Folkestone Zombie Walk 2015

The 5th annual zombie walk in Folkestone took place at 3.30pm today, satrting from the Leas Cliff Hall. Thankfully the weather was again favourable and the campaign by a former mayor and local councillor to get the event cancelled last year seems only to have given Planet Folkestone extra publicity and increased the numbers of those taking part this year.

Any event that brings people and business into Folkestone is a good thing in my eyes and surely it must be better to have an organised event rather than parents let their children 'trick or treat' at the houses of strangers.

Another well organised family friendly event. I hope it continues for many years yet to come. Below are some pictures of some of the participants.

Saturday 31st October 2015

Canterbury Tales Halloween 2015

The Canterbury Tales tourist attraction is currently getting into the Halloween spirit with a plague inspired theme called 'Contagious', and have produced a rather nice flyer to promote it.

Friday 30th October 2015

More Halloween booze!

Found another few bottles of Halloween and monster inspired during brands this week. The Exmoor Beast ale is now in stock in my local Tesco. The Gothic stout was in a local off license in Whitstable, and the pumpkin spiced ale in the can was on sale in the same off license in Whitstable and also at Macknades Farm Shop in Faversham.

There's also been a nicely designed bottle of rum with the Kraken image on it. I'm not a huge fan of rum, and Kraken isn't the cheapest brand, but I saw a miniature bottle so thought I'd try it.

Friday 30th October 2015

Rochester & Whitstable Shops

I visited Rochester & Whitstable earlier in the week and there were a couple of independent shops tat had made an effort with decorating their shop fronts. Kaizan Jewellers in Rochester in particular in Rochester.

And The Edge Hairdressers in Whitstable that had etched a ghost being blown out of a hair-dryer on a pumpkin.

Friday 30th October 2015

John Lewis Halloween decorations

Almost certainly not the full range but below gives you an idea of what John Lewis has on offer this year. 

About five years ago John Lewis sold an excellent metal haunted house to be lit up by tea-lights placed inside. The house had a matt black finish and although a little pricey, was a fair size. I debated whether to buy one and regretted my inaction afterwards. The following year they had a similar house, slightly smaller, in black - but covered with some godawful glitter. Not a patch on its predecessor - so I didn't buy it either.

This year upon spying the display my hopes were raised at seeing a nicely designed haunted house with pumpkin outside... and then dashed when I realised it was made of plastic with a battery powered light inside.

The best thing I saw in this year's display was the tea-light holders in the shape of spiders webs.

Sunday 25th October 2015

Elvira 7" Single

I have no idea how I missed this one last year, but there are a few copies of this 7" single still for sale, and they are worth snapping up. I didn't manage to get an orange vinyl copy but did get a purple vinyl copy. The A-side is 'Two Big Pumpkins' (check out the video on YouTube) and the B-side is '13 Days of Halloween' - a parody of the 12 Days of Christmas. Both songs are co-written by Fred Schneider of the B-52's. A must for all Elvira fans and a collectable for the future.

Saturday 24th October 2015

Salem's Lot vs The Mr Men

I was looking at various horror themed blogs the other day and some had links to a shop that sold tshirts and I found this for sale. So if you are a fan of Stephen King's Salem's Lot then you might find this humorous!

Friday 23rd October 2015

Yankee Candle Company

I popped up to my nearest shop in Ashford, but their stock was somewhat depleted. Despite being in an outlet centre, their Halloween Candles were full price, and compared to other candle brands may appear overpriced. The designs this year aren't as good as in previous years so I didn't feel tempted to buy anything.

However, despite not being in stock in store, the website is showing soe nice, if pricey, ceramic cats.

Thursday 22nd October 2015

Home Bargains Pumpkin Stencil

The UK 'cheapo' store Home Bargains last year had an amazing selection of scented spiced pumpkin fragrance candles at a fraction of the price of brands such as the Yankee Candle Co. So this year I was expecting more of the same. But sadly there was only a choice of one amongst the usual costumes and party ware. It was a large candle for the price but the artwork on the label a bit too tacky for my liking. However... for the grand sum of 49p were books of pumpkin stencils. Get them while they last!

Wednesday 21st October 2015

Star Wars Stamps

Today sees the release by the Royal Mail of a set of Star Wars postage stamps. The following images are from the Royal Mail's advertising booklet sent to customers. There are 12 first class stamps featuring characters from old and the forthcoming film - thankfully the prequel trilogy character are deftly sidestepped by only using characters from those films that appeared in the others (e.g. The Emperor) or having very small images in the bottom corner of the stamp (e.g. Hayden Christiansen). And one can only thank whatever God you believe in that there's no Jar Jar Binks stamp!

