lmemsm

Celebrating Halloween all alone? Here are some ideas and brainstorms.

First, I'd like to invite you take the Halloween Holiday Tour. It's only accessible in October.
You can find a link to it here:
http://www.distasis.com/write

If you'd like to create your own Halloween interactive adventures electronically, here are some
of the many Free, Libre and Open Source options out there:
https://playfic.com/
http://twinery.org/
https://www.alanif.se/
http://www.tads.org/index.htm
http://www.trizbort.com/

Some also allow you to create web pages without needing to be a web designer:
http://textadventures.co.uk/squiffy
http://textadventures.co.uk/quest/
http://inform7.com/

This lets you create your own mobile apps:
https://appinventor.mit.edu/

You can also practice programming and create a storyline with these tools:
https://scratch.mit.edu/
http://www.alice.org/get-alice/storytelling-alice/

If you create your own Halloween adventure and it's not too scary, feel free to let me know about it:
http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm
I'd love to hear about any Free, Libre, Open Source, Creative Commons or public domain resources for Halloween. Treat it as a scavenger or treasure hunt and try to find some of your own or help create some new ones and share them with everyone.

The Halloween Holiday Tour has several ideas for celebrating Halloween plus links to activities, so I don't want to repeat that here. What else can I cover? I have seen some interesting web sites that mention favorite music and movies to watch for Halloween, so I'll share some of mine at this time.

I like classical Halloween music such as Night on Bald Mountain. I'm in the process of transcribing it to ABC notation so I can create a midi file of it. I also like Loreena McKennit's music. Some of her songs are based on public domain music or lyrics. I took some of my favorite Halloween themed songs from various music I own and put together my own Halloween playlist. You can find free software to work with music and create your own music CDs as part of this list on Open Source software:
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/osrclist.htm

As far as Halloween TV shows and videos, some of my favorites suitable for all ages are:
Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
Charlie Chan: Meeting at Midnight
Wishbone: The Legend of Creepy Collars
Legion of Superheroes season 1 episode 4 Fear Factory
Voyagers! episode 4
Spooky House
Thunder and the House of Magic
Check your local libraries for them.
You can find the Charlie Chan video online at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/CharlieChanBlackMagicMeetingAtMidnight
If you run across others, suitable for any age, feel free to let me know. I may add them to the list.

I'll definitely be doing some baking this Halloween. What's Halloween without some treats to go with the tricks? Haven't decided what's on my menu yet, but there will definitely be some homemade baked goods. I also like magic tricks on Halloween. You can check out some public domain magic books for ideas: https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/13112.html

Here is a 1917 recipe book that includes some ideas for celebrating Hallowe'en:
https://books.google.com/books?id=TeEqAAAAYAAJ
Here is a 1911 magazine that gives some menu ideas including a recipe for soul cakes on page 28 of the October 26th issue:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi4xAQAAMAAJ

In previous years, one of our local parks held a wonderful annual Halloween event. Will miss it this year. They showcased some of their animals. Some of their holidays decorations were really clever. You can try these at home. They took tennis balls and decorated them with pumpkin faces. They even sprayed some orange. They cut out the back of old gallon milk containers and put tea lights in them. They used markers to decorate faces on them. They provided a nice glow toward evening.

Our Wellness Department at work mentioned virtual staycations and here was one of the links they shared:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/disney-vacations/virtual-disney-park-rides-worldwide
The Mystic Manor video looked like a lot of fun and very appropriate for Halloween.

Halloween is when the walls between the worlds grow thin and spirits of the Underworld walk the earth. For some cultures, Halloween is a wonderful time to remember ancestors and family no longer with us. What ways do you remember family members at this time?

Haven't tried an escape room yet. However, I did read that one of the libraries shared a digital escape room that might be fun for Halloween:
https://ptlibrary.org/hogwarts-digital-escape-room/

Halloween Comic Fest celebrates comic books once a year. This year they're offering older comic books in electronic format in their Throwback Thursday articles:
https://www.halloweencomicfest.com/EventNews
You can also check if there are any comic book stores participating in Halloween Comic Fest virtually this year.

Have some of your own kid-friendly Halloween rituals to continue celebrating at home this year? Please share them and help brainstorm some positive and safe ways to enjoy the holiday.