Hope Your Halloween Was Happy!!

We hope your Halloween was as happy as ours was!

Jamie's girls--yes we know they don't look happy but it's the only photo she had of just the two of them!

Lindsi's kids--most likely the last year she'll get to dress them in one theme!

Looking for some fun things to do with all the candy you got this year?  Check out our post from last year: Left over Halloween candy treats.

Halloween Costume Disappointment

For the past 6 years I have either bought my girls' Halloween costumes used from Craigslist or from the thrift store, or have made their costumes.  I tend not to spend a lot of money on costumes that the girls will only wear for a few hours max.

This year is no exception for Tottie.  My sweet, little 4 year old wants to be a zombie.  Where she got the idea from is beyond me, but that's what she wants to be.  Sooo...I took a pair of her old pjs, ripped them up, and sewed some red fabric behind the tears.  I then took them outside and stomped them in the mud.  To finalize the costume I will spray some fake blood on the pjs, put Tottie's hair in crooked pigtails, cover her face in grey makeup, and put a gash tattoo on her cheek.  She can't wait to see the final look and neither can I!!

Nutty, however, is a different story this year.  After being undecided on what she wants to be and searching through multiple used costumes for ideas, we ended up buying the above costume new this evening at the Halloween store just to get it over with.  It was $35 and does not include the boots or the rope!  It's a 4 piece outfit: skirt with attached belt, vest with attached undershirt, bandanna, and hat.  Though it looks great in the photo, it is SUPER thin, and SUPER cheaply made!!  I'm so disappointed!  The worst part is that because it is so thin and because we live in a cold state, she will have to wear thick clothes under it or wear a jacket.

Since when did Halloween costumes get so expensive despite being so cheaply made?  Do you buy your kids' costumes new, used, or do you make them?  And, don't they make ANY costumes for kids who live in cold states??

Pumpkin Picking--A Family Affair

Halloween is on Wednesday!  Have you picked and carved your pumpkins yet?  I'll share a secret, we haven't (GASP!).  No need to worry, we're going this evening.  After all, if you carve your pumpkins too early they get yucky before Halloween anyway.  Plus, we tend to turn our carved pumpkins around to the uncarved side after Halloween and use them for Thanksgiving decorations on our door step. 

If you haven't been to a pick your own pumpkin patch with your kids, I highly suggest you find one in your area!  It's so much fun to watch your kids walk through the field to find the perfect pumpkin...

...and even more fun to watch them try to cut it off the vine!  Walking through pre-picked "perfect" pumpkins or digging through a bin of pumpkins no longer cuts it for my family.  We enjoy the hunt!

Sooo...this evening we're going pumpkin picking...what are you doing?

Alien Eggs

I had every intention of surprising my girls with something called Spidery Eggs for breakfast in the morning.  My nephew was over so I recruited him to help me make them.  The problem was, nothing went right so I ended up changing my plan.  I actually like these Alien Eggs better anyway!

I started by boiling three eggs.  One however, completely split while it was boiling.  No problem, I had two more anyway...

I then mixed a bunch of blue, red, and green food coloring together until I got something that resembled dark black water.  If you are one of those people that worries about artificial dyes, you can substitute boiled blueberry water for the dye water.

Next, my nephew and I carefully removed the hard boiled eggs from the boiling water and held them with a folded towel.  Now, my nephew was suppose to put his egg on the counter, cover it with the towel, then gently tap it with the end of a wooden spoon...this would have given a nice spider web looking crack on the bottom.  Instead, my directions got lost in translation and he accidentally stabbed the actual egg with the wooden spoon leaving a large hole in the egg.  The photo above is a recreation for the purpose of this blog post :)

Great, I thought.  I only have one egg now (with a perfect spider web break in it by the way)...

I took a look at my two majorly cracked eggs and thought, "those look disgusting...they kinda look like alien eggs!"

Sooo...I put them in the black water to cool...I dunked them and covered them just like Easter eggs making sure to let them sit in the water extra long on the really cracked sides...

I debated and debated how to photograph the finished eggs.  There's so much you can do with them.  I guess it depends on if you are going to eat them or just use them for a party decoration.  I have every intention of having my girls eat them so I pealed them but took photos along the way to show different presentations:

There you have it--Alien Eggs!  My nephew (10 years old) thought they were pretty cool.  I'm not sure if my girls will actually eat them but I know I will if they don't!

What do you think?  Would your kids eat Alien Eggs?

Easy Spiderweb Making

We don't have a lot of store-bought Halloween decorations for our house because we prefer to make them. Here's an easy, fun, and occasionally messy way to make spiderwebs for decoration!

To make them you'll need:

• White yarn (or black if you want to make your spiderweb shadowy)
• Simple flour and water paste (mix four and water together to make a paste)
• Paper
• Pen
• Wax paper
• Scissors

Start by drawing a spiderweb on your paper.  We made ours a corner spiderweb but you can make a full round one.  Yes, I realize that I drew my lines wrong above.  We figured that our half-way through making our web!  If your children are a little older, you probably do not need to draw a spiderweb first.

Cover your paper with wax paper to prevent sticking when you glue it together.

