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Story contest "How I will be celebrating Halloween"

Halloween stories by artists

The Contest Winner: LadyMishka

ladymishka helloween 201

Hello!
Many of you know I live in Moscow, the capital of Russia. There are many orthodox believers in Russia. The Orthodox religion is the most widespread in my country, and I am a Christian myself. Our religion evolved against the background of the pagan religions, and some of those traditions have been preserved till today. For instance, we also celebrate Halloween. However, here it's called The Day of all Saints and has nothing to do with evil spirits. It's actually quite the opposite, being related to the Saints. In spite of that, young people celebrate this holiday like most other countries of the world: they put on costumes of different characters, such as witches, little devils, animals and such, have fun, go to clubs, give each other amusing souvenirs.
I am planning to spend this day in a club where my brother is performing with his band, they are all turning eight!
I decided to wear something sexy and become one of the girls I usually draw =^_^=
This is why I will be wearing corset top, tight-fitting pants, stiletto heels and a headband with a bow and a cameo. I think this will be a blast, because there will be so many friendly faces in the club, fans of my brother's music, also my friends and close relatives. I am also going to bring my boyfriend!
I am expecting fun, friendly atmosphere filled with love.
I will also have a small pumpkin with a candle!
It will all be exactly the way it is supposed to be, including the candy and the scary stories.
For a person who tries to be good and kind for the 364 days of the year, I think I can afford to dedicate myself to something that noisy and devilishly fun, don’t you think?

Mu-hah-hah-hah!

PFD Team comment: Mishka, this story sounds so good and intriguing, we have to insist on a photo report from you :) We think our taggers would also love to see that! Please post your comments if you support this idea!

Zebrush, Halloween in Belarus

Belarus is a small country where people are quite traditional and religious. Since Halloween is a holiday related to the pre-Christian beliefs, the church here does not approve of the way the holiday is celebrated, but the young people… well we simply do not care.  It's fun, it happens just once a year, and why should we always think about the religious context?
For me Halloween is the one day when you can be whoever you want. Being a tad shy by nature, I love this opportunity to wear a costume that lets me unwind completely. This year, I am organizing a Halloween party for all my friends. The theme clearly is Halloween, so every guest must wear a costume that reflects their festive mood.
I personally am going to wear the costume of a witch. I know it may not be too original, but it's going to be one awesome witch, with long black fake fingernails, disgusting fake nose with a wart, plenty of cool makeup and of course a stylish dress that I am going to make look really beaten, and I will have a broom. I am planning to have contests (best costume and such), offer original cocktails, snacks and drinks, so no guest will leave without a real treat. Beware neighbors and get your candy ready!

Verymany, Halloween in Russia

We live in Russia and Halloween is not a traditional holiday there, so just young people know about it. Therefore it usually celebrates like a party in nightclubes. Youth comes there with very crazy Halloween image: hairstyle, make-up, clothes. It's so funny:) People use all their imagination to create their looks. In the last year the most popular among girls were bloody hot nurses and zombie-ballerinas. Also there were a lot of cats, boys were vampires, stalkers (like in a popular russian computer game which about the Chernobyl disaster), also was Cyrex from Mortal Kombat:) We're going to visit such party this year and we've already invented looks. I have long curly red hairs so i'll be a witch from the time of Inquisition. I'll disarrange my hairs, put on burned sack with holes for head and arms, put on suitable make-up:) And Alex will be a hangman with red hood with holes for eyes, like in the Middle Ages. I think, we will be a pretty scary couple:)

Halloween stories by taggers

The Contest Winner: Flipster aka Juliana

As a child growing up in the southern counties of England we never celebrated Halloween.

When my children now in their 30's were young I guess we imported Halloween from the States and started to celebrate it as well.

Now my grandchildren have a wonderful evening, trick or treating close friends and neighbours, dressing up in costumes..(all things spooky). I love helping them get ready although I try to avoid the actual walking around ..preferring to stay at home and cook supper, normally jacket potatoes and chilli for the adults and the pizza etc for the youngsters who at this point are normally full to the brim with sweeties :)

Then we fill an old tub full of water put some apples in and the children bob for apples (which they absolutely love!!!).

And thats what I will be doing this year, dressing kids, putting on their makeup and then preparing supper for the wanderers when they return from trick or treating. Also handing out treats to all the children that knock on my door.

