How to Choose the Best Baby Costume For Halloween

How to Choose the Best Baby Costume For Halloween
By Sophie Giles

Trying to decide how to choose the best baby costume for Halloween? Want to make certain your little one is as comfortable as she is adorable? Then you've come to the right place! In this article we want to talk to you about choosing the best baby Halloween costumes for your little dear, as well point out a few examples of great baby Halloween costumes created by Tom Arma - the king of comfort and cute when it comes to infant Halloween costumes

Choose Comfort First

Probably the biggest mistake parents make when choosing a baby costume for Halloween is grabbing the first adorable costume they find with little regard to how comfortable their child is going to be. The absolute first thing you must remember when choosing a baby costume for Halloween is that your infant is not yet old enough to understand why he or she is being paraded about in such uncomfortable clothes, and if you've chosen the wrong sort of costume for her - you'll spend more time trying to comfort a crying baby than you will getting those great pictures of her first trick or treating experience.

Try to choose baby costumes for Halloween which are made to feel like pajamas instead of being binding for your child. Even if he or she sleeps through the entire experience, at least you'll have the peace of mind knowing that she's comfortable as well as cute. Also, a lot of parents forget that Halloween is typically a pretty cold night, so be sure to choose a Halloween costume for your baby that will keep her snug and warm.

Costume Safety

Another thing that's easy to forget when choosing the right baby Halloween costume is that many costumes have extremely small pieces attached to them, or masks and other such accessories, which aren't safe for babies. It's important that you remember to choose a costume which is (preferably) one piece, and doesn't have any parts that baby can pull off and swallow accidentally.

It's also important to remember that masks, makeup, and other props don't have any business being on a baby's Halloween costume. These are for older children and adults only, as they pose a serious safety threat to infants and toddlers. No matter how cute a costume may look when it's hanging in the store, it's more important that your child is safe when she puts it on.

Tom Arma Halloween Costumes

Now that you know how to choose the best baby Halloween costumes, you're probably wondering where to find the best costumes for your little one. One of the most amazing designers of baby Halloween costumes is Tom Arma. His animal baby costumes are as comfortable and safe as they are adorable; and they are priced affordable enough for almost any budget. In addition to providing your baby with a great experience for her first Halloween, Tom Arma's baby Halloween costumes are excellent for photography, as well.

As you can see, ensuring that your baby has a fun and safe Halloween is really quite simple. All you need to do is remember that comfort and safety are the most important parts of choosing a baby Halloween costume, and your little one will be sure to have a great first trick or treating experience!

Find Tom Arma costumes and more at http://www.cutestcostumes.com

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What's Hot For Halloween?

What's Hot For Halloween?
By Roy Thomsitt

If you are taking your Halloween party seriously this year, and want it to be the best in the neighbourhood, then it is worth getting up to date with what may be big on the coming Halloween scene. There are several aspects to holding a Halloween party, and to put on the best “show”, knowing what might be the most contemporary themes, the latest in horror props and scene setters, scary gadgets and costumes, will give you a big advantage over those who have not checked out the Halloween scene for a few years.

Many of the old Halloween favourites will still be there this year, and long may it be so. Ghouls, vampires, pumpkins, witches and skeletons and other vintage Halloween stars, will no doubt be there again in their thousands, but even they may be looking better, and in some cases more realistic and scary, than ever.

If you do not feel up to date with throwing a Halloween party, here are a few ideas that may help you plan a screaming success of a party:

Halloween Costumes

If you and your family are holding a Halloween party, you definitely need to be dressed for the hosts' role, so choosing convincing costumes is an important start. Many Halloween costumes are available in child,even baby and infant, sizes, so if you have children there is no need for them to be left out when it comes to costumes.

Halloween costumes need not be scary. In fact, there's a good chance that some of the most popular costumes will be based on Hollywood movies. A hot favourite is likely to be pirates, thanks to the release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest; and especially Captain Jack Sparrow. Other Disney movie characters will also be popular for Halloween costumes, such as Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas, and for children Sulley Monster from Monsters Inc.

Apart from Disney movies, the return of Superman is sure to feed into the costume market for Halloween, and Harry Potter will no doubt be widely featured. Spiderman looks like being a common costume choice too.

Away from the movies, masks and costume generally seem to get more convincing by the year. the old frighteners such as Dracula and other vampires, zombies, ghouls will be given fresh facelifts for the new Halloween. Not every party goer wants to be a monster, though, and sexy costumes will undoubtedly be in demand again, even such vintage costumes as sexy nurses, chambermaids, belly dancers and sexy cops.

Halloween Props and Scene Setters

It is worth having a good look around at what's available in the way of modern props to help you set the party scene at your home. You can consider setting up your garden, too, to become part of the atmospheric creation.

Some useful props for the garden after dark, especially the front garden and around the drive to greet your guests, are tombstones. Having a garden cemetery can really give you the scope to set the right mood even before the guests come inside the house. Adding to that atmosphere could be a fog maker, pumping artificial fog around the tombstones and any other garden props. A few decapitated heads (artificial of course) with horrific expressions, and other frighteners, could be lit by setting up a low intermittent light near each one, to take visitors by surprise in the swirling fog. Air blown large scale monsters are another possibility for outside or inside the house.

