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- DIY Halloween Party Ideas
  October 18, 2019Our family loves Halloween. We have so much fun decorating, making costumes, and best of all throwing a Halloween Party for friends and family. When Halloween falls on a weekend, like it does this year, it’s extra fun. We like to host a Halloween party in the afternoon then take everyone out to trick or treat when the sun goes down, with a quick costume change of course. (When Halloween falls on a weekday we usually throw the party the weekend before) Here are some ideas to inspire you to throw your own Halloween Party. Your little goblins and ghouls will love it! Halloween Punch is always a party favorite, specially when it comes out of a bubbling fog covered bowl. We use green colored Hawaiian punch “spiked” with Sprite and place the punch bowl in a cauldron with dry ice. Never put the dry ice directly into the punch bowl, and never handle dry ice with bare hands. Here’s a Video from Chow Tips on how to safely use dry ice in your Halloween Punch Serve ghoulish foods and place them in fun bowls. We have a battery operated treat bowl with a skeleton hand that grabs guests when they reach for a treat. I got it several years ago from Walmart. Just A Taste These cute Frankenstein Marshmallow Pops are always a big hit. Click here to learn how to make them. Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies are easy to make with refrigerated Pillsbury Cookie dough and canned frosting. Click here to learn how! For healthier non-candy treats check out the ideas on Listotic. Utilize “scary” ingredients from your pantry and fridge to create simple ghoulish treats. Olives make great “spiders”, use them to top pizzas, deviled eggs, and more. Sources: My Recipes Kiddie Foodies Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons Food.com Recipe Runner Grapes make great “caterpillars” when skewered on wooden sticks and great “eye balls” in a fruit salad. Don’t forget to freeze plastic spiders and eye balls in ice trays for some Halloween drinks! Decorate inside and out! You can do it inexpensively with Dollar Store finds. Click here for decorating ideas using Dollar Store Finds! Glow sticks make cool Halloween Decor, or decor for any other event too! Click here for glow stick decorating ideas! No party is complete without games, and Halloween Parties are no exception. Bobbing for apples is always a hit and so is the sensory game involving touching foods and naming the “body part”. Click here for game ideas! We like to wind things down either before or after trick or treating by reading the kids a Halloween book or watching a not too scary Halloween Movie. Click here for a list of Halloween reads! Click here for some not so scary Halloween movies! ... Read more...
- Awesome Halloween Decor from the Dollar Store
  October 14, 2019Halloween is fast approaching, decking out your home in ghostly glory is half the fun. Who says you have to break your budget to have an awesome Halloween display. With a little creativity, items you probably already have at home, and a quick trip to the dollar store you too can have some ghoulish fun to fit any budget. Here are some awesome Halloween Decor made from dollar store finds! Take a trip to the Dollar Store for some witches hats and other gruesome stuff for this Halloween Decor. Floating witch’s hats, like these from brooklynlimestone.com , creepy crawly spiders, spooky skeletons, and bloody hands are no problem. With a bit of fishing line, some tape, black paper, twigs, paint, and some imagination your “haunted” house is sure to get raves from friends and family. Here’s another cheap Halloween Decor idea using dollar store spiders! Have plastic spiders crawl on doors and walls. To see more creepy ideas check out my blog about decorating with glow sticks. Learn how to make this plastic tablecloth wreath from Mother’s Niche. I’m sure you’ll find plastic table cloths at the dollar store to make this wreath part of your Halloween decor. It will definitely set the mood! Spooky door by mylitter.com This Halloween Decor is a bit more elaborate than a wreath, but it’s pretty awesome! More spooky ideas from brooklynllimestone.com All this Halloween decor can be found at the dollar store! canadiannickelscrapn.blogspot.ca has some cool ideas. Check it out! You can make all this Halloween decor with just one trip to the dollar store! stirizsisters.blogspot.com dollarstorecrafts.com ... Read more...
- Adult Halloween Party Ideas
  October 11, 2019Halloween is lots of fun. I’ve mentioned many times that it’s my second most favorite holiday, second only to Christmas. I love the décor, the costumes, trick or treaters, treats, and most of all the parties. I’ve been planning and hosting Halloween parties since my kids were young, now we host them for the grandkids and their buddies. But Halloween parties aren’t just for kids, adults love them too! Throwing an adult Halloween party is pretty much like throwing a kids’ Halloween party, but with a bit more. When throwing kids Halloween parties you to keep decorations less scary, the food simpler, the games and activities geared for the appropriate age groups, and of course the drinks all non-alcoholic. Adult Halloween parties can be spookier and more sophisticated. You can go to town with the décor; you can go for gory themes à la Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a subtler vintage theme like the Haunted Mansion, or a more sophisticated theme like maybe channeling trendy designers like Kate Spate and decorate with black and white stripes and polka dots. Really the possibilities are endless. Adult Halloween parties also require food that’s a bit heartier and more sophisticated than mummy pizzas. You can spread out a dinner buffet or for small parties host a spooky sit down dinner. And of course you can serve booze! As for party activities you have lots to choose from, including some drinking games! Or if you prefer you can watch scarier movies that you wouldn’t want the kids to watch. Here are some ideas to help you plan your Adult Halloween Party this year! Vintage Halloween décor from Wedding Paper Divas You can order cool Halloween invites from them too! Click here! (affiliate link)[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] Here’s a spooky idea from the Krazy Coupon Lady. Glowing patio stairs! Click here to learn how! She’s got lots of ideas for decorating with glow sticks too![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] Bubble, bubble toil and trouble! I love this spooky cauldron from Home and Style![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] I love this classy dessert table by Smash Cake Southern California! Sophisticated and spooky! Floating candles are cool, specially for Harry Potter fans! Your theme can even be Harry Potter. Learn how to do this and get more Harry Potter ideas from Eating Bender! Click here![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] Chic and sophisticated, I love this spooky stripe setting by Elle Decor! It brings the trendy look of Kate Spade to mind. Jello shots, literally”brain” dip! Learn how from the Stylista! [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] For drinking games with a Halloween twist check out Celebration’s ideas here! This is the Halloween version of classic beer pong![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″] And don’t forget the booze. Click here for some spooktacular cocktail recipes from around the web![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]... Read more...
