Celebrate Halloween with DR Legwear from Duane Reade!

Regular readers know Halloween is a favorite topic here on my blog, and so I was beyond happy when Duane Reade asked me to share about their Boo-tiful Legs Contest and to visit Duane Reade to find some tights from their DR Hosiery and DR Legwear collections to add some flair to my Halloween costume.

This year, I'll be dressing-up as a witch for my Halloween costume when I take my kids trick-or-treating. I had the hat and the black dress for my witch-ness, but hadn't figured out my footwear or tights.

There are a ton of patterns to choose from in the Duane Reade tight department, from polka dots to fishnets. I went with chevron, which I thought would be fun to wear not only for Halloween, but for the rest of the other "regular" days of the year, too.

While my daughter Kay and I were shopping at Duane Reade we also checked out all the other Halloween offerings, there's tons of stuff for everything you want need from costumes to home décor.



When we got back home, I tried the tights and let my kids choose from my collection of black shoes the ones they deemed the most "witchy."

Also I should note that the tights could not be more comfy and the price is fantastic - $7.99. I'm so glad I had the chance find out about the DR line, because I will definitely be back to get some more.

I think the witch costume turned out perfectly, not to mention perfectly witchy.

 

All that's left to get ready for Halloween is to get a few lessons in scary from this witch:

 

Now tell me, what are you dressing-up as for Halloween this year?

Learn more about Duane Reade's Boo-tiful Legs Contest! From October 13 to November 3 upload a photo of your Leg Candy (Duane Reade branded legwear) for a chance to win an awesome prize.

Join the #DRLegCandy Twitter party this Wednesday, October 16, from 9-10pm EST to talk about Halloween as well as for the chance to win super prizes.

Catch-up with Duane Reade for the latest deals and new products on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

The Worst Halloween Costumes for Kids

As we all know, Halloween costumes for kids have really deteriorated - in every sense of the word - in recent years.

Just look at what my Native American girl costume of the 1970s has morphed into over the past thirty years:

I've complained about the sexualizing of costumes for girls ever since I bought my then 3-year-old a scarecrow outfit in a bag from Wal-Mart only to get it home and find out it was pageant-worthy (and I don't mean that in the good way).

Not to be outdone by the inappropriateness of the scarecrow choice, her older sister chose to be a Blood Ninja that year.



My 2009 blog rant about girls costumes got me an email from a reporter at The New York Post when Halloween came around the next year. She interviewed me and used my quotes in her article  Would you let your child trick or treat in this? In addition to getting the chance to share my thoughts on the inappropriate scarecrow costume it was also the welcome first evidence that anyone ever read my blog.

Last year I was happy to see others also sharing my disdain for the costume options for us ladies. The Bloggess shared some seriously scary stuff for grown-ups at Skanky-Ween. and Scary Mommy got right to the point with Dress Your Daughter Like a Whore Day!

I would like to add the following costumes to ever growing list of The Worst Halloween Costumes for Kids:

The entire Monster High collection, shown below with the also hideously wrong Gothic "Cheerless" Cheerleader and the Zombie Cheerleader:

A big no also to this witch:

And this cowgirl, look at her! Is nothing sacred, Sears?

And boys? Ick and double-ick to so many of their choices, too. And why do so many options emphasize the "bloody skull?" Or, pictured here, the bleeding ghost:

The thought of my son wearing these costumes sends the same chills down my spine as does the thought of my daughter choosing from one of the crappy options for girls.

So tell me if these are the worst ideas for kids Halloween costumes, what are some of the best ideas?

This is the fourth post in my Week of Halloween, for all the posts click here.

A Very Duck Tape Halloween

This was my most popular Halloween post during last year's 31 Days of Halloween series, so I'm giving it a re-run, with more and better Duck Tape creations.

Neither my obsession with decorating Halloween pumpkins or with Duck Tape seems to be on the wane, so why fight it? Instead I'm bringing them together here.

Just look at the incredible Halloween creations you can make with Duck Tape.

Amazing and creative Jack O'Lanterns:

A cool candy corn loot bag for your Halloween candy haul:

Or black bat decorations to spookify your home:

And... if you have mad Duck Tape skillz, you should enter Duck Tape's 2013 Stick or Treat Contest! Full details, rules and prizes are all here.

 

For creating your Halloween masterpiece, check out the new Halloween pattern from Duck Tape, Ghoul & the Gang!