Inside the house, there is a wide choice of scene setters around these days, which you can fix to the walls. These scenic backdrops can help to set up a haunting feel to the house. Your lighting needs to be carefully arranged to have maximum effect, while maintaining safety for family and guests.

Body parts (again, artificial!) such as severed hands, feet, legs and heads, can be used, with strategic placement, to provide the odd surprise around the house. You could even a full skeleton lying in the bath, with just a glimpse through the curtains in a candlelit bathroom. All these Halloween props are easy to find nowadays, so it is just up to your imagination and budget as to how you make use of them. With thousands of props available, the options are immense.

This halloween article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner author of the halloween-mayhem.com website, where you can find ideas for Halloween costumes and Halloween props

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The Inspiration Behind Halloween Costumes and the Holiday

The Inspiration Behind Halloween Costumes and the Holiday
By Dominic Sentinelli

Halloween is also referred to as; Hallowe'en, A jack-o'-lantern, All Hallows Eve and All Saints' Eve or Samhain.

The holiday is celebrated in several countries most commonly in; Ireland where it originated, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and in some parts of Australia. Many Latin American countries also celebrate this holiday where it is known as Noche de las Brujas (Night of the Witches). It should be noted that the holiday is celebrated mostly irrespective of religion and is mostly of a cultural nature. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century

Halloween is always on the 31st of October each year and is celebrated with some of the following activities; ghost tours, trick-or-treating, visiting "haunted houses" and fireworks (in Ireland), costume parties, bobbing for apples, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires, reading scary stories and watching horror movies.

The basis of this holiday was derived from the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. This festival was the basis for the modern holiday we know as Halloween and is based on the Old Irish samain. The Gaelic culture began the celebration of Halloween to mark the end of the harvest season known as the festival of Samhain which is regarded as the "Celtic New Year". The ancient pagans used this festival to take stock of supplies and to slaughter livestock for the winter stores. Many Ancient Gaels believed that on Halloween, then referred to only as October 31st, that the boundary between those alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead became dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals, in order to prevent these problems, would frequently include bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock would be thrown. At the festivals costumes and masks were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

Some Symbols of his holiday:

The most prominent symbol in America for this holiday is the called a jack-o'-lantern, a carved pumpkins lit by a candle inside. These lanterns, originating in Europe, were first carved from a rutabaga or turnip. The Celts, believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. The name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer who tricked the devil by carving a cross into the tree trunk which caused the devil to go to the tree and this later trapped him. In revenge for being trapped, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip. In North America the carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween, where pumpkins were and still are readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Many American families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their home's doorstep after dark

Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films, which contain fictional figures like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and The Mummy. Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

In summation, Halloween costumes are inspired by the origin and history of Halloween itself and are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows like Hannah Montana, movies and other pop culture icons. Some of the most popular costumes in recent years have been the; Hannah Montana Halloween costume, Batman Halloween costume, Indiana Jones Halloween costume, Disney Halloween costumes, Queen of hearts Halloween costume, Halloween princess costumes, sailor Halloween costume, Star Wars Halloween costumes, Snow White Halloween costume, Sponge Bob Halloween costume, Zelda Halloween costume and Miami Ink tattoo costume.

Author

Dominic Sentinelli

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Ghastly Ghost Costume

Ghost costumes are cheap and easy to make, but the standard ghost costume always bothered me because it was hard to see out of. You cut out eye holes and that's that -- but I could never see. So, when my pre-teen daughter wanted to be a ghost last year, I opted to put a spin on the standard costume so as not to obstruct her vision. Here's what I did, and the supplies:


Supplies:

• One can of black spray paint


• One can of silver hair spray


• Non-Toxic Face Paint (black and white)


• One Used up White Sheet


• Pair of Scissors


• Stapler

Instructions:

Take your white sheet and find the center. Use scissors and cut a hole for your head. Next, cut around the edges (seams) in a jagged random manner. Take the spray paint and mist is on all over the sheet in random longer strokes, making the random areas kind of grey -- and applying more to edges and neckline area to go more towards black for a dramatic effect. Paint the hair silver, apply white paint to the entire face, and black to eyes and lips. If you want to create "arms" you can put a couple staples in under the arms after it's on (not too close to your arms, keep it wide) so the costume moves with you. If you don't feel comfortable that way you can easily correct your mistakes with a staple remover. Of course, to be perfectly safe you can spray flame-retardant onto the sheet as well.

There are other ways to add spice to your ghost costume, just be creative and get the right accessories. When you are finished you will have more of a spirit-inspired ghost that appears to float through the night. A ghastly ghost indeed!

Costumes on the Cheap

It's hard to find cheap costumes and frankly I won't be spending as much money this year as I have in the past. So, I am deciding between buying at a Halloween discount store or just adding accessories to change up some costumes I already have for a fresh new look.



Really need to go cheap this year?



