The Best and Worst Halloween/Scary Movies

First off, I am not the resident movie buff. By which I mean that I have no formal training, knowledge of cinematography, or any other film-related information, other than what entertains me and scares the pants off me (and the completely unscientific MBWHQ poll I took). I love scary movies partly for the nostalgia factor; my Dad and I would watch scary movies on the nights my teacher-mom would have staff meetings because she couldn’t stand them. There are also hundreds more movies out there that are terrible, or that are great, but I’ve never seen. So, take this list for what you will, and feel free to add your own (or argue with my choices) in the comments.

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How to throw a Halloween Party for Kids

Throwing a Halloween party for children can be loads of fun and lots of work. Here are some great ideas for throwing the best darn Halloween party your kids and their friends have ever seen.

The first order of business is to decide the location of your party. By October, it is getting dark early and young children sometimes do better indoors although, night time can be really fun because the kids can play games like Ghost in the Graveyard, Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board and Hide and Seek.

A Halloween party is an excellent opportunity to serve up some really creative food. Here are a few examples of yummy Halloween treats:

1. Cupcakes shaped like vampires

2. Pretzel Spiders

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Speaking of Voting…The Baby Formula Contest is in Full Swing!

We have 2 1/2 weeks left for submissions in The Baby Formula contest and we have a bit of a voting war going on between MomSpark’s How To Make Peanut Butter Playdough and MuthaMae’s How This Mom Keeps Her House Clean & Toys Organized, with MuthaMae in the lead. There are lots of great videos entered, including several Baby Sign Language videos, How to Talk to Your Young Child About Sex, Understanding Child Shyness, How to Make a Clay Baby, How to Calm a Crying Baby, Introducing Healthy Food to Baby, Knitting a Baby Hammock, How to Make a Tutu, and How Not to Cut Your Baby’s Hair. Phew! You can see all the lessons for free and VOTE once a week until Nov. 3rd, and then daily until Nov. 28th.

Do you have something to teach? Seriously… Are you a mom? dad? sister? brother? aunt? uncle? nanny? doctor? been pregnant? spent time with a child? Then you are bound to have a tip or two about parenting. Or babies. Or toddlers. Or pregnancy. Enter the contest. There is still plenty of time to get an entry in. And there’s $1500 up for grabs… Winners announced on Dec. 2nd. Don’t have a video camera? We’ve got you covered with this blog post about Making a MindBite Without Owning a Video Camera. Have questions? Email us.

Early Voting in Austin, Texas (and Elsewhere)

What you should know that you probably don’t for early voting, both in Travis county/Austin, TX and around the country.

What it is:
Early voting is really important. It sets the precedence and adjusts the polls before actual election day, November 4th. Both campaigns have focused on getting voters to the polls early, mostly to avoid waiting in lines on Election Day and giving voters more options. 34 states in America allow early voting before Election Day on Nov. 4th. In most cities you can check on your city council’s homepage to find locations or Google “(your city) early voting locations.” In Texas, early voting started on October 20 and extends through October 31. You must be a registered voter to vote in your county and you can vote at ANY of the locations, not just your precinct. It’s fabulous.

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Austin Thrills the World

Last Saturday, 10/25/08, marked the day for Thrill the World. Thrill the World is a yearly attempt to break the world record for the most people worldwide dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller all at the same time. Austin, lead by the Creative Director for The Alamo Drafthouse, Henri Mazza, participated with 72 cities in 10 countries to help break the record (total 4177 zombies dancing all at once, beating the previous record of 1722!).

Though not yet verified, Thrill the World Austin has declared itself the new world record holder for the most zombies dancing to the song in the same location, with 881 people showing up to the Long Center to participate. Here is some great footage from the event:

Thrill the World Austin has been preparing for the event for months, holding classes and practice to teach as many people as possible the dance to Thriller. You can see lots of pictures and videos on the Austin-American Statesman website.

The amount of work that has gone into this project is impressive, as is the fact that almost everyone who showed up at the Long Center on Saturday was in full costume and danced in character. I wish I had been there to see and participate. If you are in town on Nov. 1st, the Austin zombies will be dancing down 6th St. for the Dia de los Muertos parade.

How to Dress Like Sarah Palin

For Halloween this year all of my friends are talking about dressing up as Sarah Palin, even my guy friends. She is America’s newest icon. She’s been known to throw down $150k on clothes, but who would want to pay that to look like her? Last week I went on a mission to find out how get her look on the cheap. I found that any thrift store would suit this mission. Upon entering Treasure City Thrift I sought out the essentials:

Essentials:
Red jacket/skirt/power suit
Sling-back snakeskin pumps

Then I splurged on some others.

Accessories:
Rimless rectangular glasses
Traditional tote
Empire waist belt
Blackberry phone
Lapel Pin
Plastic hunting gun
Alaska flag

I was able to make do with what I could and put it together in this video:

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Costumes for Man’s Best Friend

Last year, my favorite furry monster dressed up for Halloween as Super Dog! She was a huge hit with trick-or-treaters, who all wanted to pet her when they came to the door. The original plan was for her mom to be Super Girl and her to be Super Dog - that plan was laid to waste pretty quickly when I took a gander at the costumes they had available for me to dress up as Super Girl. Admittedly, if I’d planned more in advance, I suspect I could have found something tasteful enough to don while answering my own door to children (and their parents) that live in and around my neighborhood. However, no advance planning left me with the options available at different cheesy costume stores around town. I opted not to dress up as Super Inappropriate Neighbor Girl.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in decking out my clearly-abused pooch for All Hallows Eve. Fellow MindBiter Sarah actually attended a deck-your-dog Halloween party/contest just this past weekend… Take a look at some of her pics below.

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The List of the Top 50 Couples Costumes plus a Political Bonus

When Halloween or a costume party rolls around, some people know right away what they are going to be… and then there are the rest of us. The formula gets a little bit harder when you have to dress up as a couple, pair or duo. If you would like to match your spouse (best friend, co-worker, significant other, brother/sister, etc.), dressing up like a couple, pair or team can be good clean fun.

If you are looking for couples costumes and are groping in the dark for ideas, here are 50 great suggestions:

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How to Throw a Costume Party for Adults

It was 1979, and I will never forget trick-or-treating as a child and passing by my house, in which I saw some unusual activity through the front window.

As I got closer, I realized that there was a big party going on with my parents in the center of it all. I finally put two and two together to figure out that it was a surprise party for my mom, whose birthday falls on Halloween every year. When I finally got close enough to make out faces, I spotted my father dressed in a red devil costume, complete with a red body suit, red tights, a thorny tail and red horns on his head. I could not believe it. Especially since my dad was sporting quite a large mustache that year.

They were having a heck of a good time. How did they do it? Well as an adult, I figured it out.

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The Baby Formula Contest-Deadline Extension!

Good news! The submission deadline for The Baby Formula Contest has been extended. The new submission deadline is November 17th. That gives you an additional 2 weeks to register and get your videos filmed. Better get crackin’! And if you’ve already uploaded your video…you now get an extra 2 weeks worth of voting (through November 28th).

And speaking of voting, you can start voting daily on November 3rd (weekly voting until then). Aaaannnd….what everyone really wants to know…. Winners will be announced on December 2nd, still in time to spend your hard-earned cash on the holidays (or whatever you choose).