Wednesday

Halloween "Witches’ Brew" Punch Recipe

Ingredients:

1 quart grape juice
1 quart orange juice
1 quart ginger ale

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a Halloween punch bowl. Add spooky Halloween decorations, such as spooky ice-cubes or a gruesome mask made of punch.

Note:  To make a mask, fill a plastic mask with punch and freeze overnight. Unmold and add to the punch bowl. 

Saturday

5 Tips for a Safe Halloween

Most children love Halloween – dressing in costumes, wearing fancy face paint and going out trick or treating with friends and family. Halloween can be a fun event for children as long as safety measures are discussed and implemented. Since most trick or treating takes place after it has begun to get dark outside, knowing how to keep your kids safe becomes an important task.

* Reflective strips can be adhered to costumes in order to increase your child’s visibility. You can purchase reflective strips at either a Halloween costume store or at your local fabric store. The strips come in a variety of colors and sizes so you can match them up with your child’s costume.

* While masks are a typical part of a Halloween costume, they can also be a potential hazard if they are not secured correctly or if they are not fitted properly. Many masks come in a "one size fits all," but children have varying head sizes so the masks tend to mainly be loose on children. A loose mask can float around the face, causing your child to trip or fall, while a tight mask can cut off circulation or cause a potential choking hazard. When buying a mask, have your child try on the mask in the store prior to purchasing to ensure that it fits properly.

* Make-up can play a vital part in designing a Halloween costume. What some parents do not realize, however, is that not all make-up is hypoallergenic and can cause allergic reactions. Some apparent allergic reactions are hives, rashes and itchiness on the face or body parts that the make-up was applied to. To test the make-up prior to application, place a small amount on the inside of your child’s wrist a few days prior to Halloween. If there is no reaction after an hour, the make-up can be deemed safe for use.

* Make sure you purchase costumes and wigs that are flame retardant. All it takes is one spark for an entire outfit to light up on fire and pose a potential fatal hazard to your child. Flame-retardant costumes and wigs are resistant to spreading flames and are easily contained if they catch fire.

* Flashlights are a necessity, especially if trick or treating after dark. In addition to carrying flashlights, safety tags with your child’s information can be carried in case your child gets lost.

Halloween is a fun holiday for kids who like to get dressed up and go trick or treating.
However, with Halloween also comes the need to protect your children. Following safety tips such as wearing reflective strips, a proper fitting mask and carrying flashlights can help to keep your child safe when out trick or treating with friends or family. Most importantly, parental supervision is necessary, and instilling safety awareness in your children is beneficial to keeping them safe.

Friday

5 Ways to be Green This Halloween

Halloween can be a fantastic time of the year for both kids and adults, but with all those decorations, the costumes, candy and more, it can also mean a lot of waste. But, you can make this a green Halloween if you take these eco friendly tips into consideration and do a little forward planning.

1) Make Your Halloween Candy A Healthy Choice

By choosing your Halloween candy wisely, you’ll be helping to protect your kids’ health as well as the environment. Check out your local health food store to see what they have to offer. Opt for organic treats that aren’t full of artificial ingredients, as well as fair trade chocolate or even homemade baked treats.

Monday

Halloween "Bloodshot Red Ghoul Eyes" Recipe

These devilled eggs are gruesome looking but really taste great and they will be the hit of the party.  For the best bloodshot effect serve them within 2 hours of making them.

Ingredients:

3 C of hot water
2 T red food coloring
1 T of white vinegar
6 hard boiled eggs, cracked but not peeled
1/3 C of mayonnaise
1/4 C of green onions, chopped fine
2 T cilantro, minced
2 t Dijon style mustard
12 ripe olives, sliced
1 t ketchup
 
Directions:

Pour the water into a large mixing bowl.  Add the food coloring and vinegar and whisk to blend together well.  Add the eggs and if the water does not completely cover the eggs add more hot water.  Let the eggs stand for 30 minutes. 

Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and peel.  Cut the eggs in half.  Remove the yolks and place in a small mixing bowl. Place the whites on a platter and set aside.

Mash the yolks with a fork. Add the mayonnaise, onions, cilantro and mustard and stir until well combined.

Stuff the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture.  Press 1 slice of the olive into the egg yolk mixture.  Fill the center ring of each olive slice with a dab of ketchup.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1 dozen

Total Time:  25 minutes


Recommended:
New! Halloween Recipes Ebook. Over 50 Recipes With Photos.
Plus 3 Bonus Ebooks - Halloween Crafts, Halloween Drawing and Halloween Printable Games!

Tuesday

Teach Your Kids about All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day

Children look forward to Halloween for a number of reasons. They can’t wait to gather all that candy, and they know that soon after Halloween is Thanksgiving and then Christmas. It’s no wonder children like the last three months of the year – there’s food, food and more food as well as getting out of school. You may want to teach your kids about All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day so they know the basis for the holiday.

Depending upon your frame of reference, All Hallows' Eve is either a Christian or a pagan holiday. Wiccans, or modern day witches, claim the day is associated with pagan celebrations. Catholics and Episcopalians, however, say October 31 is a time to celebrate the saints of old so it is also the eve of the Feast of All Saints. This holy time has been commemorated for centuries.

According to some people, All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day is an acknowledgment of the pain and suffering associated with death. It is also thought that modern Halloween is a way to try to deny the reality of death and anything evil in the world by making fun of it. Rather than concentrating on Christian ideals in a solemn way, they would rather make the evening all about something less serious.

Useful Tips to Keep Halloween Fun, Easy and Safe for Toddlers

Toddlers can bring a certain element of innocence into the mix when celebrating Halloween. With a toddler, trick or treating or parties can become tiring, so it may not be possible for you to go out like you normally would. Toddlers can be naive and get scared very easily so safety is always an issue with them.

With that in mind, you can still enjoy Halloween with these tips to keep your toddler safe and happy. 

*  Avoid Scary Costumes 

Children and especially toddlers can be prone to night frights. Many toddlers find it difficult, if not impossible, to separate reality from the "monsters" that they may see walking around. When dressing up, go easy on the make-up and keep the costume simple so that your child knows that it is you behind the costume.

Sunday

Harvest Party vs. Halloween Trick or Treating

Many parents, for varied reasons, are getting out of the traditional Halloween spirit of trick or treating. To replace the door to door trick or treating or Halloween parties, parents are instead choosing Harvest or Fall parties. These are basically a watered down version of the traditional Halloween.

Many of today’s parents who are Christians themselves placed Christmas as their favorite holiday as a child. Many of those same parents chose Halloween as one of their favorite holidays as a child too. Back then, they had no idea that Halloween could be a huge offense to Christians. Just as the Christian holiday of Christmas can be an offense to the non-believer. 

In the 1970’s and 1980’s there were reports of razor blades and needles being put into apples being handed out to trick or treating children. Around the same time there were reports that candy and taffy were being laced with poison.
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