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
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
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