Time flies, as we all know, and the closer you get to Halloween, the less selection you'll have to choose from.

Have a browse around the Get In Costume website for lots of costume ideas, and sign up over on the right hand side of the page to get your free copy of my Family Guide to Halloween Safety.

Now that "costume season" is getting close, I'll be posting regularly again so subscribe to the RSS feed and check back regularly for new articles.

Choose a theme, have a costume contest, with perhaps several categories and prizes. Decorate the heck out of your home. Plan the food, themes and contests well ahead of time, and if you're going to have any audio-visual entertainment of any kind running, make sure you do several run-throughs and that everything goes off as desired.

Consider making your food themed, and perhaps having a witch's cauldron from which to drink. A further note about alcohol: while not wanting to stifle anyone's fun, you would do well to see to it that everyone at your party drinks responsibly, as you REALLY don't want Frankenstein to get in an accident on the way back to the castle, as the cruel finger of liability could point back to your castle! Just a word of caution!

What are some of your ideas for an adult Halloween party? Leave a comment and share in the fun!

For the uninitiated, Venom from Spiderman 3 is half Eddie Brock, the former journalist with questionable ethics and half alien symbiot. One side is out to get Peter Parker, the other Spider-Man. Combined he is Venom, the worst kind of enemy! It's hard to know what he's up to at any given time! The costume from the movie was railed on by some Spiderman purists, but all that's water under the bridge now, and Venom is all set to assault Halloween!

Coming up with a Venom costume for this Halloween should be no problem, and you'll have several ways to go with this. If you just want to purchase one and be done with it all, then you'll be able to find it fairly easily both online and off, with prices ranging from $25 to $50 generally. There are some quality differences, and some of the pants on some of the children's costumes in particular are looser fitting than Venom might wear, so look carefully. Do a specific search online for "Venom Spiderman 3 Halloween costume" and you find dozens of outlets from which to shop.

If you'd like to make your own Venom costume, then start with some black tights, possibly then stenciling on the chest designs and some of the spider webs on the head, arms and feet. Use a black skull cap and accentuate the eyes with paint or makeup. Ballet shoes or regular shoes covered with oversized black socks will do nicely.

If you'd like to do a combination of the two, you might come up with the body of the costume on your own and then purchase some of the harder to fashion accessories, such as the Venom head mask, Venom boot covers, and Venom gloves. This will take the most difficult pieces off your plate and make life generally easier!

One of the best parts about portraying Venom this year will be inhabiting the character. Make sure to try and stay true to the villain's ways and use as much of his methods of communication as possible. One cool thing would be if you happen to have two children, or two close friends, one could go as Spiderman and one as Venom, and they could do battle all night! Just make sure to keep a close rein on them if they carry the battles too far or out into the street! Also limit the fighting over the candy! 

This year could well see a battle of epic proportions hit the streets this Halloween, as both Spiderman and Venom will be vying for supremacy. Join in the fun and make this Halloween one they'll truly remember!

The Planning Guide has all kinds of fun ideas for family-oriented Halloween activities, games, snacks, costumes and lots more. If you're trying to think up activities for your kids for Halloween, beyond just the usual trick-or-treating, you'll find plenty of inspiration in this guide.

If you've already signed up to receive the Halloween Safety Guide, you've probably already received an email with the details for downloading the Planning Guide. If you haven't signed up for either one, you can get them both by signing up over to the right ——————->

Dripping blood, bloodcurdling screams and perhaps a rotting corpse are all fun things to have around this time of year! You might rig a drip from your doorway eaves to a bucket near the door, using colored water to collect in the bucket, which you come and collect to reuse later. You could have screams recorded and playing all night, as well as many other spooky sounds, like creaky doors, a frightening dialogue, ("Have you seen those children?!? They look pretty tasty to me!!") or a scary music soundtrack.

Consider putting a bloodied up chainsaw near the door. Take care to disable it so it cannot be used.

Bones, skeletons and skulls are lovely decorations to make your entranceway an inviting and warm haunt.

Perhaps a foggy welcome, using a fog machine or a dry ice concoction would be in order. Take care to make sure you use dry ice safely, as it can cause burns. (But it's so dang fun!)

A bubbling cauldron (preferably not hot!) will add a witch's touch to your proceedings.

Dotting your landscape with a few well-thought out tombstones can't hurt!

Have goblins flying over your home. Put light sticks into black balloons and tether them over your house. This will only work well if it's pretty dark and there is really little to no wind.

Spider webs can give any house a creepy look.

These are but a few ideas. What are some of your favorites?

Usually, medium-sized pumpkins are best for carving. Try and find prospects that have few nicks or cuts, have no bruises and are robustly orange, indicating ripeness. Try not to carry a pumpkin by its stem, as it can easily snap off, leaving you with no handle! If this does happen, however, consider using the bottom as your opening.

If you're using a stencil for making your design, make sure your pumpkin is large enough to accommodate it. If you're going to do this freehand, at least do yourself a favor and sketch out what you intend beforehand, so you don't end up going through several pumpkins! There are a few items to have on hand: a good paring knife and a good boning knife, a few spoons of varying sizes for gutting the pumpkin and candle holders for the eventual lighting job.

Take your time in choosing the right pumpkins for your Halloween decorations. Then take as much time in planning the carving and you'll soon find yourself staring at great looking Jack O' Lanterns this year!  

Originally conceived as a holiday to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown, the holiday was celebrated on November 1.  It was known by several names, including All Hallows Eve, All Hallowmas, All Saints, or All Souls Day.

