Cast Your Vote For President by Wearing Your Candidate's Halloween Mask

Halloween and the Presidential Election come within a few days of each other this year. Is there any connection between the costumes people choose and the outcome of elections?

This year Halloween retailers are saying there is an explosion of orders for Barack Obama Masks, John McCain masks and Sarah Palin costumes. Since Obama and McCain basically wear suits, there is no real need for a complicated costume. A standard dress suit worn with a purchased mask does the trick.

Go online and look at pictures of your favorite presidential candidate. Pay close attention to the type of shoe, shirt and tie he typically wears. You might even want to add a campaign button to promote your favorite party.

A Sarah Palin costume consists of the "beehive" wig, glasses, and a campaign button. Depending on whether the purchaser is pro or con Palin, they might add some other touches. What are people saying when they don these costumes? Sarah Palin supporters will show her competency. A business suit, a tasteful brooch or simple necklace, and those hot high heeled shoes make a great costume for a Palin supporter. On the other hand, those wanting to spoof Palin are wearing a tiara, a beauty pageant ribbon, or they have her toting a gun for one of her legendary hunting trips. As they say, the accessories are everything.

With all the discussion about how to dress like the Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidates, it is worth looking at what those costume choices might actually mean. Halloween suppliers say sales of masks of presidential candidates have predicted the winner in the past several campaigns.

In the past three elections, nationwide sales of U.S. Presidential candidate masks revealed the winner days before general election results were in. In 2004 the Spirit Halloween Presidential Index showed George W. Bush masks outselling John Kerry masks at a rate of 65% to 35%. In 2000 the George W. Bush mask took 57% of the sales vs. 43% for Al Gore. And in 1996 Bill Clinton masks were 71% of the market vs. 29% for Bob Dole. A fluke or a real predictor?

The mask factor is good news for Obama so far. After the first month of Halloween 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain mask sales show Obama is leading at 67% while McCain has 33%. There is still a month until election day so anything can happen during that time.

Most important, regardless of which candidate you support, remember to "Get Out and Vote". Voting is a privilege in our society. Nothing is more important than casting your vote on election day. Remember, the election was decided in 2004 by an extremely small margin - every vote does make a difference. So support your favorite candidate by buying his mask for Halloween and then voting for him on November 4.

Dawn Szwec
Professional Market Researcher and Halloween Enthusiast, specializing in consumer research of Halloween trends. For your candidate, see the Barack Obama Mask or the John McCain or Sarah Palin Costumes.

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How to Make Halloween Masks Out of Paper Bags

This project is a great way to make Halloween masks for your kids without spending a fortune! I don't know about you but my child always yanked his mask off, so even if this occurs you are not losing a lot of money! These creative masks are all made from large paper bags, either from the grocery store, craft store, or dollar store and the bag has side gussets.

Materials:
Large paper bag with gussets: for the mask.
Colored thin card or colored construction paper: to make cats ears or flower petals.
Thick nibbed black felt pen: to outline features.
Various decorations: for individual masks.
Scissors: to cut ears and eyes, and any other shapes you desire.
Pencil: to create marks.
Glue: to adhere all of you features and decorations.

Basic Method:

For All Masks:
When creating any of these masks, first pull the paper bag over the head until it sits comfortably on the shoulders. Press the bag gently against the face of your child or whomever you are making the mask for. Mark lightly in soft pencil where nose and eyes go. Remove the bag and cut out a small pear shaped flap for the nose and two small slits for the eyes. If you cut correctly a child or spouse should be able to see out of them. Cut a slit or small opening for the mouth as well. You can now create any mask you want, make your own design and use your black felt pen to create lines, whiskers. Design different facial features on colored construction paper and glue onto your mask. For example if you decide to make a cat mask then you would draw, cat ears, eyes, and mouth on separate colored papers , cut them out and adhere them to your mask. You can now add pieces of fun fur and absolutely anything else you want.

Happy Halloween!

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Is is also a venue for artists to display and sell their art . Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited. Please visit the website at http://www.labedzki-art.com

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Halloween - Scary, Disgusting Masks!

Halloween evokes pictures of ghosts, ghouls, vampires and other blood curdling creatures. It kindles awe and fright and sets the heart thumping for fear of the unknown. The words Halloween and terror have always been synonymous. In keeping with the blood curdling horrific nature of the festival, revelers don Halloween scary disgusting masks and costumes that set the adrenaline flowing.

The origins of Halloween scary disgusting masks go back to old Celtic festival. Centuries back, winters were a time for hardship. The short days of winter were scary and the Pagans were afraid of venturing out in the dark as they believed that on Halloween when the mortal world merged with the afterworld, ghosts returned to the earth hovering around and looking for new bodies to live in.

To appease the angry spirits they would light bonfires, overseen by druids, and sacrifice animals. To protect themselves they would wear masks made from animal heads and move around incognito mimicking the dead spirits so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. From this practice was born Halloween scary disgusting masks.

This practice of wearing scary masks continued for centuries till pope Boniface IV declared Halloween to be a Christian holiday. Europeans continued with this tradition to ward off evil spirits. However, celebration of Halloween was considered to be a taboo by many in America till the twentieth century. For them it was an evil holiday. However around this time to curb vandalism among youngsters, parents went back to the Celtic practice of wearing masks on Halloween, which evoked fear, disgust and awe. In 1920, the town of Anoka, Minnesota, was the first to celebrate Halloween in full masked attire.

During the Celtic age, wearing of masks was a matter of life and death as the fear of the unknown enveloped all. However, with time Halloween masks have acquired new meaning. It is today a prop for fun and entertainment. Today the most popular masks are witch masks, werewolf masks and hockey masks. Little girls mostly wear witch masks to perform tricks. They are very colourful and scary and repulsive.

