With 27 days until Halloween I thought it appropriate to do a post along this theme.
at work I have been organising our second annual ‘Spooky Trail’ around the estate of Stansted Park and it got me to thinking why do we actually celebrate Halloween? well..apparently no one really knows for sure but it is thought that it originated as a pagan Celtic Festival to honour the dead. it was believed that on the eve of Halloween spirits of the dead returned to Earth. people would dress up as ghosts and witches so that the spirits wouldn’t recognise them. trick or treating was an act by the poor, where they would go to peoples doors and offer to speak to the spirits of the dead in return for coins or food. back in the day they carved turnips, beets and potatoes and used them as lanterns.
Halloween has certainly become very commercial like most other holidays, but i love it! i think it’s a great excuse to wrap up warm, go on a walk, tell ghost stories and scare yourself silly or get a little creative with pumpkin carving (however useless i am). while looking at different ideas for my spooky walk i found these truly amazing pumpkin carvings
if you are holding a Halloween party there are some great simple decoration ideas out there… i especially like the spider web balloon, see http://www.craftycrafty.tv/2008/09/halloween_how_to_make_spider_w.html for details on how to do this.
if you’re having a party then of course you’re going to need some food and these cute ideas have a fun Halloween twist to them. my favourite idea are the bite size toffee apples. i love toffee apples but a whole one is so much effort to eat without losing a tooth, so these are the perfect go between.
laura jefferies blog 