Halloween is almost here. Don’t be frightened…

Fraccers is letting out a monstrous, window-shattering scream to let you know Halloween is less than two weeks away now, and it’s easier than you think to have a monster mash, blood-curdling, smashing event! I’d like to help you solve some of the more typical Halloween dilemnas, and so have put together some information to help you have a champagne Halloween on a beer budget.

Costumes

So you’re not Martha Stewart and you don’t want to sew up some ingenious little outfit for you or your tot, yet… you need a costume, you need it quick, but… you also need it cheap.

I can help you with that.  I’ve been scouring the internet looking for Halloween tips and tricks and fun and all kinds of goodies to offer you, and I’ve found something totally awesome.

This site not only has costumes at some really great prices, but it has costumes you can snap up for only $5.

That is not a typo. I did say FIVE dollars.

Each weekday morning, they put up five regular costume items for FIVE dollars, and sell them until they’re sold out. Be the early bird to click the button on the left, and you could snag yourself one awesome costume for less than the cost of lunch.

You probably think I’m full of something smelly right now.

You’re wrong.

The button I’ve created for you to click to get there, is a photo of an actual item previously put up as one of the $5 deals. She’s rather cute… isn’t she?

We all know there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but click that button and you could get yourself a costume for just about as close to free as a person could get.

To the left here,  I’ve also included a sample of their shipping dates, to help you know how much time you have to order yours and have it delivered by Halloween! 

Treats

Serving up frightening fare is easier than you think. Below are links to some awesome recipes that will help you have the most talked about party around.

A. Witches Brooms and Hats Recipe
B. Bleeding Human Heart Recipe
C. Butterfinger Eyeballs Recipe
D. Witch Finger Cookies
E. Spooky Spider Cookies

More Recipes for spooky party treats can be found here,  here and here.

Decor

The following are ideas to help make your party the spookiest!

• Fill a plastic or latex glove with water you’ve tinted with red food coloring. When frozen, float in your punch for a ghoulish effect.
• Scoop out oranges as though they were pumpkins. Save the oranges and chop them up for use in a fruit salad, or cook them up with a bag of fresh cranberries and a cup of sugar for an awesome cracker spread that looks like bloody hell. Carve little jack-o-lantern faces in the oranges and use them to serve chocolate ice cream.
• Cut open large black garbage bags as tablecloths, draped haphazardly across the table or hung from your ceiling. If hanging, tear and shred the edges for an even better effect.
• Use the fake spiderwebby stuff to abundance. It’s one of the most inexpensive ways to create atmosphere. Check your local dollar-type store for the best deals.
• Whip up some fake blood using some of these great recipes. Be careful and mindful of surfaces that might stain from food coloring though.
• A bowlful of dried cranberries (or cherries) labeled ’scabs’ will creep everyone out.
• Scoop out miniature pumpkins and use them as votive candleholders. Insert (4 per side) black pipecleaners bent to look like spider legs and voila… creepy spider candles! 
• Serving beverages in a bowl with a ladle allows you to place a larger bowl with some dry ice and a bit of water underneath, thus creating a fog billowing out. (Be extremely careful handling dry ice, doing so only with proper gloves as it will burn your skin.) 
• Keep it dim or dark, and replace your lamps with black-light bulbs, or a red or green bulb. No one looks good in green light!

Pumpkin Carving

These sites ask for a small membership fee to allow you access to all the patterns, or they charge a small fee by the pattern. I receive no compensation from any of them and am listing them only to give you an idea of what’s possible. Sites offering free patterns are listed below these. Please check the free sites out thoroughly, since some have better patterns than others, and though free, there are some truly good templates available for free.

• Zombie Pumpkins
• Pumpkin Shop Carving Program
• Masterpiece Pumpkins

The following, are some sites offering free templates to help you carve that extra-special Halloween Jack-o-lantern this year!

• Learn how to make your own patterns from clipart
• ehow – Carving Pumpkins (includes simple templates) (tips on carving)
• Family Fun’s list of Pumpkin Templates
• Pumpkin Masters’ Free Patterns
• Fabulous Living’s Free Pumpkin Patterns
• Jack-O-Lantern.com
• Hershey’s
• Pumpkin Stencils and Tips from Kraft
• Family Management’s Pumkin Patterns
• Carve a Horse into your Pumpkin
• The Pumpkin Lady (free patterns at bottom of page)
• DLTK’s Holiday Activities – Pumpkin Patterns
• Rock & Roll Icon Pumpkin Patterns
• hp Pumpkin Patterns
• Pumpkin Glow Patterns
• U.S. Flag Halloween Pumpkin Pattern

I hope you’ve found something of value here, something that’s saved you some money on your Halloween celebration this year.

If so, and you’d like to make a small donation to help fraccers keep putting out posts like this, you may do so by clicking the cat.

I thank you.

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