Everyone will have a great time...except for my poor dogs who will drive me nuts with their yapping everytime there's a knock on the door whilst entertaining me with their attempts to steal any candy within their reach!!!

Yolanda

I live in the Netherlands, we don't celebrate Halloween, it is not a tradition in our country. We have another holiday to give sweets to the children that's called St. Maarten and is held on November 11, but also this celebration is not in the whole country just in parts of the country. We go with the children, singing with light (we call them Lampions) to ask for candy... Halloween is already approaching, but this year we are doing nothing for Halloween.

Hugs and kisses Yolanda xxxx

Sarah Fiack

Halloween all month long.
Halloween is my favorite holiday and time of year. My daughter is a Girl Scout. The local Girl Scout troops are holding their Halloween Carnival this weekend. My daughter is going to dress up as a Mad Scientist as it is the theme of her troop. We are kicking off Halloween early this year!
This year my birthday will be celebrated at Santa Barbara Zoo. The zoo is having Boo at the Zoo on Oct. 22nd This just happens to be on my birthday. The zoo will feature trick or treating, creepy crawlies, spooky storytelling and all sorts of halloween magic. As a family we are regular visitors to the zoo. This will be our first Boo at the Zoo event though. It is just perfect for me since I have always wanted a Spooky Birthday. We'll also visit a local pumpkin patch in Avila Beach. There are animals to feed, and a haybale maze for the kids . Lots of delicious sweets and handpicked fruits & vegetables. We always go into the pumpkin field and choose our pumpkins.I am really looking forward to everything this year with the kids. Our youngest is now 2 years old and will really be able to enjoy our activities with the family.
For Halloween, we will take the kids trick or treating at the local shopping mall. A lot of the kids go to the mall for halloween. The stores give out candy to the trick or treaters and its a lot of fun. The kids all enjoy seeing their friends dressed up in the costumes. Afterwards, we will visit different houses and trick or treat in the neighborhood. We are very excitied because Dad is off this year on Halloween when normally he has to work. Yay for being with the family to help celebrate!
by Sarah Fiack

Twinkeltje Desi

Actually, Halloween was not celebrated in the Netherlands, but last year it just became popular.

The older generation often find the puppet, but the younger the more they appreciate it anyway. I myself am 42 but during this time I change into a big kid When I come into the stores where they have all the fun stuff for halloween, especially things with buttons down, I do not know what it is but I have to sit on. I used to have that compulsion alone at Christmas, but now they also have to move things Halloween-income, and now I have no mother who goes along and says we look to the eyes, not hands So a few weeks ago it was so far back I have a thing going shopping with my daughter and see what fun hang.
A kind of pumpkin doorbell with a big mouth and a yes button I look around me and no one is looking, and press that button and arrange me a hat shop and scream together. I was so advanced cams saying instead that the teeth and eyes were going to do what I was focusing on, shoot a handful of species within those candlesticks that covers my head cuticle People look at me and laughing, my face gets redder and redder. Oh I'm really a big baby But I have bought the bell in the hope that many people are arranging to get then I still have fun on.
For the rest I'll make some spooky treats on that day but not really celebrate. But for those who celebrate I wish them a very good time, and just let the child in you come

Greets Twinkeltje desi

Norma

In the old days, here in Bemidji, MN, all the kids went trick or treating all over town. It was a much safer time. Now, they take the kids to what is called BOO Street, where individuals and businesses provide a costume parade, and treats.
After that is over, my Grandkids will be going to a few friends homes to trick or treat, and then will be coming here to our house. Hubby and I will feed them a late dinner, as much as they will eat while they are so eager for their treats. Then, after pictures, we send them home with another bag of treats, much to their parents dismay.
The tag I am entering, with Lady Mishka's darling imp, so reminds me of several of my Granddaughters, sweet, but spunky.

Kiya

My Halloween Traditions (By Kiya)

Born and raised for most of my years in West Africa, I never really understood the concept of Halloween except for the little I had read in books and magazines. I was always under the impression that it was a holiday devoted to worshipping evil things, and that ghosts and ghouls would make use of that night to haunt people, and that in fact, you weren’t supposed to leave your house on that day!

However, once I moved to the United States, it turned out that my fears and concerns were all for naught. A holiday I once thought ‘frightening’ ended up becoming one of my favorite times of the year. It all began in high school where we were allowed to dress up in costumes on the day (or if Halloween was on a weekend, we got to dress up on the Friday before then), and have small parties and share out candy. It was fun coming up with great costume ideas with friends, and that gaiety transferred to handing out treats to the costumed children that came knocking at our door later in the day.

