Lifestyle

People tend to be more generous around the holidays and this generosity includes toys. The easiest way to give this holiday season is to volunteer with a recognized group.

An excellent gift for a new bride in the family would be a cookbook of all the family favorites. Add some stories and maybe old photos of family gatherings to go along with the recipes. Put together some dry mixes of some of the recipes to get her started. Wrap it in a nice apron, maybe even one that belonged to a relative.

How To Use Halloween Makeup

Clown faces, skulls, vampires, kitties and a thousand other makeup designs are possible for the Halloween holiday. But makeup can be a real chore to apply. Here are some tips from the Hollywood pros to make your face-decorating safer, less work and more fun.

Halloween prosthetics are fake wounds, severed body parts, false noses, etc. They can really make a costume stand out. But they can also spoil your holiday if you use ones that interfere with your freedom to party.

First, you have to buy or make some fake blood, of course. We trust you don't have plans to use the real thing!

There are dozens of recipes for making your own inexpensive version of fake blood. One ultra-simple recipe uses a tablespoon of water added to 3 tablespoons of corn syrup. That will serve as a good base. Then add red food coloring for bright, fresh-looking blood. For an aged or deep cut look, add a bit of blue. This type will work well on fake facial or arm cuts.

Decoration Props

Decoration props sit, hang or otherwise remain stationary. They can decorate inside or outside the home.

Standard round gravestones make for a great prop to use for a front yard cemetery. But even cooler are the centuries-old Saxon Cross tombstones that really add a sense of style. Anything that evokes a time long gone by fits right in with Halloween, which had its origins in the Middle Ages.

Which makes for the best Halloween mask may be a matter of personal taste. But the following categories keep coming back year after year.

Superheroes and Villains

Whether it's the Joker thanks to a recent Batman movie or the latest TV show, superheroes and the villains they conquer are always near the top of any list.

It's not just the associations with popular characters that does the trick, though. Just think of all the cool makeup possibilities with someone like the Joker. He's gone through several variations from TV and films from the past 50 years. Superhero masks offer an outstanding way to avoid that trouble, though. Pop it on and you're ready to party.

Thanks to the Internet, you have hundreds of Halloween sound effects at your disposal. You can download MP3s, wav files and more that cover the entire range of options.

Suppose you plan to build a graveyard scene in your front yard. You've lit the scene and now you're ready for the final touch. Just think of all those camp horror movies with the about-to-be victims skulking through a darkened cemetery. What do they play in the background? A loop of ghoulish organ music would be the perfect choice.