As the dark closes in, the mist pours through the streets, the hour is upon us to think of that most ghoulish October get-together, Halloween. Thatâ??s why this year Matalan has put together this Halloween guide, giving you a host of horrifying ideas to make your Halloween party knock the warts off the competition:

Costume

A Halloween party would be nothing without dressing up, so youâ??ve really got to go to town on your devilish disguise for this one. Choose from a gruesome glut of outfits including zombies, witches, skeletons for men, ladies, and even toddler-wear for miniature monsters. There is also a range of face-painting kits; be a Halloween saviour â?? have an emergency outfit or some face-paints to hand in case of reluctant or forgetful party guests!

Monster Mash

If youâ??re preparing for a Halloween party of your own, itâ??s true that too much is definitely the right way to go with this sinister celebration. What makes a great Halloween party is the excess, the creation of a real spooky atmosphere. That means ghoulish down to the last detail! This year, Matalan are stocking a range of Halloween decorations, invitations, games and activities, set to transform your venue into a house of horrors! You can find your nearest M-Party store online here. Donâ??t forget the pumpkins!

Spooky Spots

Thereâ??s Halloween havoc happening all over the place on the weekend of the 31st , and we know where:

Edinburgh â?? The Gothic streets, spooky atmosphere, and chilling history of Scotlandâ??s capital are a sure hit for an outing this Halloween weekend. The City of the Dead festival includes tours of the cityâ??s haunted underground chasms, graveyard tours and chilling tales on the St Andrews night-walk.

London â?? The dead walk the earth the night of the 31st in London and you can be there too. Starting from Waxy Oâ??Connors pub on Rupert Street, the London Zombie Walk will have you shuffling and groaning your way to twelve pubs through the capital, ending at Verve on Upper Martins Lane before midnight. Remember to practice your best zombie moan well in advance. Check out Matalanâ??s range of zombie costumes in various sizes, and stages of decomposition. Yuk.

Oxford â??Oxford Castleâ??s GhostFest, taking place from the 16th until its finale on the 31st October, is ghost-central. As one of the most haunted sites in England, Oxford Castle is a great destination for a host of experiments into the world of paranormal activity. The Oxford GhostFest is sure to provide a nerve-jangling night to remember for the whole group!

Trick-or-Treats

To keep all your gruesome guests happy, youâ??ll of course need Halloween treats to share. Get into the spooky spirit with some Halloween cookies using Halloween cookie cutters available in Matalan stores, as well as Halloween fairy cakes with Halloween-themed parcels. Go over the top with grape juice for blood, grisly eyeballs (lychees with raspberry syrup) and a worm-infested punch (just add gummy worms and snakes â?? they go gooey in lemonade and fruit juice) dyed a grim green (food colouring). See what treats you can pass off as dishes in a freakish feast!

The first and foremost task involved in preparing for Halloween is to look out for places on where you can get yourself the costume you have been wanting to wear and show off amongst your friends. Halloween is all about wearing the dress you never even imagine of wearing on any other day of the year. Of course you would know that or else you would not be reading this article. The best option to look for ideas, on where to buy costumes or how to prepare one, is the Internet. Like all other information, tons of ideas for Halloween can be found on the Internet. Even though this article does not contain all the ideas for a complete Halloween, it would definitely help you start your preparation.

Halloween is just about creating a theme and strictly abiding to the theme. You can also have a normal party with people coming in different costumes but it would be real fun if you set aside a theme for Halloween. Halloween is about having fun decorations making it scary and eerie.

Let us take some time in going through a few ideas that can make you Halloween interesting.

Idea #1 – Do you have a bush in front of your house? Or can you create one just for the occasion? If yes, you are about to be the point of attraction in your neighborhood. Make a note of the items required for this idea. You need a white sheet as per the size of the bush, a newspaper, permanent black magic marker or fabric paint and cloth pins. The idea is to make a ghost like figure by painting a ghost on the white paper, folding the white sheet, balancing the sheet with the newspaper and securing the figure with the help of clothespins. Sounds really simple but it is definitely going to scare the passerby.

Idea #2 – The other idea for Halloween is to make your house look very festive and very scary, both the inside and the outside. I will show you how to get a scary path way. You will need lots of brown lunch bags, orange paint, sand and tea light or votive candle. Paint the bags orange in color and cut it out to make a scary face of a pumpkin. Fill half of the pumpkin face with sand and put a candle in it and light it. Make lots of these along the pathway and it would look really scary.

Idea #3 – You will require orange construction paper, white construction paper, pencil, scissors, string, tape, glue and staples. Draw a picture of a ghost on the white chart paper and pumpkin faces on the orange one. Be sure to make it a free hand draw to get originality. Also leave some space on top of the chart so that you can hang it to make a garland of ghosts and pumpkin faces. Fold over the space and place the string by the fold. Secure the created articles using staples, glue and tape. The pumpkin garland would look good with a green string and the ghosts with a black string to have a good contrast. Hang them all round your house and start the party.

Apart from these ideas, tons of examples and ideas can be found on the World Wide Web, but the best information center is your brain. As said creativity is the master of all arts.

Booo… chooo… chooooooo… there’s an eerie express on the horizon… it’s a haunted Halloween train ride… trolling down a track near you!

