Halloween Blog

Printable Halloween mask are great ways to trick-or-treat without the cost of high quality mask products available on the market. Children love to dress up as their scariest nightmares or their favorite heroes. What better way to have fun with the holiday, than by creating your own costume that has been customized buy them personally.

Creating these printable Halloween masks can be a very fun project that you and your child can enjoy together. It is easy to do and will be a great addition to your child’s Halloween costume.

In making these printable

Halloween costumes

masks all you need is a computer and a printer. You can search the Internet for images of your child’s favorite hero or heroine or even the scariest thing imaginable. Once you have found the desired image, you can right click on the image and choose to save to a destination on your computer.

Once you have saved the image you can then send it to your printer and change the size to fit the printer paper. Once you have printed the image onto the paper, you can then cut out the printable Halloween masks shape. Once you have completed these tasks, you can punch a hole on either side of the mask. Then you want to tie a string or piece of elastic band to the holes so that your child can place the mask over their face.

If your child wishes, instead of tying a piece of string to the mask, you can glue or tape a piece of wood dowel or even a pop cycle stick to the bottom of the mask. This will allow them to hold the mask up in front of their face when it is needed. A laser or ink jet printer would be the proper type of printer to use for this project.

These printable Halloween masks can allow our child to have a great time trick-or-treating with out spending a lot of money on expensive Halloween costumes. Having such a project that you and your child can do together is a great way for the two of you to spend building on the relationship that is between a parent and their children.

In making these kind of mask, it allows your child to be the designer of their own costume. This can be a great way for your child to learn some independence. So for fun that you can enjoy with your children, try this idea this holiday season.

Source : Articleavenue

Halloween is always just around the corner, have you decided what you’re costume is going to be this year? With all the choices of new Halloween costumes and ideas it’s really hard to decide on just one costume or whether you’re going to use makeup or just make your own Halloween mask and costume. Most people find it hard choosing a costume for themselves, let me give you some ideas and tips that you may not have thought of.

Halloween night would not be complete without some spectacularly scary costumes. The first question that any kid often asks when they wake up the day after is, “Where is all my Halloween candy?” and this is quickly followed by, “What am I going to dress up as next year?” The anticipation of dressing up in a spooky costume and Halloween mask gets everybody excited. The biggest thrill of Halloween has got to be transforming yourself into a monster, ghost, ghoul, vampire, witch, or other freaky costume characters. Of course, the most outrageous Halloween costumes are the best.

Where Did Halloween Costumes and Masks Originate?

Where did wearing Halloween masks and costumes actually start? So how did wearing a costume and mask for Halloween start? With the Celts. They held the belief that the spirits of the dead roamed the earth on Halloween night. Some of these spirits were amicable, but others were thought to be unfriendly and bitter towards those people who were still living and able to enjoy the fruits of the earth that the spirits once did. To camouflage themselves from these bad spirits, the Celts used soot to paint their faces. This basic method of disguising their faces developed, over time, into the more elaborate masks and accompanying Halloween costumes that are worn today. It also became traditional to emulate the frightening spirits by dressing up as ghosts or skeletons.

Tips and Suggestions for Halloween Costumes

There are literally hundreds of different types of Halloween costumes available today. Choosing the perfect one depends on two criteria - the first being which Halloween character you want to become, and the second being how much you are prepared to spend. One way to get an idea of just what types of masks and costumes there are available, and to help you to narrow down the huge choice is to search the Internet. There are plenty of low-cost Halloween costumes, some funny ones, and also those that are extremely elaborate and cost hundreds of dollars. It is worth bearing in mind that you can transform a relatively plain Halloween costume quite easily by using face paints and even add a pair of spooky Halloween contact lenses. Creating your own Hallloween kids costumes is also fairly simple and you can make one from anything that you have available. It needn’t cost a fortune or take a lot of time and effort either. All you really need is to come up with an idea for a Halloween costume and take it from there. Everyday items and imaginatively applied makeup can create some awesome effects.

