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.
——–
The winners are Kelly, Rik, M. Peterson, Heather and Janeannechovy. Thanks for playing!
The only thing I regret about living in an apartment instead of a house is lack of outdoor space to put my jack’o’lanterns. That was my holiday tradition. I still prefer the basic triangle-eyed patterns to the intricately-sculpted masterpieces I see today.
Love Halloween!!! sooo want to be a crafty girl!! would love to win….
My favorite tradition is going to the pumpkin patch, picking the pumpkin and carving it!!
Neat! I love carving pumpkins — perfect combination of engineering and artsy creativity.
Halloween has always been a huge holiday in our family, right up there with Christmas. My favorite part is how creative everyone seems to get coming up with not only decorations for the house, but costumes as well! No store bought costumes at our house.
We love being the secret ghost that delivers goody bags to all the kids in the neighborhood. My kids love to go trick-or-treating.
We always take my little boy 45 min. away to Grandpa’s to go trick-or-treating. Grandpa walks the neighborhood with us and they play in between door knocks. Special time for little boy and Grandpa!
Our favorite tradition is after carving the pumpkins we roast the seeds. Each year we try out a couple of variations – sweet, spicy, curry, etc. and see which we like best. And yes, we carve a bunch of pumpkins to that we can get lots of seeds.
Thanks!
My favorite tradition is going to the pumpkin patch and picking out our pumpkins. They are a perfect blank canvas.
i love jack-o-lanterns and always enjoy looking out for them on porches and front stoops at the end of oct…
My kids absolutely love to carve pumpkins. They look forward to it all year long! But I’m thinking some glitter pumpkins would be darling as well.
Putting together pumpkin displays on my front steps and front wall. Thanks for the chance to win.
My favorite Halloween tradition is making witch’s brew. It started w/ my 2nd grade class and now has transferred to my own little children. I love watching the look of wonder on their faces as you add bat’s blood (Hawaiian punch) & mold (lime sherbet)!
As a kid we made ghost suckers, basically covering a sucker with a white napkin and tying a black yarn bow around the neck. To adapt that tradition, my husband is from a family that makes suckers, so now we make suckers every Halloween which are too beautiful to cover with a napkin, so I make cute little tags to wrap around the base.
Of course, pumpkin carving! I love using one of martha’s ideas: I look for a pumpkin that has it’s stem intact and is so curly. Then that becomes the nose and I carve eyes and a mouth around it. It always turns out so cool! :)
My favorite Halloween memory was the tradition my brother and I had of sorting and trading our candy after trick or treating. I live in Paris now, and so miss trick or treating!
That book looks like a lot of fun! My kids and I would have a blast with it.
Halloween has gotten more fun since we’ve had our son. We always make something yummy for his friends at the babysitter. This year I think we are going to make caramel apples.
Caramel Apples — mmmmm. Can’t wait.
No kids yet (first one due early next year!), so no real traditions to speak of, other than sitting on the porch and enjoying all the cute neighborhood kids while we pass out candy.
Looking forward to carving pumpkins with our little one in a few years!
My favorite color is orange so, of course, I love Halloween! My favorite thing about Halloween is jack o’lanterns! Carving them and seeing all the creative ways others carve them!
I love carving the pumpkins and roasting the seeds! On my oldest sons first Halloween (he was 4mo old) we carved out a large pumpkin and carved two leg holes and place him inside for a fun photo op! I got the idea from my brother, who did the same with his son. This year we will carry on this tradition with my second son.. he will be 8mo. old!
Making ‘vampire juice’ — red red red kook-aid!
Looks like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway.
Pumpkin carving and eating toasted pumpkin seeds with the kiddies. And, jsut seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces when they approach each door and eagerly shout “trick or treat!” :)
I love Pumpkin carving…and mini twix bars! :)
My favorite picture of my 5-year old and her best friend running hand in hand down a dark street, sparkling under the street lights in their glittery fairy costumes, biggest smiles on their faces.
