Halloween 2016 review round-up - featuring Poundland and HARIBO

The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping and the shops are stocked with spooky, seasonal goodies. Yes, it's nearly Halloween, one of my favourite times of the year!  We enjoy celebrating the season and having some family fun with a scary twist.

If you want to enjoy Halloween, but want to keep to a budget, check out Poundland for some great items at just £1 each. From decorations to fancy dress to sweeties to tableware, you will find loads of fabulously themed things to keep the kids happy. We were sent a selection from their range.

This year's designs include a rather cute family of monsters, who appear on everything from paper plates to trick or treat bags. They also feature on the cupcake set that contains cake cases and toppers. Perfect for making some spooky cupcakes.  The tableware is excellent value and makes entertaining easy. Plates come in packs of 20, napkins in a pack of 30 and cups in a pack of 40, so there will be plenty to cater for a Halloween party. You can dress the house with Halloween decorations including character lights and bunting.

Poundland also has some good dressing up accessories, Freddy picked out a Freddy Krueger style bladed glove so he can dress like his namesake this year. Don't forget to stock up on some sweets for Trick or Treaters, which you can hand out from Poundland's Trick or Treat bowl.

HARIBO always do some great seasonal limited edition sweet packs, which are perfect for parties or for handing out to the little monsters who come knocking on Halloween night. Haribo kindly sent us a selection in a spooky package, which we will enjoy distributing to our local Trick or Treaters.

This year, Haribo have a Halloween Duo pumpkin pack, Trick or Treat mini bags, TangfasTricks and Scaremix ready to please the kids and the young at heart grown-ups!

The Duo pack comes in a lidded pumpkin shaped container, which looks great on a table laid with Halloween goodies. Inside the tub is two large bags of Haribo Halloween sweets (Scaremix and TangfasTricks) which can be poured into each of the divided halves of the bowl. It makes a lovely colourful display.

Haribo Scaremix comes in an assortment of spooky designs and flavours: Dracula Rings in Blood Orange & Apple, Apple & Blackcurrant and Blackcurrant & Blueberry; Boo Bears in Cherry, Lime and Blood Orange; Witches' Brew in Blood Orange; Vampire Heart in Blackcurrant & Bubblegum and Monster's Eyeball in Toffee Apple. They come in funky colours too, adding a Halloween twist to some old classics.

The TangfasTricks offer an opportunity for daring sweet eaters to dive in and take a gamble on which sweet they're going to eat! They look normal enough, but not all the sweets are tangy - some of them are super sour and some are HOT! Will the one you choose be a treat or a trick?  It will definitely make for a fun game this Halloween.

I hope they will do a veggie friendly range one day so I too can indulge in the happy world of Haribo!

Horrifying Haribo for Halloween

This Halloween, I am preparing for the annual Trick or Treaters with a little help from HARIBO. They have sent me a Trick or Treat multipack, some Minions Gone Batty, some Horror Mix and a tub of their Share the Fun treat packs. The neighbouring kids will love to get their fangs into these treats. Having individual mini-bags to hand out makes it quick and easy when little ghouls come knocking.

The Limited Edition Minions Gone Batty put a spooky Halloween twist on everybody's favourite yellow characters while the Horror Mix gives kids witch's hats, spiders, snakes, bats and brooms to munch on. They are great for sharing at parties. Each Trick or Treat bag has ten small packs of assorted HARIBO, while the Share the Fun tub contains twenty four mini bags. That's plenty to keep the Trick or Treaters happy!

Halloween Fun with Aldi Specialbuys

We love Halloween here Inside the Wendy House! So we are very excited to be testing out a range of goodies available from Aldi this October. As ever, the Aldi products are great value for money meaning you can enjoy Halloween without worrying too much about going over budget.

Spooky dressing up costumes such as witches, vampires and skeletons are just £3.99. Perfect for parties, fancy dress discos or Trick or Treating. A Halloween tutu set with skirt and wand is just £1.99 and Halloween boppers, to add a scary twist to any outfit, are just £1.79.

