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Fall Photo Tips

Whether you photographing pumpkins, leaves or little ghosts and goblins, you’ll want to take note of the following tips to ensure your seasonal shots come out looking simply spectacular: Jack-o-lanterns After spending hours carving a prize-winning jack-o-lantern, you’ll want to document it in the best light possible. The trick to getting a stellar shot of your pumpkin is to turn off your flash. That may seem like an odd tip, but the problem with most cameras is that the flash pops automatically, especially if it’s dark. Since the tone of the flash is cold compared to the warm glow from … Continue reading →

Teens Banned from Trick-or-Treating

Parents in Belleville, Illinois will have to find some other way to entertain their teens tomorrow night now that the mayor has banned high school students from trick-or-treating. Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert signed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting any child who has completed the 8th grade from trick-or-treating on Halloween. The mayor says the move comes after his office received dozens of complaints from residents, who were sick of having teenagers ring their doorbells late on Halloween night. “We were hearing more and more about bigger kids knocking on doors after 9 at night, and the people who lived in the … Continue reading →

Halloween, the Economy and Your Family

Oprah Winfrey just devoted an entire show to the best money lessons you can teach your kids in these troubling economic times. The show featured tips on how to tell overindulged children that the spending needs to stop—-NOW. Financial guru Suze “tell-it-like-it-is” Orman was back scolding Oprah’s chosen families about how their reckless spending helped drive our economy straight into the dumpster. Though, as I watched the program I wondered how much of Orman’s advice was falling on deaf ears. After all, while Orman was chastising parents for overindulging their kids, the National Retail Federation was releasing information they gathered … Continue reading →

Do Your Teens Still Go Trick-or-Treating?

Exactly how old is too old to be wandering around a neighborhood dressed as a werewolf, ringing doorbells in an effort to score mountains of free candy? Some parents believe that you are never too old to celebrate Halloween… my mom being a prime example. She could care less if a horde of teens pulls into her driveway (in a vehicle driven by one of the masked hooligans) and stumbles up her walkway while pulling on the one and only item that resembles anything close to an actual costume (in some cases a Freddy Krueger mask paired with the same … Continue reading →

Parental Bargaining on Halloween

“Mmmm… Mommy!” Chomp. Chomp. “Mmmm… mmm… ” Chomp. “Yum!” “Mommy, this… ” Swallow. “This is better than chocolate!” –My 4-year-old daughter after eating her first Fig Newton. Now you see why I warmly embrace the whole non-edible goodie giveaway on Halloween night. My daughter is by no means a candyaholic and would happily choose a bowl of fresh fruit or a Fig Newton over a chocolate peanut butter cup or lollipop any day. (I consider this due reward for having birthed a child who didn’t sleep through the night until she was almost 3.) On Halloween my daughter would rather … Continue reading →

Parents Who Don’t Give Out Candy on Halloween

I’m not referring to curmudgeonly Mr. Wilson who thinks Halloween is just another way to get scammed by neighborhood rugrats. Nor am I referring to parents who are opposed to the holiday all together and prefer to celebrate All Saints Day with their children instead. I am referring to parents such as my neighbor whose son is diabetic. Each year she hangs an “Ask Me For Non-Sugar Treats” poster on her front door (you can download a poster at the Institute for Applied Biomedicine’s website) and offers a slew of alternative treats to kids who prefer something other than traditional … Continue reading →

Halloween Candy Competition Among Parents

There’s one in every neighborhood—-the home where you know you can score a king-size candy bar on Halloween as opposed to those tiny fun-size bars (which are really not all that “fun” unless you can cram 10 in your mouth at one time). King-size candy bars came courtesy of the Duerr family in my neighborhood. They had five kids, which explains a lot in terms of their generosity (with that many kids they were used to hosting half the neighborhood on a daily basis) and their choice of premium chocolate (one Halloween they handed out regular-size bars of Ghirardelli Chocolate … Continue reading →

Halloween Candy—Yours, Mine, Ours

How many pieces of candy do you allow your children to devour on Halloween night? My parents had a strict seven-piece limit, which was imposed as soon as we returned home with our haul. Of course, that rule never sat well with my older brother, who devised his own counter-plan, whereby he stuffed as many snack-sized candy bars in his mouth as possible while roaming the neighborhood. So much for parental control. Ironically, once he became a parent himself my brother suddenly saw the benefit of placing restrictions on candy consumption. These days he allows his young son the privilege … Continue reading →

Parents and Halloween: Scary Stuff!

What’s the Halloween game plan at your house? The holiday yields a litany of opportunities to exercise parental control beginning with the type of costume your child wears down to the type of candy you hand out to other people’s children. Then, there’s the decision between parents as to who stays behind to dole out candy and who shepards the mini ghouls and goblins around the neighborhood. And, perhaps, the toughest call to make as parent on Halloween: How much candy to allow your kids to eat on the big day before gathering up the sugary haul and locking it … Continue reading →

Autumn Recipes: G is for Ghoulish Goulash

By the looks of the racks at Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us if you don’t already have your child’s Halloween costume you might be out of luck. Like it or not Halloween has turned into a season rather than a single day. Years back I tried to fight it. I resisted the temptation to give into the hype and start celebrating the holiday prior to the last week in October, but these days people start prepping for Halloween in late August. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I guess. Hence, this next recipe. If you are looking for … Continue reading →