by Sharon | Oct 6, 2016
I was wondering what Halloween books are available for kids.
I remember a few good ones . . . but it’s always good to expand your Halloween book library.
Speaking of libraries . . . I believe I remember one about a boy who was locked in a library and all sorts of strange things happened. It didn’t have anything to do with books . . . but there was some sort of haunting going on . . . I just can’t remember the name of it . . . or what happened to the boy . . .
I was looking around on Amazon and found a few titles that caught my attention:
This should be an excellent place to begin.
Scary, Scary Halloween is for ages 4 years and up. It’s a fun story about these eyes that see ghosts, goblins, witches, etc. passing by . . . You guessed it, the ghosts, etc. are children passing by in costume . . . and the eyes . . . none other than cats who want the children to go away so they can have their Halloween night fun.
We’re Off To Find The Witch’s House is a great adventure story for ages 3 to 7 years. It’s a wonderful read-aloud book that will be read over and over and over again. Four friends dressed in Halloween costumes set out to the witch’s house. They encounter other costumed characters along the way . . . But when they reach their destination . . . They see the witch and hear a loud screech . . . Never fear, the witch invites them inside for Halloween Party. This book is full of rhyming rhythmic text with call-and-response sections. It’s a good read that holds children’s attention.
Halloween Night is recommended for children from 4 to 8 years of age. It has the familiar rhyme of Night Before Christmas. “‘Twas Halloween night, and all through the house/Every creature was stirring, including the mouse.” There’s a grand mansion where all kinds of critters and creatures are preparing a Halloween buffet for the trick-or-treaters . . . but when they peer inside “But what they saw on that shadowy night/Made each little trickster shiver with fright!” It’s a fun read children love.
At The Old Haunted House is home to an assortment of creatures from “a warty green witch and her wee witchy one” to goblins, vampires, bats, black cats, werewolves, spiders, and more. Each page begins with At The Old Haunted House and the number of creatures increase with each turn of the page. Children 3 to 7 years will enjoy this book . . . and the great Halloween celebration the creatures prepare.
Halloween Hustle is a great story about a skeleton that dances and stumbles and falls apart on his way to Ghost’s Halloween Party . . . but never fear, his friends help put him back together . . . and at the party he’s in tip top shape for the dance contest. It’s a fun read for ages 3 to 7 years.
The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree is the adventure of three bears who explore a spooky old tree . . . It’s a fun Berenstain Bears book for ages 4 to 8 years.
There should be a title or two that may interest you and your children . . . I’m kind of excited about the Halloween Hustle . . . and then there’s Halloween Night . . . and so many more titles I didn’t add here . . .
Just click one of the links above and you can have a great time discovering all kinds of Halloween books.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 5, 2016
The largest U.S. Holiday in retail sales is, of course, Christmas.
Is Halloween second?
When you think about it . . . decorations, costumes, candy, parties . . . The whole concept of Halloween has grown in popularity over the years. There are elaborate face painting endeavors, people are fascinated by the occult . . . It’s the first major celebration after summer . . . and fall brings something in the air . . . why not ghosts and witches riding on broomsticks . . . bats turning into vampires . . .
There is something special about going out at night wearing a costume and carrying a bag to collect candy as you go door-to-door. It was a major highlight when I was a kid. And, now, as an adult, I like to pass out candy to the costumed trick-or-treaters.
Many of my neighbors go all out with lights and decorations for Halloween . . .
The thing is, when you think about Halloween . . . the decorations, the parties, the costumes . . . and the candy . . . It doesn’t compare in retail sales as Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, Easter and even Father’s Day.
The major difference is that there is no gift giving. Christmas, as #1 is the major gift giving holiday. This is followed by Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day.
That brings Halloween to #6.
Be that as it may . . . Halloween has truly captured the imagination of many . . . and there are paper crafters and scrapbookers who go all out with their cards and decorations and costumes and parties . . . How about all those pumpkins? The movies? Amusement Parks with their special Halloween attractions?