Halloween train rides are super, natural choices for celebrating the year’s spookiest season. Trains are as varied as the ghosts that haunt them, from quaint narrow-gauge steam trains to diesel-powered streamliners. Pumpkin trains head out into sun-baked fields, their passengers in pursuit of the perfect jack-o-lantern. Party trains assemble a masked mob of witches, warlocks, super heroes and storybook characters to compete for best costume prizes. Night trains venture down isolated rail beds and through shadowy landscapes lit only by the light of the moon.

Among the range of Halloween themed trains, trick-or-treating and haunted house excursions are favorites. Unique rides featuring on-train dining and murder mystery performances are not uncommon. And pick-your-own-pumpkin excursions are always full. In any event, costumes are always encouraged.

Conjuring up a Halloween train ride event in your area doesn’t require a lot of hocus pocus. Scenic and heritage railways offering hosting Spook-tacular celebrations can be found in dozens of states. The 2009 guide to Halloween train rides (http://www.traintraveling.com/events/halloween-trains), posted on TrainTraveling.com, features an extensive list of such railways.

Western U.S.A.

Hollywood-style magic cranks up the Halloween mojo at railways across the Western U.S.

Among the country’s dozens of pumpkin trains, Peanuts™ The Great Pumpkin Patch Express Train events are standouts. Both, the Texas State Railroad and Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad host Great Pumpkin trains. Highlights include meet and greet opportunities with Peanuts stars Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy — plus train rides and the chance to choose a pumpkin straight from the patch (the Peanuts crew makes an additional appearance in North Carolina, see below).

In California, the “Home of the Movie Trains” stages a blockbuster Halloween bash. The Golden State’s Fillmore & Western Railway rounds out its Headless Horseman excursions with an old-fashioned hay ride and BBQ feast.

Not for the faint of heart, Idaho’s Thunder Mountain Line plays host to the scary Wild West Haunted Express; destination: nowhere! After sunset, Utah’s Heber Valley Railroad disappears into the haunted recesses of Provo Canyon.

Midwestern U.S.A.

Railways across America’s heartland treat Halloween merrymakers to a cauldron of dire delights and frightful fun.

There’s fun for everyone at the Walled Lake Scenic Railway. The Michigan railway’s age-appropriate Halloween calendar features scary Moonlight Ghost Trains for adults and older kids, plus nightmare-free Hobo Halloween Express Trains for the little ones. Across the state, ghosts and goodies are in store for visitors to the Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad, in Flint. Doughnuts, cider and more await trick-or-treating train passengers who make their way door-to-door through the 19th century heritage site.

The Midwest Central Railroad’s Ghost Train of No Return shares billing with Old Threshers’ Midwest Electric Railway’s Ghostly Trolley to offer Iowans a night of Haunted Rails. When the Indiana Railway Museum rolls out its Legend of the Lost Train event, goblins chase the French Lick Scenic Railway’s train through a ghostly forest and into a haunted tunnel.

Southern U.S.A.

For Halloween train lovers across the Southern U.S., North Carolina’s Blue Ridge holds the charm, with celebrations hosted by two separate mountain railroads. At the Smoky Mountain Railroad, Charlie Brown and the gang will be on board The Great Pumpkin Patch Express to welcome Halloween merrymakers who come for train rides, hay rides and to take home a pumpkin.

The Blue Ridge is also home to what is, arguably, America’s premiere spooky-season destination: the Tweetsie Railroad Ghost Train Halloween Festival. The month-long event attracts enthusiastic crowds with a range of attractions including train rides, a haunted house, a “freaky forest” and much more!

In Kentucky, Big South Fork Scenic Railway runs both Haunted Hollow Express Trains for big kids and Trick or Treat Trains for tots.

Northeastern U.S.A.

Railways in the Northeast U.S. offer up a range of chilling choices.

Big Apple residents and visitors need only hop a Metro North train to Sleepy Hollow where a string of pre-Halloween events celebrate the Headless Horseman. From Boston, Salem-bound MBTA Commuter Rail passengers get to join in the town’s month-long Haunted Happenings celebrations.

Rolling over track that crosses the site of a former cemetery, the Connecticut Trolley Museum’s Rails to the Darkside takes passengers on a scary ride into the night. A daytime Pumpkin Patch Train gives folks the chance to select a pumpkin fresh from the field.

New Jersey’s Black River & Western Railroad is home to the Crazy Train Maze at Pumpkin Junction, a Halloween triple-play that combines a train ride with opportunities to buy a pumpkin and to get lost in a 10-acre pumpkin field maze — accessible only by train. In Maryland, the Walkersville Southern Railroad transforms its popular Murder Mystery Dinner Train into an adult‘s only Halloween Costume Party on wheels.

Ready to Go

Halloween events calendars vary with a number of railways limiting Halloween trips to the last weekend in October. Many, however — including those highlighted in the preceding paragraphs — host special Halloween events on selected days throughout the month. The TrainTraveling.com website features a complete 2009 guide to Halloween train rides (http://www.traintraveling.com/events/halloween-trains).

Not all trains are appropriate for all ages and some Halloween events may be deemed too frightening for younger children. Check with individual railways in advance to verify age restrictions and warnings. In cases of inclement weather, train ride events incorporating outdoor activities, may be altered, postponed or cancelled. Advance reservations are generally advisable and required in many instances. Remember to dress appropriately: many Halloween trains operate at higher altitudes or after sunset in conditions where colder temperatures may prevail.