You’ve been toiling away on your costume (or pumpkin, prop, spooky art, whatever the case may be) to freak out the impending trick-or-treaters. Your creation can win you a handful of treats, too! Some of these contests are frightfully simple to enter, while the rest require varying degrees of participation. Whether you only have a moment to join a mailing list, or have set aside months to create a fantastic costume or prop, you’ll find a contest perfect for you.

MAKE/CRAFT DIY Halloween Contest: Submit images of your homemade Halloween creations to the flickr pool. Categories include pumpkins, costumes, decorations or gadgets, and food.
Prizes: A trip to Maker Faire San Francisco and a bunch of other TBA prizes
Deadline: November 4, 2007

Curbly Candy Corn Challenge: To enter, transform these syrupy wedges into something seasonally superior for your home. Or, take …

Hey Halloween discount seekers, I have a few sales and coupons for you;

Buy Costumes Blowout- Use coupon code clear25 to get 25% off all clearance costumes. They’re already marked way down so if you’re looking for the absolute cheapest costume, this sale is for you. Expires October 15, 2007

Costume Craze- Use coupon code GET5 to get 5% off all orders. Expires October 31, 2007

Illuminations- All Halloween items are 25% off (no coupon needed), shipping is free on orders over $75, plus get 15% off your order total with this link (again, no coupon needed).

One Step Ahead & Leaps and Bounds- On either site you can use coupon code HAUNT10 to get $10 off orders $75+ that include one or more costumes. Expires October 21, 2007

The Big Horror DVD Sale- …

We’ve been waiting all year for October to roll around for one exciting reason: Fair Trade month! OK, you probably didn’t mark your calendar for that but it’s a cool idea to celebrate anyway. With chocolate candies flowing like wine this season, why not take a moment to learn a little about their creation? You’ve probably watched one of the mouth-watering videos that take you on a factory tour. There are Willy Wonka like rivers of melted chocolate, and endless conveyors of chocolate candies. But what happens before the ingredients get to the factory? Unfortunately, it’s a pretty messed up story that includes child slave labor and third world farmers who get paid pennies for their delicious cocoa. Talk about a Halloween horror story. Here’s a short video that gives some info on why standard …

Hey guys, it’s Sean, remember me? I haven’t been posting very often, but rest assured I’ve been working behind the scenes. I’ve risen shortly to tell you about some Halloween flavored t-shirts newly available from Threadless.
The one that caught my eye the most is the Derby of the Damned, which portrays some girls you don’t want to go up against in your next roller derby match. Or would you? Either way it’s definitely a 365 Halloween favorite due to the great artwork, color, and zombie/of-the-damned theme. I’m sure the pink chainsaw had something to do with it as well. Be sure to snatch this one up quick as I’m betting it will sell out quickly.
For those that need more orange in your wardrobe there is the nicely designed …

The bummer about kids Halloween costumes is that they’re pretty much a one-time use item. Kids grow so dang fast, and unless you’ve got younger kids to pass down those costumes to, they’re useless to your family after the season. Thankfully, you can help out other families in need and give new life to a used costume at the same time. Preschool Rock has set up a Halloween Costume Exchange that allows you to donate your kids used costumes and get a 20% discount off a new costume for this year. Pretty sweet deal.

How Does the Halloween Costume Exchange Work?

Parents seeking free Halloween costumes:

Look through the listings of free Halloween costumes.

When a desirable Halloween costume is found, the parent contacts the Halloween costume donator via email to arrange for shipment.

Parent receives Halloween costume in the mail just in time for Halloween!

Parents wanting …

There are many milestones that usher in the Halloween season, and depending on your interests, some will be decidedly more exciting than others. The changing colors of the leaves and new flavors of candy corn are nice, but one sure sign that October 31st is nigh is the X-Entertainment Halloween Countdown. Its kickoff means a near daily dose of the unadulterated celebration of our beloved holiday. Every weekday Matt, the Man Behind the Curtain at X-E, writes about “new-for-2007 Halloween stuff and tons of ghoulish goodies from yesteryear.” Some highlights from last year include a review of the new Jones Soda Halloween flavors, The 3D effects of Friday the 13th: Part 3, the tale of his best Halloween costume ever, and a 3 part series on the best new candy of the season. Matt is …