Yes, but Mother’s Day is still #2 with Valentine’s Day #3 followed by Easter at #4 and Father’s Day at #5.
I’m finding it difficult to allow a good urban legend to die . . .
All right, so it’s not the second largest U.S. holiday in retail sales behind Christmas . . .
It is still celebrated . . . It’s a huge neighborhood celebration . . . It’s a great kick-off to the end of summer and the beginning of fall. That’s a celebration in and of itself.
I’m going to still celebrate it by reading Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and maybe some of Edgar Allan Poe’s Poems . . . and I may watch a Halloween theme DVD or two . . .
I do like a good ghost story . . .
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 4, 2016
Witches, ghosts, goblins, ghouls . . . Pumpkins, skeletons, spiders and spider webs . . . Mummies and monsters . . . Super Heroes and cartoon characters . . . Pirates and Princesses . . . And so very many more “things” that go bump in the night on All Hallows Eve . . .
Or are in costume greeting us at our door hoping for a sweet treat.
Yes, Halloween is definitely in the air. I noticed Amazon has their Halloween Shop open. I’m sure everyone is looking for just the right costume for each member of their family . . . I wonder what it will be?
These witch shoes are always fun to make and give as gifts this Halloween season. It works for different age groups and can be decorated to go along with the theme of your party or get-together.
You can use your own designer paper for the inner lining and for the shoe as well. It can be creepy or funny . . . depending upon how you view Halloween.
Click the links above for the PDFs of the shoe and the lining. Then find ribbon and buttons and maybe some suitable clipart that will decorate your witch shoe quite nicely. It’s always fun to have designer paper at least for the inner lining, but you can use any solid color . . . cardstock does work well for the shoe . . . it needs to be sturdy to hold your bag of assorted goodies.
This is a fun way for your children to give candy to their school friends . . . and even for their teacher.
Start early with this project . . . you’ll be making dozens of them.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 1, 2016
A-Manda is giving away a whole collection of Halloween Printables!!!
There are cupcake wrappers, candy wrappers, juice box wrappers, gift boxes and so very much more.
This is truly a whole party ready to happen!
Just click the picture to the right and you’ll be taken to A-Manda’s PDF page to check out, print out and create.
This is truly excellent to have everything so coordinated for your Halloween bash. Wow! I’m truly impressed . . . And It’s FREE!!!
This would work for school parties, too. There are goodie bag toppers and cupcake toppers you can easily print out, cut out and use. Choose what you want and save other things for later . . . and give yourself some time to view the PDF to decide what you want to use. You may be pleasantly surprised with all the ideas to get.
I do like the colors and the images. It works well for all age groups.
Have some fun with this bundle of Halloween bliss!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Sep 30, 2016
Halloween Is Such A Fun Time Of Year!
The imagination can truly run wild when you find a nice picture of a witch and a boiling cauldron.
The book could be a normal recipe book . . . not some book of spells to bewitch the neighborhood . . . They could be making a nice stew with fresh herbs and spices for a cold fall evening meal.
Maybe it is more fun to imagine something magical or mysterious. A love potion . . . a prosperity spell . . . or some recipe for disaster . . . Honestly, would someone truly want disaster? I would hope not . . . life is full of good times and difficult times . . . and we get through them all . . . wanting much more good in our lives.
I think witches have been given a bad reputation . . . there are good witches . . . and those who don’t seem to do good things . . . just as there are people who make wrong choices . . .
I choose to think more positively and my imagination goes toward these women brewing something good . . . yet, given the look of the liquid in the cauldron . . . something interesting is brewing . . .
It does look like an old book . . . and what is in the pitcher? The expression on the witch’s face has me a bit concerned . . .
I do wonder what has been placed inside the cauldron . . . and what is the woman with the pitcher saying? Is it some magic spell?
Quite some time ago, I was at a local antique mall where people sell their family treasures . . . or estate sale finds.
I’ve bought quite a few antiques over the years . . . but nothing like what the woman I met there told me . . . I’ll call her Myrtle . . . she looked like a friend of my mother’s with that name. She found this old cookbook. She was looking for old family recipes. Well, she had one collection of them . . . but there was another book of them she was desperate to find.
