So you want to get in on the scare craze this Halloween do you? That could mean having a haunted house or a yard haunt for friends and neighbors. Before you begin here are some safety tips to protect you as well as your guests.

1. Contact your insurance company. Hosting such a venture on your property involves liability. Be sure that any incidents during the night are protected under the policy. If this is your first time dealing with this issue, contact them at least two weeks ahead of time.

2. Light the path. We’re not talking flood lights all around the house. Lighting the path ensures that all guests go the proper way and no one ventures off of the track. Also, people can see where they are going without ruining the suspense.

3. Post warnings or have a release for guests to sign. This informs others that what they may see could be too frightening for the elderly and the very young. A signed waver and clearly posted signs protects you from prosecution should something happen.

4. Inform the fire department of your activities. They can go through your setup and identify points of danger. Also, they can be on alert to deal with calls from your home that night.

5. Check with your neighbors. The noise from so many people coming to your home could make you the least favorite person around. Inform neighbors about the upcoming event. One way to deal with this is to of course make sure all your neighbors are invited! Neighborhood associations may have rules and regulations regarding such activities so consult the association president.

6. Keep the gathering small. If this is a yard haunt, the fewer people the better as far as safety. With too many kids running around, someone is bound to have an accident.

7. Use battery operated candles in pumpkins instead of real candles. In the fun of the evening, pumpkins can be turned over or costumes can catch fire. No one wants the evening to turn tragic. Take all precautions.

8. Have enough guides along the way. To ensure safety in the haunted house or yard haunt, have other adult parents to guide small groups of guests through the haunt. This way, the guide always goes first and can comfort any scared kids.

A haunted house is great fun on Halloween. People love to be scared out of their wits. As they scream with fear and delight, you’ll need to be sure nothing goes wrong.

Starting a relationship can be the easiest part, but being able to maintain it is what will make it healthy and long lasting. The key ingredient to maintaining that relationship is by keeping the lines of communication open.

Here are some ways that you can continue connecting to your partner:

1. Share your thoughts and feelings with each other without making the other person feel stupid for what they’re feeling. You both need to be able to speak your mind without the other person rolling his eyes or scoffing at your remarks.

Support is needed in order to keep sharing what’s going on with each other. Once that support is gone, the lines of communication will instantly close down. Reaffirm what it is you heard them say and acknowledge that they have a right to their feelings.

2. Talk out your differences. You and your partner won’t always get along. There will be differences because it’s a natural occurrence for all couples. The key is to be able to talk out those differences and come up with some kind of middle ground. If one person wants one thing and the other person wants another, a compromise should be decided upon to meet each other halfway.

3. Listen! Being able to listen to your partner when they need it encourages them to talk when they need to. Don’t interrupt them. Let them say what they need to and then take your turn. When a partner feels that the other person isn’t listening, their lines of communication close down.

4. Build trust and honesty. Tell your partner the truth about your feelings and avoid lying. Lies will only build on other lies and will ultimately kill trust in a partnership completely. When there’s no trust between two people, the relationship will suffer and will more than likely end on a bad note.

5. Take things seriously. If your partner brings up a concern they have, take it seriously. Don’t brush it off as nonsense. If it’s a concern for them, it needs to be worked out, so help support them in that matter. If you don’t take it seriously, they won’t take you seriously and communication will cease to exist.

6. Stay positive. Maintain a positive attitude with your partner as much as possible. It’s not always easy to do, but it is essential for communication. Negative attitudes lead to negative relationships, and there will be no communication in the end. A positive attitude encourages more communication and allows a relationship to grow.

7. Let things out. Don’t keep thoughts or feelings bottled up inside you. If you do, your true feelings will come out in a torrent of anger, and the other person will be hurt.

Maintaining these key points in your relationship can ensure that the lines of communication will stay open. You can grow a healthy relationship that will last a lifetime.

