Children trample all over the neighborhoods, visit their friends and family on Halloween all in hopes of coming hope with the lots of yum-yum gooey sugar. They dump the candy out on the floor or table and begin to go through the candy piece by piece. They pick out what they really like and for the most part, the rest goes into a bowl and sits there for several months until mom finally dumps it into the garbage.

This magnificent mound of candy is not seen as glorious by any dentist. Dentists see tooth decay and unnecessary trips to their office for children instead. Of course brushing and flossing is the biggest prevention of tooth decay but the less sweets you eat the less chance you have of developing tooth decay. This nightmarish vision sparked within dentists everywhere to come up with the candy buyback program.

I became aware of this program last October when I got a notice from our dentist’s office. They would buy back any candy that we didn’t want from our Halloween take-home at a dollar a pound. The intent was not to rob the children of their childhood Halloween memory but to let them have a choice of what they wanted to sell back. What a deal! They explained that they would then send the goodies we sold them overseas to our soldiers.

Trying to convince young ones of how great it is to send their candy to someone else is no easy task. However, if you let them know the dentist is offering to pay them for their goods, they may be more compromising. Personally, I thought of giving the money back to the dentist in order to help with the shipping cost. My seven year old was not so agreeable.

After my son went through his candy for a couple of days, on November 2nd we went down to our dentist’s office for our first buy back. It felt good knowing that the troops were being treated; my son was making a little cash and we were doing more to help prevent cavities as well.

Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization out of California, distributes the candy to soldiers and I attempted to talk my son into splitting the amount of money he received for his candy. After a bit of coercing and explaining to him why this was such as good idea, he finally agreed.

If you’re interested in participating in the candy buy back for soldiers, ask your dentist or look for a dentist in your area that takes part in this program. Eat up soldiers and thank you!

Choosing Your Pumpkin Carving Space

Select a flat work area. Lay down several layers of newspaper being sure to overlap them.

Gather Your Supplies

Pumpkin
Pumpkin Carving Kit or Butcher Knife & Serrated Paring Knife
Semi-Permanent Marker or Pencil
Container lined with a garbage bag to deposit your waste
Lighting Source of Your Choice (Candle, glow sticks, etc.)

Preparing Your Pumpkin for Carving

Turn your pumpkin on its side. Using your permanent marker, draw a large circle on the bottom of the pumpkin. Be sure it’s large enough to fit a large spoon and your hand inside. By cutting out the bottom (instead of the top) you’ll make it easier to place your light source in it. Using your large butcher knife carefully cut out the circle. Make note of the best side for carving your chosen design or face.

Let the Fun Begin

It’s time to clean out your pumpkin. Using your hands, scoop out the seeds and put them in the garbage bag, unless you want to put them in a bowl for later roasting. Using either a wooden spatula or serving spoon, scrape out the meat. Hopefully you have already decided on which side you will be carving the face, as this will need extra removal of the flesh.

Draw Your Design

After the pumpkin has been cleaned out, it is time to draw the design of your choice. Use a semi-permanent marker or a pencil and draw your design on the pumpkin.

If you don’t have an artistic mind it’s ok. You can use a stencil available on several Internet sites or one that may have came in your tool kit. (www.hersheys.com is a good site for designs.) Take a copy of the design and place it over the pumpkin. Secure this with masking tape. With a needle, push pin or nail, start poking small holes through the paper and into the pumpkin. Make sure you do them close enough as this is the pattern from which you will carve.

It’s Finally Time to Carve

Preparation pays off. Now, let’s get carving this pumpkin. Be particular in your carving as any little slip with the knife is likely to ruin your design and may cause injury. With your paring knife or other preferred choice of carving tool, carve along the pattern lines cutting all the way through the rind. Cut away from yourself and into the pumpkin. After each feature has been cut out slowly push out the cut pieces from inside the pumpkin.

Hint: Keep your blades as sharp as possible to ensure accuracy and ease of carving.

Clean Up

Take your newspaper and fold it over on all sides, keeping your pumpkin “gunk” on the inside. Once folded, throw it in the trash can or garbage bag.

Congratulations! You’ve now carved your first pumpkin. Once you’ve finished and cleaned up the mess, place that baby out on the front porch and add your lighting. Show it off for the entire neighborhood to see. Don’t forget to take a picture too – after all you only have a first carved pumpkin once. Enjoy!

The last ten years I have taken my children and grandchildren out to a local farm to pick out our pumpkins. They have a hay wagon loaded with hay bales that we sit on. As the farmer pulls out very slowly, we know that our fall journey has begun. We are on our way to one of the finest times we spend together every year.

