Are You a Trick or a Treat?

You Are a Treat

As a kid, you didn't cause too much trouble, and the adults adored you. Now that you've grown up, not much has changed. You know that a little sugar is the way to get what you want in life, and you are as sweet as they come. You like to make things better in the world, and you don't mind following rules... no matter how silly they may seem. You are a truly good person, and there's very few of you in the world. Anyone who knows you is blessed!

Are You a Trick or a Treat?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

What Halloween Costume Matches Your Personality?

You Should Be a Ghost for Halloween

You are painfully shy. You don't really care much for socializing, and you prefer it when people forget all about you. When you get dressed up for Halloween, you're just trying to hide a little. It's the one time of the year it's okay to wear a mask. To be honest, Halloween makes you want to lock the door, turn out the lights, and wait for it to be over. It's a huge step if you even hand out candy on Halloween. Sometimes you're too shy for even that!

What Halloween Costume Matches Your Personality?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Crazy Pet Costume Ideas

I don't have pets but have noticed for a few years  now the costumes that have sold for pets. Just about every idea available for humans has also gone to the dogs (so to speak) now and possibly also to the cats). "Star Wars" characters,  Batman , Superman, Raggedy Anne and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz" costumes all come in pet sizes, as do generic characters such as clowns, witches,  vampires, pirates, angels, and devils, pimps and just about everything you can imagine.   Even food costumes come in pet sizes, everything from tacos, hot dogs, and bananas.  Dogs can also pretend to be other animals Over the summer the store I work at had a candy corn costume for pets. 

I liked this one (even though I have no dogs!): The Zelda bouffant dog 

And whoa! Look at this Elvis for dogs: 

And take a look at this: 

 

Looks like pet costumes can get as weird and bizarre as those for humans.  Check out this blog post.

And this year Michael Jackson costumes are also being made for dogs.  Even the world of pet disguises wasn't safe from the late singer this year.  From the San Francisco Chronicle on October 27:

Paula West, opening tonight for a month at the Algonquin in New York, dressed Satchmo, her French bulldog, as Michael Jackson for Saturday's Thompson Square Halloween Dog Parade. He wore sequined jacket, black fedora, shades and one bootie covered in sequins.

I know a lot of you would like to see pictures, but there are no pictures are in the Chronicle article, since it's a daily column.  However, I did find this link.

I have a sneaky feeling that Billy Mays won't be seen as a canine disguise, however,  and probably not Farrah Fawcett either.  Can you imagine a dog in a red swimsuit?  A blue shirt with the Oxi Clean logo and the requisite beard?  

Here are more dog costume ideas.   Sarah Palin for a dog? OMG!

And again from The San Francisco Chronicle today:

In other travel notes, Paul Kilduff, who contributes to The Chronicle, and his small daughter, Alice, were at Sunday's Halloween dog costume/parade in Healdsburg. Kilduff's pick for best in show: A Chihuahua "peeking out of a gondola beneath a tin foil contraption," the whole "made up to look like the Colorado family's balloon-boy hoax UFO rig," with a "Call CNN" on the side.

OMG!  Now the Balloon Boy for a dog?  I wonder how many humans are going to be doing this one, let alone if others are going to make it for their pets!   Could this be the next worse costume idea this year after Michael Jackson?

I'm not sure what I would do if I had any pets.  Would they ever keep these things on? I've joked with my mom about dressing her tow cats, but she always argues they would never keep them on.  I know that, but I just like joking about it.  

What I Think of Some Ideas for Costumes...

Here are just a few ideas I've come across that seem bizarre, silly or even disturbing. 

iPhone Costume:  I can understand making a plain, easy one like this:

But can you get more bizarre or advanced than that? Apparently so.  Like this person said, who is going to spend $2000 for a 42-inch LCD TV and car battery and wear an 85-pound costume?  

The Octomom: In a blog entry I posted in August, I ranted about the possibility of the Octomom appearing on Halloween, and how IMHO, this was am much more disturbing idea than Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett or the Oxi Clean guy.  Seeing her standing alongside someone as one of those recently deceased celebrities seems a bit scary, IMHO, but there is something that could be just as scary, if not more so: seeing someone in the guise of the Octomom alongside someone in the guise of another famous mom of eight.

And one general idea that I just can't mention.  If you want to know, just look at this link and at  this one. 

This idea seems a bit funny. See picture below

Not a bad idea, IMHO. In fact, the only one mentioned above that I would ever consider. 

Some pun-based ideas I've come across (from Costume Idea Zone):

Dr. Pepper: Get a white lab coat or some surgical scrubs, and pin some chili peppers all over yourself.

This is one that has sounded like fun to me, though I have never gotten around to trying it.

Bermuda Triangle: Make a large triangle out of cardboard and use straps to hang it on your body. Then find several toy airplanes, ships, and other things that have been lost and never found (like your car keys!), and attach them to yourself inside the triangle. Optional: dress in tropical-themed clothing.  

Not something I would ever consider, but I just saw this newly submitted idea and it's a god example of the punny types of ideas submitted to the site.

Hall and Oates: Simply take a bag, and fill it with... anything really. Label the bag "OATS" and sling it over your shoulder. When anyone asks you, just say that your Haulin' Oats.  

Just had to laugh at this one.

Spongebob Squarepants: Wear a black sweat suit and hot glue pieces of sponge to your pants. Also, wear a nametag sticker that says "My Name Is: BOB." It works even better if your name is Bob already.  

Very punny and easier than a papier-mache version of an actual SpongeBob costume. See how many will people get this! 

Lawsuit: Wear a nice suit and carry a briefcase. Attach legal documents all over yourself.  

