Holidays

Why New Year’s? Have you watched the fireworks on television from around the world? Being in one of those places would be exciting for the whole family. Start planning now to be somewhere beautiful and bright when the next year rolls around.

Who says that you have to go out to have fun on New Year’s Eve? If it is just the immediate family this year, that’s alright. Here are five ways that you can welcome the New Year and have a few laughs at the same time.

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.

Lots of people use the occasion to give a gift to another family's dog. After all, parents often think to buy great costumes for the kids but Rover would like to join in the fun, too! A spooky ghost sweater or a glow-in-the-dark hourglass covering works well. Well-behaved dogs are also a good thing to bring along on trick or treat trips around the neighborhood, adding an element of safety to the experience. A glow-in-the-dark leash decorated with pumpkins is the perfect gift choice then.

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.