It's that time of the year again * Halloween *

[StitchinGrandma]

When my kids were youngers I used to go all out for Halloween. I've always loved this holiday with all the wonderful treats and carving pumpkins with my kids. I have always LOVED baking and creating things there was always a new and cool/scary thing I could bake each year that some creative person came up with.

And yet, each year I also get depressed because we live in an area where we are extremely lucky to get more than about five little trick or treaters to our door. THAT is probably my most favorite part of the holiday behind the carving pumpkins with my kids when they were little. I LOVE watching the little kids and how excited they are to get all dressed up and go to each door and then watching their little faces just glow to see someone give them candy. It makes me sad that over the years all the bad people have taken the fun out of this fun day for the children and people like me that have always loved waiting for the next little goblin to come to my door to yell 'trick or treat'. I think last year we got ONE little brave soul that came to our house and that was one very happy little goblin because knowing it was probably the only one we would see they got a HUGE candy windfall from us. :D

My kids still carry on the tradition I had created in the carving of those really fancy pumpkins with specialized tools and patterns. That, along with getting all the candy of course, was their favorite time of the holiday. It makes me smile that they remember that tradition and still do it. Last year one of my twins was living back at home for a short time and he asked if I still had all the carving stuff and the patterns we used. It was so much fun pulling all that stuff out again and doing that with him and his girlfriend. We priinted new patterns off the internet though because he wanted to use newer ones.

For those of you who haven't seen those awesome fancy patterns, I thought I'd post the links to a few sites where you can print off the patterns yourself and do this with your kids. These carvings can be easy or extremely complicated depending on the pattern you choose to do BUT, they are just so awesome looking when done. The biggest fun we always had was to line them all up outside on a board we set up across two saw horsese and then lighting them each up.

The Pumpkin Masters (http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/) site is the original in these awesome carved pumpkins and the one which I bought thier books each year and carving tools which still work just great even though they've changed them over the years. Thier patterns are just amazing and while some are super complicated to carve, they are awesome when you are done and turn the lights on inside them.

Halloween On-Line (http://www.halloween-online.com/)HUGE resource of all things Halloween. Great decoration ideas including a Smoking Witches Caldrun with lights (http://www.halloween-online.com/sfx/halloween-projects-witches-cauldron.html).

Spook Master (http://www.spookmaster.com/index.htm)SO many different things from free patterns (http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns-freebies.htm)(Not that many free patterns here but they do have a free pattern of the day too), lots of recipes (http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns-recipes.htm), games (http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns-partygames.htm), and more. Some here will be under their subscription but many things are free. THey have a great page of links (http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/halloween_links.html)as well.

Fabulous Living (http://www.fabulousliving.com/index.php?option=com_resource&controller=article&category_id=273&article=21465) free patterns and links to 'pumpkin carving tips' and 'pumpkin carving 101'

The Pumpkin Wizard (http://www.carvingpumpkins.com/) (many free ones or a yearly subscription for even more) but the free ones will be MORE than enough to keep any family busy each year.

Wanda's Halloween Recipes (http://www.halloweenkitchen.com/)great recipes for the holiday

Have fun. Be safe. Start this tradition with your kids or grandkids if you haven't ever carved pumpkins this way. It's really not as complicated as they look and the kids will love them. :D

[susank]

Wow Vicki - it sounds like you really are into Halloween!

We are the same as you - we have had no kids the last 2 years and I kind of miss it. In our former home we would turn the lights out after giving out 350 bags of goodies. It's quite a change.

I love the elaborate pumpkins. My husband - who says he hates Halloween (largely because of the unfortunate pranks that used to occur in our old neighbourhood) - used to do amazing ones. They took him hours but we always had parents coming up to admire them and see if they were real.

Now what we see are the teenagers as they head out to parties - they seem to love the dressing up almost as much as the younger kids. I will still buy the candy in the hope that some brave little soul will take the long walk up our driveway and if no one comes my daughters are just as happy because they devour the leftovers.

[debmac]

We still have a huge crowd of trick or treaters. I probably had 250 last year. I don't know if it is because we are from a small town or what, but everyone still does it here. I love seeing all of the little ones. Last year was especially fun for us because the exchange student that was living with us had only heard of Halloween from American movies. She was more excited carving the pumpkin than any of my three daughters had ever been. She could not believe that all the children went door to door.

[katiedoodles]

I love the tradition of carving pumpkins; the first time I ever used a pattern someone offered to buy the pumpkin from me! (No sale!) I think it is wonderful to see all the little kids running from house to house so excited! What I don't like is the older kids who don't even bother to dress up, but expect a treat anyway.

Last year we went through 6 big bags of candy...I am wondering how many we will need this year since Halloween is on a Saturday.

[StitchinGrandma]

Wow Vicki - it sounds like you really are into Halloween!