Each year, some costumes pop up more than others. Everyone seeks to be original, but the only way to be truly individual is to make your own costume. Barring that, you will look like someone else on that night. The trick is to look better than they do.

Here are some of the most popular costume ideas for 2008. Diehard Halloween fans are preparing as we speak for that one night of scary fun. The good thing about some of the popular costumes this year is that they work for kids, teens, and adults.

Trends in Halloween costumes often follow trends in movies. Popular movies always spawn a costume idea or two for October 31st. The most popular film so far this year is The Dark Knight. Batman has achieved a new level of cool that everyone wants to emulate. Tall, dark, and mysterious is in this year as many scout the stores for Batman paraphernalia.

Who doesn’t love a villain? They allow us to imagine we are bad without actually being bad. All votes this year are for The Joker. The super villain of The Dark Knight is not the whimsical psycho we’ve seen in the past. He is the real deal and scary. Adults will take pleasure in dressing up as this character.

There have been several super hero movies of late. Super heroes are always in season because they champion the cause of justice, and their costumes are really cool. For this year, kids and adults will emulate Wonder Woman, Superman, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman. Adults will add a little sex appeal to those costumes so as to differentiate themselves from their kids.

Religious costumes are always a family favorite. For those who celebrate Hallelujah Night at church, dressing up as Noah, Moses, John the Baptist and Jonah still highlight these events.

Cartoon characters are popular for kids. Some of the most popular are Japanimation creations like Naruto, Yugioh, Digimon, and Pokemon characters. These characters are joined by Disney favorites like Hannah Montana, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

But, the life of the party is still the costumes with timeless appeal. We are speaking of the 20’s flapper girl, Betty Boop, doctor and nurse, witches, devils, and of course, Elvira. It wouldn’t be a party without at least one of these people showing up.

What will you wear this year? Go with the popular crowd or set your sights on a more unique invention. Either way, have fun not only the night of Halloween, but putting your costume together too!

What You Need:

Non stick cooking spray
1 (16 oz) pkg. frozen broccoli
1 C bread crumbs
1 C low fat cheddar cheese, shredded
3 eggs

How to Make It:

Spray a cookie sheet with the non stick cooking spray.
Cook the broccoli according to package directions.
Drain the broccoli well and chop into small pieces.
In a large mixing bowl combine the cooked broccoli, bread crumbs and cheese.
Toss to mix.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Roll a little of the mixture into a small ball.
Continue until all the mixture is rolled into balls.
Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Turn balls and continue baking for 10 minutes.

Change the taste of the little balls by using Swiss cheese and seasoned bread crumbs.

What You Need:

Non stick cooking spray
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
½ C carrot puree
½ C spinach puree
½ brown sugar substitute
¼ C cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 TBSP fat free margarine, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
2 egg whites
¾ C all purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

How to Make It:

Place the bittersweet chocolate into a microwave bowl.
Microwave the chocolate on high 1 minute.
Stir and continue melting chocolate at 15 second intervals, stirring after each, until completely melted.
Once the chocolate is melted add the carrot and spinach puree.
Stir in the sugar substitute, cocoa powder, margarine and vanilla.
Continue stirring until the mixture becomes creamy.
Whisk in the egg whites.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Smooth batter into prepared pan.
Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The kids will never know there’s carrots and spinach in these yummy brownies. Allow them to cool to room temperature before cutting and serving. This will insure that the spinach and carrots will leave no flavor to the bars.

No one says that you have to go out to have a good time on Halloween. Parties are one way to spend the evening at home and still have fun. Guests have fun and also find safety. Maybe this year you will host a Halloween party of your very own.

Send out invitations well in advance of the event. We know the date of the party so that is not a problem. Most people will either be attending another party, going trick or treating with the kids or attending your party. Let’s hope they attend your party.

Come up with a menu for the event. Ghoulish treats such as witch’s fingers or Jell-O eyeballs floating in the punch may be great for kids but a bit too macabre for some adults. In that case, stick with spooky decorations and normal looking food.

