Halloween Party Ideas

Halloween costumes and parties are traditionally modelled after supernatural figures. Works of Gothic and horror literature (such as novels and movies like Frankenstein and Dracula) have also played a major part in our vision of Halloween.

So why would anyone dress up as an apple on Halloween?   

What's the relevance to apples and Halloween costumes? 

Well at a Halloween party dunking or apple bobbing, (dooking in Scotland) is very popular. This is where apples float in a tub or large basin of water (some over 18’s use beer/cider) and the participants must use only their teeth and mouth to pick up and remove an apple from the basin.  Another apple Halloween game played by women is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over their shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of their future spouse’s name.

Halloween imagery also includes themes of death, evil, and monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches and werewolves.  Skulls also have a unique reference to Halloween, traditionally served as “a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life”, hence why they have a common place in Halloween. Images of skeletons and the dead are also traditional Halloween decorations to use for your party.

Homes are often decorated with all types of other scary symbols from magic cauldrons to mythical monsters. Some traditional Halloween colour themes to follow are black, orange and purple for decorating your home and dinner table. Keep this in mind when decorating your Halloween party.

Now for desert, so how about literally sticking to another traditional game, It involves simply hanging up treacle or syrup coated scones, buns or cakes with string. These must be eaten in the same manner as apple bobbing, without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that will almost certainly end up messy and with sticky faces, even horrific looking sticky faces, but nevertheless its fun.

So whether you are holding a children’s party or a Halloween party for adults at the office or at home, bear in mind that your costumes and decorations need to be well thought out.

The simpler costumes usually are the best ones. Now there are second skin/morph skin tight bodysuit costumes available and they are really cool and very easy to wear, they truly do look amazing! They are well made and will definitely help you stand out amongst the rest of the costumes at the party for sure...

Halloween Vampire Fancy Dress Ideas

Vampires have always been a popular Halloween theme, but it seems like we are currently in the Age of the Vampire thanks to a whole range of vampire-focussed films and television shows featuring fangs. It all started a long time ago of course, with Nosferatu and Dracula being the most well known of the silver screen vampires, and classic Dracula costumes are still popular every year. But today's vampires are more likely to look like one of us, with the addition of a pair of fangs and a lot of dripping blood.

Television shows such as True Blood and the Vampire Diaries, as well as films like Twilight, have made vampires sexy and not just scary. Vampire costumes are not just for men, there are lots of vampiras and vampiresses too, with slinky black dresses and plenty of attitude. Just add some thick black eyeliner, a pair of fake fangs and pop some fake blood capsules and you will have the perfect fancy dress for Halloween.

If you are hosting a party, there is a fabulous range of Fangtastic disposable tableware that can be perfectly mixed and matched with our plain black or red tableware, as well as vampire scene setters, Halloween hanging decorations and balloons.

The History of Halloween

 
Halloween used to be something that we'd see in movies and tv shows from the USA, but not something that we really celebrated in the UK. In recent years it's become more and more popular and now there are huge ranges of fancy dress costumes and Halloween decorations to suit everyone's tastes and pocket. Children start planning what they're going to wear and how many sweets they're going to collect weeks in advance.

The history of modern Halloween comes partly from the Christian celebration of All Saints Eve, also known as All Hallows Eve, which takes place on 31st October. Hallows Evening eventually became Hallowe'en which is how the name we know came to be. It's a day when martyrs and saints (known as hallows) would be remembered and the idea was to confront the power of death. Halloween is also based partly on the ancient Celtic festival of Samhaim (pronounced "sah-win"). The ancient people that celebrated Samhaim believed that on 31st October the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead would overlap and the dead would come back to life and wreak havoc.  One of the things they did was to build bonfires to frighten away the dead, which would attract bats and insects which then became some of the holiday's traditional symbols and the bonfires have since been replaced by candles used to light up carved pumpkins. The popular tradition of wearing masks and fancy dress costumes comes from the Celts disguising themselves so  that the ghosts of the dead would not recognise the living and leave them alone.

One of the most traditional ways of celebrating Halloween is for children to go Trick or Treating. The origins of this go back several hundred years and combine the idea of Mischief Night, when children would play practical jokes on their neighbours, such as taking hinges off gates or changing shop signs; and an old European custom called Souling, whereby beggars going door to door would be given Soul Cake (a bit like a hot cross bun) in exchange for prayers for a donor's dead relatives. Today this has become a tradition whereby children in fancy dress go door to door calling out "trick or treat" in the hopes of being given sweets and chocolates.

Halloween Decorations and Halloween Trick or Treating Ideas for 31 October

HALLOWEEN  DECORATIONS

The nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling off the trees, Autumn is upon us and its that time of year when we all get excited about Halloween.
This is the time of year that children absolutely love, the dressing up, attending parties and trick or treating. At Party Tracker we have updated our website with an exclusive online shop purely for Halloween. We have a large range of decorations to decorate venues, schools, halls, or your home. If you are going Trick or Treating with the kids, our new Halloween range includes a Halloween skeleton trick or treat bag and a Halloween flameless flickering candle which are ideal for going out on the evening of Halloween.
We also have a full range of new Halloween fancy dress and accessories for dressing up and celebrating on 31 October.

Halloween Ideas for 31 October 2011

H A L L O W E E N

Halloween is celebrated on the 31st October, which includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending fancy dress costume parties, carving pumpkins, apple bobbing, telling scary stories and watching horror films.

The word Halloween is derived from the word "All Hallows Eve" which occurred on the 31 October, the end of summer in Northwestern Europe. "All Saints Day", or "All Hallows Day", was the next day, November 1st. Therefore, Halloween is the eve of "All Saints Day"

"Apparently" the origins of Halloween can be traced back to Scotland and Ireland, around the time of Christ. The Celts celebrated the end of Summer, which was a time when the animals would be put in barns for the Winter and a time of the Harvest Crops. The change of season was celebrated with a festival called Samhain, pronounced, 'Sow-ane', and means end of Summer.

There has been much superstition surrounding this time, including the belief in fairies and the spirits of the dead wonder around looking for bodies to inhibit. Since the living did not want to be possessed by spirits, they dressed up in costumes and paraded the streets to frighten and confuse the spirits back to where they come from.

In today's era, the dressing up in costumes has been much associated with trick or treating in outfits such as: the classic vampire costume, wicked witch costume and ghosty costume, just to name a few.
You will find that there tends to be a wide age group, from children to adults who like dressing up and getting into the spirit of this Halloween occasion.

Happy Halloween!

Vampire Ball Convention on 30 September 2011

VAMPIRE BALL AND CONVENTION

30th September 2011

On the 30th September 2011, there will be an 3 day convention and ball. This is going to be a three day event, celebrating vampires in the media. The vampires are from shows such as True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Moonlight, Angle, Being Human, and Forever Knight.

There will also be celebrities such as Eliza Duskhu, Marianna Klaveno, Allan Hyde, Julie Benz, Mark Metcalf, Brendon Brendon, Clare Kramer and Georges Jeanty, who are actors on these show, past and present.

If you are attending this Ball we at Party Tracker can help you with your vampire accessories, from a black cape to a classic vampire costume and all your other ghoulish requirements. We can't fly your orders to you, but in Human ways we can deliver to your door. So, for all your requirements, either for the Vampire Ball or Halloween needs visit our Party Tracker website today.