When it comes to parties, Aldi has a superb range of tableware starting at just 89p. 12 packs of paper plates, bowls, napkins, cups and loot bags come in two spooky designs and will make any party table look the part. The Boo and Trick or Treat designs are both very appealing and colourful. Quality serving bowls and drinkware are also available, and will be sure to impress your guests. Metal Trick or Treat buckets are just £1.79 and come in four designs. Filled with sweets and treats, they will make a lovely party favour or table decoration.

Decorating the house is easy with Aldi's range of Halloween themed novelties. LED tea light holders and battery operated lights will add an eerie ambiance to the house. The LED tea lights come with batteries included and the flickering light looks lovely. Spider's webs, gel stickers, dancing skeletons and inflatable characters will help set a spooky scene. To surprise Trick or Treaters, Aldi have some fiendishly fun door knockers and musical door bells that will interact with anyone who comes to your door. At £6.99 they are great value and very cool. The kids will love them and they turn your home into a proper haunted house.

When it's bedtime, the Halloween fun doesn't have to end. Aldi has a range of brilliant kids' bedwear for just £3.99. Your little monster will be able to snuggle up in a choice of two designs of pyjamas. Freddy received the glow in the dark Booo! pj's with a friendly ghost design on the front, green cuffs and spooky eyes on the trouser legs.  A spooky DVD before bed might be fun for little ones and a selection are available in Aldi at just £3.99. This would make a fabulous family fright night in!

Aldi also stock lots of great value confectionery ready for any trick or treaters who come knocking, plus they have everything needed to host a spooktacular party: food, soft drinks and alcohol, all at low prices.

These are the Halloween Specialbuy products available in store while stocks last:

Halloween Inflatable Characters £12.99

Dancing Skeleton £7.99

Halloween Serving Dishes £6.99

Musical Door Knockers/Bells £6.99

Children's Dressing Up Set £3.99

Children’s Halloween Pyjamas £3.99

Halloween Battery Operated Lights £3.99

Halloween Berry Lights £3.99

Halloween DVDs £3.99

Halloween Drinkware £2.99

Girl's Halloween Tutu Set £1.99

Children’s Halloween Boppers £1.79

Led Tealight Holders £1.79

Trick Or Treat Tins £1.79

Pumpkin Carving Kit £1.49

Children's Halloween Tights £1.29

Assorted Partyware  £0.89

Halloween Gel Stickers  £0.89

Halloween Spiders Web  £0.89

From costumes to tableware to decorations to DVDs to character inflatables, Aldi has got Halloween covered! Aldi's Halloween Specialbuys will be hitting stores on October 1st and will be available while stocks last, so make sure you don't miss out.

HARIBO Halloween Sweets - For Treating Your Little Monsters!

Halloween has become synonymous with sweeties.  Dishing out candy to the trick or treaters is very much a part of the celebrations, and this year HARIBO have a range of great Halloween themed sweets that will make all the little monsters very happy.

HARIBO delivered some to us to share around this Halloween!  

The HARIBO Trick or Treat Mega Box is brilliant for parties, goody bags and trick or treating.  It contains 50 individual mini-bags of Horror Mix spooky themed gums and jellies.  This will definitely keep all the children who come knocking happy! It is available at Asda.

The HARIBO Halloween Trick or Treat Party Pack is a cauldron of delights.  The spooky, orange bucket contains 40 mini-bags of spooky mix along with a selection of other goodies to help get your Halloween party started.  There are ideas for scary games, spooky glow in the dark stickers and some party invites.  There is also the chance to win an Ultimate HARIBO Party or one of 100 HARIBO hampers.  Just look out for the winning tickets that are hiding in the lucky party packs.  The HARIBO Trick or Treat Party Packs can be found in Tesco.

HARIBO also have a brilliant range of spooky themed Sharing Bags including Tangy Monsters, Spooky Ghosts and the fabulous Fangtastics!  They look great tipped into a bowl as a table centrepiece or used to decorate iced cakes to make simple spooky cupcakes!

HARIBO also have bags of Trick or Treat Mini Mix containing 10 mini bags if you are celebrating Halloween on a smaller scale.

