Want to play a game with a few like-minded individuals, but don’t want to devote six hours to a round of Vampire: The Masquerade? Here are a few suggestions for card- and board games with zombie, ghost, or vampire themes.

Zombie Fluxx – A riff on the popular Fluxx card game, but with zombies. Their expansion pack includes a flamethrower, plus new art of zombies like a ballerina and a boy scout.

Dia de Los Muertos – A trick-taking card game in which you send animals, then children, then adults on to the afterlife.

Dracula – A two-player board game in which Dracula looks for victims, van Helsing is looking for vampire coffins, and each must battle the minions of the other.

Zombiegeddon – Armageddon starts tonight. Spend the first half of the game trying to gather supplies, and the second half trying to survive the zombies.

Ghost Chase – Ghost hunters explore a haunted mansion, trying to find the ghost. The hunters can collaborate if they wish, but only one can win by capturing the ghost.

Dawn Under – This is a memory-type game in which vampires search for vacant graves to occupy before the sun rises. If they open a tomb which already has an occupant or contains garlic, they are penalized.

Last Night on Earth – A fast-paced game with a B-movie feel where some players are Heroes, some are Zombies, and they fight tooth, nail, and shotgun in the heart of a small town.

Ghost for Sale – Compete with others to purchase old castles and mansions. A resident ghost or two will add cachet; too many will terrorize visitors.

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Designer Chantal Thomass, perhaps best known for her lingerie, recently released a line of glasses. The collection includes 13 glasses frames and 11 sunglasses, each in two colors. You can see a couple of them at her site (borderline NSFW, as her models are also wearing her lingerie), and they’re apparently available from Opticiens REV. I say “apparently” because the site has a Flash interface and is all in French, either one of which is likely to make me despair of ever navigating anywhere.

Still, if you have a higher tolerance for Flash and/or French than I do, it might be worth digging around to find a source. I love the little wrought iron-looking details on the earpiece of this one.

(via Haute Macabre)

How cute are these vein stockings from French company UpFactory? If you prefer, you can also have your legs crawling with ants or slit up the back.

At 41€ ($58) I’d have to be a lot less prone to running my nylons to pick up a pair of these babies, but it might be fun to see if something similar could be done with cheap stockings and some fabric paint.

(via BoingBoing)

Delfina Delettrez Fendi (fourth-generation Fendi heir) is an up-and-coming designer with a touch of the macabre. She unveiled her jewelry collection during Paris Fashion Week, and there’s some simply gorgeous stuff. Pieces include gold cobweb cuffs, the lovely skeleton hand shown here, a gorgeous and intricate dragon, and even a diamond-encrusted skull.

There’s a slideshow of some of the pieces at WWD, which is a little macabre in itself in that all of the pieces are being modeled by taxidermied animals. WWD doesn’t list prices, but I’ve seen a couple of other sites list the skeleton hand for a mere $25K. Save your pennies!

(via Neatorama)

I don’t generally mention stuff I have for sale here except in passing, but I’m really rather proud of this. An elaborate vampire slayer’s kit composed of almost entirely authentic items:

Ebay Listing

We’ve been slowly collecting actual vintage items (antique prayer books in Latin are surprisingly hard to come by), and filling in the gaps with handmade replicas. This was a monster–so to speak–to put together, but I’m really pleased at how it turned out.

A tutorial for making a similar stake will be posted one of these days, as soon as I can talk Shadow Jack into doing another one and letting me take pictures this time.

You know what I hate? When a designer launches a new product and gives no information about where to, I dunno, buy the product.

Designer Jonathan Krawczuk is launching a new label called DesignedMade, and his first product is these utterly wonderful tarantula tea light holders. I would love to have a dozen of these marching across the table at my next dinner party. Sadly, the DesignedMade site is nothing but rotating images of the holders.

There’s a phone number and e-mail address listed, so if you’re simply slavering for one I expect you could call and ask where they’re sold. Me, I’ll wait for the online store.

(via Badder Homes and Gardens)

If you have a little extra cash and are looking for some really unusual decorative items, there are a couple of upcoming auctions you might want to keep your eye on.

Guernsey’s is preparing to auction a collection of torture items from the 16th century, including shame masks, a rack, and even an executioner’s sword. (The proceeds will go to Amnesty International, which I think is a nice touch.) The site doesn’t list the auction schedule yet, but there’s an article about their plans here.

There’s also an entire Victorian museum collection being sold off May 18-21 in Newent, Gloucestershire. The Shambles Museum is a steampunk paradise, with everything from vintage furniture to stuffed guinea pigs. Catalogue and information about the sale are here. A Guardian article about the museum and sale is here. There’s some amazing stuff listed in the online catalogue, so if you’re anywhere in the area you might want to take a look.

I don’t miss much about the 1970s–especially the fashions–but one thing that gives me a nostalgic pang is the wonderful Aurora model kits featuring classic movie monsters. My grandparents owned a hobby shop and my dad did some gorgeous detailing on several of the models* for display. I have very fond memories of the toothless old Witch in her workroom, the Mummy shambling out of his sarcophagus, and the Victim…being strangely ineffectual.

That’s why I’m thrilled to discover that Moebius has reissued seven of Aurora’s Monster Scenes models, right down to the wonderful box art.

I may have to get the Hanging Cage as a desk accessory. I’m always looking for new ways to keep people out of my cubicle.

(via BoingBoing)

*I do mean gorgeous. Things like gluing fake fur all over the werewolf. My family’s motto is, “If a Thing is Worth Doing, it is Worth Overdoing.”

Etsy seller cherylasmith makes whimsically spooky little finger puppets, including skeletons, zombies, and bats. The designs are simple enough for a DIY project, but since she sells them for a mere $5 each it’s almost cheaper to let her do the work for you.

A collection of these would be a cute desk accessory or, if you can bear to part with them, a unique gift for a child. Pair them with a handmade desktop or doorway puppet theater for hours of creepy fun.

Be sure to check out the seller’s other listings. I especially like her voodoo-inspired Speak No Evil brooch.

Here’s an interesting wrinkle (so to speak) in personalized jewelry: It’s My Scar will recreate one of your scars as jewelry. You send them a photo of your scar, they replicate the shape and texture as closely as possible in wax, then they use that model to cast the jewelry in the metal of your choice. Prices vary depending upon size and metal, but appear to start around $200.

Their motto is “Claim your past and wear your story,” and their gallery includes some of their customers’ explanations of their scar jewelry. The pieces are certainly unique, and I like the idea of turning a disfigurement into art.