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.

Childrens Halloween Party Games

 CHILDREN'S HALLOWEEN PARTY GAMES

Ghosts and Ghouls, Witches and Warlocks, Tis soon be the season for parties and trick and treating:

If you are going to have a Halloween party, some of the traditional kids party games are: Apple Bobbing, Halloween Hunt (Old Treasure Hunt), What's the time Mrs Witch (What's the Time Mr Wolf), Pass the Pumpkin (Pass the Parcel). A lot of the traditional games can be changed to have a Halloween theme to them.

Here is an idea for one party game, maybe suitable for slightly older children:

BRAIN DIGGING

You will need: A big bowl of cooked spaghetti, some ping-pong balls, and some small bags of sweets.

Get the kids to dig in amongst some bits of 'brain' to find a trick or treat! Cook up a large pan of spaghetti, leave to cool then put into a large bowl. Hide in amongst the spaghetti, one half of the ping balls with tricks written on, and the remaining put treats on them. This can get very messy, so best to lay it on old towels or sheets. The children then take it in turns to dig into the brains, if they pull out a trick, get them to either do an impression, or something silly, like a joke. If they get a treat, they win a bag of sweets.

SLEEPING MONSTERS 

You will need: Pillows or Cushions and small bags of sweets:

Ideal for younger children, especially if they are over excited. Get the Monsters (children) to lay down on the floor, when somebody moves they are out.

To help with your party game requirements, we have midnight dreary invitations to invite guests to the halloween party, a Halloween party box with various designs for holding small gifts and ideal for going home boxes, and large Spiders Web with Spiders to help you decorate your home for that special party.
We also take out the stress and the wear and tear on your shoes, by delivering straight to your door.