We are big fans of the HARIBO seasonally themed items and are looking forward to sharing the HARIBO with all the little witches, wizards, vampires and ghosts that come calling this Halloween!

Visit www.haribo.com for more information and a chance to win the Ultimate Party.

Halloween Fun for Flashback Friday/Project 52/Country Kids

So Halloween is over for another year!  It remains one of the year's most contentious holidays with many people objecting to it for numerous reasons.  I've seen arguments against it based on the fear of the 'un-Christian' side of things.  Some dislike the whole 'begging' element of Trick or Treating.  Others hate the commercialism of a day that is seen as being very Americanized.  Me, on the other hand, I love it.  I love the Pagan roots of Samhain with its rich history.  I enjoy the traditions.  Horror is one of my favourite genres of film and literature, so I love celebrating that.  I enjoy having an excuse to throw a party for my family with such scope for theming the food, the costumes and the activities.  We have fun together and that to me, is the most important reason for celebrating this special day.  My kids don't go trick or treating (it's too damn cold for one thing!), but we do have a tub full of sweets ready for the neighbouring children who come calling.  They are mostly very polite, friendly and enthusuastic, and generally they have an adult lurking in the shadows keeping an eye on proceedings to keep them safe.  

We really enjoy going to Alton Towers for their annual Scarefest.  With a blend of cute, fun characters and activities for the little ones to enjoy, to the heart-poundingly thrilling scares of the horror mazes, there is something for us all to enjoy.  This year we introduced Kizzy to her first horror maze!  She is truly hardcore. 

The Sanctuary is a live action walkthrough based on a correctional facility run by the Ministry of Joy, whose techniques for 'correcting' patients are questionable.  The patients, doctors and nurses have all become 'broken' by the barbaric goings-on.  Visitors are invited to look around with a view to becoming advocates of their programme.  Scary stuff!

The Carnival of Screams is a travelling fun house that has fallen on hard times.  Guests enter...but never leave.  With twisted terror and disorientating illusions hidden within the maze, you get to brave the experience while grotesque clowns tease and taunt you and jump out from the shadows.  It's the stuff of nightmares!

Freddy got to enjoy a story time and a musical show with Skelvin and his friends.  He wasn't too impressed getting his photo taken with them, but he loved the activities. We also went on a few rides and attractions  including the awesome Nemesis - Sub Terra to finish our frightful day out.  We were blessed with a beautiful, crisp Autumn day. Wrapped up warm and snuggly in our thermals kept us all cosy.  I love this time of year.

Poundland's Halloween Challenge

Walking into the Halloween aisle of Poundland, I was spoiled for choice with the incredibly eye-catching range of spookily spectacular Halloween merchandise!  With everything from face-paints and costumes to table decorations and bakeware, Poundland stocks everything needed to host the perfect party.  With everything costing just a pound it is easy to keep a check on your budget and buy exactly what you need with no scary surprises at the till!

We decided to create a perfect Halloween table which will be the highlight of our celebrations this year.  The black, lacey skull design tablecloth was the ideal start to set the scene.  The Halloween tinsel is fabulous for wrapping around staircases, photo frames or for decorating the table.  I popped one of each of the designs, pumpkin, skulls and spiders, into my basket to add some sparkle to my decorating!  Adding the string of spider lights and the green spider's web really added a touch of arachnoid adornment to the table.  I love the paper plates, cups and napkins with the cute ghostly Boo design that the little ones will adore.  The packs contain 12 plates and 12 napkins or 40 paper cups so there is plenty for all your guests.  A pair of black plastic rats scuttling across the table are a fun addition.  The haunted house table decoration is a really effective centrepiece that casts an amazing spooky shadow on the wall.

To create the perfect creepy atmosphere the Sound of Horror CD has 60 minutes of spooky sounds which will keep everyone in the Halloween mood.  The party poppers are great fun and will fire a shower of confetti.  My kids love them!  The Halloween Juggling Balls will provide hours of entertainment as guests learn a new skill using the sparkling , metallic set of balls.  My husband reckons he's a bit of an expert so he'll love entertaining the kids!

