DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

              From pumpkin farmers to confectioners to costume shops and beyond, Halloween is big business in the U.S.--generating nearly $6 billion annually in retail sector alone.  We dig into the numbers to show where the big money is spent, on everything from national charities to neighborhood dentists. 36 million -Number of trick-or-treat aged kids 5 to 13 in the U.S. 93% -Percentage of children who get to dress up and go door to door. $5.77 billion -Total spent in 2008 on Halloween, including candy, parties and witches' brew. $140 million -Money Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has raised since 1950. 51.8 million-Number of adults who don their sexy nurse, pimp or pirate outfits on Halloween. 73.4% -Percentage of households that say they will dish out treats on Halloween (26.6%: Number of households just asking for a nasty trick) 28% -Number of children, aged 2 to 5, who will get cavities. 1.1 bill...

   Around Halloween every year a fair number of Christians express disgust at the idea of celebrating a "satanic holiday." To some Christians the very idea of Halloween is repulsive. Halloween and everything involved in it seems to strike a chord deep in the hearts of the most adamant Christian believers. It appears to be contrary to everything a Christian believes is good and holy with all of the evil ghosts, devils and witches floating about. But is Halloween really the evil satanic holiday that some Christians think it is?     The best place to begin is... at the beginning. There is a lot of literature available on the history of Halloween, including web sites and books. Some of it is even accurate! Most of it boils down to a few simple facts. Halloween appears to have started with the Celtic people. I say it "appears" to have started with them because they didn't write much down. They had a strong oral tradition much like American Indians. What we ...

    Under the watchful gaze of crumbling saints and baby-faced cherubs, you hurry down a path lined with mausoleums. Eventually, you pass crops of headstones casting long, narrow shadows in the moonlight. Each engraved with the epitaph of the dead person's life. You run past sunken graves and dying flowers, hoping that the sound you hear is just the wind and you're trying to shake the feeling that something is following close behind you.     Maybe you've never taken a midnight stroll through your local cemetery. But if you have ever set foot in one, you've likely felt a hint of fear and uneasiness that is their legacy. Maybe you were attending a funeral of someone dear and close to you, touring graveyards or simply fleeing things that go bump in the night.     Whatever your reason for strolling among the tombstones, you probably felt something noteworthy about the experience-something different from all the other spaces and ...

    Oktoberfest is a 16–18 day festival held annually in Munich , Bavaria , Germany , running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations , modeled after the Munich event.     The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival would go on until October 3 ( German Unity Day ). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the first Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. In 2010, the festival lasted until the first Monday in Oct...

  This recipe comes from www.confessionsoftart.blogspot.com .   Biscotti is one of my all time favorite things to make, especially during the holiday seasons.   It's easy to make and most people love it. Pumpkin-Cranberry Biscotti Books are kind of like people, don't you think? You can tell right away if you're going to be friends with one or if you'll have a brief conversation and go your separate ways. So it was with this book - as soon as I picked it up,* I could tell that it was going to be one of my favorites. By the end, I felt like I had met Frank and Jerome and had sat with them in the kitchen of their New York cafe as they took out trays upon trays of delicious tarts, biscotti and Madeleines. I've made many recipes from this book, always with great ease and great success, encouraged by the warm tone and the friendly, quick humor on every page. The recipes in this book are thoughtful, inventive and...

HALLOWEEN CRAFT: MAN-EATING MONSTER PLANT One of the easiest Halloween crafts I've ever made has to be the "Man Eating Monster Plant" I presented on the  Home & Family Show  recently. This Halloween plant craft is rewarding because it features many  repurposed materials that can be found in your yard or garage. The whimsical plants look like they are from the cult classic, "Little Shop of Horrors!"     The "Man-Eating Monster Plant" was designed by Dave Lowe, the talented art director for the show and is part of his "master Halloween design plan" for the front yard. When Dave explained the craft to me, I was blown away and responded, "Genius!" The steps are simple, making the monster plants an ideal family craft to get your kids involved in   decorating for Halloween .     Start to finish (not including waiting 30 minutes for foam to dry), the project took less than an hour to make. Once you ha...

I thought this would be a great idea for Halloween (I love Halloween!) so in my usual over the top fashion I went, well -- over the top. A buddy of mine wanted to do it as well. We tried to get his roommate into it too so we could have a third Ghostbuster but he didn't think we'd be able to do it......... :D I made two complete packs, suits, belts and goggles in just over two weeks working mostly nights and weekends. I also made a ghost trap and pedal- it clips onto the belt just like in the movie. The guns come off the packs and the packs light up, as does the trap. I made two lighting circuits for each pack using a simple homemade 555 timer circuit, a few LEDs and 9v batteries. The trap weighs around six or seven pounds and the packs weigh about twenty- five pounds.   The packs and trap are pretty movie accurate- they were made from plans that were drawn up from one of the original movie "hero" packs on display at Planet Hollywood. The A.L.I...