We travel over often slightly bumpy areas of ground, past recently harvested cornfields to our patch. This is a time where we are all together with no other sounds but that of the tractor and anxious children. The country farm smells are delightful and the kids laugh gleefully as we near the fields of pumpkins lying ahead.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we can walk all over, through the pumpkin fields or if it’s the camaraderie of just being together and having fun, but we always pick out far more pumpkins than we need.

The kids and I pick up gourds and squash that we find to be “totally cool” and everyone gets their fill. Some of these special finds are used for home decoration, end up at school in show and tell time and some go home with daycare children that we have. I pick up a few squash to cook, which at first was not real popular at our house with the kids, but now they find that the squash they pick is not really so bad (brown sugar and butter help a lot!)

At the farm we visit, they also have pumpkins that are grown specifically for making pumpkin pies. I can tell you that at first I was not excited to make my very own pumpkin pie from scratch but making it a family project, we now find it is as fun as wrapping Christmas presents. The calendar alone told me that it was fall in September, but my sense of smell and the pumpkin pie baking in the oven is always my way of welcoming fall again every year.

Often times we set the pumpkins out as a display for harvest or Halloween decorations because we don’t like to carve them too early. We find that in the last week before Halloween we carve the pumpkins and the children take them home.

We are so glad that we discovered this way to spend a great time together with the family. Choosing pumpkins from a pumpkin patch is much better than picking them from your local store market. Check around and see if you can’t find a patch and start your own family tradition.

The Internet has some inexpensive invitations that you can download for the price of the ink and paper. Choose a color that would fit the season or theme of your party. I would deliver or mail these invitations to arrive three weeks prior to the date of the party.

Costumes are a huge part of a successful party. If you choose a theme, such as Star Wars or Character theme, you want to put that on the invitation so people can dress accordingly. Choosing a comfortable costume is in your best interest. You can often find what you’re looking for at thrift stores. Throughout the year I look for white sheets, full skirts, old vests, boots, scarves and other things that I can put together to make easy outfits. Colored hair sprays, wigs and gloves are some things you will want to look for. With some planning you can easily make a costume that will be comfortable and cute.

Next comes feeding your guests. Whatever you choose, use key words in your recipes like Zombie Punch and Graveyard Chips with Blood Salsa. I make iced pumpkin bars and design black spiders on them. I call these Spider Bars. For Zombie Punch, I take one each of 12 oz frozen orange juice and limeade. Mix with half the water as the recipe calls for. Refreeze these into tubs. At party time put them frozen into a punch bowl and add key lime sherbet and 7-Up to taste. For Graveyard chips and Blood salsa, I buy blue corn chips and find a very chunky salsa.

For games, the web is full of ideas. Mummy Bingo is fun for young children. I bought orange poster board; cut it to the size I wanted and with a black marker made the Bingo pattern. Candy Corn made great “bingo chips and was fun for munching. You can laminate these and re-use. A white sheet simply placed over a child creates another game; Guess the Ghost!

Let’s get our decorations up and we will be ready to party. Carve 5 to 6 pumpkins prior to the party. I found a cool carving set at Wal-Mart’s and I use it each year. There are a lot of ideas in the package that you simply follow. Put one pumpkin in the window closest to your entryway. You can line your porch or steps with a few as well. No matter where you place your pumpkins, remember safety in keeping them lit. You might choose a battery operated LED light. They flicker like a candle and are safe. Hanging creepy spiders and cobwebs are an inexpensive way to decorate and can be bought in discount stores. Keep spooky music playing in the background.

These are just some ideas for an inexpensive party. Whatever you choose to do, be safe, have fun and Happy Halloween!

Nabisco has 100 calorie pack individual packages that trick-or-treaters will find enjoyable to their palates. Teddy Grahams and chocolate covered pretzels are my two favorites, but they have a whole line to choose from.

Individual packages of nuts or trail mixes are nutritionally beneficial to your ghosts and goblins. They not only taste good are good for you.

Microwave popcorn packages are a great option. You can buy them in many different flavors, but if you’re looking for healthier alternatives skip the extra or movie butter kind.

Nabisco Handi-Snack offers a variety of healthy choices. A few examples that I particularly like are:

Breadsticks and cheese
Cheese dunk ‘ems
Ritz cheese and crackers

These individual packages are a tasty choice. Fairly inexpensive, they are a great fit for children.

While not quite as healthy as some of the other options above, many restaurants, such as McDonald’s & Wendy’s, sell coupon certificates or books you can substitute with. You can purchase gift certificates for your trick-or-treaters and by using your Arch card and following some simple guidelines at the McDonald’s website you can not only give a non candy gift, you can also earn college rewards.

