U.K., Halloween is experiencing a renewed popularity. They usually celebrate it by wearing scary masks and lighting bonfires.

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Many people associate Halloween with pagan rituals. But the truth is that it’s not pagan. Some historians from the West would say this is true, and that Halloween came from All Hallow Even, the day before All Saint’s Day. All Saint’s Day usually happens on the first day of November.

What’s Halloween For You?

For many people around the world, Halloween is a time of remembering the souls in Purgatory. These souls are those caught between Heaven and Hell, and undergo rigorous cleansing before being granted entry to Heaven.

According to Dante Alighieri, souls found in Purgatory are trapped between Paradise and Inferno. In modern times, this passage deals with the day after All Hallowed Even, which is All Soul’s Day (November 2).

Samhain Origins

Experts say that Halloween started as a Roman celebration in Pomona, associated with the Roman goddess of harvest. Another version of this is a Roman celebration called Parentilia, which might explain how Halloween is celebrated. Basically, this event is a celebration for the dead.

As for the Celtic origin of Halloween, researchers point to Samhain or Samuin (sow-an), which is carried out when the summer days finally end. The celebration of Samhain is often paired with another celebration known as the feast of Beltane. The feast of Beltane is a celebration of the powers of life.

It can be clearly seen that even Celtic tradition is founded on binaries, much like Indian Ayurvedic tradition and Chinese medicine. There exists a balance between life and death that needs to be maintained. Life exists when everything is in balance, while imbalance breeds famine and disease.

More about the Samhain

Why did Celts celebrate Samhain? During the summer months, people were able to harvest ample amounts of food. But on winter months, food becomes very limited and Nature becomes more prominent. During this time of the year, humans are at the mercy of the forces of wind, ice and bitter cold.

Negative reaction to Halloween

For the past several years, many people have perceived Halloween negatively. Owing to the fact that this celebration is not completely Christian, many parents and school officials believe that this kind of celebration should not be allowed on school grounds.

Although the ancient Celts did not likely worship the Christian Lucifer, a fallen angel, Samhain traditions are largely not acceptable in modern times.

Strange Depictions Of Halloween

In movies like those that feature the character Michael Myers (the Halloween series of movies), the Samhain was used as a central category that encompassed how a person can sacrifice to oppose the forces of life and death. The ritualistic ceremonies that the main character espoused built an image of the Samhain that stank of ‘evil’ in the most modern (yet ironically, comic) sense.

More ironically, there are very few extant records of how the Druids really carried about their ritualistic festivities. Only a known personage, Pliny the Elder was able to provide a hint. However, there were no humans being sacrificed on a pointed stick. Rather, two white bulls were used, in a ceremony that appeared to be a run-the-mill offering for better fertility.

