Create digital Halloween invites, scrapbooks and slideshows in just a few
minutes using your own photos and music!
You can create and share scrapbooks, or cards to create wonderful
memories without buying expensive equipment. Beautiful templates make it
easy to add your photos and customize the text. Great idea to send to grandparents!
Halloween. Just the name of this holiday brings images of ghosts,
witches, and goblins to mind. Yet it is the favorite holiday for many
kids. Where did Halloween come from?
Halloween was first celebrated by the Celts, who lived in Scotland and
Ireland in ancient times. The Celts held a special festival to celebrate
Samhain, the god of the dead. Some sources indicate that Gaelic word "Samhain"
literally means "summer's end".
The day they chose was their New Year’s
Eve, October 31 on our calendar. They believed the souls of the dead
returned to visit their homes on this one night of the year to try to find
another body to inhabit.
Homes had no fires in the hearth and the adults dressed as demons or
witches so that no spirit would want to inhabit their body. Everyone would
make their way out of town to the huge bonfires that were lit to draw the
spirits away from town.
The other holiday which blended into our modern Halloween, is All
Hallows’ Eve the Christian holiday to honor the saints. People believed
that on this night, witches (in the form of black cats), flew about and
ghosts and demons were free to roam the land. It was the night to have
your future told or play games like bobbing for apples.
The Irish thought leprechauns played pranks on Halloween, so mischief-
making was added to the celebration of Halloween.
In Scotland, a hollowed out turnip was used as lantern to light your
way in the dark of the night.
As people emigrated to North America, they each brought their own bit
of Halloween with them. All the customs blended into our modern Halloween.
However you spend October 31, be sure to scare the evil spirits away!
Many families are creating new customs for celebrating Halloween. We'd
be happy to share some of these ideas.
Let us know if you have any craft or activity ideas that children love for
Halloween. We'll share them with other visitors to our website.
Send us a note if you have any questions.
Children love making gifts for their parents and other adults who
are important to them. But what can they make that will delight the
person they are giving the gift to?
Here's how you can quickly and easily get lots of simple, high quality
gift ideas that you children can make. Guaranteed to be fun the
children making the gift, and a delight for the person receiving it.