I enjoy the decorations, including walking around the neighborhood to admire creative homes where some families go as far as setting up coffins and dry ice (to give the illusion of smoke), and statues of witches and mummies and zombies on their front lawn. It really is a thrill! Another tradition I partake in, is watching as many horror movies as I can. In my younger years, they used to scare me a lot, but nowadays...not so much. It’s still enjoyable though.

All in all, Halloween (in fact the entire month of October) is fun for me. It signals the beginning of fall, when the leaves begin to turn brown, sepia, and orange and there’s a slight chill in the air; a prelude to winter and Christmas and to the end of another great (or not so great) year!

Dew

In these recent year's it isn't as much as it used to be, since the kid's are grown and also the grand's are too big...it's just me home decorating and passing treat's to all the lil Goblin's who come bye. The house used to be decorated to the max and spooky halloween music playing, all the kids had fun & I did too.... even dressed up in the Witch part. long time ago we didn't have to worry about what you passed out so I made popcorn balls, homemade goodies and it was nicer. In my little town now it's restricted to up to 10 years and only for one night... a lot of the parents take the children to local malls and or different tail-gate halloween parties.... I guess it's much safer that way. I live in a little town in Southern Illinois..... been here all my life. everyone used to know everyone..... but the town is growing and new folk's are moving in . I sometimes wish things we're back to the old times, we had more fun and a safer, better place to be. Wishing everyone a wonderful Spooky Halloween whereever you are.
Hugs n more

Dew

Christene Woodrum

Halloween Story

We live in Pulaski, VA. This year Halloween falls on a Monday so that night we will dress up our kids and take them trick or treating in a near by subdivision. This is something we've done since we were kids and something we've passed on to our kids. My daughter wants to be a dead cheerleader and my son wants to be batman. During the entire month of October our community gets together and puts together a little Halloween party and costume contest at our community center for the kids. We also like to go around our town and look at decorations. Some people in our town go all out on decorations. Since our kids are still kinda small we don't do any haunted houses or spooky places.

Cindy Lambert

Hi, I live in northern California in a very small town called Clearlake. I love halloween and always dress up in a costume with the grandkids. Our local school will have a carnival for the kids with rides, games and treats. Our fire department always sets up a haunted house for everyone. My hubby stays home and hands out candy to the little ones while I am gone. When I get home from trick or treating early with my young grandkids, I will be handing out candy on my porch. We are decorating the front yard now with a cemetary and a few scary things. I will be sitting there with a black kettle with dry ice that will smoke. Oh, I will have my witches costume on. My adult son is helping us set everything up and got some scary recording to play too. It will be fun.

I made a halloween tag for the artist I used. I love this witch and the kitty too.

Rosa Tags

Hello,
My name is Rosa and I'm from Barcelona (Spain).
Halloween here in Spain is not something widely celebrated, only in school children have a parade, but there is no tradition. On November 1st we celebrate the Day of the Dead, where all the people who have someone that passed away will visit cemeteries and bring flowers, which is what those days are for.
To me it is a party that I really like and if I'm going to celebrate ... How? On October 23 I'm going to a theme park in Salou in Tarragona and these days the park's Halloween special theme with all decorations for the occasion, and I will spend all day there admiring everything and enjoying the park's Halloween celebration and its attractions.

Creanbri

I love to create with the PFD Halloween tubes, like the cute little witches from Grafik, but you can only send in one tag I saw these tube little-imp from Lady Mishka. The big asking eyes, says 'all is so new for me now I’m little witch' I thought about the photo I had made I bought the tube
I put here in the photo, alone in the wood. She is thinking, 'mother witch told me I must bring home a mushroom but I’m little afraid to take the mushroom out of the ground…' With font 101 witheshat I type the wizard words heat with PFD' It’s stands for Pics For design – PFD.
I live in The Netherlands Halloween is coming more and more into the country Young people celebrate it but it’s not national/big holiday fest. I celebrate Halloween by making Halloween tags :)

Wyldrose

How I will be celebrating Halloween

I have to admit I don't know how I'll be celebrating Halloween.

I live in a small town outside Perth, capital city of Western Australia. In Australia, we do not celebrate Halloween. However we know all about it of course because of movies, TV etc.