Hints and Tips for Halloween Makeup

Halloween makeup can sometimes be more effective than a mask. It really depends on the effect that you want to achieve, and how much money you want to spend. Halloween makeup can cost less, as well as being more safe for kids when they are out trick or treating, as it does not obscure their sight. You can achieve some amazing effects with Halloween makeup too. You can buy makeup kits or use the same type of grease paints that actors use in the theater, with lots of wonderful colors that are easy to apply, and easy to remove. A low cost alternative is to use normal makeup, such as blush, eyeliner, eye shadow and lipstick. Water-based paint is also a great option, especially if you have had trouble finding a costume. You can create your own scary face with very little effort, and can wear any clothes you want to. This works particularly well if you paint yourself up to look like a zombie, or other creature that has risen from the dead. Your face paints will acts as a mask, and will turn any clothes into a

Halloween costumes

, including your everyday ones.

Tips and Tricks for Halloween Masks

There is something magical about a Halloween mask that makeup does not quite achieve. This is because they can instantly change you into someone, or something, else. Masks have been worn since ancient times to enable people to adopt a new identity, and for worshipping different Gods and spirits. You can buy a wide variety of Halloween masks via the Internet, ranging from terrifying vampires and witches to more mythical creatures, such as fairies, or even caricatures of famous people. For something a little different, you can create your very own masquerade style mask to compliment a costume by dressing up a plain facemask. All you need is some glue, and you can add anything you want to it, such as beads or even items that you find in your garden, like flowers and leaves, for a truly unique Halloween mask. If you want to make a Venetian style bird mask, you can add feathers and a beak. The Celts wore bird masks during their Samhain festival too.

Source: http://www.articleavenue.com

WALL-E  movie by by Pixar, Wall-E, is far less than just the archetypal entertainment and kids’ movie. Wall-e film has a message for all the audience notwithstanding the age. Wall-E could be a diverse type of superhero; who tries  to escape from other robots to take the only plant that would be used to vegetate planet earth. As he tries to take the plant to the captain, he puts himself at risk; also he tries to save Eve.

Wall-E is the last robot left on Earth, & he is the only one in working order. He is a lonely, small robot with sad, binocular eyes and  has a friend, a cute cockroach. WALL-E expends his days squashing detritus into cubes and piling them up. At the beginning of the movie, we can see some skyscrapers, but they are in fact towers of leftover junk that WALL-E has crushed.

WALL-E’s life revolutionize with the advent of EVE, a gleaming white probe from the BnL Corp’s cruise ship far out in space. Her name stands for Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, & she’s looking for plants - evidence that Earth is ready for re-colonization. By chance, WALL-E has just turned one up, a delicate shoot he’s repotted into a shoe.

The humans have fled earth in cruise-line spaceships, but after 700 years of being waited on hand & foot by domestic machines; they have grown pear-shaped and indolent, unable to get to their atrophied feet for lack of bone mass.  The ambiance or the shape of the humans make everyone believe that this is more terrifying than the scenes back on Earth, which can be perfectly compared to a scene of debris where debris are left after an disaster with the only difference that the mountains of debris are  made of garbage.

The captain wants to return to earth and WALL-E tries to save the plant from Auto, a computer acting on outdated directives, which intends to destroy the plant and keeps the ship floating through space ceaselessly.

WALL-E undeniably has a green message, and indirectly makes us think about the future of this planet, Earth. WALL-E’s kids costumes would definitely be a hit in any event and can become as popular as any marvelous superhero.

Are you wondering how to throw the next great Halloween themed party? By trying new spooky ideas you will discover new games, crafts, music and Halloween food recipes that will explode in your stomach. By understanding were Halloween originated from you will get more crafty ideas on how to plan your ghoulish party.

Halloween is one of the only days on the year that truly inspires the imagination of adults and kids alike by encouraging the weirdest and most eccentric halloween costumes for the numerous Halloween parties. The more outrageous a Halloween themed party is, the better. This is the one holiday that is devoted to spooky fun! It used to be that this holiday was reserved for the kids to enjoy scary kids costumes, and their themed parties at school indulges and trick or treating at night. However, a lot more adults are now calling it their favorite holiday too. But why? Well, Halloween is an excuse to dress up in scary costumes and have some fun with their friends. It has also developed into the perfect family holiday, because children and their parents are able to enjoy time together. They can have fun while carving a Jack O’Lantern out of a pumpkin, transforming the yard into a spooky haunted house complete with Halloween style graveyard, creating their own adult costumes, or planning a terrifically terrifying party.

