Have a Colourful Halloween with Dylon

With a wonderful range of colours and products to choose from, Dylon fabric dyes are a great starting point for getting creative with costumes this Halloween. From the darkest blacks to the brightest reds, Dylon can help you make a bespoke and unique outfit that will make your kids stand out from the crowd at their Halloween parties this year.

Dylon sent us some of their products so we could have a go at making our own fiendish fancy dress, putting our own spin on things.

This year, the colour palette identified by Dylon for Halloween 2015 includes Emerald Green, Velvet Black and Intense Violet for creating wickedly wonderful witchy coloured fabrics. Tropical Green is the perfect shade for Halloween, reminiscent of rotting zombies or Frankenstein's monster himself. Tulip Red brings to mind blood splatter or devils while Goldfish Orange is the colour of Jack O'Lantern pumpkins. And any little ones looking to step out as their favourite Minions this year, will look fabulous in Sunflower Yellow and Ocean Blue coloured costumes. The palette is really inspiring when it comes to planning Halloween outfits. I love the violet colour, which is a great hue for the season and the inspiration for Kezia's fancy dress outfit this year.

Kezia, at 13, is looking for a more grown up and subtle look for Halloween this year. Using Intense Violet fabric dye for hand dying, you can make a funky, soft grunge tie-dyed effect outfit, perfect for a pastel witch or zombie when combined with face paints and accessories. Searching charity shops is a good way to find old clothing that can be made into something new. Transforming an old white summer dress or oversized t-shirt is easy using Dylon products.

Tie-dying is simple to do using the hand use fabric dye made up according to the instructions. You simply tie knots in the garment and secure with string before plunging into the dye. Once the garment has taken on the colour, take it out of the dye and untie. It creates a lovely effect.

For a solid colour, the Dylon Machine Dyes now contain added salt so are all ready to use in the washing machine. You just run a wash programme with the product in the machine, then run a second wash programme afterwards. It's easy to transform garments, giving them a new colourful lease of life for Halloween and beyond.

Freddy has chosen an Evil Doctor fancy dress outfit this year, which has been created using Dylon Fabric Paint in red. Using an old toothbrush to flick the paint onto an old two piece white doctor's fancy dress outfit, creates a great blood spatter effect. Smearing the paint and using it to make a bloody hand print on the fabric, adds to the look. (Just be sure to wash it off the skin immediately!) Ironing sets the paint onto the garment. This is also great to do to an old white sheet to create a spooky backdrop or a tablecover for Halloween decorating.

I love the blood splattered and smeared mad scientist/ evil doctor outfit that we created. This bloody special effect can also be used on any old clothing to make a zombie costume. Freddy thinks his costume is 'absolutely fabulous' and it is totally unique to him. He enjoyed helping to make it.

With their Halloween outfits ready for the big night of Halloween parties and Trick or Treating, both Kezia and Freddy are going to look fantastic. It is fun to make your own Halloween costumes and the Dylon products are great for the job. Find out more about the range at www.dylon.co.uk.

Halloween Costumes from Sainsbury's - Safer and Spookier than Ever!

This year, Sainsbury's are proud to confirm that all their children's dressing up outfits meet the British nightwear flammability standard, which has the highest level of testing available. This is an industry leading decision, ensuring that costumes are regarded as clothing and not as toys when it comes to fire safety. As parents, we can be confident that our little trick or treaters are safer in their costumes this Halloween. Although everyone should still obviously take care around naked flames, knowing that the Halloween costumes are so much safer this year is very reassuring.

As well as being safer, the Sainsbury's costumes are super spooky and include outfits for all the family, including the dog! From zombies, to witches to vampires, there is a great range to choose from. Whether your little monsters want to be a spine-tingling skeleton or an enchanted witch, there is a costume that will be just the thing for parties, discos and trick or treating.