Altho there is no official celebration, children love the idea of going around the neighbourhood collecting treats - & one day years ago, a few kids must have begged their parents to let them dress up & 'trick or treat' around the neighbourhood.

So each year there is a good chance that some children will arrive dressed up in costumes or just masks or face paint & beg for sweets to put in their bag.

It's hard to know how much to buy. Sometimes I'm well-prepared & nobody comes. Other times I realize it's Halloween when the first knock comes & I haven't bought anything. Normally I buy wrapped sweets & have them ready at the door. But this year is different!

A strange thing happened just this evening!

Groups of children have been visiting - convinced that it is Halloween & it's only the 14th. We don't have any announcements or buildup to the day so they have to remember it themselves. And either somebody has tricked them or they remembered the wrong date & passed it amongst themselves. They have been getting stuff too! So the adults are either being kind or don't know what date it's supposed to be either.

So this Halloween I suppose I will buy a few sweets & chocolates in case there are children who come to visit. That's if I remember lol!

Pandora

I grew up in south Florida. Every year, I could not wait until Halloween! I would plan out my costume (which I always make myself) and gather friends to go Trick or Treating with in my neighborhood. My neighborhood was always the best one to trick or treat in because there were some huge houses that gave out gigantic candy bars as opposed to the little treat sized ones. Aside from bringing friends, I was also in charge of the small neighborhood children on Halloween. I would take them with me, usually a group of five to ten, and go house to house, making sure no one got left behind. Some of the little girls were afraid of the dogs in the homes so I had to comfort them afterwards and reassure them that it was just a puppy and would do them no harm. After trick or treating time was over, at around 10 at night, we would all go back and dump out our candy. We went through it piece by piece, first making sure that they were properly wrapped and had no tears or holes for safety purposes. And then we traded amongst each other till we each had exactly what we wanted. I would go home and go to bed, and the next morning, all my candy would be missing. My father would have stolen it and eaten all the good parts before I woke up, hehe. But I love him and thought it was funny, and it became sort of a tradition.

Now that I have moved out on my own and am too old for trick or treating, I don't do much. I still dress up in a costume made by me and try to get together with some friends. We usually end up watching scary movies and eating halloween goodies I baked for the occasion. This year it will be just me and the boyfriend watching movies, but we will still be dressing up to greet all the trick or treaters that come to our door.

Niurka

Ok, I'll start by telling you my name is Niurka, I am of Cuban descent, but I live in the beautiful city of Miami for nearly 20 years.

Sadly for my knowledge of this celebration to be as an adult of 27 years, in my country, Cuba, do not celebrate Halloween, is a communist country has deprived us of that and many other celebrations also known as an adult.

I'm loving this celebration, especially when I see my youngest son enjoy it, here is celebrated in many ways, but over the years and for security reasons things have changed, and most common is to take children to the malls and shopping centers with the occasion of the celebrations are beautifully adorned, children are visiting and collecting local local candy and golisinas among many gifts, celebrations also take place in parks and community facilities for children held securely. Of course needless to say, is a celebration immensely colorful and cheerful, all that day the children look their best costumes.

In the evening also celebrated in the neighborhood where you live, children accompanied by adults always travel from house to house singing the songs for the occasion and asking for candy and treats to all neighbors.

Adults also welcome of course,, regulation costume parties and we are going to clubs to celebrate with friends, also held contests to determine the scariest costume :)

Anyway, to me is one of the most joyful celebrations in the year, and always celebrate it with family and especially with the younger members of the house.

Linda Raper

How i celebrate Halloween

I Was Raised on the Town of West Palm Beach State is Florida

The Way i celebrated Halloween is we always every year buy Halloween baskets from the store and bought Candy to hand out to trick or treaters. We made some kind of Fake ScareCrow stuff him with pillows and other things put a hat on it and added a pant suit on it we made the head out of some kind of filling and made it out of a pillow added the eyes and other things on it we would put some real shoes on him we made it look like a real person was really creepy lol.

We then would put this scarecrow that looked like a real person and would creep peole out lol.we would put him in a truck and make it look like hes dead and people would come by when they go trick or treating we had neighbours knock on the door and said a person is dead in our car :) it was really funny people would think its real.another year we made this fake scarecrow we would put him in the front door for people to see made it look really creepy and scare people.

And other way we celebrated Halloween we would make our house look like a haunted house i would play some Halloween songs and My Husband would dress up in a Costume and would scare people away :) he looked very creepy.

