I’m still amazed that it’s really October! The conversation at our house has pretty much turned to non-stop Halloween topics. Same for you? I keep warning the kids that Halloween is not a big deal in France (and that October 31st falls during a 2-week school break), but they can’t help themselves.
They are daydreaming about throwing a party for their friends. Bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, maybe a spook house in the barn. Martha’s new book Handmade Holiday Crafts, came in the mail last Friday, so they’ve been taking turns bookmarking their favorite ideas from the Halloween section. Personally, I’m feeling drawn to the glittery projects (skulls, bones and pumpkins). I suppose I’m just looking for an excuse to get my glitter on.
Have you started making Halloween plans? Are you hosting a Halloween party this year?
UPDATE: The good people at Martha Stewart saw this post and want to offer 5 (autographed!) copies of Handmade Holiday Crafts to Design Mom Readers. So this post just turned into a giveaway. Woot! To enter, leave a comment below telling us about your favorite Halloween craft or tradition. The five winners will be announced on Wednesday.
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The winners are Kelly, Rik, M. Peterson, Heather and Janeannechovy. Thanks for playing!
For the past few years I have hosted a Halloween party where we have crafts for the kids and eat homemade soup, it always makes fall feel official for me.
i love picking a pumpkin, harvesting what is inside, and carving it out. thanks for the chance!
Our Halloween Tradition was born out of necessity,,,, When my oldest son was young, he was chronically ill and could not go out trick or treating on halloween (he’s now in his twenties & quite healthy),,,,so we invented ‘reverse trick or treating’,,,,,getting all dressed up in our costumes,, so family and friends would stop by and bring candy and treats to us! We still reverse trick or treat, but with us bringing treats and baked goods to our friends and neighbors……
So Fun!
We love to carve our pumpkins, roast the seeds (with lots of salt), and feast on them before we begin our trick or treating. This year we will be starting a new tradition and “booing” a neighbor. It involves leaving a little Halloween treat with instructions to “boo” another home and so forth. We’re excited to leave the treat and run!
Definitely going to the pumpkin patch!
Pumpkin Hunting!
I just made this MS craft this weekend: http://www.marthastewart.com/272378/halloween-hang-ups?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/halloween-decorating#slide_29 and LOVE it. I’m such a fan and love the variety every holiday!!
My favorite Halloween craft is to make our costumes. I’ve always preferred the homemade costumes to the purchased ones (although I have caved in years past!). It’s become a family affair and we start planning our costumes toward summer’s end (allows for plenty of time for idea changes!).
Roasting the pumpkin seeds after carving the pumpkin. So yummy!
Your kids should totally throw a Halloween party–especially if it’s the old-fashioned kind, with apple bobbing and pumpkin carving! As for our traditions, we love to read “Humbug Witch” and other not-too-scary Halloween books, and we also paint pumpkins and do a mystery menu lunch or dinner.
OMG, I love Martha! I’m adding this book to my Amazon cart now!
Oops! My favorite tradition is handing out candy. I love seeing the little kids so excited for trick or treating.
My favorite Halloween tradition is making crafts out of candy corn – I can’t help myself. This year I made a wreath. Thanks for the chance!
i love making costumes for my girls. Well, until this year, there was only one, but now i have one more!!! :)
i love halloween! my favorite tradition is to make halloween gingerbread houses. each child makes one and we give them away – keeping one for ourselves as decoration of course!
and i love martha! feed my addiction – pick me! :)
I don’t have a favorite Halloween tradition, but I saw some tiny (baseball-sized) pumpkins at the market yesterday that were just adorable. PS: I hope you have an American Halloween party in France! I think it would be a big hit.
What a great giveaway! Our favorite tradition is to go to a corn maize and hay ride. There are plenty to choose from in this part of the country and it just sets the tone for the season!
Our favorite part of Halloween is the costumes! My kids have been talking about their costumes for a couple of months already.
Halloween is traditionally one of my family’s favorite holidays and we are the ones who host an annual Halloween Party. This year things are going to be crazy though because Halloween falls 2 weeks before I’m due with my fifth child. In the town I live in Alaska the doctors do not deliver babies meaning I will be heading to Juneau a few days before Halloween. I am trying to make sure my kids have some kind of costumes but it’s strange, really creepy even, that we’re not focusing on Halloween like we normally do. Have fun with your party and make some glittery decorations for us!
several years ago, my husband and i handmade a dozen tombstones (using a martha stewart tutorial, of course)! each year, we can hardly wait to scatter them across the front yard! we call it “spookifying” the house!!
in case anyone is interested, here’s a link to the tutorial…
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tombstone-yard-halloween-decorations
Well my birthday happens to be on Halloween, so my favorite tradition is greeting hundreds of little kids (my favorite kind of people) while my whole family sits on the front porch and drinks cider, and celebrating my birthday that way!