It seems her daughter was in the attic and decided to clean things out and sell them to pay her rent. She had recently lost her job and was working at the local diner. She needed a better paying job, but by selling some of her grandmother’s old stuff, she was making ends meet.
Myrtle was furious . . . “If that book gets in the wrong hands . . .”
This did put a new slant on it . . . Myrtle was looking for special recipes . . . with special ingredients . . . that made things happen . . .
I wanted to hear Myrtle’s story . . . but I wasn’t sure she would tell me what I needed to know . . . I was willing to help her find the book . . . as a matter of fact I think I had the book she was seeking.
I loved the old binding of the book and thought it would look good on my book shelf along with my Halloween paper crafts. The pages were cross referenced without any real recipes inside. The old calligraphy was beautiful and I thought it was interesting.
Evidently, alone each book didn’t have “the power” or information necessary to make anything happen.
The more Myrtle spoke, the more determined I was to keep the two books separate. There are just some things that should be hidden away in an attic . . . or separated . . . never to be joined together again.
I knew my intentions for the old book, but I didn’t know Myrtle’s.
This is one of those moral dilemmas we don’t like facing . . . but I faced mine and decided that there was a reason Myrtle’s mother kept the books separate for all these years . . . and a reason Myrtle never thought to put them together . . . until now . . . And she wasn’t going to tell me about it.
I think things happen for a reason. I believe those two books were separated on purpose and should remain separated . . . and there’s always the possibility that Myrtle’s book and mine are not the pair she’s seeking.
I don’t know . . . What do you think?
This time of year I do think about Myrtle and her daughter . . . and the book . . . I do wonder if Myrtle ever found it . . . or if I have it . . .
It looks very similar to Ray O’Bannon’s book safe. This is a fun free printable you can make, display on your bookshelf or coffee table or give as gifts filled with fun fall treats. Or keep your family secret recipes . . . They are easy to make and fun for all ages.
Click the link above to go to my earlier post with the links to RavensBlight’s book safes. They come in two styles for your crafting pleasure.
I have one filled with odds and ends of ephemera I’ll use sometime in one of my mini-albums. It’s a nice place for old photographs, too. Or even, antique mall finds you want to keep safe.
I do hope you enjoyed my story . . . and will make some book safes for your friends and family . . . You can add a title to your book . . . maybe even change the cover to give it a more personal look and feel for your fall favor box.
I would hope people would save these boxes and keep them for their own keepsakes or treasures after the goodies I put inside are gone.
Have fun and Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Sep 29, 2016
Uncle Harold just wants to have fun!
You’ve already met his sister, Aunt Ruth . . . and made that image into a Card In A Box. Now you can do the same with Uncle Harold.
Click the link above to meet Aunt Ruth if you haven’t already . . . and learn how to make a Card In A Box.
You can download Uncle Harold by clicking the picture to the right. I have a PDF for you. You may have to print out more than one copy so you’ll have plenty of pieces to cut out and put in your Card In A Box. Also feel free to add other elements.
I do like the vintage feel of this picture . . . and the one of Aunt Ruth, too.
They remind me of Halloween trick-or-treating when I was a kid. It was truly magical . . . running around the neighborhood getting candy from each house . . . and knowing I was safe because Dad was waiting on the sidewalk talking with other fathers while they waited for us to get some candy in out bags.
My neighborhood is the same . . . I do like seeing the kids and saying hello to their parents, too. It is a nice family friendly night.
It’s after all the trick-or-treaters go home . . . and the neighborhood is quiet is when I go for a brief walk . . . I see dropped candy on the sidewalk . . . I can hear my footsteps as they echo up the street . . . It is eerrily calm . . . almost too calm . . . and my imagination goes into high gear . . .
It is just the right setting to get me in the mood to read my favorite Halloween story . . . The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Every year I read of Sleepy Hollow and the schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his misadventure that Halloween Night.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
