Another one of our favorites is the annual showing of The Simpsons Halloween Specials entitled Treehouse of Horror. The first Simpsons Halloween special was aired October 25th 1990 and is arguably still one of the best episodes. The next 9 years everyone got to enjoy a new Treehouse of Horror right before or on Halloween, but then things changed. Fox started airing the episodes after Halloween. Why? Well, according to the Wikipedia page on the subject, Fox’s contract with Major League Baseball’s world series takes precedent over the airing of the newest Treehouse of Horror before Halloween. So now we are stuck with a rerun of last years episode before, or on the 31st and the newest episode is aired after Halloween. The next episode is Treehouse of Horror XVII (17) and is set to air on November 5th 2006 with guest stars Richard Lewis, Dr. Phil McGraw and Fran Drescher.
If you are like us and need your fix of Simpsons Halloween Specials before Halloween rolls around you can purchase the Treehouse of Horror DVD. I want to give you fair warning though that this is only episodes V, VI, VII and XII (5,6,7 & 12). Yes it is disappointing, but when you need a fix, you need it. As of this writing there isn’t a DVD out there with more or all the Halloween episodes. The lowest price we found is from eCampus (less than at Amazon) and if you haven’t ordered from them before don’t worry, they are good. We’ve ordered from them numerous times and they have consistently low prices, fast shipping, and good service. The DVD includes one of our personal favorite episodes “The Shinning” as well as “Nightmare Cafeteria,” “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace,” “House of Whacks,” and more.
For those of you who can’t get enough Simpsons Halloween Specials you can construct a Simpsons Halloween Village, with spooky sounds and lights. These are definitely collectibles as they are hand-cast and hand painted with great attention to detail. Enjoy the figurines of classic Treehouse of Horror characters like a Witchy Marge Simpson, a Bart-headed fly, Devilish Flanders, Count Burns, as well as buildings of The Simpsons family home, and the Kwik-E-Mart. All these and more are available exclusively from CollectionsToday.
Hosting a spooky Halloween party this year? Or just want to redecorate the living room for a while? Try these inexpensive and easy to apply covers and wall clings over your everyday furniture to spook the place up. This Torture Coffin Sofa Cover is made of cotton and polyester blend and not only freaks people out, but makes it easy to clean up all the crumbs your ghostly guests leave behind. Personally, I’d drape this over my sofa at least once a month just to get a new look on things.
Let your costumed guests know that the fun starts at the door with this Haunted Halloween Door Cover. Send chills down their spines as they reach to open the door labeled Do Not Enter with blood and have to squeeze the vein-y texture of this rubber eyeball to get in.
Send a message to your ghoulish friends and bring together the tortured skeletons look by adding these Creepy Jail Wall Clings behind your Torture Coffin Sofa Cover. Each wall cling is 33.5″ wide x 65.5″ long and the sofa cover fits 74″ – 96″ sofas. All this and more at BuyCostumes’ new for 2006 Halloween Decorations section.
Looking for a more creative way to pass out candy? You’ve found it! This creepy cardboard zombie display makes trick-or-treaters reach inside the rotting zombie’s guts to get their free treat. I love this idea better than when people leave a big bowl of candy out on their porch because they aren’t home: it’s way creepier. Check out the look on that kids face. That warms my heart the way looking at babies does for most people. The Zombie Candy Grabber is available from ShinDigz and stands 5’1″ tall. Don’t just use it once a year, remember to bring it out for parties year round.
An alternative use that can add some zombies into your everyday life is to set this by the front door and use it to store your keys or cell phone in. This way you get to reach into zombie guts every time you leave the house!
RELATED: Zombie Snacks, Zombie Costume
This is a brilliant idea for kids who are having trouble with bad dreams. With a little bit of storytelling setup, your child can fall asleep easier knowing that Snargle (the black one) and Fribbler (the white one) are good monsters who love to gobble up their nightmares. Have them write and/or draw about the things that frighten or worry them, and by bedtime they will be devoured, never to trouble them again. You might even go on to explain that each Nightmare Snatcher is handmade by an artisan, just for them. With their soft faux fur and odd googley eyes, Snargle and Fribbler look tough enough to handle any nightmare without being too scary themselves. Their attached tales also double as a bookmark.
For those of you without nightmare worries (hopefully the vast majority of you), you might see these handmade journals in a little different light. Their design is so eye-catching and lends itself to a variety of unique uses; personal journal, teacher’s notebook, guestbook, or a piece of spooky decor for Halloween (a little reminiscent of the Necronomicon, yes?). The hand cut, tea dyed pages along with the furry covers make this a tactile pleasure as well as a fun little work of art.
In honor of our newest costume page (Zombie Costumes) I’d like to remind all you Halloween party hosts, when filling up your snack table, not to forget about those who eat different than most party goers. Just keep in mind the vegans, zombies, vegan zombies (they eat grains, cumin beans, and Hufu) and others. So lay out a tray with oozy mummy dogs, and another with fresh brains and everyone will be happy.
I’m envisioning a snack table covered in spooky treats on decorative trays and some of these zombie snacks randomly dispersed among the human food. A brain as the center piece, a severed hand next to the spicy bean dip, a left foot by the pizza, a bloody heart adjacent to the soy taquitos … you get the picture.
In addition to looking creepy on your snack table and adding good Halloween decor these would also create great picture opportunities for all the zombies and cannibals at your party.
If given a single piece of string and told to create art, the average person would probably tie some bows, do a spinoff of cat’s cradle, or maybe give up and wind it into a ball. Three architecture students aimed higher and came up with 4 very unique, handmade, little spooky dolls. I’m always drawn to toys or dolls with a creepy, gothic, living dead feel, and I love the simple, raw style of these little guys. They are decorated with satin, felt and bead accents, and are actually made from 1 continuous piece of string. They also have ball chains on top so they can be attached anywhere you want a teeny monster companion. Choose from the green Frankenstein monster, ghost pirate, black zombie, or red devil with pitchfork. Or get them all and form your own teeny undead army. (It’s far easier than voodoo, trust me.)
