Decorate for Halloween – Family Friendly Inflatables

Yes. It’s barely fall. It’s 75 degrees outside. I realize all that. But also realize, even as we still sip iced lemonade and eat salad for a dinner, the cool season of Halloween is right around the corner. Don’t get caught out. Even with one or two day shipping, some places might just run out of inventory by the time you’re wearing that awesome orange scarf and sipping mulled apple cider.

What I’m trying to say is the time to prepare is now!

What I like about inflatables is that they not only make a great impact on a lawn, but they are also easy to store for the next years. Deflate, pop it into a bin, and you’re done. I also like the ease of setup. Two or three inflatable can make your house look Halloween with a minimum of effort. They also range in scare factor; you can have a cute Halloween setup, or you can go full out scary.

Let’s take a look of some of my favorite Halloween decorations: inflatable edition.

Haunted Tree

I am partial to owls, and this is cute little decoration. Scary on a cartoon level, but nothing that may deter a little one from approaching your house. If you like kid friendly decorations, this is definitely one to start with.

Stack of Pumpkins with Cute Ghost

How cute is this? I have a picture of my daughter when she was only about six or seven at a Halloween party with this particular inflatable, so I suppose I’m partial to it. Click the picture to purchase!

Inflatable Spooky Cat

How cute is this? This will certainly be a great centerpiece for your front lawn Halloween decorations. Again, not too scary, so it’s family friendly. Click below to purchase.

Blogtoberfest – My Bloody Vampire Sangria

Hello again! So glad to see y’all along with me for the ride Halloween blogging, or, as I call it……BLOGTOBERFEST……..

Today’s recipe is not a mocktail, but a straight up liquor fest. It was a choice between this and chocolate martinis. I chose this because it looks like fruit punch. (What, me drinking? Nah, this is fruit punch.) And I love sangria.

You can find the basic recipe here, but I added my own twist.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 (750 ml bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 Lemon cut into wedges
1 Orange cut into wedges
Strawberry or Kiwi slices
3 Tbsp sugar
2 shots brandy
1 shot gin
2 cups ginger ale or club soda

Preparation:

Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add sugar and brandy. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving.

If you’d like to serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice.

Blogtoberfest – Horror Movie Review – Friend Request

Title: Friend Request

Synopsis: A popular college student graciously accepts a social outcast’s online friend request, but soon finds herself fighting a demonic presence that wants to make her lonely by killing her closest friends.

Genre: Horror

Opinion:

Let’s face it, most of us live online these days, especially those under 30. Between online dating and online classes, people find themselves either at the computer or on their cell phones. People are judged by the number of friends they have on social media or the number of likes they have on a post. Some people pay good money to acquire followers and/or garner even more interest in their online musings.

Okay, you might be saying, it’s a movie review, Dahlia, get to the damn point. All right then. I say all that to say is when we see a post with no likes or a person with a low number of “friends” or “followers”, we assume that means low popularity. And of course, someone with low popularity online is to be pitied and “felt sorry for”

And now we come to the crux of this movie. A popular college student receives a friend request from a girl who doesn’t have any friends. Feeling sorry for her, she “friends” her. The relationship then degenerated into a sort of stalker/stalkee symbiosis, with the popular college student trying to get away from the cloying, smothering of her new “friend”.

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After cutting off the friendship, the girl commits suicide and posts the video on the popular girl’s social media page. This leads to her losing online friends and then DUN DUN DUN, she begins losing friends in real life….TO MURDER MOST FOUL.

Anyhoo, the rest of the movie invovles her tracking down and trying to eliminate the girl’s ghost, who is apparently causing all the trouble. Will she succeed? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.

All in all, it wasn’t the best horror movie I’ve seen, but I thought the premise was interesting. It is well-acted and well-shot with some disturbing imagery, but I must say the movie does contain an almost paint by the numbers list of horror cliches, including jump scares with stinger chords. Despite these flaws, it’s moderately intriguing and is a good movie to have on in the background.

Grade: B-

BlogtoberFest 2017 – The Days of Halloween

Let’s face it, the holidays start earlier and earlier every year. I saw a six foot light up snowman in Costco at the end of August. Therefore, I see no reason not to begin the celebration of all things spooky, macabre, and scary in the month of October.

You faithful readers of my blog: I thank you. AND you already know what’s going to be happening. Recipes, Top 3 lists, Top 5 lists, spooky songs, movies, books….everything relating to the theme of Halloween and horror. Click over every day to see something new!

So pour yourself a Bloody Mary with bacon garnish and come on along for the ride. We’ve been expecting you.

Must See Events for October

Greetings all and Happy October!

Over here in New Jersey, USA, it’s hurricane season, which means the winds are blowing and the skies are deliciously overcast. Rain falls, mist gathers and there’s fog in the mornings. A perfect start to October, wouldn’t you say?

So what are these must see events, you’re asking? With no further ado, let’s get the list going.

Black Speculative Fiction Month

Speculative fiction: (according to Wikipedia):
Speculative fiction is a broad category of narrative fiction that includes elements, settings and characters created out of imagination and speculation rather than based on reality and everyday life. It encompasses the genres of science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, horror, alternative history, and magic realism.[1][2][3] It typically strays strongly from reality and so may feature fictional types of beings like mythical creatures and supernatural entities, technologies that do not exist in real life like time machines and interstellar spaceships, or magical or otherwise scientifically inexplicable elements. The term’s popularity is sometimes attributed to Robert Heinlein, who referenced it in 1947 in an editorial essay, although there are prior mentions of speculative fiction, or its variant “speculative literature”.

Easy enough, right? This is by no means a complete list, just something to get you started.

Good Reads LIst – Black Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction by Authors of Color

Black Women Horror Writers

Colors in Darkness Halloween Event

This is the second year of the mighty successful Halloween Party from last year.

You’ve got to attend. And why not? It’s going on the whole weekend. At least stop by to have a little fun.

Click the pic to be taken to the event.

Black Girl Magic Lit Mag’s ALL HORROR ISSUE will hit the virtual stands on October 15, 2016. Don’t miss getting your copy!

Charred Remains Horror Trivia 2016:

Char of Charred Remains Treat for Trivia Horror Game. Beginning end of September through October 31st. A test of player’s horror knowledge. High scores will win prizes. Game rules on www.charredremainsreviews.com

Six week event!

Click this link to be taken to the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1145943362142469/

Blogtoberfest, my yearly fun of things scary, creepy and Halloweeny, is now located at darkindigohearts.com. Click the pic to be taken there!

Looks like this October will be a busy one!

Dahlia