The Princess /turned Fairy - If your princess wants to be a fairy this year, take off any distinguishing buttons or the like, cut the bottom shorter in a jagged fashion, and add wings. There are so many many different types of fairies anymore, you just need some new accessories. You don't even have to hem the bottom. It probably won't fit next year anyway.


Ghastly Ghost - last year I took an old sheet for my pre-teen and turned it into a ghost costume ... but not regular ghost. One that appeared to really float into the night, and one that didn't obstruct vision. Very cheap and easy to create. All it takes is one can of silver hair spray, one can of black spray paint, non-toxic black and white face crayon paint, and a used up white sheet. If you have a white sheet that's seen better days... even better! See this year in your ghost costume by cutting a hole for your head this year instead of just eye holes, then cut the edges in a jagged random pattern. Paint your hair silver, your face white, and put a little black make-up on your lips and eyes. Darken up your sheet by misting it with the spray paint, and darkening the edges you've cut up and you're done. A "spirit" kind of ghost costume you can see out of.

Grow Your Body Parts - nothing's funnier than larger than life body parts. Put on some larger clothes and stuff your rear, gut and thighs as large as you please. You can take a pen and write whatever you like on your shirt if you want to spice it up with something creative. You won't have to worry about how much you eat in a costume like this either!



There are plenty of ways to save a buck when you need to. Just look in the right places and get creative.

Fun Kids Games for Halloween

With all the craziness on Halloween, it is always nice to know that there are still some super fun games for kids. Try these on for size:

1. Monster Freeze - a freeze dance game. Put on the Monster Mash song and watch the kids dance their pants off until the music stops. Then everyone freezes. Whoever moves is kicked out... last one dancing wins.
2. Bowling for Ghosts - get small pumpkins, 2 liter soda bottles, a small bag of gravel (for the bottom of the soda bottles) white spray paint, and a black permanent market. Spray the bottles white and draw scary ghost faces on them. Then, fill the bottoms with just enough gravel to add a little weight, then play a little bowling game by rolling the little pumpkins toward the ghost pins.
3. Musical Pumpkins - just like "hot potato" put on some creepy, fast-paced music and have them pass the pumpkin around until the music stops. Person holding the pumpkin is eliminated. Last one wine.
4. Halloween Picture Bingo - Create your own, or go online and find some free Halloween Bingo cards to print out. You can use candy corn or black/orange jelly beans for markers. Safe and fun game for all ages!
5. Skeleton Hunt - Take apart a fake skeleton (plastic or paper will do) and hide the body parts. Divide the kids into teams. Whichever team finds and assembles the body parts first wins.

One last thing... don't forget to have your prizes ready! You can make goodie bags, give Halloween themed toys, or have them pick their favorite candies. Whichever you choose, these games virtually guarantee your children's party success.

Top 5 Halloween Party Game Ideas

Ok, summer is over - which means it is time to get a head start on Halloween again. If you do not start thinking about things now, you may be unable to find exactly what you are looking for. Even if it is just party ideas, it is never too early to start putting together the perfect Halloween party. The following are five games you may want to consider when throwing the ultimate freak-a-boo bash:

1. Bobbing for Apples -- a "must-have" standard for any party, so why not throw in a twist? You do not have to just use a standard washtub/bucket/black cauldron and apples. Try coloring the water, or throwing in some rubber snakes, spiders, or worms. You can probably find some other gross things to throw in the tub too, like fake eyeballs and severed fingers. Surround the cauldron (safely) with a little dry ice or an Ultrasonic Water Mist maker for a spooky effect.

2. Halloween Scavenger Hunt - works for all ages, kids and adults. You pick what you want them to find. Since all neighborhoods are different, you can customize their list for the area you are in... or just send them to the local mall and have them hit up the stores for their random objects.

3. Scavenger Art Contest -- Take the items collected from the scavenger hunt and have the teams create something "freaky" from the them. Provide extra tools, like scissors, glue, etc.... and see what happens. Best creation wins.

4. Guess What This Is! -- the nastiest touch & feel game you can play. I do not know if this game has a name other than that, but that is what I call it. This game happens to be my favorite for freak-out entertainment. Here is how it goes: In advance, you get a box, which on one side you pick really nasty smelling items and place them there, then match them with something slightly less harmless to touch on the other side. The key of this game is that you are telling the teams to identify the item they touch. The trick is, you are making them smell something other than what they are touching to mess with their minds. Feel free to get very creative here. It can be extremely enjoyable to watch, and makes for great conversation later.

5. Pin the Skin on the Skeleton -- Eeew! Just like pin the tail on the donkey, but not the same game. Instead of a donkey, get a paper skeleton and put it on the wall. Mark a spot on the skeleton for the players to "re-skin". You can use flesh colored material and a push-pin, or if you really want to freak people out, buy a chicken and use real chicken skin. Blindfold them and let them try and hit the mark. Closest wins.

Whatever you choose to do this Halloween, just remember it is all about having fun. Stay safe, have a great scare, and enjoy your opportunity to disguise yourself in a costume and become someone else for a change!