- 3 Easy Homemade Halloween Treats
  October 10, 2019Nothing says Halloween than sweet treats. Sure you can buy bags and bags of candy and have at it, but you can turn that candy into special treats in just a few easy steps with these easy homemade treat recipes. You can even let the kids help out! Here are 3 recipes for Homemade Halloween Treats I found on the web. Each really cute and super simple to make. Enjoy! Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies use store bought ready to bake cookie dough. So easy! Let the kids make them, they’ll have a blast! For a variation use different cookie doughs; I’m sure you’ll find various fun Halloween themed cookie dough in your local supermarket. Recipe click here. You won’t be able to stop eating these salty sweet treats. These Pretzel Hugs by Sally’s Baking Addiction really are addictive! We made several batches, they disappeared quickly! Recipe click here. Courtesy of Just A TasteThese frightfully cute Frankenstein Marshmallow Pops by Kelly Senyei on justataste.com will be a hit at your Halloween Party. You can make them ahead of time and store in your fridge until you need them. Recipe click here. (This post has affiliate links) ... Read more...
- Creative Kids’ Halloween Costumes
  October 7, 2019You know Fall’s arrived when you walk into Walmart or other discount store and are greeted with racks of Halloween costumes and piles of treat sized candies. Yes, there are lots of costume choices out there, ranging from the classic witch costume (I always seemed to be a witch for Halloween when I was a kid) and the newest popular cartoon characters. And this year there are of course those frightful masks of the politicians running for President. In our family those generic store bought Halloween costumes just won’t do. We don’t like running into the same exact costume while we’re trick or treating on Halloween night. Ever since my kids were young I’ve always made them homemade costumes, now I make them for the grandkids. Here are some Creative Kids’ Halloween Costumes I’ve made over the last few years. I hope they inspire you to get creative and make something cool for your kids this year! If you haven’t heard already Pokemon is big this year! Thanks to the recently launched game Pokemon Go you’ll be seeing a bunch of pint sized Pikachus this year. When we asked my 3 year old grandson Jett what he wanted to be this year he immediately said Pikachu! So instead of buying a generic Pikachu I hauled out my Singer and started sewing. In fact we took it a step further. I made Pikachu costumes for Jett and my 2 year old grandson Sadi, and a Jiggly Puff costume for his twin sister Harper. This picture shows the twins trying on their costumes, it was hard getting them to stand still long enough to take pictures. I’ll post Jett’s picture as soon as I have one, I had to send his costume to Colorado. I used Minky Fleece material I ordered from Fabric.com for these costumes. I lined it with a coordinating cotton blend fabric. For a bit of fluff I used heavy cotton batting in between the outer fabric and the lining. The ears, tail, and curl are stuffed with polyfill. The shoulder straps have snaps for easy on and off. I made my own patter by tracing the twin’s onesie and Jett’s romper. I just made my tracing an inch more all around. I also deleted the sleeves. I found a hood pattern from the web, there are many you can use. The stripes on the Pikachu costume are appliqued on using brown fleece. I cut the strips freehand. This costume requires sewing skills and a sewing machine. It took me about 4 hours to make each one. Last year Jett was “Eye Candy”. I crocheted this Candy Corn Hat and sweater and attached crocheted “eyes” on both. He won first place in 3 Halloween costume contests with this one! I posted the pattern for this costume last year. Click here for the free pattern! This Creative Kids’ Halloween Costume doesn’t require sewing skills, but you must know how to crochet. Last year the twins were Minions. This was pretty simple, most beginner crocheters can make this beanie. It’s a basic beanie pattern appliqued with crocheted eye or eyes, and a bow for the girly Minion. The costume is completed by denim coveralls with a “G” pinned on the front. You can either crochet the “G” or use felt. Click here for the Minion Hat crochet pattern, it’s free! A couple of years ago Jett was a “Chick Magnet”. This costume requires no sewing skills! All you need are felt, scissors, and hot glue. The “feathers” are glued on to a pair of sweat pants and sweatshirt. The chick cap does require basic crochet skills. Again it’s a basic beanie with the beak appliqued on. The eyes are large wiggly eyes you can find at most craft stores. Click here for free instructions and pattern! One year Devon was Noisy Boy, the fighting robot from the movie Real Steel. This costume require absolutely no sewing or crocheting skills! It’s made by cutting shapes out of a cardboard box and gluing them together. The pieces are then spray painted purple and the symbols were painted on with craft glue. Just before heading out to trick or treat the makeup was applied on Devon’s face. We worked from a picture of the robot to make this costume. Not to be out done that year, Dion was Two Face, a movie villain. This costume was made by literally destroying the Tuxedo he wore to my daughter’s wedding that spring. The “logic” being he was outgrowing the tux anyway and this was a good way to use it one more time. Half the tux was singed using a lighter, my son had the honor of doing this. Be careful you don’t burn the house down. We did this outside in the back patio. All you have to do is touch the material of the tux with a hot lighter, the long ones used to light barbecue grills, the polyester material will shrivel up and burn. Then just before heading out for trick or treating the textured makeup was applied to half his face. This costume requires no skills, just lots of caution! ... Read more...

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