The best thing about Halloween parties is that they can be planned for both adults and children. Careful planning will give the adults time to unwind while the children are otherwise occupied. Tend to the children first.

In the early evening take the kids for a little door to door fun. While they are going through their snacks and eating finger foods that you prepared in advance, the rest of the work for the adult part of the party can begin.

If you want to serve drinks, keep it simple. Beer and wine involves less work than an open bar. Anyone drinking can’t drive home. Designate a driver or walk from home to the party. Neighborhood Halloween parties have the convenience of close proximity.

Have a few age appropriate Halloween videos for the kids to watch in the family room or living room when the guests retire to the patio or backyard for fun. Host a costume contest or a pumpkin carving contest. A little Halloween karaoke might break a few noise ordinances, but it will thrill the guests. Who knows all the words to “Monster Mash”?

Since the kids are a consideration, hosts can ask each invited guest to bring a dish to the party. This way, cleanup is faster and the host doesn’t have to do so much hard labor. They will appreciate the help.

Any types of games that are planned should be played before drinks are served. Too many accidents occur when someone’s judgment is impaired by alcohol.

Want to host a Halloween party? Grab the most frightening decorations, some eats, and creepy music, mix with a few friends and you’re sure to have a great time.

What You Need:

1 C lite mayonnaise
1 C lite sour cream
1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and chopped
1 envelope dry vegetable soup mix
1 loaf of King’s Hawaiian bread

How to Make It:

Place the mayonnaise and sour cream together in a large bowl.
Mix with a rubber spatula until completely combined.
Squeeze all the liquid out of the thawed spinach.
Add it to the cream mixture.
Empty the envelope of soup mix into the bowl and stir to combine.
Carefully remove the center of the bread to about inches from the side and bottom.
Place the dip in the hollowed out bread.
Break the torn out bread into small pieces.
Place toothpicks into the broken pieces of bread and use them for the dip.

The sweet taste of the bread and the dip are a favorite of many children. You can also serve this dip with assorted fresh vegetables to give the kids a little something extra for their snack.

It’s almost that time again – only 31 days to go. Things are about to go bump in the night. Spook masters would have you believe that the dead actually walk the earth on that day, but Halloween is as much a matter of shadows and mirrors as the horror movies we watch. For anyone interested, here is a history of the modern day holiday known as Halloween.

First of all, it was called All Hallows Eve. We are not speaking of Sleepy Hollow. Hallow means holy, like in The Lord’s Prayer for all the Sunday schoolers out there.

Early pagan religions specifically the Celts would celebrate different phases of the earth. One such festival was Samhain. It is pronounced “saw-in.” it was a festival that commemorated the lives of the dead. There was nothing wrong with this, except that they didn’t discriminate between the “good” dead and the “bad” dead. People remembered all of the dead. The date that this festival fell on was October 31^st.

Isn’t sounding too scary so far is it? Well, you must remember that early pagan religions were prone to superstition as in the Middle Ages. They were afraid of spirits and the thought of them returning to the human world frightened them.

As history goes, during this time, priests of the religion would contact these spirits to divine the future of the harvest as this was also harvest season. People’s livelihood depended on those crops and they were afraid that the spirits would curse them and destroy the crops.

The church decided to combat such superstition by adding a bit of Christianity to the occasion. They moved the celebration of All Saints Day from March 13^th to November 1^st. People would hopefully be less scared and more into the Christian celebration than the pagan one.

Everyone didn’t change their long held beliefs however. People would cover their faces with masks when they went out at night in hopes that any roaming spirits would recognize them as fellow travelers and suspend their mischief. They also used large carved turnips with candles inside as lanterns.

All Hallows Eve became Halloween in modern times. Instead of walking through the veil between this world and the next, kids dress in a variety of costumes to scare each other silly and get a bit of candy in the process. The only spirits around on Halloween are the ones we create on the movie set. Watch out!