The werewolf mask owes its origin to the Greek mythology. Lycoan and his fifty sons tried to entertain Zeus by offering him a dish of human flesh. A disgusted and infuriated Zeus turned them into werewolves. The legend of werewolves spread to America with the immigrants and today millions of people, particularly children wear werewolf masks during Halloween.

The practice of wearing ghoulish hockey masks on Halloween is relatively new and owes its origin to the horror movie Friday the 13th.

Today Halloween scary disgusting masks made of latex, foam, and paper mache have lost their evil connotations and no longer inspire awe and terror. They are merely part of a costume donned by people who participate in Halloween merriment. These masks of witches, zombies, vampires, demons, mummies and skeletons worn at Halloween parties retain their scary and disgusting look but no longer terrorize us.

Do you love Halloween? Then visit the Halloween Fun and Games website where you can learn about Halloween Games, recipes and everything else to do with Halloween.

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New! Halloween Costume Ideas that can Find a Halloween Mask or Funny Halloween Costume Easily

Halloween costumes are what make Halloween a special scary night of horror and fun. Any child will wake up the next morning after Halloween night and the first question that will be on their mind, where's my Halloween candy? And what kind of Halloween costume do I want to have next year? The ability to wear a Halloween mask and transform yourself into something or someone else is the excitement of dressing up on Halloween night. Changing yourself into a scarecrow, monster, vampire, or some other new Halloween costume idea this is the most exciting part of Halloween night that you can enjoy and the most outrageous type of Halloween costume is better.

Where did Halloween masks and Halloween costumes start?

The wearing of Halloween masks and costumes started a long time ago. The Celts believed Halloween night brought out the spirits of the dead that would roam free among the living on the earth. Some spirits were fun and good and humorous and then on the darker side there would be some resentful and hostile ghosts that did not enjoy seeing the living enjoying the bounty of life in the land that once belonged to them that have already past to the next world. The Celtics would wear masks and disguises to hide themselves from these dangerous spirits by painting the thier faces with soot from which later evolved into the more distinguishable Halloween masks and costumes ideas of today's Halloween costumes. Not long after it also became custom that by imitating the spirits by dressing as skeletons or ghosts they would blend themselves in and not be seen by the bad spirits.

Halloween costume ideas and tips that can help

In this day and age there are hundreds of Halloween costumes to choose from there is a werewolf, vampire, Halloween witch, Halloween nurse or a mask and costume from the latest horror movie that is playing. Remember in the simplest form of all you need is a hockey mask and a knife or a scream mask to bring out the chills in anyone around. Remember how Michael Myers would make you wake up in the middle of the night with a sweat from the Halloween movie. Depending on who you want to be for Halloween might probably depend on two things firstly what character is your favorite and that you would like to portray and deciding how much are you willing to spend on your Halloween costume. If you research Halloween masks and costumes you will find simple inexpensive discount Halloween costumes, funny Halloween costumes or some very highly detailed costumes that you could spend hundreds of dollars on. If you'd like to keep it in the budget remember you can easily transform a regular discount Halloween costume with a little bit of Halloween makeup on your face with maybe some Halloween contact lenses to give that eerie appearance. If you're a creative person you can easily transform yourself with materials that are around your house which wouldn't take a lot of time and effort and cost you a lot less money. All you would need is a good Halloween costume idea some great effects can be caused with the everyday items are around you and some imaginative application of some Halloween makeup.

Advantages of using Halloween makeup for your Halloween costume

Depending on what you're trying to accomplishment Halloween makeup may allow you to transform yourself into another Halloween character better than buying a Halloween mask. By using makeup it can be less expensive and a lot safer for kids when Halloween trick-or-treating and not impairing their vision with a Halloween mask, also with the variety of Halloween makeup that is available you can create some fantastic Halloween affects. You can try Halloween makeup tips with some theatrical grease paint kits that have great colors that are very easily applied and can be removed at the end of the night hassle free. By using regular everyday makeup like eyeliner pencils, blush, lip liners, and eye shadows you can keep the cost down on your Halloween costume. If you are like some people and the last minute to decide on your Halloween costume and still don't know what you want to be for the Halloween evening here is a great tip, You can use some water-based paint with some cheap makeup application tools and some creative Halloween makeup ideas you will be able to paint your face that would be able to stand alone as a last-minute Halloween mask. You could paint your face green and goes the Incredible Hulk or maybe a Green goblin Halloween makeup idea that would work well even wearing your regular clothes.

Tips and ideas for Halloween masks

Makeup does not hold the magical power that a Halloween mask can. They have the ability that will transform you into another place and time whether you want to be a superhero or heroine. By starting with a Halloween costume idea you can be anybody or anything that you desire for one night of the year. From the beginning of time humans wore masks either to worship gods or spirits of the earth. With today's technology of the Internet you can search and see the variety of Halloween masks and that are available for your Halloween ideas from the Halloween witch and vampire to the ability to transfer yourself into a Halloween ballerina. If you want to try something very unique here is a trick for a Halloween masquerade mask that would be wonderful, take a every day plain mask a hot glue gun and beautiful things that you may find in nature like leaves or ferns, flower petals or maybe finding some beads that you would be able to put on it would make a wonderful mask.

Another regular item for this type a mask would be using bird feathers and creating a beak that would create a haunting bird mask. The Celtics would wear bird feathers at their annual samhaim festival and also by the Venetians in Venice Italy, make sure you do some research for your Halloween costume idea so that you can create a Halloween costume that will stand out from everyone else.

Daryl Plaza is a regular contributor to Spookynight.com, a website that has Halloween resources and ideas to create the perfect Halloween night.

http://www.spookynite.com

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