We are the same as you - we have had no kids the last 2 years and I kind of miss it. In our former home we would turn the lights out after giving out 350 bags of goodies. It's quite a change.

I love the elaborate pumpkins. My husband - who says he hates Halloween (largely because of the unfortunate pranks that used to occur in our old neighbourhood) - used to do amazing ones. They took him hours but we always had parents coming up to admire them and see if they were real.

Now what we see are the teenagers as they head out to parties - they seem to love the dressing up almost as much as the younger kids. I will still buy the candy in the hope that some brave little soul will take the long walk up our driveway and if no one comes my daughters are just as happy because they devour the leftovers.

I USED to be that into it. Sadly, now with the kids not being around this year, well one of them is here but I suspect he'll be taking off to be with his friends (he just graduated college and had to move back home in May) and hubby just not into any holiday I'm not doing it myself. The best part is sharing it with your family otherwise it's not as much fun. Not having many kids come to your house doesn't help that feeling. :(

[StitchinGrandma]

We still have a huge crowd of trick or treaters. I probably had 250 last year. I don't know if it is because we are from a small town or what, but everyone still does it here. I love seeing all of the little ones. Last year was especially fun for us because the exchange student that was living with us had only heard of Halloween from American movies. She was more excited carving the pumpkin than any of my three daughters had ever been. She could not believe that all the children went door to door.

I don't think I would want THAT many but you sure do get to see a lot of smiling little faces so that's got to be fun. I don't think it has to do with you having a small town because we live in one ourselves. The biggest thing is the young families near your area that WANT to do things with their kids because it's fun, not feeling like it's a job. There's the big difference. The young families aren't near us and so many in this area are just not really into doing things with their kids because they'd rather all go to one parking lot and trick or trunk so later they can all meet at the bar. It's very depressing to see how some of the younger parents act around here. :(

[Jami Johnson]

Ahhhh, I LOVE this time of year. In fact, I ALMOST put out my Halloween stuff today, but will restrain until Thursday. The kids will come home to some fun surprises. And with Halloween, just around the corner, we all know what that means....Christmas is,too.

Vicki, those are awesome links. Thanks for telling us about them.

[StitchinGrandma]

Jami just put those things out now. If you have the time to do it now then take advantage of it and put them out. Wheneve I would decide to wait until another day when my kids being younger it never failed the day I planned to do these things there was always something that happened. LOL

And to your other comment about that OTHER holiday being so close, I have only one thing to say

http://terpstra.us/images/vickiljt/Gifs/Attitudes/LaLaLa.gif

[StitchinGrandma]

If you are needing more links to get fun stuff and recipes here are some other really good ones from my favorites I've had saved:

Family Fun (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/halloween_ms_food/)- great site

This link has everything (http://www.holidays.net/halloween/recipes.htm)from treats, cooking, parties, decorating ideas, coloring pages to print for your little ones to have fun coloring etc.

LOTS of coloring pages (http://www.coloring.ws/halloween.html)on this site to keep your kids busy

[Jami Johnson]

Jami just put those things out now. If you have the time to do it now then take advantage of it and put them out. Wheneve I would decide to wait until another day when my kids being younger it never failed the day I planned to do these things there was always something that happened. LOL

And to your other comment about that OTHER holiday being so close, I have only one thing to say

http://terpstra.us/images/vickiljt/Gifs/Attitudes/LaLaLa.gif

Too funny, Vicki. Love Christmas, but part of me feels that same way!

[idesign]

Cool links Vicki! My son and I love Halloween, too. Hubby, not so much.

I did one of the pumpkin master's skeleton's on a pumpkin one year, and it was the hit of the neighborhood. We have moved, and we are now in a city, and I haven't been willing to put real pumpkins out, so we have the fake carved and lighted ones in the window instead. I suppose we could try one to see how it fairs, and hope if they smash it, that they don't do it on our car or house!

[StitchinGrandma]

Supposedly you can use these patterns on those foam/fake ones you can buy from the craft stores. Obviously you'll want to use an electric 'candle' inside though. :D Then maybe you can just put them on a table in front of your window toward the front of your house. There were a few years that we set the saw horses and board between each inside our enclosed front porch for our pumpkins rather than outside to avoid the mess in the driveway or street from a neighbor brat living two houses down.

[susank]

Isn't it terrible that there are always some kids who ruin Halloween for others! I too am not a big fan of the 16/17 year olds who just show up, say nothing, have no costume and hand you a pillow case to throw something into. I would have liked to say no to them but then the mischief could be worse. I was happy that the little ones always made up for it.

[StitchinGrandma]

Isn't it terrible that there are always some kids who ruin Halloween for others! I too am not a big fan of the 16/17 year olds who just show up, say nothing, have no costume and hand you a pillow case to throw something into. I would have liked to say no to them but then the mischief could be worse. I was happy that the little ones always made up for it.