What is Halloween?

Tip toe quietly through the night, creeping cautiously, taking fright, ghostly ghouls and pumpkin lights, its Halloween time again tonight……….

Halloween is a festival every year celebrated on October 31. It’s a great time for children to dress up in halloween costumes and go door-to-door collecting sweets or money.

It is celebrated in much of the Western world, in particular The United States and Ireland, and is gaining popluarity in New Zealand.

Where did Halloween come from?

Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), first celebrated almost 2000 years ago.

The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe’en, is shortened from “All-Hallow-Even”, as it is the evening before “All Hallows Day”. In Ireland the name was “All-Hallows Eve”. Halloween was also sometimes called “All Saints’ Eve”.

The Celts lived in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, and celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Thank goodness things are different today!

Celts believed that on October 31 when they celebrated Samhain, the night before their new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred – briefly opening the way for the ghosts of the dead to return to earth.

Thus the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. Great!

Naturally, the still-living Celts did not want to be possessed! So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish adult costumes and noisily paraded around the neighbourhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Did it work? Perhaps. Although this unusual tradition is still celebrated today it is definitely not taken so seriously.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs.

Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 “All Souls’ Day”, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas and, eventually, Halloween.

There we have it, a centuries old tradition celebrated today although the emphasis is now on having some fun and receiving treats rather than avoiding being possessed by the dead! Thank goodness for that.

What about the modern Halloween as we know it today?

Halloween celebrations have changed to become more ritualised – more about having fun rather than reliving an age-old superstition. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches became more ceremonial.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840’s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine.

The modern tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.

The giving of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given food and money.

How do we celebrate Halloween in New Zealand?

Halloween is not as popular in New Zealand as in other Western countries and in the past has not generally been celebrated here. However, Halloween is slowly gaining in popularity with some retail outlets actively promoting Halloween costume sales in recent years. As a result more and more children are participating in “trick or treating” each year.

Once they’ve got the costume, they’ve got to so something with it. So watch out for a knock at your door and perhaps be prepared with a few sweets!

If you are interested in celebrating Halloween in the more traditional and popular Amercian style, check out latest kids costumes.

Important aspects of Halloween

Traditionally there are many things associated with Halloween night – all with a little scary side to them. Creepies and crawlies and things that go bump in the night…..

In most western countries Halloween is not complete without costumes, pumpkins, monsters, vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts, scary tales, haunted houses – most of which don’t play an important part of October 31 here in New Zealand – ‘God’s own”.

But again, the websites below will take you on an interesting Halloween journey.

Halloween can be a fun time for the kids but do take care. If your children are heading out on October 31 for a little trick or treating, be sure to join them, keeping an eye on them to ensure they’re safe.

By the way, you might also want to keep an eye out for ghosts and spirits of the dead sneaking around the darkening streets. Beware……you’ve been warned!

Halloween is an exciting time of year for kids, and we can all make sure that children have a safe holiday with the following tips. Pedestrian safety should be high on your list of precautions. According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control roughly four times as many children ages 5-14 are killed while walking on Halloween evening than on other nights of the year. Remind your ghosts and goblins to use crosswalks and sidewalks, and to carry a flashlight. If you are driving, be extra careful of small witches and vampires, princesses, robots, and other beings.

• Masks should not obstruct a child’s vision - consider face paint or makeup instead. If a child wears makeup, parents should look for non-toxic, hypoallergenic kits.
• halloween Costumes should be flame-retardant and fit properly. Avoid oversized shoes, high heels and long skirts or pants that could cause a child to fall.
• Children who will be trick-or-treating after dusk should have reflective tape on their costumes and carry flashlights.

Try out the latest kids costumes and adult costumes for halloween 2008 at wonder costumes.

Halloween

The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane’s dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in halloween costumes. A night of ghost stories and seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A ’spirit night’, as they say in Wales.

All Hallow’s Eve is the eve of All Hallow’s Day (November 1st). And for once, even popular tradition remembers that the Eve is more important than the Day itself, the traditional celebration focusing on October 31st, beginning at sundown. And this seems only fitting for the great Celtic New Year’s festival. Not that the holiday was Celtic only. In fact, it is startling how many ancient and unconnected cultures (the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example) celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority of our modern traditions can be traced to the British Isles.

