Another one of our favorites is the annual showing of The Simpsons Halloween Specials entitled Treehouse of Horror. The first Simpsons Halloween special was aired October 25th 1990 and is arguably still one of the best episodes. The next 9 years everyone got to enjoy a new Treehouse of Horror right before or on Halloween, but then things changed. Fox started airing the episodes after Halloween. Why? Well, according to the Wikipedia page on the subject, Fox’s contract with Major League Baseball’s world series takes precedent over the airing of the newest Treehouse of Horror before Halloween. So now we are stuck with a rerun of last years episode before, or on the 31st and the newest episode is aired after Halloween. The next episode is Treehouse of Horror XVII (17) and is set to air on November 5th 2006 with guest stars Richard Lewis, Dr. Phil McGraw and Fran Drescher.
If you are like us and need your fix of Simpsons Halloween Specials before Halloween rolls around you can purchase the Treehouse of Horror DVD. I want to give you fair warning though that this is only episodes V, VI, VII and XII (5,6,7 & 12). Yes it is disappointing, but when you need a fix, you need it. As of this writing there isn’t a DVD out there with more or all the Halloween episodes. The lowest price we found is from eCampus (less than at Amazon) and if you haven’t ordered from them before don’t worry, they are good. We’ve ordered from them numerous times and they have consistently low prices, fast shipping, and good service. The DVD includes one of our personal favorite episodes “The Shinning” as well as “Nightmare Cafeteria,” “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace,” “House of Whacks,” and more.
For those of you who can’t get enough Simpsons Halloween Specials you can construct a Simpsons Halloween Village, with spooky sounds and lights. These are definitely collectibles as they are hand-cast and hand painted with great attention to detail. Enjoy the figurines of classic Treehouse of Horror characters like a Witchy Marge Simpson, a Bart-headed fly, Devilish Flanders, Count Burns, as well as buildings of The Simpsons family home, and the Kwik-E-Mart. All these and more are available exclusively from CollectionsToday.
A few days ago I blogged about some Halloween Baking Pans for making full-size cakes and mini cakes. How did I forget to talk about my favorite of all cake sizes, the cupcake?! Along with shaped pans, another baking item that I find indispensable are reusable silicone cupcake liners. They are traditionally available in bright colors, but for Halloween they roll out the black, orange and purple ones. Instead of using disposable papers or greasing a muffin pan, silicone baking molds are totally non-stick so you barely lose a crumb and there’s no greasy mess or paper to dispose of. They are dishwasher safe and can withstand temperatures up to 500°F. The only downside is that people can sometimes tend to think of these as freebies or trash and some may “disappear”. For that reason they seem best suited for older kids and events where you know most of the people in attendance. Alternately, you can remove the wrapper before serving.
Cupcakes are easier to serve at parties and events rather than full size cakes because no plates or serving utensils are required. Less mess, and the added bonus of having a higher frosting to cake ratio! But if you don’t have a large table or counter, fitting more than a dozen cupcakes into the space can be hard. That’s where cupcake stands come in. There aren’t any Halloween-specific stands, but you can order a custom stand or make your own and deck it out spooky-style.
Hosting a spooky Halloween party this year? Or just want to redecorate the living room for a while? Try these inexpensive and easy to apply covers and wall clings over your everyday furniture to spook the place up. This Torture Coffin Sofa Cover is made of cotton and polyester blend and not only freaks people out, but makes it easy to clean up all the crumbs your ghostly guests leave behind. Personally, I’d drape this over my sofa at least once a month just to get a new look on things.
Let your costumed guests know that the fun starts at the door with this Haunted Halloween Door Cover. Send chills down their spines as they reach to open the door labeled Do Not Enter with blood and have to squeeze the vein-y texture of this rubber eyeball to get in.
Send a message to your ghoulish friends and bring together the tortured skeletons look by adding these Creepy Jail Wall Clings behind your Torture Coffin Sofa Cover. Each wall cling is 33.5″ wide x 65.5″ long and the sofa cover fits 74″ – 96″ sofas. All this and more at BuyCostumes’ new for 2006 Halloween Decorations section.
Looking for a more creative way to pass out candy? You’ve found it! This creepy cardboard zombie display makes trick-or-treaters reach inside the rotting zombie’s guts to get their free treat. I love this idea better than when people leave a big bowl of candy out on their porch because they aren’t home: it’s way creepier. Check out the look on that kids face. That warms my heart the way looking at babies does for most people. The Zombie Candy Grabber is available from ShinDigz and stands 5’1″ tall. Don’t just use it once a year, remember to bring it out for parties year round.
An alternative use that can add some zombies into your everyday life is to set this by the front door and use it to store your keys or cell phone in. This way you get to reach into zombie guts every time you leave the house!
RELATED: Zombie Snacks, Zombie Costume
Halloween is a time for reinvention and trying new things. We take ideas that seem mundane on any other day, and with an added creepy kick, they become unique Halloween entities. Pretty prom queens become zombie prom queens, pumpkins become jack-o-lanterns, and cupcakes become skull cakes. Mmm, skull cakes…
I love experimenting in the kitchen so I own a lot of interesting “novelty” baking items, and they never disappoint. Put a regular old cupcake into a pan shaped like a skull (or anything else unconventional) and the recipients are twice as appreciative. Presentation is an important part of creating or serving food that is frequently overlooked. If you bring in some cake to the office, your kid’s class, or a Halloween party, try using a shaped pan and see how everyone fawns over it. The large (full cake pan size) and small (large cupcake size) skull cake pans shown above are perfect for this. The simple eye and teeth details make icing a breeze since you just need to put a thin layer of frosting to cover everything and then follow the indentations with a smaller frosting tube. Even total baking novices can create a spooky Halloween cake with these pans!
UPDATE: Halloween Cupcakes for parties and events, when a whole cake just isn’t convenient.
This is a brilliant idea for kids who are having trouble with bad dreams. With a little bit of storytelling setup, your child can fall asleep easier knowing that Snargle (the black one) and Fribbler (the white one) are good monsters who love to gobble up their nightmares. Have them write and/or draw about the things that frighten or worry them, and by bedtime they will be devoured, never to trouble them again. You might even go on to explain that each Nightmare Snatcher is handmade by an artisan, just for them. With their soft faux fur and odd googley eyes, Snargle and Fribbler look tough enough to handle any nightmare without being too scary themselves. Their attached tales also double as a bookmark.
For those of you without nightmare worries (hopefully the vast majority of you), you might see these handmade journals in a little different light. Their design is so eye-catching and lends itself to a variety of unique uses; personal journal, teacher’s notebook, guestbook, or a piece of spooky decor for Halloween (a little reminiscent of the Necronomicon, yes?). The hand cut, tea dyed pages along with the furry covers make this a tactile pleasure as well as a fun little work of art.
