30 Not-So-Scary Halloween Movies

With the Halloween season fast approaching, like many people, you may be planning to celebrate with some snack-filled movie nights. Only thing is, you're looking for something a little more fun than frightening. You have children to consider when making your selection, or perhaps you just aren't big on scares and prefer something a bit more safe. Well, look no further! This list of not-so-scary Halloween movies are sure to fit the bill! While it still may be wise to research language or level of intensity for small children, for the most part you can trust that these movies won't have you up all night wondering what's lurking in the shadows.

01. It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
02. Mad Monster Party
03. Garfield's Halloween Adventure
04. The Addams Family
05. Halloweentown
06. Hotel Transylvania
07. Hocus Pocus
08. Scary Godmother: Halloween Spectacular
09. Ghostbusters
10. Beetlejuice
11. Casper
12. The Corpse Bride
13. Young Frankenstein
14. Scooby-Doo
15. Igor
16. Monster House
17. The Nightmare Before Christmas
18. ParaNorman
19. The Monster Squad
20. The Worst Witch
21. The Haunted Mansion
22. Frankenweenie
23. Coraline
24. The Witches
25. Bugs Bunny's Howl-Oween Special
26. The Halloween Tree
27. The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad
28. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
29. Alvin & The Chipmunks Meet The Wolfman
30. When Good Ghouls Go Bad

Are there any good ones that we missed? Feel free to comment with your own suggestions!

Fall & Halloween Decor at the Dollar Tree

If you haven't noticed, we're smack dab in the middle of the summer season, but while some are taking note of all the back to school supplies making its way onto the shelf, some of us holiday fruit cakes are all about Christmas in July. In fact, every year one of the things I look forward to most is watching Christmas In July on QVC (airing July 17-19) and the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament launch (which took place this past weekend). At the same time, we are also starting to see a bit of Fall and Halloween merchandise making its way to the shelves of select stores.

One such store that is getting a jump start is the Dollar Tree. Now anyone who knows me understands that I am all about a bargain and the Dollar Tree is one of the best places to pick up holiday decor on a budget. Every season I look forward to seeing what new goodies they'll put out, and so far, so good this season! I saw quite a few of these items in my local stores this weekend and was especially impressed with their selection of fall floral. Some very nice, high quality pieces for making arrangements on the cheap.

While I'm not quite ready to do any serious Fall decorating quite yet, I couldn't help but pick up this little white ceramic pumpkin for my desk. I really love a variety of pumpkin colors, so I thought the whole set was pretty nice and I plan to get a couple more next time I stop in. The little country burlap style pumpkins are very cute as well!





I am also looking forward to checking out the new Tombstone Corners village pieces, which they previewed in their latest catalog. It's a great way to stock up on village accessories for a fraction of the cost of other village sets. Not to mention, they are great for other craft projects.


Here are a few other items available, which are all cute. I especially like the hangers with the burlap and the pinwheels for the yard. You can find more information on these items here.

Ten Months 'Til Christmas!

It's exactly 10 months until Christmas Day! So, what did I do to mark this dubious occasion? Today I stopped into our San Diego mega Christmas store, City Lights, to see what was cooking. Having never truly gotten over Christmas passing, I was more than a little excited to surround myself in a plethora of yuletide trappings. We practically had the place to ourselves too. It's a fairly large store, though not quite as big as Bronner's in Michigan (near where we used to live). I am just grateful we have a place like this in San Diego at all...I think it may be the only one in all of California that is this big.

The owners really focus on certain brands and collectibles, so some of it's very pricey, but just beautiful to look at. I couldn't help but notice that the Christmas trees were decorated especially beautiful right now...I was very inspired! They also have an amazing Dept. 56 display, only part of which did I take a photo of. I could just look at that thing for hours! I love the Halloween room too, but it was especially nice to see some of the Easter decor, as I've never been in the store this time of year. Here are some photos I took while there...



This was the display located at the entrance just as you walk into the store. Such Olde World charm!

I fell head over heels for these pink, white and mint green flocked trees.


I really thought this tropical tree with parrots was unique!

Ahhh Dept. 56 display...I love imagining what it would be like to live in one of these villages.


I adore this scene with Santa and Mrs. Claus dancing on the ice. How romantic! :)

They also had some beautiful Easter merchandise out! I love especially loved the stuffed Easter carousel figures and Santa as the Easter Bunny.




Can't forget about a little Halloween either...such a fun room to explore, full of all kinds of strange and wonderful things! I especially loved the vintage style glitter houses, similar to the Putz kind you see for Christmas.

New Holiday CD Releases 11/19/13