Dip pieces of yarn into your paste mixture and put them on the wax paper following the lines you drew.  Make sure to press together the places where your yarn meets.

Wait till your spider web dries completely before gently pealing it off of the wax paper.  You can use a hair dryer to speed up this process a little.

Cut off any excess string and hang it where you want!

Where would you hang your spider web?

Cotton Swab Skeletons--Pinned it, Did it!

I saw this pin on Pinterest and could not resist.  What a perfect craft for Halloween and we had everything on hand!

We used:

• Cotton swabs (or as Tottie calls them--"ear waxers"
• Glue
• Wax paper (to prevent glue from getting all over the table

Unfortunately, the photo in the pin did not link back to a website for directions so we had to guess how to make it.  Not too complicated though, we simply followed the photo...

This craft was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be.  Getting cotton swabs to stick together with glue is not as easy as it looks!  

Cutting the cotton swabs was fun though!  They are hard to cut (at least ours were) so when we snipped them, the small end flew across the kitchen!  Tottie thought it was funny!

Hint:  Make sure to let your skeleton dry completely before you try moving him!  He's fragile and can easily come unglued! 

 

Our skeleton vs. their skeletons. We only made one because Tottie got frustrated and I didn't want to waste any more cotton swabs.

We hung our finished skeleton in our front window.

Nine Awesome and Unique Halloween Treats

We've scoured the internet in search of awesome, unique, and fun Halloween treats.  Below you'll find nine of our favorites from our search!

1) Shrunken Heads In Cider--Creepy is all I have to say about this drink!


2) Cheese Witch Brooms--Cute and healthy!


3) Eyeball Donuts--Easy and fun!


4) Weiner Worms--Just plain gross!


5)  Icky Intestines--I'm not sure anyone would actually want to eat these!


6)  Mad Scientist Potion--Cool for kids AND adults!


7)  Melon Brain--Genious and healthy!


8)  Finger Food--A little too realistic for me!


9)  Pumpkin Seed Brittle--Um...Yum!

What awesome Halloween treats have you made?

You've Been Boo'd! (FREE download!)

Last October a friend at work was talking about how she had been Boo'd and how fun it was.  Been Boo'd??  What's that?

She went on to tell me that someone left a plate of treats on her doorstep with a sheet of paper that said, "You've Been Boo'd!"  She then returned the favor to someone else.

What's so fun and special about that?  Well, it's a ding-dong and ditch thing!  

Essentially, you make a plate of treats, copy the sheet of instructions and the "We've Been Boo'd"  sign, go to someone's house in your neighborhood, leave the plate and papers on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run!

Two weeks before Halloween last year, Nutty, Tottie and I went out and Boo'd two neighbors.  My girls LOVED the ding-dong and ditch part of this!  Because we started it in our neighborhood, we did not put a "We've Been Boo'd" sign on our door right away.  We were then Boo'd by another neighbor and got to Boo two more neighbors!  My girls were so excited to do it 4 times and can't wait to do it again somewhere in our neighborhood this year!

Have you ever done anything like this in your neighborhood?  If you want to start doing this in your neighborhood with your kids, you can download the "We've Been Boo'd" sign and the "You've Been Boo'd" instruction sheet by clicking on the links!

Left-over Halloween Candy Treats

Halloween is over and your kids collected TONS of candy.  What do you do with it all (besides simply eat it)?  Here are some fun (though still not healthy) ideas for left-over Halloween candy: 

Cut up chewy or nuggety candy bars into bite sized pieces and bake them into the middle of a cupcake.  Frost the cupcake then crumble more of the candy bar on top.

Mix crumbled candy bars or smaller candies into ice cream, add a little milk, and blend it to make your own candy milkshake.

Mix crumbled candy bars, Reeces Pieces, M&Ms or similar candies into cookie dough and bake for an extra special cookie treat.

Break up chocolatey or caramely candies into small pieces and stir them into brownie dough.  Bake for a deliciously gooey brownie treat.

Make a candy pizza.  Just search "candy pizza" in your internet browser for a ton of different recipes.

Make this really awesome Halloween Candy Advent Calender or other cool things that I found at Alpha Mom. (This is something that is right up Lindsi's alley.  Pretty sure as soon as she sees it she'll want to make it herself!).

What other things have you done with your left-over Halloween candy?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween 

from our families to yours! 

 Jamie's girls

Lindsi's kids

We hope you find toys in your dryer and not left over candy!

Linking to:
Boo In The Blogosphere with Four Plus An Angel and Sellabitmum
5 Minutes For Mom 

Candy Corn Pudding Treats

I don't know about you but candy corn is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge deal in our house (me- I could do without). When it comes out this time of year in the store my kids go crazy for it. So this year I thought I'd try something out on them, and be a little creative too!

Here is what you need:

Vanilla pudding
a bowl
candy corn
milk (for the pudding)
red and yellow food coloring
whipping cream

Have your kiddo mix up the pudding until it is read to eat

Then divide your pudding into half and make half orange (a little red and a little yellow)

After you fill the orange spot add the vanilla

Top the pudding with whipping cream cream

Sprinkle on a few candy corn candies

then sit back and watch him enjoy!