Tricks and Treats

A Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, and Destinations by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne has tons of easy tricks to pull during your next Halloween party or haunted house, with my favorites being the dropping spider and half man gags.

Here's something to do when you're bored while on Twitter: Tweet the phrase "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and wait for the fun to begin.

Remember the "giallo movie generator" from last year's countdown? Well, here's something similar devoted to Clive Barker's love scenes. Is it NSFW? You'd better believe it!

Gravedigger's Local 16 favorite Barrett's Haunted Mansion put up a cool offer on their Facebook page: They're giving free admission to the haunt (but not the "Buried Alive" attraction) to any customer who was born in October!

I highly recommend looking up haunted attractions in your area and then checking their Facebook/Twitter/etc. pages for discount coupons. I've found ones for the Factory of Terror in Fall River, MA and the Century Haunted Hayride in Auburn, MA so far and I bet you can find even more.

Have a bunch of walnuts and aren't feeling hungry? Then make some hobgoblins using the notes from this 1943 issue of Popular Science.

Dryer lint. A worthless byproduct or an awesome free source of fake moss for Halloween displays. Read the Amazon preview for How To Haunt Your House by Shawn and Lynne Mitchell to decide for yourself.

Speaking of Amazon previews, the one for Halloween Crafts: Eerily Elegant Decor by Kasey Rogers and Mark Wood has creepy clip art and instructions on how to make things like fake candles.

Finally, the Google books preview for The Halloween Activity Book: Creepy, Crawly, Hairy, Scary Things to Do by Mymi Doinet and Benjamin Chaud shows you how to make monster mirrors and ghoulish garlands.