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!
pick me! I love Martha!
My absolute favorite Halloween tradition is making October a month long celebration of all things Fall (pumpkins, apples, leaves, walks, cider, scarecrows, cooking and baking with seasonal ingredients, reading stories related to the season) leading up to Halloween. I decorate our mantel in Fall colors and decorations, as well as the door and the entry way to the house. On Halloween, we may/may not go out trick or treating, but we definitely get together to do an arts & craft project and indulge in treats. Fall feels like a nesting time of year to me, light a fire and just snuggle up and enjoy the season, so that’s what I want my kids to enjoy and remember.
I want to win so bad! I love a good holiday craft!
Halloween is not hugely celebrated in Australia but my four year old daughter got into the spirit of the occasion when her cousins came over all dressed up and brought her a pumpking carry-all. We filled it up with sweet treats, and my daughter waited patiently by the window on Halloween and no one came. That is until she got ready for bed, the doorbell rang, the rain came down and three teenagers blurted out: Trick or Treat.
This year she has already started talking about what she will wear and what she will pack in her carry-all.
Costumes are definitely the best part of Halloween! Planning what to wear, then dressing up and enjoying other people’s costumes too… so fun!
we never had major halloween traditions growing up, and my mom wasn’t a crafty person. now that i have a family of my own, it’s time for me to start the traditions! we do have a harvest party every year with our friends at church, and i love taking my little boy there for lots of games and candy. :)
I AM READY TO GET MY CRAFT ON!!! Seriously, I’m making a big-brother knight and baby-brother dragon costume from Martha’s online pattern this year, and I’m rediculously psyched to do it! More Martha, more!
Would love this book!
We’re planning to turn the kids’ wagon into a ship to go with their pirate costumes. We need to get started!!!
Nice! I can never think of good craft ideas and Martha’s book might help remedy that.
Going to the pumpkin patch and thencoming home and carving them!
My favorite is giving out treats to the neighborhood kids. Love seeing all the costumes!
Hands down, the pumpkin patch! I never went as a kid (we got ours from the good old grocery store), so taking my kids now is so special. Seeing my daughter dressed in rain boots, stomping around a muddy field in search of a
“pompkin” is so fun! Can’t wait to go this year!!
I’ve gotten some great ideas from Pinterest that I can’t wait to try out with the children. I LOVE all things Martha, and would love to win a copy of her book! Yay!
who doesn’t love a good martha!?
and of course, decorating with a few excellently creepy spider webs
How fun! I need to become more crafty now that I will have 2 daughters!
I have a new favorite: the origami bats my husband and daughter made and decorated before I came downstairs one rainy day. Lovely!
I have this new obsession with white pumpkins. I think they are so pretty and versatile with the modern graphic design trend.
Discovering a new craft and adding to our growing collection of Halloween decor.
We love to each pick out our own pumpking and carving design to go with it. We always have so much fun doing it and the end product always looks awesome.
My Mom would LOOOOVE it if I won Martha’s SIGNED book. . . and gave it to her for Christmas! Wow!
As for traditions all I can say is…Sewing homemade costumes! So much work, but so worth it!
I love to stamp mini linen bags with my Halloween stamps, fill them with candy, and hand them out to the trick-or-treaters. Come to think of it. I think I got the idea from a Martha Stewart LIVING magazine!
Going to the pumpkin patch and corn maze!
The decorating, the Fall & definately the treats! One of my most proud moments at Halloweentime was replicating a word effect on a Pumpkin. It said, “BOO” & was complete with christmas lights inside so you could see through the shaved word. So cool! (I am pretty sure I saw it on Martha)-Funny.
Martha’s new book has been on my Amazon wish list, so would love to win an autographed copy!! Our favorite Halloween tradition is to go to a nearby pumpkin patch on a weekday afternoon when we have the place to ourselves. We choose pumpkins & eat fresh apple goodies. The kids also like to make a new “scary” decoration each year.
Pumpkins are my favorite part of Halloween. We carve and decorate them, roast pumpkin seeds, bake pumpkin muffins and bread.
Oh, I love so much about Halloween. Picking pumpkins, decorating the house, finding a new decoration (my eye is on a mummy this year), costumes, caramel apples, pumpkin cookies. I love it!
My favorite Halloween tradition is going to a pumpkin farm and picking pumpkins! Bonus if there’s a corn maze there too! I’m not such a fan of the carving part though, so messy and mine always end up looking like a 5 year old carved it! :)
In August we each choose a pumpkin growing in our garden and scratch our names into them. The names scab over and grow larger with the pumpkin for the next few weeks and when we pick them they sit proudly on the front porch with all of our names. I did this as a child and my children enjoy it every year too!
My favourite thing is thinking up unique and fun costumes for my husband, son, and myself. I’m thinking Garden Gnomes this year.
We love watching scary movies, not horror, just a little suspense. ;-)
my daughter’s birthday is very near halloween, and my favorite tradition since her 1st birthday has been carving a pumkin with the number of her new age on it. we light it up for the party!
Sweet! Baby is due right around Halloween!
Our tradition for Halloween is to decorate with the full anatomical skeleton I got from the old Martha Stewart catalog years ago. It scares the willies out of EVERYONE. And my two preschoolers love him!
Our church has a fun Saturday night gathering with a campfire and food and pumpkin carving contest each year just before Halloween. Great fun!!
Hope I win – this looks fabulous and Halloween is my favorite holiday :)
my favorite halloween tradition is decorating our front porch and preparing the candy bowl area (a line of bugs leading to it). the kids rarely notice it, they want the candy! but the parents all love it and i do, too. also, a new tradition: BAKED’s monster cookies. AAAAMAZING.
I love Halloween, but it comes at the busiest time of the year and costumes tend to take what little bit of free time I have.
I’m actually not much for halloween. but I do love crafts!
3 years ago I found glitter pumpkins on Martha Stewarts Website and that has become a yearly tradition! It is a lot more fun than carving pumpkins!
nice!
We don’t carve pumpkins because my kiddo is too small, but we draw eyes and shapes on sticker paper and make funny faces… then we scoop out the flesh and make pumpkin cupcakes!
Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo
We always have so much fun going to the pumpkin patch and choosing our pumpkins. Coming up with ideas of what to carve, scooping out the pumpkins, carving, and seeing the final product is exciting for all of us. As the kids grow so do the ideas. It is a howling good time!!
I love making orange popcorn balls for Halloween! And I’m going to try the pumpkin spiced play dough posted by another reader for my preschooler. I love this season!
Wow cool giveaway! I always light lots of candles in orange candle votives around the house and at the door as well for trick or treaters. It’s the easiest yet coolest effect, the light from the candles can be spooky.
My husband and I are what might be considered “professional newlyweds” (together for a long time with no children yet!) We like to try and get into the Halloween spirit by picking our top 10 favorite Halloween movies to watch throughout the month while working on some type of Halloween themed craft/project/treat/gift.
P.S. The ghost head tutorial in the Halloween addition of Martha Stewart Mag was my favorite project. Would love to have such a great reference guide for every holiday!
Love Martha, Love Halloween and Love you for giving it away once again!
Thanks!
I’m of the belief that you don’t need a holiday to get your glitter on, but Halloween sure is a good excuse. These Halloween projects are gorgeous, and the book looks to have wonderful ideas for every occasion.
We LOVE Halloween here in the Lowcountry of SC and ahve already started putting up yard decorations!
We have chili and cornbread before trick or treating, and Daddy stays home handing out candy in a scary mask on the front porch.