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The “Jack O’ Lantern” is without a shadow of a doubt as symbolic of Halloween as a tree is of Christmas or as an egg is of Easter for what would be Halloween without that decoration which is so unique for that day but what is a “Jack O’ Lantern” and were from did this expression come?
A “Jack O’ Lantern” is a pumpkin that has had its insides taken out while a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth have been cut out on its side so light from a candle which has been placed inside might be seen by all in the dark. This is what a “Jack O’ Lantern” is but where does this beautifully frightful object get its name from? This is what the following story is about.
Once upon a time there was a man whose name was Jack his last name being O’ Lantern as he was Irish. Jack like many a man in Ireland enjoyed a shot of whisky from time to time among many other drinks which might have included a pint of Guinness now and then. Jack was also rumored to have been a man who despised working and everything that took away his freedom to loaf about doing what he enjoyed the most which was nothing that did not including going to the pub for a drink.
Jack lived a gay life as he would stay up to the early hours of the morning drinking in merry company only to sleep through the rest of the day so that he might wake up late in the afternoon with intensions of repeating the same cycle. Such was the life of this man who in truth never did harm to no man but then again never did good to no man either.
Good deeds however were not the only thing this man never performed for it can not be said in truth that this man never performed what could be labeled as an honest days work as his life was one of laziness.
Jack had a grand life or so he thought till one day while at his favorite bar the devil came upon him to inform him that his time on earth was up meaning he would have to accompany the devil on a road that would lead to where people like him belonged. Jack however remained defiant in the face of the prince of darkness and challenged him to attest who he was by saying in a cheeky manner “If you are so powerful as you claim to be then prove it! Change yourself in to a coin and you will have left no doubt over whom you say you are”.
The devil incensed by this defiance turned himself in to a coin which Jack suddenly grabbed tightly in his hand on which he had had a cross carved on. It was in doing this that he trapped the devil who offered Jack what ever he wanted if he were to let him go. Jack once having trapped the devil and knowing he had him at his mercy negotiated that should the devil not bother him for one more year he would let him go. The devil not having much in the way of options agreed and did not disturb Jack for another year.
A year however passed from that day on which Jack O’ Lantern encountered the devil for the first time and therefore the devil came back with vengeance to claim Jack but Jack would not have it fore he tricked the devil again. This time Jack was outside and instead of goading him in to turning himself in to a coin he deceived him in to claiming up a tree where he trapped him by carving out a cross on it. Naturally with the cross between himself and the ground the devil was trapped on this tree and therefore unable to get down. Jack at that moment seeing the opportunity struck another deal with the devil telling him that in return for his help in getting down the tree the devil should grant him more time on earth which the devil did.
Naturally like all good things that must come to an end eventually so did Jack’s life however when he died he had a problem and that being that when he got to heaven God did not want him there because after all he had never done any acts of kindness for anyone.
Jack then after having been refused entrance by the all mighty knew not were to turn to so he tried to see if he could enter hell but it was once again that he was denied access this time by the same devil whom he had tricked.
Oh, poor Jack had no where to go as he was unwelcome where ever he went! It was a sad case even for the devil who in a show of pity gave him a pumpkin (ok, it was really a turnip) with a red hot amber inside telling him that it would serve to light his way while he walked the earth for the rest of eternity as such was his fate.
And that as they say is the tale of “Jack O’ Lantern” the man who unwillingly gave his name to the item that no proper Halloween can ever go with out or who shall know fore it maybe that what we are seeing is the spirit of Jack O’ Lantern walking the earth.

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What does Halloween represent? better known as the eve of All Saints’ Day. Halloween in Western countries is about ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and the supernatural.

In Britain, Halloween is associated with children playing ‘Trick or Treat’ a game where children dress up and visit neighbours’ houses threatening to play practical jokes on the inhabitants if not rewarded with sweets or money. All harmless fun of course.

In recent years, the number of local events organised to “celebrate” Halloween has shot up. Also, merchandise is readily available and many families decorate their homes as they do at Christmas.

Where did this phenomenon come from anyway, the United States? We spoke to Kit Bennett from American website Amazing Moms who pleads guilty on all counts.

Kit says, “It’s huge, I would say it’s right up there with Christmas for kids. We as always have gone over the top,” she said. However, Kit, herself a Grandmother and teacher said she has noticed a change in the United States and people have become more safety conscious.

“How we deal with it has changed. It’s actually getting a little lower key. The kids love to dress up and have the candy but we don’t trick or teat so much now. Our children go to shopping plazas now and go store to store to get candy. Many schools are no longer able to celebrate Halloween but they’ll call it a Harvest Party.”

Kit also told us that some children are banned from attending Halloween events and have accused other children of worshipping evil. Oh dear, this sounds like this yearly activity of fun is all becoming a bit too serious. She also went on to say that the event is becoming a big religious activity in the United States with some people not celebrating it for that reason alone.

However, she did want to point out that she and her family do spend time together on October 31st carving pumpkins and enjoying the whole social occasion.

The most popular Halloween costumes in the United States are a Princess costume for the girls and a Superhero for the boys – again different from the UK where it’s a Witch or Dracula.

In the traditional sense Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses”, carving Jack-o’-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. It’s also believed that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. Plus, in Sweden the All Saints’ official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

The most recognisable symbol is the carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, this is one of Halloween’s most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly called a jack-o-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the “head” of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. The name jack-o’-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.

Filed under : Halloween Folklore, Halloween Tradition

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