The Celts called it Samhain, which means ’summer’s end’, according to their ancient two-fold division of the year, when summer ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane. (Some modern Covens echo this structure by letting the High Priest ‘rule’ the Coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the High Priestess at Beltane.) According to the later four-fold division of the year, Samhain is seen as ‘autumn’s end’ and the beginning of winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you’re from) as ’sow-in’ (in Ireland), or ’sow-een’ (in Wales), or ’sav-en’ (in Scotland), or (inevitably) ’sam-hane’ (in the U.S., where we don’t speak Gaelic).

Not only is Samhain the end of autumn; it is also, more importantly, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Celtic New Year’s Eve, when the new year begins with the onset of the dark phase of the year, just as the new day begins at sundown. There are many representations of Celtic gods with two faces, and it surely must have been one of them who held sway over Samhain. Like his Greek counterpart Janus, he would straddle the threshold, one face turned toward the past in commemoration of those who died during the last year, and one face gazing hopefully toward the future, mystic eyes attempting to pierce the veil and divine what the coming year holds. These two themes, celebrating the dead and divining the future, are inexorably intertwined in Samhain, as they are likely to be in any New Year’s celebration.

As a feast of the dead, it was believed the dead could, if they wished, return to the land of the living for this one night, to celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan. And so the great burial mounds of Ireland (sidh mounds) were opened up, with lighted torches lining the walls, so the dead could find their way. Extra places were set at the table and food set out for any who had died that year. And there are many stories that tell of Irish heroes making raids on the Underworld while the gates of faery stood open, though all must return to their appointed places by cock-crow.

As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellence for peering into the future. The reason for this has to do with the Celtic view of time. In a culture that uses a linear concept of time, like our modern one, New Year’s Eve is simply a milestone on a very long road that stretches in a straight line from birth to death. Thus, the New Year’s festival is a part of time. The ancient Celtic view of time, however, is cyclical. And in this framework, New Year’s Eve represents a point outside of time, when the natural order of the universe dissolves back into primordial chaos, preparatory to re- establishing itself in a new order. Thus, Samhain is a night that exists outside of time and hence it may be used to view any other point in time. At no other holiday is a tarot card reading, crystal reading, or tea-leaf reading so likely to succeed.

The Christian religion, with its emphasis on the ‘historical’ Christ and his act of redemption 2000 years ago, is forced into a linear view of time, where ’seeing the future’ is an illogical proposition. In fact, from the Christian perspective, any attempt to do so is seen as inherently evil. This did not keep the medieval Church from co-opting Samhain’s other motif, commemoration of the dead. To the Church, however, it could never be a feast for all the dead, but only the blessed dead, all those hallowed (made holy) by obedience to God - thus, All Hallow’s, or Hallowmas, later All Saints and All Souls.

There are so many types of divination that are traditional to Hallowstide, it is possible to mention only a few. Girls were told to place hazel nuts along the front of the firegrate, each one to symbolize one of her suitors. She could then divine her future husband by chanting, ‘If you love me, pop and fly; if you hate me, burn and die.’ Several methods used the apple, that most popular of Halloween fruits. You should slice an apple through the equator (to reveal the five-pointed star within) and then eat it by candlelight before a mirror. Your future spouse will then appear over your shoulder. Or, peel an apple, making sure the peeling comes off in one long strand, reciting, ‘I pare this apple round and round again; / My sweetheart’s name to flourish on the plain: / I fling the unbroken paring o’er my head, / My sweetheart’s letter on the ground to read.’ Or, you might set a snail to crawl through the ashes of your hearth. The considerate little creature will then spell out the initial letter as it moves.

Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.) Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan ‘baptism’ rite called a ’seining’, according to some writers. The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice’s head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.