Sainsbury's sent Freddy a Mummified Monster Zombie Costume complete with top, trousers and mask. The comfortably cut, long sleeved suit has jagged cut hems and added pieces of fabric to give a spooky mummified look to the costume. A cut out section on the front of the top reveals a gruesome lenticular panel featuring a 3D image of dripping blood, ribs, bugs, eyeballs and guts and the fabric design includes oozing goo, seeping blood and bugs printed onto a bandage effect background. The hooded mask has a skeleton style face with cut out eye holes and bandage detail. The top has velcro fastenings down the back, making it easy to put on and take off. It is a really creepy and very effective design.

Freddy absolutely loved his new zombie outfit. He particularly loved the front panel with the spooky open rib effect. Gruesome but great! The attention to detail is excellent and Freddy looked like an extra from a horror film, jumping around trying to scare us. He will look fantastic at his school Halloween disco this year.

The costume is good quality made from 100% polyester fabric, which has a nice sheen finish, and it also has the plastic panel insert and additional fabric detailing. The sizing is good and the fit is comfy.

It is available in ages 3 to 12, priced from £10 and available in store or online. It is hand wash only.

Sainsbury's also suggest that to keep children extra safe this year, that we use LED tealights instead of candles for our Jack O' Lanterns and Halloween decorations.

Find the Tu Clothing Halloween Fancy Dress range online or in store at Sainsbury's.

Looking Forward to Halloween with Aldi

Summer is well and truly over.  The cold, wet weather and falling leaves are testimony to this.  There has been no last minute Indian-Summer reprieve, so my thoughts are turning to more autumnal pursuits.  Such as the prospect of Halloween!  It falls during our half term this year so we'll definitely be able to enjoy ourselves without worrying about bed-time!

From the 3rd October Aldi stores will be selling a great range of top quality Halloween products at their everyday low prices.  Both adults and children can enjoy dressing up for Halloween parties or for Trick or Treating.  Skeleton, witch and vampire outfits for the grown-ups cost just £7.99.  Tiny terrors can become cats, witches, pumpkins, vampires or skeletons for just £3.99.  Aldi also has accessories and decorations to make this Halloween spookily sensational without blowing the budget!

So if you are planning to treat your little monsters this Halloween get down to Aldi from October 3rd, but be quick because when it's gone it's gone!

Aldi sent us some goodies so we could get a sneaky peek at the range.  The sparkly pumpkin tinsel will help you to decorate the house for Halloween and the glow sticks will be perfect for trick or treating.

The child's witch's outfit is very gorgeous, but unfortunately as we don't have any girls age 5-6 in our household, we didn't have a model to showcase the costume.

OK.  Strike that - Freddy volunteered and here he is rocking the witch's hat!  Thankfully, he doesn't care about gender stereotypes yet!!

Adult’s Halloween Costume £7.99

Glow In The Dark Torch £1.99

Children's Dressing Up Set £3.99

Glowsticks £2.99

Children’s Witch Hat £2.49

Halloween Bunting/Banner £0.99

Bottle Candle Lantern £2.49

Halloween Tinsel £0.99

Adult’s Halloween Accessories £1.99

Gel Stickers £0.89

Avengers Assemble!

Iron Man Fancy Dress Costume from Rubies

With the recent excitement surrounding the return of The Avengers and other Marvel comic book characters to the big screen, kids around the country are all dreaming of becoming superheroes.  Thanks to Rubies, the UK and Europe's only official distributor of Marvel costumes (they do Disney too!) they don't have to dream anymore!

With a new range of costumes soon to hit the UK, your child could dress up as their favourite characters for some fun role play and world saving!

Kizzy was sent a cool Iron Man costume to model.  The all in one suit and mask is perfect for fancy dress parties and  Halloween.  Children can dress up in Stark Industry's best creation and embody the hero that is Iron Man!

Kizzy, who is 9, is wearing a large Iron Man costume which is designed for ages 7-8 but as she is slim it fitted fine, although the legs were a bit short.  So it would be the right size for the intended age group.  It is also available in small and medium for children aged 3 and up.

The mask fitted everyone and was modelled by 16 year old Ella and 3 year old Freddy too!  It is flexible and comfortable to wear with good visibility.