Pick me! My family always eats chili on Halloween. yum.
We love carving pumpkins on Halloween (before it gets dark) and having a big party with our friends.
Thanks! Our neighborhood hosts a fantastic party with games and costumes – it’s lots of fun!
I love making candle holders out of gourds.
Thanks for the chance to win!
favorite Halloween tradition…home-made costumes!
Love from Lori C.
Hot dog mummies for dinner before trick or treating. p.s. I have had my eye on this book!
My family was never really big on Halloween, but I love walking home from work on Halloween and seeing all the children in costumes running around. It’s always the best way to end the day.
my favorite part of halloween is decorating the house for our trick or treaters. Each year we pick a theme and use our pumpkins/windows and anything else we can think of to do something fun. it’s not always spooky, this year we are thinking Hello Kitty and stars.
I love martha’s glitter pumpkins and that the people at Martha Stewart follow your blog :)
Carving Pumpkins and roasting and eating the seeds!! Hoping to keep some of the seeds to plant next year so we can have our own pumpkin patch!!
My favourite Halloween tradition/craft is certainly carving pumpkins! I don’t usually actually do much else. I used to have friends over for a Halloween themed dinner, but just haven’t had the space or time the last couple years. I usually only dress up if I have something to go to and have been inspired for a costume…and then I’ll become completely obsessed with making it perfect.
Love Martha! Please come to me martha!
Picking the perfect pumpkins to carve along with smaller ones for pie making!
My favorite tradition was to take a picture of myself every year with my daughters in their costumes. They are grown now (ages 22 and 25), but we have such wonderful memories of those wonderful Halloweens–our neighborhood has many houses with front porches and it was such fun to see and hear everyone out visiting and enjoying the evening.
Oh wow! An autographed copy! My favourite tradition is very recent — it’s having our best friends come over to help up on Hallowe’en night. Our friend Mike stays home with my hubby and our two-year-old fella to hand out treats to the trick-or-treaters, and Mike’s wife Cathy joins me and my four-year-old daughter for trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood. My daughter is very shy so this doesn’t last longer than 20 minutes or so, so we have some time to visit all together when we return before tucking the kids into bed. So fun to celebrate this fun holiday with friends.
I love Halloween! We are now a family of three (three – can you believe it?!) and need a good costume. Ideas? I’d love this book. We could throw a party with this book.
Our Halloween tradition is that it’s my mama’s birthday. :)
I love, love, love Hallowe’en! My favorite tradition is sewing costumes for my children. I have to make them big to fit over snowsuits and parkas, so they get used for years as dress up clothes too.
Love making up little candy/toy bags to hand out to trick or treaters!
I love to make my kids popcorn balls with candy corn in them just like my Mom used to do for us!
Sounds like we’re living in the same craft-time zone. I’ve been glittering gourds and pumpkins like a woman possessed…we grew our own this year, so I have, literally, HUNDREDS at my disposal and have already been through FOUR cans of spray glitter. Tip: my favorite, most user-friendly brand of gold spray is “Pure Gold 24-Karat” spray. The great news: these babies will take me right into Thanksgiving. I’ve also tried stenciling silhouettes and decoupaging pumpkins…it’s all so fun! And Martha is my go-to source for inspiration…here’s hoping I win! :)
Going to the local pumpkin patch to find pumpkins that weight the same as two 4 yr olds. We have girl/boy twins.
Having a homey casserole for dinner, getting the kids’ costumes on, sending daddy out with the kids to roam the neighborhood and pouring a glass of wine for myself as I hand out candy!
Sugar! The candy, the cookies, the candied popcorn…
When I was little my mom, little brother and I used to make ghosts out of cheese cloth and starch. We made big ones and little ones and my mom let us hang them all over the house; on the dining room light fixture, front hallway and above our beds. We had so much fun and we thought we had the scariest house on the block!
We love a very quick trick or treat in the neighborhood and then coming home to soup and pumpkin cake!
Pumpkin carving….Bert and Ernie, Bob and Larry..every year when the kids were small we chose different characters. Now every one does their own…the creepier the better..
I love sorting all the candy at the end of the night…chocolate, chips,rockets,gum & then trading unwanted goodies with the wanted ones!
I love Martha, and Halloween! One of my favorite things to do is actually one of her crafts. It’s little favors made of crepe paper and floral tape-shaped into pumpkins-filled with candy. Looks impressive but is so easy! Thanks-great giveaway!
Woohoo! Ummm, pumpkin carving and roasting the seeds, of course!
I could use some help with the holiday crafts… That’s why I’m hoping to win a book! However, our favorite Halloween tradition is definitely the Pumpkin Patch. The kids love going and we love watching them enjoy it!