The custom of dressing in scary & frieghtfull halloween costumes and ‘trick-or-treating’ is of Celtic origin with survivals particularly strong in Scotland. However, there are some important differences from the modern version. In the first place, the custom was not relegated to children, but was actively indulged in by adult costumes as well. Also, the ‘treat’ which was required was often one of spirits (the liquid variety). This has recently been revived by college students who go ‘trick-or-drinking’. And in ancient times, the roving bands would sing seasonal carols from house to house, making the tradition very similar to Yuletide wassailing. In fact, the custom known as ‘caroling’, now connected exclusively with mid-winter, was once practiced at all the major holidays. Finally, in Scotland at least, the tradition of dressing in costume consisted almost exclusively of cross-dressing (i.e., men dressing as women, and women as men). It seems as though ancient societies provided an opportunity for people to ‘try on’ the role of the opposite gender for one night of the year. (Although in Scotland, this is admittedly less dramatic - but more confusing - since men were in the habit of wearing skirt-like kilts anyway. Oh well…)

To Witches, Halloween is one of the four High Holidays, or Greater Sabbats, or cross-quarter days. Because it is the most important holiday of the year, it is sometimes called ‘THE Great Sabbat.’ It is an ironic fact that the newer, self-created Covens tend to use the older name of the holiday, Samhain, which they have discovered through modern research. While the older hereditary and traditional Covens often use the newer name, Halloween, which has been handed down through oral tradition within their Coven. (This is often holds true for the names of the other holidays, as well. One may often get an indication of a Coven’s antiquity by noting what names it uses for the holidays.)

With such an important holiday, Witches often hold two distinct celebrations. First, a large Halloween party for non-Craft friends, often held on the previous weekend. And second, a Coven ritual held on Halloween night itself, late enough so as not to be interrupted by trick-or-treaters. If the rituals are performed properly, there is often the feeling of invisible friends taking part in the rites. Another date which may be utilized in planning celebrations is the actual cross-quarter day, or Old Halloween, or Halloween O.S. (Old Style). This occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio, an astrological ‘power point’ symbolized by the Eagle. This year (1988), the date is November 6th at 10:55 pm CST, with the celebration beginning at sunset. Interestingly, this date (Old Halloween) was also appropriated by the Church as the holiday of Martinmas.

Of all the Witchcraft holidays, Halloween is the only one that still boasts anything near to popular celebration. Even though it is typically relegated to children (and the young-at-heart) and observed as an evening affair only, many of its traditions are firmly rooted in Paganism. Interestingly, some schools have recently attempted to abolish Halloween parties on the grounds that it violates the separation of state and religion. Speaking as a Pagan, I would be saddened by the success of this move, but as a supporter of the concept of religion-free public education, I fear I must concede the point. Nonetheless, it seems only right that there SHOULD be one night of the year when our minds are turned toward thoughts of the supernatural. A night when both Pagans and non-Pagans may ponder the mysteries of the Otherworld and its inhabitants. And if you are one of them, may all your jack-o’lanterns burn bright on this All Hallow’s Eve.

Authors Details: Halloween / Samhain - Mike Nichols - Unknown Web Site

Reed diffusers have been taking the aromatherapy market by storm these days. They are available in nearly every commercial outlet from department stores to craft markets to internet storefronts. Still, even as popular as they are, many people are not sure what they are or how they work. Once you understand how they work, it is very easy to see their appeal.

Reed diffusers consist of three basic components. A glass container,(a bottle, jar or vase), a set of rattan reeds and diffuser oil. Fill the glass bottle about three quarters of the way full of the diffuser oil, insert your rattan reeds into the oil and you are all set to go. It sounds simple enough. And it is. Let us delve further, however, to understand how they work and see the big picture as to why reed diffusers are gaining popularity so quickly these days.

The glass container is self explanatory really. You can use nearly anything that is made up of glass and is tall enough to support the reeds. This could be a vase, a glass bottle, a glass jar, etc. I recommend using only glass as some plastics are not formulated for use with oils. If you do not have any glass containers, you can use PET plastic bottles in a pinch as these are formulated not to break down with moderate use of oils.

Next, you have the reeds. Reeds look somewhat similar to bamboo skewers. However, reeds are made out of rattan, not bamboo. These rattan reeds are usually between 10 and 15 inches in length. (The 12 inch reeds are considered the most popular length). Each individual reed contains about 20 “channels”. I compare these channels to small drinking straws. They run the entire length of the reed. It is through these channels that the reeds “suck up” the fragranced oils and pull it to the tops of the reeds. The scent is then dispersed into the air through natural evaporation. In general, between 6-10 reeds are used at a time. The more reeds, the greater the scent.