One other year we would go to a church that turned it In a Haunted House it was so SCarey and screepy and they also had some other things there such as Halloween Games to play Dunk the apple and other things.

We never really had decorations never really deocorated our house like we do for Christmas the only thing we did was Carve Pumpkins every year and made some Creepy faces with the pumpkins and sit it outside the front door with candles in them .

I would dress up my kids in diffrent outfits every year one year as a Ghost i made out of sheets and another year i would make a costume for them and made it out of a sheet made them as shepherds.

Zwaantina

Here in the Netherlands Halloween isn’t a big holiday, especially here in the small town where I live.

Luckily it is getting more popular these last few years so I hope that in a few years it will be booming.

I really love Halloween and think it’s a shame that it isn’t a big holiday here like in the USA.
I decorate the house with all sorts of decorations. My favorite is a skeleton I named Sam the Hangman.

There are spider webs with spiders across the whole room, pumpkins, ghosts, bats and of course a tombstone.
During the daytime me and my husband are going to visit our loved ones that aren’t among us anymore.

We’ll light candles and incense at their graves, remembering their lives and the love that they give us.

It is said that during Halloween the fail between our world and the ghost world is very thin,

so hopefully they will see that we still miss them and haven’t forgotten them.
When the dark settles in we will light black candles so there are shadows dancing on the walls.

Nice and creepy.
I love vampires, so I have a set of fangs that I’ll put in.

A shame that you can’t really bite someone with them :)

We’re going to watch some scary movies and I already know that I won’t be getting much sleep.

Between movies I’m making some cocktails, using glasses with a bloody edge around it made of

syrup with red food coloring.

A day before Halloween we already make some yummie things like cupcakes with fake spiders and vampireteeth,

jelly with plastic bugs in it and Deviled eyeballs made out of eggs so we don’t starve to death.

This how I will be celebrating Halloween 2011.

Halloween Greetings

Halloween, in Basque Country, is not a tradition, but in some pubs you could enjoy the party drinking beer and wearing some alcohol branded promotional items. In all the country (Spain) people usually bring flowers to the graves (All Saint's Day).

Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

In my city and in my family, Halloween is not celebrated the way I see in the movies, because it's "La noche de Ánimas" (evening of souls). That night we, all women, we pray for all our beloved dead. The next day, El Día de Todos los Santos (the day of All Saints), in the morning we go to the cemetery to visit the graves of our family members to remind them that we love them, although they are not among us. It's really beautiful. Then, to the lunch time, we have dessert "huesitos de santo (bones of a saint)" with sweet filling, very tasty!

JR, Gijon (Asturias) - Spain

In Gijon (Asturias), the Spanish city where I live, there is no peculiar customs for Halloween. On that day, the youth and children dress up as some terrifying character! It's fun! Young people go out at night, pubs and disco clubs are very crowded. On November 1^st, the day of the dead, it is customary to bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives. This tradition has been followed without exception by all the families for a very long time.

Fran

My family usually gets together every year over at my dads house (which is my house now since he has passed). We live in the Dayton, Ohio area. Between my siblings and me we have a total of 16 kids that range in the ages of 2 and 17. Every year now for the past 17 years we all would meet up on beggars night and take all the kids out to get candy. Someone usually does stay behind at the house to pass candy out. Sometime through out the night we would split up and the smaller kids would end up with my sisters while me and my brother would take the older ones. After beggars night is over we would all go back to my house and have hot cocoa and apple cider to warm up.

Elle

I live on Long Island a suburb of New York City.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday! I love to go shopping for Halloween decorations. I always decorate the outside of my house as well as the inside. Witches, vampires, pumpkins, skeletons and gravestones are some of the decorations you will find at my house on Halloween. And I play Halloween music in the house. The kids love it!

My biggest joy is watching the kids trick or treating through the neighborhood. When they come to my house, I always answer the door all dressed up in a costume and give out lots of goodies. I love talking to the children and telling them how great they look! It's great seeing their faces light up when they tell me who they are dressed up as.

Evening is the perfect time to take a ride through the neighborhood and see how the other houses are decorated. It's so much fun to see the creativity used. Some houses are very scary and some are so cute.

So, if you're ever in my neighborhood on Halloween, don't forget to stop by my house for some treats!

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Story contest "How I will be celebrating Halloween"