The American version of Halloween owes its roots to the ancient Druid folk festival called "Samhain" (pronounced sow-in) which was celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. This was a feast of the dead which signified the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Magic and faerie activity were a big part of all this, and the Celts even had a God of the dead named Gwynn ap Nudd, and Arawn for the Welsh peoples. The Irish didn't have their own death god.  Many of the customs we now associate with modern day Halloween are actually remnants of Druid traditions as well as their Roman conquerors.

Samhain was a three day festival in which the dead were to be celebrated and revered, and in fact communicated with during their journey to the other side. It was not so much an occasion of dread and death as it was about communing with one's lost loved ones. Of course, the ghostly connections with Halloween make perfect sense when viewed in this light.

It's only been in modern times that fear and paranoia has played a role in Halloween activities. What's your take on Halloween? What does it mean to you?

Let's examine how to come up with the female version of Barbara Eden's "I Dream of Jeanie" in a simple and inexpensive way. Firstly, you need to know that you can buy a very nice version of this costume online or off for not very much money, usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-$35. That said, and you still want to make your own, you can do it for less than that and also toss in some creative ideas all your own!

Some of the essentials will be satin PJ bottoms, preferably oversized and flowing. Red, is good, and so is purple or pink. (Shades of pink were the prominent colors in Eden's costumes.) A bikini top or midriff bare halter with matching hat with long veil would be best, in the appropriate color schemes. If you're not trying to match the TV genie exactly, (and 99% of kids today probably haven't seen it!) then your choices regarding colors, materials and extras are opened up considerably. Other accessories you might consider could include a genie bottle, or a genie bottle actually attached to the bottom of your costume, as if you're emerging from it. (Take care to make sure the Genie can walk easily!), tassels and some costume jewelry.

If you and your young boy genie are into an Aladdin style theme, then of course you'll want to follow the Genie in the movie carefully. These Genie costumes are available online and in the store for around $35, for a fully muscled, blue masked version of the movie genie. If you'd like to attempt this one yourself, get lots of blue material, newspaper for muscle stuffing, and if you don't want to buy a mask then face painting your child blue and spiking their hair into a point may prove a challenge, as well as a lot of fun! Give yourself plenty of time, and be sure to do a dry run on the makeup and hair on a night prior to Halloween. You want to make sure you can do this. Again, accessories like genie bottles and perhaps some sort of genie smoke might be fun.

Whichever way you choose to go, just know that constructing your own genie costumes for Halloween are not only doable, but a lot of fun as well.  Just make sure one of your wishes is for lots of fun this Halloween!

How about Michael Vick, leading (one of) his dead dogs behind him on a leash? (Fake dog, of course!) This one will be around awhile. And if he's not back playing football by then, he'll definitely be looking for new work which is another angle to play on!

How about Lindsay Lohan's rehab counselor, carrying around Lindsay's mugshot, looking for her? This looks like it will be in the news awhile too.

How about Hilary Clinton, stumping for grass-roots support, or possibly looking for Bill?

Nicole Richie in prison pregnancy garb.

You get the idea. Be topical, be timely and above all don't be afraid to poke a little fun. If they are a very recognizable celebrity, you might even want to don that Hilary or W mask, available at almost any Halloween shop or online. Just remember the key idea here is to have fun! What are some of your ideas you'd like to share?

The simplest way by far is if you happen to be near 300+ pounds, and have a spare loincloth hanging around, you can simply don your best Sumo wrestler hairdo (black, tied back in a ponytail) and head out into the night, trying not to frighten the wee ones too much.

Since the aforementioned scenario won't work for most of us, let's look at the available alternatives. If you'd like to make your own Sumo outfit, here's an easy way. First get some tights or sweats. A larger size of tights that you can ruin, preferably flesh colored, will do nicely. Then stuff the empty Sumo suit with newspaper to achieve the desired fullness of character. Why newspaper, you ask? Well, crumpled newspaper is light, and not nearly as hot as foam, cloth, batting or any other filler material you can think of. You don't want a sweaty Sumo, do you? (nor does anyone else!) Then affix a loincloth to the appointed area, and find some suitable footwear, either black loafers, ballet shoes, or even flip-flops. Tie your hair back, or if you wear a wig, fashion it to the proper Sumo wrestler look, that signature black, ponytail look. Perhaps a little eye makeup and you're out the door, ready for a few takedowns!

If you have a little money to spend, you might consider purchasing a ready-made Sumo wrestler Halloween costume. They range from about $29 to $60, and are available online and at more extensive Halloween retail shops. The advantage here is that they are cooler, and have the whole stuffing thing already taken care of.  Some of them range from somewhat realistic to Incredible Hulkish, with severely defined musculature. You'll need to decide just how real or unreal you wish to be. The advantages to shopping online like this are many. There are many choices for both adults and children in this area, and you can have your costumes shipped to you fast. It might be difficult to find a Sumo wrestler Halloween costume in a local shop, so I'd take the online route.

Part of the fun of this kind of Halloween costume is the play-acting that goes along with it. Your Sumo wrestler could be a fearsome giant, a gentle oaf, or a scared neophyte wrestler full of insecurities. You decide, and play it to the hilt! Be very careful about actually wrestling with anyone, though you may be asked to. Not only could it mess up your pretty costume, someone could get hurt!

A Japanese Sumo wrestler Halloween costume is not that hard to come by, and can make for a fun and unique evening!