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!
Our Halloween tradition is to eat chili cheese dogs as we’re giving out candy in our giant cauldron!
Ahhh! I just added this book to my wishlist :)
The last few years, I’ve bought small gourds and have wrapped them in neutral-colored yarns. I’m creating a collection and am hoping to also get my glitter on this month with some glittery yarn!
My favorite Halloween tradition, if you could call it that, would be sneaking the candy before October 31st!
We like dreaming up creative costumes and making them ourselves!
Chili cookoff!
I just added that book to my list of “wants,” I would LOVE an autographed copy :)
My favorite Halloween craft and tradition: pumpkin picking and apple orchard visiting to this great place here in MN called Minnetrista Orchards with my good friend Emma. We go every year and love it. Then we go home to one of our places and do something with out pumpkins: carve, decorate with glitter…
Oh this is such a great giveaway! I just love having my husband take our box of Halloween treasures from the attic every year. This year we are going to add some hanging ghosts to our collection!
I live in Austin, the city of the bats, so we decorate halloween using as many bat objects as we can in our decorations.
I made jack o lantern sugar cookies from scratch with my mom when I was little…pumpkin shaped cookies frosted orange with candy corn eyes, nose, and chocolate chip mouths. Now I’ve been making them for years with my kids and we love delivering them to family and friends.
I *love* Halloween!! I have two holiday favorites – first I really enjoy booing some of our neighbors and watching it the holiday cheer spread all over the neighborhood. I also love making my kids’ costumes. I look forward to it every year. :)
i love making boo cups! google the recipe – they are so cute and yummy! (and so sweet that once a year is plenty. ;)
Is there a better Halloween craft than carving the pumpkins?
Love carving pumpkins and putting together costumes. Thanks, Martha Stewart, for the giveaway!
The kids and I love to decorate for Halloween. This is one of our favorite holidays to decorate for because they have made a lot of the decorations over the years. It also signals the start of fall! I’ve been eyeing this book for the last week and would love to win.
Halloween might be my favorite! Not because of the ghouls and gobblins, but because the kids start chatting about costumes in July and work themselves into a frenzy of excitement by the time it actually gets here. We love getting together with friends over homemade potato soup before heading out for Trick-or-Treating (and bringing a little warming hot toddie along to keep the adults warm).
With moving to a new place this year, we’re not really sure what Halloween will bring, but there will be potato soup and friends – for sure!
I’m not as into Halloween as my kids could wish, but I do love carving pumpkins and decorating pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with candy corns and m&m’s. I might have to get a little more into decorating my house, though. Last year my kids did it and I ended up with yarn everywhere!
Ooo fun giveaway! My sisters and I love to get together before each major holiday and choose a new craft to make to add to our homes. We’re coming up with quite the collection and creating lovely memories at the same time!
My dad imparted his love for Halloween on me at an early age. It was always a grand production at our household. My favorite tradition, still, is picking out the perfect pumpkin, carving it, and then roasting the seeds!
My favorite Halloween tradition is definitely picking out and carving pumpkins. Now that we have our Little man, who is 1, it is even more fun to run around the pumpkin patch and celebrate holidays to their fullest.
I just saw this book advertised in this month’s Living….said I had to have it :) Fingers crossed!
LOVE Martha’s books!
I totally want to make those glittery skulls! Hmm, our favourite Halloween tradition? Probably figuring out how to dress warmly with our costumes! The very first Halloween I can remember my mother had made me a beautiful princess dress and I was extremely upset because I had to wear snow pants underneath. It can be REALLY cold here that time of year! We’ve lucked out most years with my kids, but I always make sure there is a way to stay warm without ruining the costume! Haha. We definitely take that into account when planning outfits.
Thanks, Martha. I’m not as gaga about Halloween as some, but those skulls under the glass bell made my heart stop (in a good way). Happy Halloween! You are one of my new favorite, favorite blogs. xox
I’m trying to figure out what fun things I can plan for my preschool children for Halloween. I am in law school, and have to make a presentation in class that night. I bet Martha would have some great ideas!