Next we have the diffuser oil. Diffuser oils themselves are comprised of a reed diffuser liquid “base” mixed with either fragrance oils or essential oils. The base itself is specially formulated to be the right “thickness” to travel up the reed channels effectively. Many bases use solvents that are too thick to properly travel up the reeds. This can result in poor fragrancing and gooey, warped reeds. When purchasing reed diffuser oils, look for oils that do not contain harsh chemical solvents such as DPG. Also, be on the lookout for companies whose bases use alcohol. Alcohol is highly flammable and expedites evaporation, causing your diffuser oils to diffuse too quickly resulting in having to replace the oils far too often. If in doubt, ask your supplier. Most will tell you if they use DPG, chemical solvents or alcohols in their formula.

Now that you have the basics, let’s look a little closer to further understand reed diffusers and how to best use them.

Reeds should be flipped about once per week or so. This will start the fragrancing process all over again as the oil is drawn back up the reeds. Reeds should not be re-used. Reeds should be changed everytime you change the scent. If you re-use the same reeds, scents will mingle together. It is possible that the mingled scents might compliment one another, but most of the time, they do not produce pleasant results. (Cucumber and lavender really don’t smell great together !) Reeds can clog with dust over time as well because of the channels they contain, so it is best to replace them about once per month or if you change scents. Additionally, reeds can become overly saturated with oil over time. So again, intermittent replacement is best.

Quality diffuser oils should last about 1 month per ounce. This can vary a little based on environmental factors, but it is a good rule of thumb. Use of heat, air conditioning, having windows open, having fans running, etc. can affect how long the oils will last.

Although reed diffusers are safer than candles, caution should still be used. Reed diffuser oils are not meant to be applied directly to the skin or ingested. Care should be taken not to tip the diffuser over or set it directly on delicate surfaces and oils can damage these surfaces. This is especially important if you have small children, pets or clumsy husbands. Reed diffusers are completely flameless and therefore you should not attempt to light the reeds.

Now that you are a reed diffuser expert, it is easy to see the appeal of them. Economical, easy to use, and safer than candles, you are sure to fall in love with this new home fragrancing option !

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Dawn Turner, an expert in fragrance diffusion, owns TheDiffusery.com. The diffusery sells reed diffusers and Reed Diffuser Gift Sets. Dawn, a self professed scent junkie, loves to travel with her husband, listen to music and watch reality TV.

How much do you know about the spooky holiday of Halloween? As you probably know, Halloween is celebrated on the 31st October and the name Halloween descends from the old name Hallows Eve, the night of the dead. This is why children and adults alike dress up as spooky characters suck as ghosts, goblins, vampires, monsters, witches and anything that goes bump in the night.

It is also said that on this night dedicated to the dead, that there are more spiritual energies, making it a more receptive night to contact the dead, and for the dead to contact the living.

Halloween is often considered an American festivity, so it might surprise you to know that it originated in Ireland as the Pagan Celtic harvest festival Samhain. Halloween wasn’t exported to America until the 19th century, when many Irish folk emigrated.

The Celts celebrated as their harvest festival because by the end of October all the hard work of harvesting the crops was over. They also saw Halloween as marking the time when the days would shorten and there would be darkness and coldness of the winter season.

Many Christians prefer to celebrate the following day, All saints day on 1st November (also know as ‘All hallows’ and ‘All souls day’) This is to avoid conflict with their religious beliefs. The word hallow means sanctify in old English, ‘to free from sin’. All saints day is therefore considered to be a day of goodness.

Halloween and its festivities have now been spread to most of the western world. However, the old Halloween meaning has been lost and replaced. Nowadays Halloween is seen as a festive holiday of fun and spookiness. A time to dress up and have a fun time, maybe to go trick or treating or to go to a spooky Halloween part. Halloween is a time to spook yourself, or maybe someone else, BOO!

Renaissance costumes are a popular theme at Halloween. These costumes are actually popular all year round for people who are into role playing activities, but Halloween is the busiest time.

If you’re looking for a Renaissance-era costume for Halloween, it’s a good idea to order it as early as possible for the best selection.

You’ll find all kinds of interesting ideas and you can save a pile of money off their normal prices.

Most of the clearance costumes are “last year’s models” or items they aren’t carrying any more, but there’s lots of great choices if you’re not set on being the hottest character from the latest blockbuster movie.