Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. It is celebrated with Halloween costums, Halloween parties and kids going house to house going trick or treating. It is celebrated in the US and in other parts of the world like the United Kingdom and Canada.

How Halloween is celebrated today goes back to the time when ancient pagans believed that October 31 is the day when the boundary between the living and the dead dissolves. Since the dead could cause harm to those who are living, people will go out into the streets wearing Halloween costums and masks to ward off the evil spirits.

But that was then and now, we simply do it for fun. Weeks before Halloween, people would go out and buy Halloween costumes. The most saleable ones are the skeletons, ghosts, vampires, witches and devils. If you have the time, you can make your own costume based on a television show or movie.

One study shows that of the people surveyed, more than half of the American public plan to buy a costume for Halloween even if it costs $10 more than it did last year. This means that sales will reach more than $6 billion from a little over $5 billion last year.

People in the Halloween spirit will also put up decorations in their homes like carved pumpkins, skeletons and candles.

During parties, aside from the food and drinks, several games are played. The most common is dunking or bobbing for apples in which applies that are floating in a tub or large basin are picked up by the participants using their teeth.

Another is to eat syrup coated scones that is hanging by a string. Again, you have to eat it without using your hands.

If you don’t want to go to party and do something daring, try going with a few friends and visit a haunted house. Many people don’t do this literally when they can have fun visiting a theme park that has something special for the occasion.

The favorite fruit during Halloween is the apple because it comes during the wake of the harvest season. You can eat it directly or have this mixed with sticky syrup and nuts.

Other countries celebrate Halloween differently. In most Asian countries, the people put food and water as well as a lantern so those who have departed will have something to eat, drink and a lighted path as they travel the earth during Halloween night. In Czechoslovakia, chairs are placed by the fireside on Halloween night. Each chair represents a living member and those who have passed on. The Swedes simply give students a day-off and a shortened working day for the employees.

But paying homage to the dead is what most countries do during Halloween. In fact, the day after which is November 1, is considered to be All Saint’s Day while the 2nd is called All Soul’s Day. This is done to commemorate those who are in purgatory with the hope of being cleansed of their sins so they may go to heaven.

For most children and adults, Halloween is simply a time to dress up in Halloween costums and have fun with friends and family. They can go around getting candy by moving from one house to the next while the grown ups will go to a party where there is a lot of food and drinks.

The perfect and scariest Halloween costums would not be enough without the mask. Since the face is first thing that people gaze on to when he or she meets somebody, a Halloween mask worn during a party would definitely determine how scary can you get.

Today, there are so many Halloween masks being sold in various bookshops and specialty stores out there. You can choose from your favorite characters from horror, thriller, or sci-fi movies. You can even find masks which as truly Halloween inspired such as ghosts, ghouls, and monsters.

In most specialty stores, the most popular Halloween costums masks include gaping wraith mask, glow in dark hockey mask, meateater mask, Batman the dark knight Joker mask, deep sea mask, devil’s rejects Captain Spaulding mask, whispers hooded mask, Harry Potter dementor mask, elegant devil mask, leatherface deluxe mask, Batman the dark knight grumpy clown mask, that’s not funny clown mask, got your goat mask, red skull mask beanie, white skull mask beanie, skull mask blue beanie and so much more. If you are into departed celebrities, you can even find some which are created in their memory.

But, if you are the type who gives so much emphasis on creativity, uniqueness, and resourcefulness, then you should try making your own mask. The following are just some of your options in making your very own Halloween mask:

1. Improvised latex Halloween masks. Many people would agree that latex or hard plastic masks could be quite uncomfortable once worn. And why not? These are made from synthetic plastic materials and can even be harmful when not used properly. So if are not into wearing latex masks sold in specialty shops, you can create your very own latex inspired mask.

Here, you’ll be needing poster board or light weight cardboard, elastic or tongue depressor, and various embellishments to make the mask stand out. The instructions are quite simple, you need to cut the board with the shape of your face, cut it out, punch holes in each side of the mask and decorate it using various embellishments such as poster paints, feathers, glitter, and everything you wish to put in. The good thing about this is you can make your mask as scary and as ghoulish as you want it to be.

2. Simple paper and cloth masks. This is quite popular and easy to do because all you will be needing is a used cloth which can come from a used pillowcase or shirts, permanent markers, a pair of scissors, and lots of duck tape. Doing a paper and face mask is easy because all you have to do is lay the cloth flat and cut a hole in the center of the cloth. Afterwards, you need to take a piece of paper and draw the mask that you like. Then, turn the cloth inside out and lay the mask face down.

Using the duct tape, tape the sides of the mask down to the cloth and cut the eye holes. Let the duct tape grip the cloth and paper well then you can now decorate your Halloween mask using markers and other crafts and embellishments that you want to include.

3. Your very own printed mask. If you are not the type who is into work stuff such as cutting, pasting, and drawing, you can still make your very own Halloween costums mask through the use of computer. Today, there are so many sites, which offer Halloween mask patterns, which are ready for printing.

You can choose from a wide array of styles and characters depending on what or who would you want to portray. If you are knowledgeable on various computer programs and software such as Photoshop, you can design your very own Halloween costums mask and print it out.