Our personalized gift baskets for all occasions are shipped worldwide!
Join Our RSS Feed!!
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
Halloween Costumes
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Trends in Halloween costumes change every year—after all, no one wants to be seen in the same costume they wore last year. However, costumes always fall into one of several categories:
Cute
The cute costumes are usually for infants and younger children, and are often similar from year to year. Most costumes for very young children dress them up as an adorable animal like a monkey, bunny, or dinosaur. There are also miniature versions of costumes for older children, which can range from devils and angels to witches and pirates, or whatever else is popular for older kids that year.
Silly
Funny costumes are for all ages, kids and adults both. Many silly costumes are foods or other inanimate objects, and there are also sets that go together for couples, like Fork & Knife or Ketchup & Mustard. Many costumes in this category are a play on words, like A Chick Magnet being someone dressed as an actual magnet with rubber ducks attached to it. The possibilities are endless, and this is a great way to show off your creativity.
Scary
By far the most popular category, scary costumes play on the long tradition of Halloween superstitions and ghost stories. Old stand-bys like vampire, witch, werewolf, and mummy remain prevalent each year, but every year also sees new ideas that push the envelope of what is frightening. Masks, makeup, and costumes are becoming more and more realistic so that it is very easy to come up with a hideous persona that will startle your friends and neighbors.
Sexy
Sexy costumes for women have become very popular in the last decade. Many of these play on traditional sexy characters, like French maid and belly dancer, while others take characters from movies and children’s TV shows and create a more flirtatious version of their outfits. Stick Rainbow Brite in a short skirt and stockings or modify Lara Croft’s costume just a little, and you’ve got the perfect sexy costume.
Pop Culture
This category is the most ephemeral of all, for it shifts with every trend. Costumes can portray currently popular entertainers like Lady Gaga, political figures, characters from recently released movies, or play on a trend like the vampire craze started by Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. For Halloween 2011, the Zombie Apocalypse will be a huge trend, popularized in books, graphic novels, movies, and TV shows like The Walking Dead. Many boys may want to dress as Thor or Captain America this year. Steampunk continues to flourish in a smaller portion of the populace, and is an excellent choice for creative and detailed costuming.
Comment(0)
Fun Facts About Halloween
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
- Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in the world, dating back over 2000 years to the time of the Celts, who celebrated it as Samhain
- When the Roman Empire came to Britain, they combined two of their festivals with Samhain: Feralia, which commemorated the passing of the dead; and the festival of Pomona, goddess of fruit and trees.
- Pomona’s symbol was an apple, and it is believed that the tradition of bobbing from apples derives from Roman festivities.
- Several centuries later, the spread of Christianity to the British Isles further changed the old Celtic holiday by blending it with All Saints Day and All Souls Day, which took place at the same time of year as Samhain and was celebrated in much the same way, with bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as devils, angels, and saints.
- All Saints was also called All-hallows, and the night before it All Hallow’s Eve—the traditional night of Samhain. Over the centuries, All Hallow’s Eve gradually became known as Halloween.
- The celebration of Halloween was not widespread in America at first due to the strict religious beliefs of the colonists. Instead, festivities marked the harvest and the coming of autumn, and were celebrated by dancing and telling ghost stories.
- Trick-or-treating originally began as an Irish tradition in which people who dress up in costumes and go door to door asking for food or money. This tradition came to America in the mid 1800’s with the flood of Irish immigrants into the country.
- Halloween parties started during the Victorian era, when people began to move away from the more superstitious and religious overtones of the holiday. By the 1920’s, the holiday was entirely secular.
- Today, Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in America.
Come back tomorrow for some great ideas for Halloween costumes!
Halloween Press Release
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Whispering Pine Press International, Inc.
Your Northwest Book and Gift Company
For Immediate Media Release
Halloween Delights Cookbook
A Collection of Halloween Recipes
Cookbook Delights Series
For this fun and festive time of the year, author Karen Jean Matsko Hood presents a unique cookbook that is full of tasty and satisfying recipes. Inside are page after page of mouth-watering recipes that will certainly be a hit with family and friends during this special time. Written for the novice cook as well as the accomplished chef, Halloween Delights Cookbook will be appreciated by all. The ingredients for each recipe can be found at your local market throughout the year. Halloween Delights Cookbook is sure to be a valuable addition to your kitchen library and a great gift idea for the chef on your giving list.