Non-Edible Gifts

If you visit a dollar store or a store that sells children’s books inexpensively, you can find non-edible gifts too. Items such as coloring books, crayons or audio books and more are great alternatives to sugar laden candy. Not only is this a healthier choice, it is educational as well. Some people even shop throughout the year to help spread the cost out.

A visit to your local dentist may be just what the doctor orders this Halloween. He may be able and willing to give you toothbrushes and toothpaste samples at a reduced rate to hand out to children. If you wanted you could even hand out sugarless gum.

Small games like jacks and jump rope fit well into a trick-or-treater’s bag and will last for longer than one night. While various different flash cards or games such as old maid and crazy eights are not what trick-or-treaters are used to getting at Halloween it is something they can use and re-use. Again, they are inexpensive and can be purchased throughout the year at dollar or general stores.

The choice is yours. Use some of these ideas to begin to change the suggestion that candy is the only choice for Halloween. Be creative and give your visitors something healthier this year!

The Haunting (1963) – A true classic horror film. Here we find four guests arriving at a mansion with a terrifying reputation. The guests are determined to debunk the idea of a house being possessed and so set up for the night. Strange occurrences soon make themselves known from muffled wails to strange unexplainable noises. The guests encounter a door that appears to breathe, unexplained writing on the walls and many other supernatural phenomena. A new remake of the film is also available (The Haunting (1999)).

Haunted (1996) – Nanny Tess Webb (Anna Masey) has been seeing visions. Her three children, as well as the family doctor all insist that there is no haunting and that she is just hallucinating. She invites Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn), who is skeptic of the supernatural, to investigate the paranormal goings-on at her country estate. After spending some time there himself, the Professor also begins to experience unexplainable visions, including the vision of his young sister who died in a drowning accident.

Haunted Castle (3-D) (2001) – After his mother dies, a young musician named Johnny is summoned to his mother’s castle according to the final wishes in her will. He soon discovers that not all seems as it appears and that the castle is not only haunted by ghosts, it appears to be alive. He is eventually lead to a Mr. D who makes Johnny the same tantalizing offer that he made his mother twenty years earlier… surrender your soul in exchange for fame and fortune.

The Others (2001) – Starring Nicole Kidman as Grace, this is one of those few, rare movies that will keep you guessing until the end. The story is set in 1945 toward the end of the war. Living on a fog-enshrouded island off the British coast we find that Grace’s husband has presumably been lost in the war and she is living on her own with her two young children. The children are hypersensitive to light and so live in a musty manor with the curtains and shutters perpetually drawn closed. Needing some assistance, Grace writes up a request for domestic help, but before she can go to town to post it, three strangers suddenly arrive in response to her as yet un-posted request. This film will certainly leave you guessing with its twists and turns.

Stephen King’s Rose Red (2002) – Another true story haunting and originally a mini-series, this movie is based on a researcher investigating the paranormal who takes a team of psychics into a haunted house. We soon learn of the building’s gruesome past – women who have disappeared without any trace and men meeting gruesome deaths. Soon after entering, the psychics themselves begin to experience many paranormal activities, including disappearing team members.

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) Based on a chilling true story. The Haunting in Connecticut charts one family’s terrifying, real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner’s clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to cross over. Now, unspeakable terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.

Antenna Characters

These adorable characters look great at the top of your automobile antenna. Hey, if your house is decked out for Halloween, why shouldn’t your car? With various Halloween-themed colors of flat fun foam (orange, black, white, green), draw a light outline of a pumpkin, ghost, spider or Frankenstein head, approximately 4-inches tall and 3-inches wide. Cut out the shapes and with a single hole punch, punch two holes in each shape, one approximately one inch from the top of the shape and another hole approximately one inch from the bottom of the shape.

With glitter glue or permanent markers, decorate the shape with facial features, an outline or anything you’d like. Allow to dry thoroughly. Once dried, you can attach to your automobile antenna by placing the antenna through the bottom hole from the back of the shape to the front. Then place the antenna through the top hole, front to back. The Antenna Character should be secure and should withstand normal driving conditions.

Halloween Mosaics

Mosaic art using tiles is very popular nowadays. Kids can duplicate this popular craft using construction paper instead of tiles or glass.

Prior to gathering the children around the table, cut small squares of various colors of paper, orange, red, blue, yellow, white, black, green, etc.

On a piece of heavy stock, white paper, draw the outline of a pumpkin, Frankenstein or other Halloween character.

With a small dab of all-purpose glue on the back of each square, kids can mosaic their way to a uniquely creative masterpiece that can be framed and hung on the wall for many Halloween seasons to come.

