Halloween - its properly big in the States

We have Halloween in the UK too, its just not quite the materialistic pagan-fest it is here in the States. The shops are full of costumes, themed food and spooky cards, and, when my lovely teamies back in the UK remembered the phenomenon that is 'trick or treat' they put their Halloween candy order in - Tootsie rolls and Reese's pieces.

The big themes seem to be pumpkin-things (lattes, carvings, pie, cheesecake, muffins), candy corn, skelling-tons and dressing up. I've seen some pretty cool stuff - kinda wish we celebrated it more in the UK, although I don't know how American families cope financially, what with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas and New Year all in the space of 3 months. Dayum - I'd be skint and fat by January.

Target had some cool foam wigs for grown ups - wish I'd thought of these. Super simple, but really impressive.

They also have the cutest selection of baby's and kids costumes.

There are some awesome bits and pieces on Etsy too, courtesy of Goddess of Jewellry, Couth Clothing, Nail dots. I guess Etsy pretty much guarantees that you retain your quirky-cool style whilst celebrating this particular holiday.

You can also yum it up with Picket Fence Confections.

And while you're all dressed up, why not head out trick or treating? Everyone seems pretty obsessed with:
a) having enough candy (thanks to Fox news for this incredible piece of topical journalism. *Le sigh)
b) how old is too old? The Today show had a poll and asked how old was too old. Apparently its ok as long as they make an effort to dress up. No teenagers in hoodies demanding the keys to your car instead of a funsize Mars bar.

And after all of that you've got a mind-blowing number of Halloween TV specials. For the kids there is the Toy Story, Sam & Cat and Haunted Hathaways specials, and for the grown-ups AMC are hosting, what appears to be, an entire month of 24/7 horror films. Seriously - in a country that edits out the naughty jokes for tv I was able to give myself the willies by watching Slither, Halloween and ALL of the Nightmare on Elm Street films at 11am?? AMCFearFest

Its not all cutesy - there's some proper scary shit.