Happy Haunting!

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

The most wonderful time of the year is only a day away. No, not Christmas – Halloween! Halloween  is a wondrous time of the year and also comes with a few safety precautions. Here are some tips to help you on your night of tricks and treats.

1. Take Care of Animals

Hallow’s Eve is known as Mischief Night and a form of unforgivable mischief that people might perform is harming animals. With this being said, if you have a pet keep them inside for Hallow’s Eve. On Halloween, be sure to keep an eye out for them if you happen to be walking them through trick or treating hours or keep them away from the door when trick or treaters arrive. If you don’t have a pet, but you do notice some strays roaming around your neighborhood, either take them in or call the animal shelter. A safe animal is a happy animal, especially on Mischief Night and Halloween.

2. Watch Children

When a person has a child, it is their responsibility. Not yours, not your pets’, not anyone’s responsibility, but that parent. However, there are times when parents’ eyes tend to roam (to their cell phones or their environment) which gives way to their children breaking loose and running about. Children on Halloween are excited puppies – it’s a night of fun, treats, and costumes so naturally they’ll be running around.

If you happen to be driving on Halloween night, keep a careful eye out for children crossing the street or walking around your vehicle. If you happen to have any steps or ledges leading up to your home, watch the children come and go so that they don’t trip, fall, or jump off.  If you want to prevent children from jumping off the ledges of your home, Walmart, Party City, and even Spirit Halloween sell Halloween fences to block off the area so they cannot leap from the ledge.

Trust me, as a woman whose house has a ledge that kids like to jump off of especially during Halloween, those fences are incredibly useful.

3. Beware of Loose Candy

Seriously, why is there loose candy to begin with? By loose candy I mean candy that is unwrapped, bitten into, and/or tampered with. If you see someone handing out candy like this, refuse it or throw it away. Also, don’t be the house that gives out fruit (unless it’s coated in chocolate or caramel). It’s Halloween, children don’t want apples or pears they want Almond Joys and Pixie Sticks. Let them have their sugar rush and return to the healthy foods another day.

4. Don’t Rush

Remember how I said children run around on Halloween? Sometimes they may trip over their costumes or even their own feet. This being said, approach trick or treating like life and take it slow and easy. There is no need to rush. In the end, you will receive a gratuitous amount of candy and no markings from falling or tripping.

5. Use a Flashlight

While it’s not completely pitch dark during trick or treating hours, a source of light is still good to have. Most houses usually leave their lights on or have illuminated their yards with lights for the spirit of the season and trick or treating, but you can’t linger around those houses forever. Carry a flashlight with you to light the way, especially on pavements that are old and have unexpected rises and drops.  Plus you get to see everyone’s costumes and other people that are coming your way so you can avoid bumping into them.


6. Have Fun

Trick or treating is a momentous occasion in both a parent’s life and a child’s. For a parent, to see their child dressed up in a costume is adorable and heartwarming. For children, trick or treating is their mecca; it’s their one night of paradise that they always look forward to. So let them dress up in whatever they want, take photographs, form traditions, let them stay up a little later than normal, and let them have fun.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, subscare – I mean, subscribe, and share.

So tell me, what are your plans for Halloween?

Safe for St.Patrick

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Tuesday is St.Patrick’s Day aka a day to get completely smashed and regret it the next day. The color green is everywhere on people, in food, in drinks, and on the most notable icons of this holiday, a shamrock and a leprechaun. Traditional foods like shepard’s pie and corned beef are commonly served at restaurants on this holiday, but everyone more so remembers this as a day to get hammered.

If you’re going to drink this St.Patrick’s Day or any day, here’s some things you shouldn’t do with your drink.

5. Carry it

If you’re drunk you’re losing a few things: your lunch (possibly), your speech, your mind, and coordination. When you carry your drink you might be like me and unintentionally spill it all over the place.  The smell of alcohol may be easy to get rid of on your breath, but on clothes and furniture it is a pain, especially for other people.

4. Sneak it

Because apparently that gets you into trouble and people may not like alcohol around them. Some recovering alcoholics may actually hate the smell let alone sight of a cold one. If you’re under 21, then naturally if you’re caught sneaking alcohol you’re going to get into severe trouble not only with the law as well.


3.  Force it

Yes, you want to be the life of the party, the center of attention, and generally have a good time. Having a good time at a party or bar is something everyone expects to have and there’s nothing wrong with it. But if you know your alcohol limit and have reached it, do not force yourself to fit that role. Surpassing your alcohol limit could lead to alcohol poisoning, vomiting, and feeling terrible.


2. Leave it

Because it could be spiked! People like to slip roofies or any other drug into others’ drinks which leads to some extremely negative results. Some results include getting sick, sexual assault, and many others. If you know you’re going to leave your drink temporarily then order a new one to save yourself from a nightmare.


1. Spike it

Spiking a drink is never good. Yes, at times it’s often used as a comedic act in movies where someone spikes the punch bowl at a party to liven it up or just spikes someone’s drink. In real life when someone spikes your drink, it usually leads to a terrible time (see #2).

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it feel free to comment, share, and critique.

So, what do you enjoy about St.Patrick’s Day?

Black Cats Prowl on Halloween

Greetings everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Halloween is represented by many different icons that we've come to know and love. Some of these icons include witches, ghosts, pumpkins, and black cats. The black cat is mostly noted for being a bringer of bad luck. It is also known for being rather adorable.

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Because of their stigma, people tend to treat these cats differently. For starters, they aren’t adopted as much. In movies like Hocus Pocus and horror films, there are black cats everywhere. When people see them interacting with the villains, they automatically associate the creature as evil. This way of thinking is entitled ‘Black Cat Syndrome’. To help black cats find a new home, shelters offer some days where people can adopt them at a cheaper rate, or make it a two for one deal.  

Speaking of adoption, there is a new trend surrounding these particular felines. Around this time of the year, black cats are adopted tremendously. For the cats being taken to a home with a loving family, it’s fantastic.  They’re finally out of the shelter and are able to begin a new life  - or so it seems. No sooner Halloween is over, they are returned to the shelter with the reason of “it didn't work out.” Not only does it diminish the cat’s hope for a new life, it gives them trust issues for the future. People have taken up this horrible habit because they believe having a real black cat for Halloween would be the cat's pajamas. Instead of buying black cat décor, they opt for one at an animal shelter. They take the creature home to fit the Halloween scene and return it no sooner the holiday is finished.

However, there are those who go to the extremes when it comes to black cats. Due to their negative connotation of evil, people will go out of their way to torture these poor animals. Some are sacrificed while others are just tormented because of their stigma. To avoid this and adopting black cats for Halloween, shelters have created various methods for protecting them. They will scrutinize the family, inform them of how to keep their black cat safe around this time of the year, and even postpone adopting black cats for the month of October, if not earlier.

It’s a shame, honestly. In the past these beautiful animals were seen as royalty to the Egyptians, luck to the Scottish, and protection to the sailors. While some are lucky to belong to a loving family, others face the torment of man.  Why anyone would want to harm these adorable creatures is beyond me.

At one point in my life, I was fortunate to own a black cat named Kitty. She came crawling to our door on Halloween and we couldn’t turn her down, not with the possible idea of her being tortured. She lived for a long time as a happy, healthy feline who loved her cat treats. 

May everyone enjoy this Halloween, including your pets. Keep them safe and give them a few suitable treats.