The Best of Halloween CD

I wasn't even aware this was in the shops over Halloween - a new (as in released in 2013) compilation of 50 Halloween themed tracks from the 1950s & 60s. Features some of the obvious classics such as Bobby Boris Pickett, Sheb Wooley, John Zacherle, Screamin' Jay Hawkins & Screaming Lord Sutch, but check the second photo for the full tracklisting as there were some tracks on here that even i hadn't heard of or got copies of.

 

Sainsburys supermarket in the UK had this double CD in their discount CD section and it cost me the grand sum of £3. Unfortunately the Folkestone store only had one copy, otherwise I'd've picked up more for presents. So check your local store before they all go.

Wednesday 6th November 2013

Tesco pumpkin ravioli

Saw this on  my trip to the supermarket and thought I'd treat myself to what looked to be an interesting meal - if a little overpriced. I must admit I can't fault the taste at all... however I do find with  this as with so many of the Tesco Finest branded pasta that they fall apart too easily when cooking, thus spilling most of their contents and further lessening how much value for money you get for the product. So caution, I will aim to cook this in future for at least a minute less than it says on the packet and hope the ravioli parcels don't open up. Nice try Tescos with the taste... but the quality of the pasta holding together needs improving. 6/10.

Saturday 2nd November 2013

Halloween trip to Whitstable

Amongst a day filled with pumpkin soup, lighting of the jack'o'lantern on the doorstep, greeting 'trick or treaters', ghost (or in my case gross) storytelling, classic horror movie clips, Satanic TV documentaries and exchanging of Halloween gifts; the morning was spent ambling around Whitstable, former home town of horror legend Peter Cushing. And what an apt year to be visiting this quaint coastal town on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Whitstable delighted (as Rye has in the past) with many olde worlde homes proudly displaying carved jack'o'lanterns and home-made halloween decorations no doubt made by children on their half-term holiday. Quite a number of shops had followed suit too in a high street still populated by more local businesses than big brand names.

A couple of the decorations that caught our eye in a charity shop were an interesting witch and a rustic wooden cat placard.

The obligatory visit to the Tudor Tea Rooms was made for lunch, where Peter Cushing used to take his daily lunch.

And on the way back home, at a pit stop at Canterbury's Goods Shed, we found some pumpkin spiced ale! Stingy Jack ale smelled spicier than it tasted, admittedly, but it was worth it for the design on the bottle alone. So a successful day all round!

Friday 1st November 2013

Even more Halloween greetings cards from the vaults...

Well, the sign of a busy October for me is sadly a dearth of blog entries! So with only one day to go, I'd better make up for it with another entry. Again here are simply some Halloween greetings card designs from recent years, for those interested. Let's hope the card retailers in the UK produce some new designs next year to make up for the lack of readily available cards in 2013.

Wednesday 30th October 2013

Some pictures from the night before...

Well my 22nd Halloween gathering of a few friends happened last night with the usual Cajun pumpkin soup and chocolate pumpkin brownies. This year as well as the trick of treat element of eating candy corn or having to eat insects, there were some 'Miracle Fruit' brought round enabling the eating of anything sour e.g. lemons & limes without the sour taste.

 

The pumpkin carving was judged by a four-year-old... and I won with my hastily carved Dalek!!! At last!!! For costume inventiveness the prize must go to the PacMan ghosts which were made out of a Poundland plastic salad bowl, some elastic, glue, an old sock and a sheet! So here are a couple of pumpkin pictures and some of the people in costume.

Sunday 27th October 2013

More Halloween Greetings Cards

From the vaults I'm afraid! I haven't seen any Halloween cards for sale this year in the local card shops or even in the bigger chain shops or supermarkets. However, here are a few that I was sent over the past few years with nice designs on for anyone interested...

Saturday 25th October 2013

Horror cupcakes

Shame I'm not working in London today otherwise a trip to Brick Lane might've been on the cards. Check out these fabulously artistic creations from Miss Cupcake... and how great to find something that I'm sure tastes great but probably induces a gag refex from just looking at them! You don't get this on BBC's Great British Bake Off!

Friday 25th October 2013

The Pumpkin wine is now bottled!

Decanted my wine today in readiness for next Saturday's party. I think the wine tastes better than last year... but whether pumpkin is a natural choice for making wine out of... I'll leave to my guests to decide!

Sunday 20th October 2013

Halloween beans

What will the next Halloween marketing ploy be, I wonder! Candy I get, but I'm probably not going to be handing out tins of beans to any 'trick or treaters!'

Saturday 19th October 2013

Snoopy Halloween cards

Looking through some old folders I noticed some Halloween cards that I'd been sent over the years and thought I'd put some of them up on the blog. The first three are rather delightful Snoopy cards. Enjoy!

Tuesday 15th October 2013

Tesco's best bits 2013

It seems all the major supermarkets have their Halloween stock out now. Sainsburys have the usual disposal partyware, kids costumes, sweets and fairly cheap gimmicky stuff, as do Tesco. But amongst Tesco's stock was a set of 3 scented candles for £5 and a metal tealight holder with silhouetted bats and pumpkin faces for £6. This latter object is bigger (about twice the size as the one I picked up last year) and was about the same price - so a pretty good deal.

Monday 14th October 2013

H&M Halloween mask

I was passing a H&M store in London and they were launching a range of children's fancy dress for halloween. The pumpkin head mask shown in the picture below not surprisingly sold like hotcakes and by the end of the day had sold out.