Pumpkin Painting

In less than one hour, you and your child can create the most adorable pumpkin craft ready to proudly display in your home. Pumpkin Painting is the perfect activity for little goblins who aren’t old enough to handle the jack-o-lantern carving duties.

With simple supplies like acrylic paints, markers, newspaper and sealer, kids can paint whimsical, silly faces on their pumpkins. Or they can paint their favorite cartoon character, Halloween motif or harvest design. Painted pumpkins do not rot near as quickly as carved pumpkins so it is much more economical to paint pumpkins rather than carving them and it’s also much safer and more hands-on for toddlers since there is no knife involved.

If you’re flirting with throwing a Halloween party, how do you convince people to choose yours over the others? A creative, unique theme is the first step.

Most people don’t plan a theme beyond “wear a costume” at Halloween. Just giving your party a more specific theme will help it surpass the crowd.

You can choose the traditional “spooky” type of Hallowen party and have everyone come as their favorite ghost, horror movie character or monster.

A spooky party will probably be among the easiest to find party favors and decorations for, since that tends to be the basic theme for Halloween.

There are lots of other themes you can try, however. What about a famous couples party, where everyone comes as a famous couple? Or maybe a movie theme night, where everyone comes as their favorite Star Wars character for instance.

Several other theme ideas include:

• crazy hat party
• decade party (60’s, 70’s, 80’s, etc)
• murder mystery
• favorite cartoon character
• pirate party
• “future” party (everyone comes as themselves in 25 years, for example)
• zombie party
• favorite classic movie monster party

When you’re planning your party, one of the most significant things is the menu. Food is always an important part of any party.

It could be a full meal or just finger foods, but be creative with what you serve. Try to work the food into the theme of the party.

For example, you could make some ladyfingers that actually look like severed fingers.

If you start to plan your party early, you’ll leave yourself lots of time to get everything organized. Get some help from friends or family if you need it, and remember – planning the party is half the fun!

Shopping for a new Halloween costume is a fun experience, and the best place to look for your new costume is on the internet. There are many retailers to choose from, and you want to buy from a halloween costume store that has a good reputation and a large number of choices. The main advantage of purchasing a costume via the internet, is price and selection.

Local costume and novelty shops are a secondary way to pick up a halloween costume. They won’t have quite the selection as an internet retailer, but should have a good basic stock of costumes, masks, and props. You may feel more comfortable buying a costume locally, since it is easier to return than buying from the web.

Buying Your Costume Used

A used halloween costume can be a great value, and if you are strapped for cash might be the way to go. If you develop a costume idea, and make a list of the items you need to complete your ensemble, you can probably find the pieces to create an entire costume with little effort. Good places to find used costumes are:

• Thrift Store
• Flea Market
• Garage Sales
• Friends or Relatives
• Coworkers
• Newspaper Ads
• Online Auction Sites

Make sure to inspect the quality of the costume, and if you are buying it from the internet or an online auction, get as many detailed photos as possible, and try and get a money back guarantee. Used costumes are a great idea since you may only be wearing the costume one time.

Renting a Costume

Costume rentals is another option you have when preparing for halloween. At the same place where you can buy a new costume locally, it is possible that they offer rentals.

Many times you have to put down a deposit, and the charge for renting the costume depends on how long you intend to have it, and how the time of season. During the halloween season, for example, you can expect to pay more for a costume than any other time of the year.

With the cheap prices of costumes on the internet, we recommend that you just buy one. You can always resell it later if you never use it again, or pass it on to friends and relatives. Renting a halloween costume is an option though, and we wanted to make you aware of it.

Making Your Own Costume

If your a hobbyist, or good at arts and crafts, you may enjoy the satisfaction of creating your very own halloween costume from scratch. All it takes is some imagination, and a little bit of work to produce an original costume.

You may already have a costume in mind, but if not, here are some tips when making your own costume:

• Develop an idea for the halloween costume first, and then look around your house to see if you may have everything you need to make it
• Make a list of materials that you need that have to be bought for the costume. This will save money by sticking to a budget and plan
• When making kids halloween costumes, make sure that they are safe for their age group, and make them visible at night
• Try and be original, the whole point of making your own costume is to stand out and be different

If you are a fan of anything spooky, scary or down right frightening … well, you’ve come to the right place.

The Murky Cauldron is the best place for you to shop for your Halloween Costume, Party Favors and Spooky Decorations. You can also find an abundance of horror books and movies. Everything you need to make your haunted house the perfect place for your Halloween party can be found here at The Murky Cauldron.