When we had that I was a big meanie. :D I had a little pile of candy in our candy cauldron which was stuff like peppermint candies or sunflower seeds. Those were exclusively in there for the big kids that should have been home rather than out trying to get free candy and bully the little kids the parents allowed to go out alone.

[Stitchn-Jeans]

We get a few kids in our neighborhood. But the most exciting is my younger grandkids.--10 and 5 After my daughter and son-in-law take the kids to their neighborhood they come to our house and i make 4 trays of pizza. Then they go trick-treat in our street. It is lots of fun to see them dress up. Our little grandson have gotten a prize for the past two years.

Stitchn-Jeans

P.S. The first year he was a policeman and the second year he was a FedX Man.

[Jami Johnson]

Ahhh, a FedEx man...that's cute!

Vicki, I took your advice and put my Halloween up stuff this afternoon. I was going to do it tomorrow, but I thought about your words..."Whenever I would decide to wait until another day when my kids being younger it never failed the day I planned to do these things there was always something that happened." Now I can enjoy it an extra day. Since our house is for sale, we are keeping it simple and the best part is it only took about 1/2 hour. Lots of happy faces at my house tonight!

[Granny313]

Vicki - Thanks so much for all the sites. These are great ideas to use in my neighborhood and at church and school for Fall festivals.

[StitchinGrandma]

Ahhh, a FedEx man...that's cute!

Vicki, I took your advice and put my Halloween up stuff this afternoon. I was going to do it tomorrow, but I thought about your words..."Whenever I would decide to wait until another day when my kids being younger it never failed the day I planned to do these things there was always something that happened." Now I can enjoy it an extra day. Since our house is for sale, we are keeping it simple and the best part is it only took about 1/2 hour. Lots of happy faces at my house tonight!

Good for you Jami. I'm sure the kids didn't mind you putting them up a day earlier than you'd planned.

Vicki - Thanks so much for all the sites. These are great ideas to use in my neighborhood and at church and school for Fall festivals.
You're welcome. Have fun. I used to love making all the really cool treats for my kids when they were younger so I searched out all the sites that had great recipes and other stuff for the different holidays.

[idesign]

You know, I don't mind the teenagers, as long as they are well behaved. They are usually enjoying the day, getting free candy, and the upbeat mood. They are just big kids for the most part. Most of them dress up in something, even if it is just a trench coat with an old hat. I think the baddies are just one or two, and I hate to see the other big kids take the rap for their bad behavior.

[StitchinGrandma]

My feeling for teenagers is that there should be an age in which this is a thing reserved for the smaller children. When a child is at the age where he can get his own job and earn his own money, I don't feel they should be going out trick or treating. I could be wrong but that's just my opinion. :D

[debmac]

I don't mind the older kids either, as long as they are behaving and not bothering the younger kids. We really have never had problems with anybody doing anything mean to children or to the homes. There is not a big crowd of older ones that come here, either. You will have one or two older ones that will be with a big group of smaller children. A lot of the families here will ride on "hayrides" around the neighborhoods. They will have several families together and usually will have an older child in the group. It is always just a big family time together. Anytime that a family can get a teenager to go out with them is a miracle!

[StitchinGrandma]

I don't mind the older kids either, as long as they are behaving and not bothering the younger kids. We really have never had problems with anybody doing anything mean to children or to the homes. There is not a big crowd of older ones that come here, either. You will have one or two older ones that will be with a big group of smaller children. A lot of the families here will ride on "hayrides" around the neighborhoods. They will have several families together and usually will have an older child in the group. It is always just a big family time together. Anytime that a family can get a teenager to go out with them is a miracle!

That type of thing wouldn't bother me at all. In our area any of the older kids that were out trick or treating were not good. We have had our share of our house being vandalized and seeing the little kids have their bags taken by the older ones around here. Seeing those types of things gives a different outlook on teens. If they are out and behaving and had manners I'd have a different point of view. Then too, the bad kids, about three of those lived two houses down from us so we saw that behavior daily and my poor kids had to put up with the bullying from them too every day of the year. Those kids had friends living not too far away and they all came out on Halloween as a group. It really spoiled the fun for the smaller kids that didn't have parents who would go with them to trick or treat.

[idesign]

Well Vicki, I can see why you aren't as happy about it. If I saw any of that, I would feel differently, too.

[StitchinGrandma]

Well Vicki, I can see why you aren't as happy about it. If I saw any of that, I would feel differently, too.

Thanks. I figured I'd better explain a little more why my feelings are that way so you guys didn't think I was just a big old grump. :D

[idesign]

Anyone making Halloween embroidered items? I got a sample made that I'm going to put in a pillow, but may also do it on a sweatshirt. If that turns out, I'll post it (in the contest if it turns out well).

I love Halloween! There are so many fun things to make and the kids get so excited. I like it better than any of the other holidays.

Carol