Only 31 Days to Halloween~~~~

Yes Darklings,

Halloween is only 1 month away, but why wait for just one day to celebrate when you can celebrate for the entire month.

And how does one do that?  You may ask.....

Well Darklings, I had been reluctant to ask Doyle but he surprised me by going on line to find out what sort of Halloween events would be coming, and there are a lot.

Of course one can have a party which is just wonderful, but also a lot of work.

Decorating your abode is another, but if you are living the Elder/Elderly Goth style you are just shopping to add to your furnishings.  However for me every 5 or 6 years I need a new skeleton, what is left of the old one's becomes pieces for my Haunted Graveyard.

So to start the fun, 6 weeks before Halloween take out your decorations and see what is still usable and what has become tacky, tired or simply "died".   

From there start planning your decorations both inside and out, mostly outside, now some people I know start planning and building their new outdoor Halloween display almost a year in advance.  That is really getting into the "Spirit".

Next see where during the week Halloween will fall, this year it's in the middle of the week, Pooh!!  Very difficult to have a Halloween party especially if you have to go to work the next day,  but you still can have one on the weekend before---Halloween is always the most fun if it falls on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.    Sunday is good too but still one has to "rise and shine" for the next work day.

Next watch for the bargains in candy and load up.

Prep the ground where you are going to do your outside decorations, and the first weekend of October or the last weekend of September start getting things ready.  Now this year if you start this weekend you will have 5 weekends to prepare for Halloween.

Place all the non-destructible things in your outdoor display, test the lights for maximum effect.  And go from there to see what else to add.

Then visit your Spirit Store or Party Warehouse or go online to the Fright Catalogue or Grandin Road to see what you might want to add.

If you are going to have a party, plan your menu and send out invitations.

What I have done so far is I've gone to the Spirit Store and purchased a few things for my outdoor display, including an evil care taker and a hopping spider,  I'm considering the Werewolf to have inside the graveyard.   I also purchased plates and shot glasses.

I am going to have a party for a few friends on Halloween mostly finger food, and we'll hand out candy to the children and watch a few good classic horror films, I only go all out when Halloween falls on a weekend, but during the week I plan on it being simple.

Now if you are not handing out candy and are not holding a party there are things and events one can go to or take in,  PEERS is having their annual Bal Du Vampires but it will be held the weekend after Halloween, which is fine just in time for the Days of the Dead.

The ghost Town of Columbia is having a ghost walk one weekend and a paranormal event another weekend which Doyle and I will be going to. 

Find out which charities or functions are holding "Haunted Houses"  locally the most important one to go to is presented by "The Pirates of Emerson"  Doyle and I plan to go during the week.

Fine out if there are "Dead Tours" or "Cemetery Tours" in your city or near by,  plan on having a haunting Bar-B-Que with deep fried Bat Wings, and Black Velvet Cake, and dark liquids,  see if you can hire a fortune teller to tell fortunes at your party, or a magician or a story teller to tell ghost stories.

Let your imagination run wild,  Halloween is where if you have been repressing it, is a perfect time to let your inner Goth out,  sometimes community theater's will present during this time a spooky play---even if it's creaky---go to have fun.

Do something spooky, haunting, and Halloween each weekend, wear skull and bat jewelry at work, now is when it's perfectly all right to wear that black nail polish with little skulls or ghosts on your nails. 

The night or two before Halloween go around town to see what other people have done for decorating, take pictures as well.

And then, all you Muggles out there, you will find your inner Goth and once you go to that particular "dark side" don't bother to come back, be free to be creative, to soar, to be a bit quirky and expand your horizons, and become beautiful.

As for me, well we went to our local Spirit Store and I'm starting things already.   I've bought a dozen shot glasses that say "poison", "deadly", "Toxic", "arsenic".

And a candy gift store that I love to go to called "Gaslight Emporium",  opened up with a special party with all their Halloween gifts, and I bought a top hat decorated with a small skull and black veil, black roses and feathers, a lovely sign that said "Haunted House, Welcome" , some lovely spider jewelry, and decorated bottles with signs that say "skull powder", "spider eggs", "venom",  and apothecary jars that say "Belladonna", "Hemlock", and "Arsenic",  I think I'll use them to hold coffee, Sugar and cookies in the kitchen.  I think the one that says skull powder will be perfect to hold pepper,   as a matter of fact one can buy these labels that have bizarre names for drinks---I'm thinking I might use that for a few things, but carefully add what the real ingredients might be.

A number of magazines and books and booklets are on sale now with ideas for decorating and cooking and I saw a recipe for Black Velvet cake with a white cream cheese frosting and I mean the cake is black, not chocolate but black.  I will see if I can find the recipe for you and post it.  The top of the frosting was decorated with a spider web design which I thought was perfect.  

Oh one can go on and on with wonderful things Darklings and this is the time to do it.

And now I must go, Doyle is refusing me to cook dinner, I'm not a bad cook but he said that he wants to eat out tonight so we can enjoy the full moon.  

Time to Howl, Darklings