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Haunt Your House!

Haunt Your House
Party Kit
Includes over a dozen items to turn a house into a spooky haunted house of fun. Great for parties! Comes with: (3) Door Decorations, (8) Spooky Eyes, (12) Ghostly Footprints, (1) Spider Web, (3) Inflatable Halloween Heads, (1) Halloween Sound CD, (1) "Popping Pad" Sheet, (3) Hanging Ghosts, PLUS a booklet of spooky haunted house ideas!

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Tips

Follow these Halloween pumpkin carving tips to ensure an easier time when carving your jack o' lantern and to keep it looking fresh for a longer period.

I remember the most fun at Halloween time was picking up pumpkins for my family to carve. What faces could we make? What creepy patterns would be prefect to highlight? My "boys" are grown now, both in their twenties, so those special family pumpkin carving days are over, although I still love to carve unique pumpkins every Halloween myself.

Today it is very easy to find unique and wonderfully creative patterns designed specifically for Halloween pumpkin carving. It just takes a simple search to turn up dozens of web sites with downloadable patterns in truly unique designs. However, before you begin carving your creations, you should keep some of the following tips in mind to be sure your efforts come out perfect and that your pumpkin doesn't rot and shrivel before the big night.

Clean out your pumpkin well - After you have removed the seeds scrape out the inside of your pumpkin until you only have about 1/4" of rind left along the edges. This will actually help make your carving easier and more precise... especially if you plan on cutting out an intricate design with many thin areas. Another reason to keep your jack o' lantern walls thin is because it will help your pumpkin to last longer.

Keep your pumpkins cool - Store your pumpkins (before and after carving) in a cool area, such as in a cellar. Hot or warm temperatures will quickly begin to rot your pumpkin. Don't leave it out in the sun during the day either, even it if is cool outside.

Moisturize all cut edges - Using petroleum jelly, rub all areas that have been cut, including along the top hole. This will help keep the pumpkin from drying out and shriveling up. However, don't coat the inside of the pumpkin, especially if you plan on using a lit candle for lighting.

Cut a V-notch or small air hole in the pumpkin lid - This will allow heat and smoke to vent out of the pumpkin if you light the jack o' lantern with a candle. Pumpkins that aren't vented begin to "cook" from the heat of the candle causing it to deteriorate faster.

These simple tips should help ease the cutting process and keep your jack-o-lantern looking spiffy for several days during the Halloween holiday season. So have fun, search out some patterns or dream up your own creative designs this year!

Extreme Pumpkins

Tom Nardone has created a full-color guide to pumpkin carving that's truly frightening, including his signature Puking Pumpkin, and spanning everything from Drowning Pumpkin, Crime Scene Pumpkin, and Cannibal Pumpkin to Electrocuted Pumpkin and other never-before-seen designs. This gleefully gory guide is nothing short of a manifesto to take back Halloween from the cheerful, the cutesy, and the parent-sanctioned.

Extreme Pumpkin Carving

Providing a new twist on a holiday tradition, this book illustrates how to carve three-dimensional faces and scenes in pumpkins using tools ranging from kitchen knives to carving gouges and chisels. Complete information is provided for getting started, including an overview of tools and tips for finding the best pumpkin to work with. Twenty pumpkin carving patterns are provided and include full-color photographs of each finished carving.

A Complete Guide to Carving the Perfect Pumpkin DVD

This easy to follow, step-by-step instructional DVD will have you carving like a professional in no time. The DVD includes printable templates for carving over thirty different pumpkins. Also includes a fifteen-minute loop of scary sights and sounds-just the thing to set the perfect Halloween mood at your party!

Now that you know how to carve fantastic looking pumpkins, why not show them off by having a Halloween Paranoid Pumpkin Party!

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