Sunday 13th October 2013

Iron Maiden Trooper beer

Well, it's not strictly a Halloween product, but Iron Maiden's iconic 'Eddie' is somewhat of a living dead icon... and now advertising beer. I found this for sale in the UK supermarket Morrisons, and it was worth the price, not just for the picture but for the taste!

 

Saturday 12th October 2013

 

Clintons, John Lewis & TK Maxx

Just a quick run through of some more of the halloween decorations hitting the shelves in the UK. As with the last few years now, most are party decorations for once only use (e.g. paper plates or bunting), or edible gifts... but amongst all this there are a few interesting reuseable goodies.

John Lewis can usually be relied upon to put some quality items out, although I noted on their website that the metal haunted house in which one puts tealights did not light up as well as those for sale in previous years. I must say that I am personally not much of a fan of any decoration that is covered in black glitter that seems only too readily to rub off and make a mess. So for me this year the interesting items were two of the simplest and cheapest - the two tin cans into which one could put tealights - one orange with a pumpkin silhoutte and the other black with a bat design - £2.50 each. (I didn't really get a good shot of these - they are in the third picture to the right of the Halloween sign.)

 

 

TK Maxx for years were a good bet for interesting and unusual decorations but in the past two years I haven't a clue what's been happening as some of their stores have gone from stacked high of the good stuff to practically nothing. This year they have scented candles but little else - apart from some confectionery - although the Dracula tin of jellied sweets is a nice design.

 

 

 

And then a shop that has been quite poor with its selection in recent years comes in trumps with some quality decorations rather than just the cheaper end of the fancy dress market. So hats off to Clintons! I like the Halloween tree of 3 glass pumpkins in which one can put tealights for £11.99. The black ceramic cat is also, if a tad expensive, quite classy. And the small tealight holders which are painted black but have etched pumpkin designs and are reflective on the inside are also not available every year. Interestingly I saw some similar orange glass pumpkin tealight holders similar to those hanging from the Clintons 'tree' in Waitrose and very reasonably priced at £2 each, however on close inspection the Waitrose ones didn't even come close in quality and the faces were very poorly painted and didn't keep to the design.

 

 

 

Happy hunting!

 

 

Monday 7th October 2013

 

 

Update * Saturday 12th October 2013*

 

Found this other photo of Clintons Cards' Folkestone store which shows off their range a bit better.

 

 



 



Folkestone Zombie Walk

Well the weather held yesterday for the 3rd Folkestone Zombie Walk. There was perhaps slightly less zombies this year than last, perhaps due to the fact that a local college didn't take part with their 'Thriller' dance routine... however there were just as many, if not slightly more supporters out this year. I've posted a few of the close up pics below, and I'm sure more pictures of the event will be on other sites, in the local KM newspaper, and video clips I'm sure will be found on You Tube.

 

It seems that the event has reached critical mass now and is becoming recognised as one of the town's annual, if a little bizarre, events. Roll on Zombie Walk 2014!

Sadly I didn't get a very good shot of the young girl, aged about 3, who was made up as a zombie and was clutching a blood stained floppy earred cuddly bunny! But at least she won best dressed girl in the fancy dress competition.

Sunday 6th October 2013

Morrisons & Asda lead the way

Popped into town earlier today and saw that Morrisons had put out half an aisle of decorations, partyware and costumes, and Asda had a whole aisle devoted to their Halloween range.

Of interest in Asda was two plastic but aged looking photo frames with lenticular holograms in them that make the photo of a supposed family loved one, become decayed and zombie-like as you walk past. the life sized raven didn't quite look authentic enough for me otherwise I would've had one of them. I also liked the fact that they were selling purple and red light bulbs in the display to give that eerie glow around your haunted house!

Monday 30th September 2013

Marks and Spencer Halloween decorations

On the way home from London yesterday I caught sight of this small display in the St Pancras M&S store. Admittedly it is  a small food store, so I'm guessing more lines will be available in the bigger stores. It looks like the usual confectionary and partyware again this year though... maybe one day they will bring back their ceramic pumpkin teapots!

Friday 27th Spetember 2013

Withdrawn Halloween Costumes

The following news story made the Evening Standard paper in the UK and also cropped up on the BBC too. Supermarket Asda has been given a rap of the knuckles for it's insensitivity towards people with mental health problems with the marketing of one of its halloween costumes this year. The costume has understandably been withdrawn. Likewise if you read the article Tesco seems to have committed a similar faux pas!

Friday 27th September 2013

Poundland's Halloween DVDs

The halloween decorations are still a bit slow in coming this year with only Poundland and the 99p Store making an effort so far in Folkestone. I'm sure things will start hotting up in the next week or so.

 

Poundland hve just put out their horror DVDs and there are a few known films amongst the straight-to-DVD low budget fare. So if you want copies of: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween 2, Halloween 3, Bride Of Chucky, Amityville Horror 2 or Amityville Horror 3 - get them while they're there.

Sunday 22nd September 2013

This year's first Halloween decorations

Well it seems the prize this year goes to... wait for it... Poundland! I'm sure they'll add to their stock as the black sabbath nears, but so far it's the usual generic fare, although the ceramic tea-light holders are quite nice, albeit a bit too cutesy for me.

 

One thing to look out for will be their selection of £1 DVDs as some treasures can usually be picked up. Last year's selection was a bit naff with lots of straight to DVD gore over plot films. But previously there's been lots of selection from awful yet funny 50's Sci-Fi 'B' movies to 70s & 80s classics such as Phantasm, Company Of Wolves, Black Christmas, Screamers or Hellraiser 1-3 and even the under-rated Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3.

Roll on October...

 

Sunday 8th September 2013