Costume Parties once a mainstay of fashionable society are now more or less seasonal events, relegated to the time around Mardi Gras and naturally Halloween. In Britain, fancy dress parties are a bit more common and are often used to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries or have a common theme like cocks and hens or Tarts and Vicars.

In the United States, in almost every region, the celebration of Halloween is synonymous with dressing up. Children have parties at school and in the local communities, in addition to the annual pilgrimage for candy known as Trick-r-Treat. Selecting a costume is a time honored tradition and some are store bought or homemade but every year is chance for self expression.

For adults, Halloween is a time to embrace their inner child and be someone else if just for one night. Many adult related costume parties during the Halloween season will be themed, as in ghouls and goblins, famous characters, old Hollywood, to name a few. Halloween costume parties are also a great way for organizations to fund raise. Costume parties are fun and exciting and offer an organization with a ready made reason to have a party.

No one is exactly certain why Halloween became a time known for dress up and costume parties. Some scholars and Halloween buffs think it was a combination of traditions, which include Europeans processing through their towns in ceremonial dress, some urban American traditions from the turn of the century, and the general Celtic tradition of “fairy pranks” perpetrated by young boys on Halloween night.

Regardless of its origin and its connection to Halloween, costume parties are fun, fanciful and a great way celebrate the autumn holiday in style. It is just fun for people of all ages.

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Friday, September 5, 2008

Plan a baby gift shower for adopted mothers

Many times an adopted mother is overlooked and doesn't get a baby gift shower Yet adopted mothers work hard to have that bundle of joy. She has to take classes. She has to go through intense interviews. She has to have every aspect of her life questioned and examined. All of this shows how much she wants this baby girl or baby boy. Doesn't she deserve a baby shower, just like mothers who give birth do?

How do you go about planning one? You plan one like you would an ordinary baby shower, with a few exceptions. Here are a few suggestions on how you can plan a baby gift shower for an adopted mother. First, start with the invitations. In the invitations, you are lucky because you can add the announcement of the age and sex of the child she adopted. This makes gift buying easier on the guests. You can also add suggestions on gifts that they could buy, if you have some ideas. Now start planning the shower itself. Buy food. Buy some decorations. Prepare some games to play.

The food is easy. Prepare some easy items that you think mother and the guests will love. Games are a little harder for a baby gift shower for an adopted mother, since the mother all ready has the baby. This leaves out the popular toilet paper game involving the belly of the expectant mother. But if the child is an infant there are still tons of baby related games left, such as guess the baby food, which team can change dolly's diaper first, etc.

As for party favors, you may want to make sure each party guest has a picture of the new addition to the mother's family. I am sure being a new mother, the newly adopted mother has tons of them and would love to have her favorite or favorites copied to hand out to her friends.

The main reason to have a baby gift shower for an adopted mother is to make sure she realizes how happy her friends and family are that she has realized her dream.

Labels: Baby Shower, baby shower games, plan a baby shower