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

Halloween On A Budget 1996 Style!

Nowadays, the shops are filled with so much fantastic Halloween merchandise that we are spoilt for choice.  With a range of Halloween costumes to fit the tiniest tot through to an XXL sized man, we can become anything we can imagine from the world of horror and the macabre.  There are literally hundreds of pre-made costumes to choose from.  Whether you want to be Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, a vampire, a zombie or Frankenstein, it's easy to pick up a costume and look the part without any effort other than paying for it!

Back when my two eldest children were younger, we did not have the benefit of all the Halloween outfits and accessories that can be found so readily in store or online today.  We had to get creative on a shoestring budget, using household bits and bobs and our imagination to dress up our little monsters!

Back in 1996, we used cheap, black, plastic bin bags and cardboard to make costumes for my kids.  Megan's witch's bin bag outfit was fashioned using tape to make an off the shoulder dress and a hat from a cone of card.  Sticking on a few plastic toys, back combing her hair and adding some make-up completed the look.  Joe was a zombie with a raggedly cut bin bag over black trousers.  We spiked his hair and used talc to make both his hair-do and his outfit look aged and distressed.  We used some face paint to complete the look.  The best thing is that the kids get involved and help design and fashion their costumes, which is a fun activity, lost when using a ready made outfit. They both looked great and got into the Halloween spirit as you can see from the photos below!

Our eco-friendly Halloween didn't stop there as we used the flesh from our carved pumpkins to make pies and we roasted the seeds to make munchy snacks!  We put tea lights in old jam jars that had tissue paper ghosts glued to the outside casting spooky shadows and sang scary songs around a bonfire.  It was a much simpler sort of Halloween free from today's commercial offerings.  We partied at my sister's house with the cousins and had a wonderful time.  Take a look at this group of little monsters all modelling handmade Halloween chic!

The total cost of the costumes was literally pennies, using household bits and bobs and a few props and make-up.  Economy bin bags are 78p and are a fab base for any number of outfits.  Old clothes can easily be adapted into a costume which is a great form of re-using unwanted stuff to make an outfit on a budget.  Halloween needn't be expensive and by being creative you can guarantee that your outfit is unique.  No turning up at a Halloween party to find three other people wearing an identical outfit to you!! 

I'll be trying another Homemade Halloween costume later on today to see if I can replicate the simpler Halloweens of the past without resorting to the ready-to-wear shop bought scary Halloween costumes.  If it works out I'll be posting pictures.

Turn Yourself into a Halloween Monster

Photo Editing With Picmonkey For Halloween

I love Halloween and all things Horror, so when I discovered Picmonkey's new Halloween features to edit photographs I was in very real danger of becoming addicted!  With the option to turn your family and friends into Zombies, Witches, Demons and Vampires, this is the most fun I've had with photo editing for a long time!

Here are some of my scary creations!

Zombie Mummy

Scary Ella

Vampire Kizzy

Vampire Daddy

My Demonic Alter Ego

My Cute Little Devil