I lived in Switzerland for 6 years, so I know how disappointing Halloween can be abroad for children. Even still, we had a great time. Carving pumpkins is still my favorite way to celebrate.
how neat! I like pumpkin-carving–but not faces, just interesting shapes and designs. Then I stick them in my (non-working) fireplace with candles inside.
Now that I have kids, I really want to get into decorating for the holidays…this book would be such a lovely place to start!
Finally I have kids that I can work on homemade costumes! Definitely my favorite part of Halloween. Interesting fact to share though: My own mom just revealed to me this year that she HATES Halloween and hated coming up with costumes! Made me appreciate her so much more because she never let us know that and always went along with our crazy costume ideas when I was growing up. I also want to make our outside door into a Frankenstein. I hope I win this book for other great ideas!
Our Halloween tradition is to go to the Pumpkin Patch during the first weekend in October. We pick out pumpkins, play in the corn box (like a sand box, but filled with corn), and work our way through the corn maze. This year we spent a good amount of time marveling over the gourds too – such interesting shapes and textures. (Also, I love Martha’s Halloween ideas so much! Her Halloween magazine is always the best.)
I love every part of Halloween – the fun costumes to the trunk or treating!
Oh fun! I love making those crayon hearts on the front cover for Valentines. Would love to have this book around!
My favorite Halloween tradition is picking and making the boys’ costumes — with their help! So fun.
carving pumpkins and dressing up is always a favorite!
Yay for Martha, Design Mom & Halloween! Fingers crossed.
At this point, our favorite Halloween activity is carving pumpkins… Definitely need some new seasonal craft ideas! Thanks, Maureen (jnomaxx at hotmail dot com)
Pumpkin Carving, definately my favorite. We have been growing our own pumpkins, which makes the anticipation extend through the whole summer.
We have to try extra ahrd to get into the spirit of fall and Halloween since it is still warm in Tucson in October. We always have a pumpkin carving party and BBQ around the 31st.
We always go over to my parent’s house and my entire family gets dressed up in costumes for dinner. We eat stew out of individual pumpkins, have a flaming eyed ghost cake and all sing a funny Halloween song.
My Halloween tradition is working at a haunted house! I have been involved for 7 years now, hearing the chilling screams of our patrons just ignites the night! It is such a thrill to be involved in such an amazing production. The costumes, makeup & acting are definitely my favorite part of Halloween!
Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins! I love them everywhere! I tried to grow my own so I could have as many as I wanted, but the Texas drought had other ideas! We love to make hot dog mummies for quick dinners in October. Just doesn’t seem the same any other time of year!
well, its our first halloween in our new home. so, just the pure excitement of a new place for my 3yr. old and 1yr. old to trick or treat is something we are looking forward to and of course, the decorations were put up on Oct. 1st.
My favorite part of Halloween as a kid was sitting still for hours in a chair while my dad made custom masks on my face using liquid latex, paper towels, paint, toilet paper, sponges… Whatever the mask called for. The masks took days every year to make and they always came out looking fantastic and fit my face like a glove. The masks were so life-like and creepy that I would get stopped at nearly every door while out Trick-Or-Treating so that the candy givers could ooo and ahhh over me. I’m not quite that talented, so my kids don’t enjoy that same tradition, but it was my favorite as a kid.
We love to drive around our city looking at all the decorated homes. There used to be a family that went all out–their yard and home looked like a movie set. They had a torso coming out of a grave that would start shaking and moaning when anyone got near–our then two year old daughter thought it was hilarious! They moved last year so we’re on the hunt to find another that matches their halloween spirit.
OOO! I want it!
Halloween is my favorite holiday! Every year my mom and I have a party for my cousins. I always make a pinata, so far I’ve made a spider, jack o lantern and a bat. We have so much fun and my mom makes the best hand sewn costumes. We’re always looking for new ideas. Sounds like a great book!
favorite halloween tradition? CANDY of course!
Just love handing out candy to the kiddos