 

Here are some of my favorite previous entrants to the Stick or Treat contest:

 

And two more duck tape pumpkins:



The Gene O'Lantern



Rob-O-Lantern

 

Happy Duck Tape Halloween!

 

PS No compensation for this post, I just have a genuine love of Duck Tape. Love, possibly obsession, since a quick search returned close to fifty posts about Duck Tape!

Great and easy ideas for no-carve pumpkins for Halloween

Last year I made a bazillion pumpkins with the kids. I've decided that until they are older, all pumpkin Jack O' Lantern creations are going to be no-carve, and through the beast that is Pinterest I found a ton of ways to make fun and awesome pumpkins that don't involve combining sharp utensils with young children. I'm sharing all the ideas that turned-out the best here.

Extra points for these pumpkin ideas: the ones that involve covering the pumpkin in glue or tape also act as an excellent animal deterrent.

If you are going to try one of the ideas that doesn't have full pumpkin glue coverage, first coat the pumpkin in hair-spray or something similar to keep the wildlife away.

The Googly-Eye Pumpkin

I love this project because even the littlest kids can peel and stick the eyes on the pumpkin, and it turns out perfectly silly.


The Glow in the Dark Pumpkin

This project is so easy, and it's perfect for older kids and tweens who love Duck Tape. All you do is cover the pumpkin with overlapping pieces of Duck Tape. We used a mini pumpkin and glow in the dark tape, 'cause everything glow in the dark is cool, but it would also look fantastic if used any other style of tape, too.


The Glow in the Dark Stars Pumpkin

Do you have a few of those glow in the dark stars leftover from decorating a kid's room? They're perfect for decorating a pumpkin! Just affix with glue dots and you'll be able to remove them easily from the pumpkin when the holiday is over.


The Glitter Pumpkin

I wrote instructions for how to make this glitter pumpkin last year, for full instructions click here.

One last note: I created all of these projects with real, live pumpkins but I think they would all work as well - possibly even better - with a funkin*.

* If you don't know what a funkin is, that's probably for the best. Just be happy and don't Google it.

Do you have any no carve pumpkin ideas? I'm always looking for more ways to festoon these celebratory squashes for the holidays!

This is the second post in my week of Halloween, for all the posts click here.

A Halloween Tale: Trick or Treating in Suburbia

This story is a few years old and was published in a similar version here back in 2008.

I remember our first time taking the kids trick or treating in suburbia as if it happened yesterday.

We had just moved to suburban Westchester County from New York City, and our daughters (Maggie, age five and Kay, age three) were beyond excited to go "real" trick or treating for the first time.

We hadn't met many of the neighbors yet, so the only house on our must-visit list was Franklin's, whose mom was always really friendly and nice and had told the girls to be sure and come by that night.

As soon as Daddy got home from work, it was time to hit the mean streets of our neighborhood for some trick or treating. We walked up our block stopping at each of our houses, and then turned to go down the opposite side. As we got closer and closer to the house where Franklin lived the kids got more and more excited, "Daddy! You finally get to meet Franklin! Hurry!"

We got to Franklin's house, the nice lady opened the door and said hi, and we then had a conversation that went like this and has become the stuff of family jokes forevermore:

Franklin's Mom: Hi everyone! So great to see you guys!

Me: Hi! Maggie and Kay insisted that the house they wanted to go to the most was Franklin's!

Franklin's Mom: Isn't that sweet! I don't know where Franklin is right now, or I'd have him come say hello... honey (yells to husband) do you know where Franklin is?

Franklin's Dad: I'm not sure, I think he might have gone up the street...

Maggie/Kay Dad, under his breath: Who doesn't know where their five-year-old is? And they don't even know if he might have gone up the street?

Maggie/Kay Dad out loud: Hi, I'm Mike. Nice to meet you. I've heard so much about Franklin. So Franklin and Maggie are in the same class at school?

Laughter.

More Laughter.

Doubled-over laughter.
 

Maggie and Kay: Daddy!!!!! Franklin's a cat!!!!!
 

Maggie/Kay Dad: Oh.
 

And even now, every time the kids mention a new friend, Mike gets a very serious look on his face, narrows his eyes and asks them, "And is this new friend A CAT?"

Happy Halloween! Do you have a Franklin tale?

This is the first in my Halloween Week series. Tomorrow I'm sharing easy Halloween crafts.