Trick or Treaters are definitely in for a treat when they come knocking at my door.  The big Halloween designed bowl can be filled with sweets from the incredible selection which includes Haribo, Fruitella and Swizzell's.  Their Fright Nite range has some really spooky confectionery like Oozing Eyeballs and Body Parts.  Being individually wrapped makes them perfect for when the little monsters come knocking!

Being able to buy everything I need to set the scene and create the right ambiance from Poundland is so convenient and offers great value for money.  Everything is fun and colourful and will be a great hit with my party guests this year.  

Take a look at the full range here at poundland.co.uk/top-tips/halloween-2012

Also if you spend £12 or more on Poundland products you can save £2 by printing out the voucher found at poundland.co.uk/top-tips/2off12october!

As a Poundland Ambassador I was challenged to create a Halloween scene for £18.

Asda Halloween Treats

It's just two weeks until Halloween!  Today I'm showcasing some of Asda's massive range of goodies.  I love going in store and heading for the seasonal aisle at this time of year.  The costumes, decorations, tableware, party ware and other Halloween themed accessories make for an eye-catchingly, spooky display.

Asda sent us a selection of their Halloween range including their cute, batty paper bowls and cups which little ones will love (£1 per pack).  The pumpkin shaped box full of sweet treats will keep your little monsters happy with its yummy contents (£2.25).  The Wicked Wand Candy Canes (£1 per pack) will be perfect for Trick or Treaters who come calling.  The jars of spookily shaped sweets look great and cost just £2.  They look fantastic and will be perfect for sharing at parties.  The Pumpkin Carving Party Kit is an excellent buy for anyone wanting to carve their own Jack O' Lanterns.  The pack includes a book of 25 stencils with instructions on how to carve a pumpkin.  It also includes an assortment of tools for scraping, cutting and carving the pumpkin.  We'll definitely be having a go at this for Halloween this year!

With such an extensive range, there are products at really low prices so everyone can get into the Halloween spirit without having to spend too much cash.

Find out more at asda.com or check out the range in store.

Sweet Treats For Your Little Monsters

Halloween Sweets From Haribo: Perfect For Trick Or Treaters!

This frighteningly good array of Haribo sweets for Halloween will be sure to keep your little monsters happy.

Sharing bags are perfect for parties with the shaped gums and jellies helping everyone get in the party-spirit!  Super sour Tangy Monsters, Spooky Ghosts, Eggstremes and Horror Mix provide an array of treats to please every sweet eater, whether they like their sweets mild or sour.

Mini-bags are great for handing out to trick or treaters and provide a portion controlled treat for little ones to wrap their fangs around!  The Trick Or Treat Mini Bag Bucket is filled with treats and the bucket can be used afterwards for collecting more goodies!

The Haribo Halloween treats will be sure to disappear as if by magic!  My kids love them, and we are looking forward to October 31st and our annual Halloween celebrations!

Haribo are available in shops and supermarkets nationwide.  Eggstremes are exclusive to Tesco.

Trick Before You Treat with The Fabulous Bakin' Boys

The Fabulous Bakin' Boys have two fabulous flavours of Spooky Cupcakes on the market for this Halloween.  They are available in Chocolate & Blood Orange and Blackcurrant & Apple flavours.  The light chocolate or apple sponge is topped with a delicious and colourful  orange or blackcurrant topping to make a devilishly delicious treat for your little monsters.  They contain only natural flavours and colours and are baked in a nut free bakery.

To add to the Halloween fun, each individually wrapped cupcake contains a Trick Before You Treat challenge!  The whole family can have fun if they are brave enough to take the challenge!!!

See how we got on with the Trick Before You Treat Challenges!!!

You can win your height in cakes by posting a photo of yourself taking part in one of the challenges to the Fabulous Bakin' Boys Facebook Competition tab!  Closes November 7th!

The Spooky cupcakes are £1.49 for 6 and are perfect for lunchboxes or for your Halloween party.  Available from Tesco, Asda and other stockists.