Please visit our websites at www.whisperingpinepress.com, www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com, and www.halloweendelights.com. 6×9 inches, 328 pp., featuring a durable, full-color cover in a variety of bindings. Whispering Pine Press International, Inc. Your Northwest Books and Gift Company.
Inside You Will Find:
- Halloween-Themed Recipes
- Halloween Folklore
- Halloween-Themed Poetry
- Halloween History
- Festival Information
- Author’s Commentary
- Index and Glossary
- Tips on Preserving
- Halloween Facts
Halloween Delights Cookbook – Paperback $19.95
LCCN: 2011923151 BISAC 1 CKB04200 BISAC 2 CKB077000 BISAC 3 CKB101000 BISAC AUD 01
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-181-6 | case bound | $ 29.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-182-3 | perfect bound | $ 19.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-183-0 | spiral bound | $ 21.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-184-7 | comb bound | $ 22.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-185-4 | 3-ring binder | $ 29.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-051-2 | large print edition | $ 29.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-186-1 | printable cd | $ 15.95 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-187-8 | E-PDF | $ 9.99 |
| ISBN: 978-1-59434-079-6 | E-PUB | $ 9.99 |
About the Author: Karen Jean Matsko Hood is an internationally published author of numerous cookbooks, children’s books, poetry, and more. A woman of wide interests, she, her husband, sixteen children, and foster children make their home in Greenacres, Washington. Ms. Hood is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University. Websites:www.karenjeanmatskohood.com, www.karensblog.net, and www.karensbookblog.com.
Author’s Availability: Washington State and nationwide by arrangement.
Contact: Marketing and Sales Department
Phone: (509) 928-8700 or Fax: (509) 922-9949
Email: sales@whisperingpinepress.com
Website: www.whisperingpinepress.com,
www.whisperingpinepressbookstore.com
Blog: www.whisperingpinepressblog.com
Whispering Pine Press International, Inc., 507 N. Sullivan Road Suite LL-5, Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA
Halloween Delights Delivers No Tricks, Plenty of Treats
Thursday, September 22, 2011
It’s that time of year again! The weather is turning crisp and cool, leaves are changing to vibrant autumn colors, and the holidays are just around the corner. First up is Halloween, a favorite for the child in each of us, a magical and spooky night filled with delicious goodies, fun costumes, and frights galore. To help make the most of the holiday, pick up a copy of Halloween Delights by Karen Jean Matsko Hood. More than just a cookbook, Halloween Delights is a treasure trove of creative ideas to make your fright night celebration one to remember! The book is also packed with extras, like information on how to grow your own pumpkins, interesting facts about the history, folklore, and symbolism of Halloween, and a helpful glossary of cooking and baking terms.
I’ve been impressed with each entry in Hood’s Cookbook Delights series that I have seen so far, but this one honestly blew me away. From the clever to the creepy to the downright ghastly, each recipe is a masterpiece of ingenuity that will delight, scare, and gross out your Halloween guests in the best way possible. The variety of recipes is staggering, enabling you to choose just how ghoulish you want your party to be. The Halloween Haunted Forest Platter, for example, is a really creative way of dressing up the ordinary vegetable platter that will entice even kids into nibbling on healthy treats, and it’s a really cute idea. (Imagine a forest of broccoli trees haunted by egg ghosts and other creepy, edible creatures.) If you’d rather horrify your guests, there are recipes like the Boogers and Slugs Halloween Cake and Chocolate Slime, foods that may sound or even look disgusting, but are guaranteed to be delicious. The Bleeding Human Heart, a heart-shaped gelatin that oozes thick grenadine blood when cut into portions, is one of my favorites–there’s no doubt it’ll make an impression!
Halloween Delights is so full of fun and creative ideas that my kids literally could not stop poring over it. They had a blast helping me try out some of the recipes in the kitchen and have been begging to try out more ever since. We made Witch’s Hat Chocolate Cupcakes, Creepy Crawly Spider Cookies, and Jack-O-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie. All of the recipes were easy to follow and turned out fabulous, not just in taste but in visual impact as well, which is at least half the fun with a holiday like this. I was also pleased to find a number of recipes that are designed for feeding large crowds, which will make planning a party all the easier. This is the ultimate Halloween cookbook, crammed with enough ideas to see my family through all the spooky parties we will ever throw. Now the only problem is picking which recipes to use–and how to prevent my kids from wanting to celebrate Halloween all year long!
Halloween Delights Cookbook – Paperback ©2008
History of Labor Day in America
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
Recent Comments