See picture below:

Ceiling Fan: Write "Go Ceilings!" on the front of your shirt. Add other gear if you want (pom poms, big foam finger, etc.) And don't forget to cheer!  

Picture below:

There are far too many more ideas to mention.  Look at the link above for more of these pun-based ideas.  I've been looking a the site for years and have found many fun-sounding ideas, but have never gotten around to using any of them them.  But it's always fun to look and maybe just one year!  And look for photos on their sister site Candid Costume.

What Pumpkin Face Should You Carve?

You Should Carve a Classic Pumpkin Face

You are calm, collected, and together. You are good at following rules and instructions. You tend to celebrate Halloween in the same way every year. You have a routine down that you like. You look forward to your favorite decorations, candy, and costumes. You might even carve the same pumpkin face each year. You love the Halloween classics like little kids in costumes, spooky movies, and candy corn. Why mess with a good thing?

What Pumpkin Face Should You Carve?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Does Anyone Really Like Those?

Saw this in my hometown newspaper this morning:

...I'm about to tell you all about the ins-and-outs, the do's-and-don'ts of picking your Halloween candy. Oh, sure it doesn't sound like a big public service, but trust me it is. You have no idea what it's like when you hand out the wrong thing on Halloween. Those children who look so cute in their costumes will turn on you like a pack of wild animals when they see you handing out sunglasses or, worse, sugar-free gum. 

I must confess ever since 2005 I stopped giving out candy in favor of pencils, small toys, stickers and such.  I've gotten no complaints.   I saw Halloween as a perfect opportunity to give out those little toys in boxes of cereals and trading cards printed on box panels.  Having no kids of my own and no use for these things myself,  this seemed a good way to get rid of these things.  In 2005, I found a "Star Wars" trading card on a Kudos box panel. The card had Yoda on it and one little boy who came to my door and said "I want Yoda."  A girl that same year was excited over the SpongeBob stickers I had bought to hand out. As of yet, I haven't been saddled with kids complaining that I don't have candy.  

Do not ever hand out toothbrushes.

Look, I don't care if you are dentist. If you have children and you value their lives, do not hand out toothbrushes on Halloween. For years afterward, your children will be taunted and teased with cries of, "Look, there's toothbrush boy," or "Hey over there, it's brushy girl; brushy, brushy, brush, brush." Trust me, you don't want to put your kids through that. It's tough to get over.

At least I haven't tired this one.   And you can be assured I never will. 

Contrary to what the Raisin Board says, raisins are not nature's candy.

This is Halloween. Nobody wants your icky old raisins, which I might add are horrifying, wrinkled up things that are really rotten grapes in disguise - even if you cover them in chocolate. Trust me, I know these things. I grew up in the Raisin Capital of California. We know from old, rotten grapes. They cannot be mistaken for candy on any planet. And I know I shouldn't have to say this, but the same thing goes for prunes. People, these are not a fruit in themselves. They are rotten, old plums that somebody forgot to pick. And they have side effects we won't go into here.

I'm not sure I have any comments on this one.

Do not hand out anything with the words 'all natural' or 'good for you' on the wrapper.

This is very similar to the raisin issue. It's Halloween. Nobody wants to eat anything that is good for him or her, not even the parents. Seriously, we don't. Why do you think we check all the candy? It's not because we're looking for razor blades, we're looking to score all the full-sized chocolate bars before the kids eat them. And even we don't want any all-natural fruit roll things cluttering up the sugar high. 

Candy corn isn't fun corn, it's icky candy.

Look, even sugary sweets have a hierarchy. And in the Halloween candy hierarchy candy corn is gross. And icky. And quite possibly the only candy nobody really wants to eat. Informal studies conducted in my kitchen have shown candy corn is always the last candy to be consumed. And mostly it's eaten when there's absolutely, positively no other candy left on earth. Yes, that's how icky candy corn really is. 

Really? Why then is candy corn always sold every year?  And now it's being made for almost every other holiday. In dark fall colors for Thanksgiving; in red, green and white for Christmas; pink, red and white for Valentines Day; pastel colors for Easter. I have yet t see a red, white and blue one for July 4th, but could that one be far behind? 

Bottlecaps are weird

Who invented these things? What fool in his right mind said, "Hey, let's allow kids to pretend they are eating hard pieces of metal usually used to prevent soda bottles from leaking? And while we're at it, let's make this candy taste like the kids are eating real bottle caps also." I think I speak for the entire country when I say, "blech."

I only ever recall ever eating these things once or twice.   They are flavored like root beer, orange, grape and other soda flavors. Do they make them flavored like Dr Pepper or Mountain Dew, anyone know? Just wondering here.  


Strange, squishy peanut candy

I don't even know what this stuff is called, but you know that strange, orange candy that's shaped like a peanut? Whatever it is, it's gross. You take the risk of having your house egged Nov. 1 if you serve these things. Don't say I didn't warn you.

This is one of those things that for a long time, I never knew what it is called. Still not completely sure, but the peanut description is quite accurate.  

So what can you safely hand out to the ghosties, ghoulies and goblins on Halloween? Well, anything chocolate (except, of course, the aforementioned raisins) goes over well. As does anything that in one serving exceeds the recommended daily allowance of sugar. But you know, I'd go with the chocolate. You can't go wrong with a good Hershey product.

I guess that's right. ...

"Is Your Home Haunted?" Quiz

Your Home Might Be Haunted

There's definitely something weird going on in your home, and you have the right to be uncomfortable. A lot of your home's creepiness could be psychological. Do you have some bad memories associated with where you live? Try to freshen things up a bit. Maybe some flowers or a new happy painting would make your home seem less dead. Plus maybe if you change things enough, you'll scare some of the "ghosts" away!

Is Your Home Haunted?