Customer Reviews

Handmade Halloween

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Halloween plus Handmade usually equals my kind of book, but this isn't it. Nothing featured even caught my attention in this run-of-the-mill Halloween how-to. The three chapters presented focus on haunting up your house, making jack o'lanterns, and preparing costumes. I was really disappointed in the crafts featured (luminarias, tissue paper ghosts, cutout garlands...) and the costume suggestions were worn out even when this book was published in 1999 (a red riding hood cape, a witch, skeleton on a sweatsuit...)

Save your money and find something a little more inspiring like Bethany Lowe's Folk Art Halloween or Halloween: The Best of Martha Stewart Living.

I know this is OOP, but just in case someone else is considering it... If I had kids, the things that would have made this book worth the (used) purchase price would be two of the felt costumes (devil (on cover) & skeleton). Because I live in Michigan, and it has occasionally snowed here on - or just before - Halloween, I think the idea of costumes with cozy hoods (made out of fleece instead of felt) and sweats would be a great idea. Sadly, that's the extent of usable projects.

At least one project (lampshade) is only a Halloween project because it's black & orange. Make it any other color, and it's just a lampshade. There is actually a project for "tissue paper ghosts" and trick-or-treat items that are a handful of jelly beans wrapped in cheesecloth or paper napkins. Even if you live in the kind of town where parents will allow their kids to accept unwrapped treats, a handful of jelly beans?

Most of the projects are things that would please a child, but aren't crafts for children to make. Another reviewer mentioned the fact that only one of the recipes has a photo. I could go on. What's kind of freaky is that I've seen projects very similar to many of these in other magazines; however, I don't know which came first.

First I start with what I did like in the book and that was the decorations,wether it was for keepsakes or temperarely projects,they are nice and fun to do.The recepies however were not halloween minded enough to my liking and of the 18 recepies there was only 1 with picture.Surely as this is a book "full" of ideas they could have shared more ideas on how to present the food.Plenty of pictures though of the costumes wich I found very childish.Granted,they are childrens costumes but they lacked imaganation I thought.It's a shame that there aren't any costumeideas for adults in the book.There's a great book on my bookshelf about decorating your house for halloween and that is 'Halloween decorating'by Arts & Crafts for Home Decorating.Its less childish than Handmade Halloween.ISBN 0-86573-415-1.It was rewarded with the Benjamin Franklin Award and is clearly the best book on Halloween crafts I have yet seen.