Pumpkin carving contest and chili for Halloween night.
Halloween is my favorite holiday! I start thinking about costumes sometime in the summer. My favorite thing is picking out just the right pumpkins and carving them (yes, I really don’t know how people can limit themselves to just one). The greatest part of Halloween is that it’s at the end of the month so you have the whole month to do Halloween-y things and look forward to the actual day!
Yay! I love Martha’s books! Halloween is always something we look forward to for months at our house. Especially onces fall starts to roll in!
We love to carve pumpkins and then decorate the front of the house for the trick or treaters.
We love every single thing about Halloween, but putting a lot of care and concern into our kids costumes is the best part!
Our annual pumpkin carving party is our favorite tradition. We try to get as elaborate as possible.
My favorite tradition is to have a family (husband, me and 2 children) costume theme – a couple years ago we were the garbage compacter scene in Star Wars :) Last year we were each a mythical animal. so fun!
My favorite is decorating the front of the house with my neighbors and trying to make it the spookiest on the block!
Well, actually, I’m in the middle of making Martha’s pumpkin lanterns–They are so cute! We also enjoy eating “dinner in a pumpkin”–a rice, beef, and water chestnut mixture you actually cook in a pumpkin!
I love that Halloween and autumn collide perfectly! Going to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect one while drinking hot apple cider and wearing a scarf is just about the perfect day for me!!
We have a neighborhood block party with pizza and carnival-type games. After the party, most Moms head back to their houses to hand out candy. The houses in our neighborhood are spread far apart so my husband decorates our “mule” (read: all-terrain golf cart) with battery operated purple and orange lights and lots of Halloween characters. He drives our kids and the neighbor kids from house to house so the little ones don’t get too tired. The Dads follow on foot and eventually catch up. Everyone goes back to their respective houses and enjoys a candy feast. My kids eat a few pieces of candy and leave the reminder of it out for the “Halloween Fairy.” She takes it away and leaves each of them a small present. (My husband takes the candy to work). Halloween is one of our favorite holidays!
I love carving pumpkins, but I’d really like to make a festive halloween wreath for my front door this year!
Thanks Martha Stewart! Your awesome! My favorite tradition is carving pumpkins, and picking out a new design every year. This year I am looking forward to using white christmas lights poking out of them via… Martha Stewart!
Yes Please! Would love one.
We love holidays at our house. Our favorite part is dressing up!!
My mom’s birthday is on Halloween, so it was always double the fun for us, except that she took all of our Snickers, since that’s her favorite and she was the birthday girl! It was always so indulgent and awesome to have cake on top of all of the candy!
i can not let halloween pass us until i’ve gone on a hayride. it is a favorite thing to do and brings back memories of getting a hayride with lots of friends in the dark, drinking hot chocolate, when i was a teenager. great giveaway! would love more projects! thanks!
noelle
I love Halloween
Going to the apple orchard for cider donuts and pumpkins!
We visit a corn maze! It is beautiful, fun, a bit mysterious, and helps our farmers turn a profit on their post-harvest stalks. It’s an entire day of fun outside in our beautiful Tennessee. Thanks!!!
My favorite Halloween tradition is the Halloween Party we have every year for the preschool kids in the neighborhood. Our first party was in 2004 and I still have preschoolers, so we keep having the party. I’ll be sad to send the last one off to school and end our tradition.
homemade costumes are my favorite Halloween craft.
I love making severed finger cookies for Halloween. Thanks Martha!
Favourite Hallowe’en traditions: carving a spooktacular pumpkin (sorry, couldn’t help the pun) and home-made costumes!
There are so many wonderful fall traditions!!
I could never seem to eat my chili fast enough on Halloween night as a child…and now as the mom…I just love seeing my kids trying to race through their chili and cornbread dinner so they can get to the good part : trick-or-treating! :)
My husband, daughter and I love stringing jack-o-lantern lights around the house. :) This book looks amazing! Such great ideas.