Then there is a miniature sheet showing the iconic space vehicles across 4 stamps.

And there is the A4 sized 'Smiler' sheet with 10 1st class stamps alongside other images.

There will be a 'Prestige' stamp book issued also in December. Interestingly the 'Prestige' stamp book will be hideously overpriced at £16.99 compared to other Royal Mail 'Prestige' stamp books. However the 'Smiler' sheet seems somewhat under-priced at £6.80 compared to other issues. Go figure!

Tuesday 20th October 2015

Halloween in Canterbury

Well the shops in Canterbury City Centre that are stocking Halloween decorations are similar to those already mentioned and photographed in Folkestone, so I haven't added any photos for those shops, but there were a few other shops worth mentioning...

Marks & Spencer

There seems to be less on offer this year especially on the confectionery front. It must be about 10 years now since they produced their excellent pumpkin teapot and they have sadly not exceeded themselves since. However in you are looking for a pumpkin piñata M&S is still the place to go.

Whitefriars Food & Craft Market

I've never noticed this small independent retailer before, however it has some nicely made craft items, including washbags made out of material featuring monsters from the Universal Monsters series of films from the 1930s & 40s.

Lakeland

This kitchen shop usually a nice display of Halloween gifts, confectionery and tableware. However this year their offering seems much reduced. However they do have cake moulds, cutters, paper cupcake holders and ready to roll icing.

Paperchase

Every year I struggle to find Halloween greetings cards in the UK, and Paperchase are usually quite good at obliging. They have about a dozen Halloween designs on sale, however most were of cute animals, so 'no sale' for me!

H+M

The clothing shop had orange socks with a Jack O'Lantern design on them.

But other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip.

Wednesday 14th October 2015

TKMaxx keeps on putting the decorations out...

TKMaxx keeps on adding new stock in my local shop. Lots of rustic and shabby chic items. The problem I have now is - if I buy it, where do I store it after Halloween!

The witch which fixes to a wall and holds a tea-lights is fun though.

Friday 9th October 2015

Wilkinsons' wows at Halloween!

UK store Wilkinsons or Wilcos, which filled the void after the demise of Woolworths in the UK has put out its Halloween fare for 2015. Yes... a lot of it are childrens' costumes, make-up, sweets and tablewares as you would expect, but look and there are some welcome oddities to be had too.

Personally I like the terracotta pumpkins to light up your garden. I have plenty of these already so didn't buy any this time around. All I would say is perhaps take them inside a shed and lift them above ground level when the frosts come - it would be a shame for them to crack and break over winter. Likewise the tin metal pumpkins look great too. They come with a battery powered light inside and look a quality item compared to a lot of the plastic tat on offer by other stores.

There are also full-sized skeletons and bones on sale, and some jack o'lantern candles and a crawling hand candle that looks too good to set light to. (Just shame it is not the other way up and a 'Hand Of Glory')

And finally, if you want to create the image of a scary clown climbing out of your toilet, look no further...

Thursday 8th October 2015

A disappointing Tesco Halloween

Sometimes Tesco can be on form and have some interesting oddities. Sadly 2015 doesn't look like one of those years. In the past we have had some cheap collections of Halloween music on CDs, interesting American sweets, even seasonal Halloween beer. Sadly it is just costumes, tablewares and sweets with a few small cuddly toys and trick-or-treat bags.

Thursday 8th October 2015

Halloween at Sainsburys 2015

Well the last of the UK supermarkets seem to be getting their act together this week, now that England are knocked out of the Rugby World Cup! Sainsburys has put out some tastefully designed partyware this year that's a cut above some of the other supermarkets. Also if you are missing some Halloween music they have a selection of Halloween compilation CDs - nothing new for this year but reasonably priced multi-CD sets that have been around for the past couple of years.

Thursday 8th October 2015

Halloween at Waitrose and Aldi

Was in Hythe yesterday primarily to get a ceramic pumpkin shaped plate advertised for sale in Aldi. Managed to get the last couple... and also a halloween themed dark ale that I hadn't tried before - 'Dunkel Fester.'

Also popped into Waitrose. They had the usual partyware. Slightly more expensive than some other shops. Nothing there that stole my fancy. However if you have young children, there were a selection of pre-school Halloween storybooks. So if your kids are into Peter Rabbit, Peppa Pig or Mr. Men...

Friday 2nd October 2015