If you children prefer to be Disney Princesses rather than Marvel Superheroes, Rubie's have a range of four new classic princess outfits!  The gorgeously girlie Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White and Cinderella dresses with a large character print on the front are available exclusively from Argos.  They are available in ages 3-5 and 5-7.  Every little princess will have her dreams come true with her very own fairytale ending!!  They are currently available at £14.99 each or two for £19.99 instore or at argos.co.uk

Happy Halloween...However You Celebrate!

I can't believe how quickly October has flown by.  It seems the children only just started back at school and already we're celebrating Halloween!  It'll be Christmas in a blink of an eye!  Already the shops are playing Christmas tunes...seriously the Disney Store was in full Chrimbo mode on Saturday...they seem to be bypassing Autumn altogether and going straight for the Winter celebrations.  It all goes too fast! 

That is one of the reasons why I like to punctuate the year with celebrations.  It's a chance to pause for thought and have some family fun.  It allows reflection and gives a chance to take stock and regroup before marching onto the next event on the calendar!

Halloween is one of my favourite celebrations.  Not only is it a day that pays homage to one of my favourite things...that is Horror, it is also the Pagan Sabbat celebration of Samhain.  This is a time to remember and honour our ancestors and lost loved ones, when the veil between the living and dead is at its thinnest.  I'll be lighting a candle in my window for those who I have lost.

While the kids are at school, I've decorated the house with ghoulish decorations.  I have a Green Lentil Bake cooking which will be served with baked eggs and lovingly renamed as Eyeballs in Sludge!  We'll be baking some scary goodies using my Aldi Halloween bakeware.

Yesterday the girls designed and carved their pumpkins.  I let them loose to do what they wanted.  I totally loved their finished result...a warning about the dangers of alcohol.  The before/after pumpkin display tells a moral tale of excess!  I love the puking pumpkin after having too much to drink at the Halloween party.  My girls do make me laugh!

We love an excuse to dress up in our Halloween Outfits.  I always buy Halloween stuff in the sales and have a glut of fab things which the kids (and Ian) enjoy dressing up in.

However you choose to enjoy October 31st, I hope you have fun!  We certainly do :)

Everything You Need For a Spooky Halloween with Clintons

The nights are drawing in and the witching hour is nearly upon us...Halloween is coming!!  If, like us, you celebrate Halloween and have parties planned, you will be looking for spooky costumes, decorations and accessories.  How about checking out the range at Clintons Cards, both instore or online.  With a host of Buy One get One Half Price deals you'll find some  great offers.

I was sent a selection of Halloween goodies to take a look at.  We received a Pumpkin Sky Lantern, Flashing Fangs and a Tube of Fake Blood.

For £4.99 for 2, these huge sky lanterns will create real excitement at any Halloween party....just take care with them.  They have been mistakenly identified as UFO sightings or have set neighbourhood trees alight!!!

The Vampire Blood is just 99p!  A really easy accessory to give you the whole vampire vibe.  True Blood, Twilight or The Vampire Diaries?  Whoever your favourite bloodsucker is, you can play the part with a trickle of this from the corner of your mouth.  All Halloween make-up is buy one, get one half price!

The Flashing Fangs flash through a series of colours.  They will certainly light up the room.  For £2.49 they are a real fun gadget for Halloween!

How about these fabulous goblets...they are just £1.99 each!  Buy one and get a second half price.  You can buy them for the whole family to sip their witch's brew!

With adult costumes from £9.99 and kids' costumes from just £4.99, you can kit yourself out as a witch, a skeleton or even Jason from Friday 13th!  There are also fun accessories, decorations and even personalised Halloween cards!

To see the whole range check out the website at www.clintoncards.co.uk/halloween

Halloween Costumes for Kids

Halloween is fast approaching.  My children are in full planning mode wondering what to wear for their Halloween parties.  To make sure your tiny trick or treaters look the part, why not check out www.fancydressoutfitters.co.uk !


We were very excited to be offered some outfits to try out and enjoyed browsing the website for spooky Halloween Costumes.  There is a fabulous range of children's fancy dress costumes perfect for your little monsters!  From cute character outfits to terrifying zombie outfits, there is something to suit everyone.


We chose an awesome Scary Clown Outfit for Kizzy and a cute Bat outfit for Freddy.  Both are from the Smiffy's range of costumes.

Kizzy's Scary Clown Costume consisted of patterned trousers, a patterned top with a ruff and pom poms, dirty white gloves, scary face shoes and a creepy mask with hair.

  
We got a Large size which was for ages 10-12.  Kizzy is 9 and quite slim and it fitted her perfectly.  

Kizzy modelled the outfit for me and it was definitely very creepy!!  She loved it!

The mask was quite hot (as most rubber masks are), so for a party I'd face paint Kizzy as a creepy clown which would be more comfortable for her for a prolonged period.  The outfit itself was comfortable and practical with elasticated waistband and a button up top.  

The Clown Costume costs £35.53 and is available in Medium (7-9) and Large (10-12) sizes.  The sizes are not very generous so take that into account when ordering.  This is an awesome costume which fitted Kizzy well and is substantial enough for Trick and Treating.


Freddy's costume was a lovely little Bat outfit consisting of an all-in-one jumpsuit with attached wings and hood. It is made of a fluffy material making it really cuddly.  Being a one piece outfit means you won't lose any attachments which is a positive.

It is really cute but unfortunately my model Freddy was not as keen as his big sister when it came to dressing up.  He wasn't in the mood for dressing up as a bat today, but you can see how cute he looked.

The detail on the outfit is lovely with silky ears, wired, net wings and furry fabric.  We chose age 3-4 for 2 year old Freddy but again sizing isn't generous so the costume fitted quite snugly.  So take that into account when buying for your toddler.  Priced at £15.91 in sizes 1-2 and 3-4, it is a good priced outfit that would keep your toddler very cosy when out having fun on Halloween.


If you want to check out the amazing range of outfits available, take a look at Fancy Dress Outfitters website.
Take a look at their Twitter page @iwantfancydress for up to the minute chat and news.  Like their Facebook page for fun and details of offers and competitions.


For any occasion where you want fancy dress outfits, Fancy Dress Outfitters are a great first stop!

Halloween Fun!

I have always had a fascination with the macabre, the grotesque and the horrific!  I love my horror films, books and memorabilia.  I am a firm believer in the possibility of a future Zombie Apocalypse and I have my plan for survival all worked out! Halloween is my time!!

I adore the outfits available at this time of year.  Dressing up is such fun, especially when you get to dress up your little darlings as Halloween creatures of the night!  Thinking back to when my eldest were younger we had to get creative.  The vast array of fabulous outfits we see in the shops today, simply did not exist. In 1996 we had a Halloween party and made the costumes using bin bags.  The children had a lot of fun becoming witches and zombies!  The resulting outfits were quite impressive when teamed with a few props and some face paint!



Sometimes I think we miss out a bit these days having it so easy...but then,  I go to Tesco and see the huge array of fantastic costumes in sizes from the teeniest baby to an XL adult, and I succumb to the delights of this commercial time in which we live!!  Choosing an outfit for Fred was tricky!  It needed to be practical enough to accommodate his toddling, warm enough to stop him from getting cold (and needing a cardi which would totally ruin the look) and fabulous enough that he would look cool! There were spiders, pumpkins, monsters, witches and mummies...but I chose a vampire outfit!  Not your modern day Twilight style vampire...oh no!  This was a proper Hammer House of Horrors, Christopher Lee, Count Dracula number complete with cloak.  Exactly how vampires should be!!   So with a touch of Daddy's hair gel to slick back the hair...our little Count Fredula was complete!

My 14 year old went for a beautiful corpse look and looked stunning in her black prom dress and fascinator.  My 8 year old loved her purple witch's outfit! 

My husband donned a rather scary werewolf mask and I went down the witchy route and the Horror Family were ready to party!!



Thanks to QWERTY MUM for a great party...excellent veggie chilli, veggie pizza and amazing Halloween cupcakes.  Gotta love Halloween!!