Happy Halloween!

**This is a repost of my Halloween party from last year!   I think the ideas are so much fun they are worth revisiting.**

Welcome to our Halloween Party. First, set the tone by decorating your entrance. Can you tell that we enjoy Halloween? ;) Anjeanette has this banner and sign that she puts our for her entrances.

Next, decorate inside of your house. I love these dollar store buckets! Just nest a glass bowl inside the plastic bucket (as the dry ice will melt the plastic bucket). Add dry ice and water and you have the most fun decorations. Seriously, we can’t get enough dry ice throughout the house. For decorations don't forget to fill your crocheted pumpkins with candy corn! And if you made this table runner and banner, or this hand towel, make sure they are out!

These are crafts that the kids made, and the top bucket was one of the cute buckets that Anjeanette gave us when she “Boo’d” us. I just filled that bucket with treats for the kids to go home with (spider rings and other Halloween trinkets, you could also include pencil toppers).

A MUST have for us is the meal in the pumpkin! Oh it’s sooooo yummy. Not only do you cook the meal in the pumpkin, you then take chunks of the pumpkin with your serving. Delish! I think this is my favorite tradition of Halloween. Other great Halloween foods are dry ice root beer, skeleton cookies, candy corn rice krispies,pumpkin cookies, white chocolate ghost suckers, apple pie spice drink, oreo cookie spiders, popcorn fingers, edible gross body parts, etc!

On to the games. This is my favorite. Dangling Donuts. Because who doesn’t need more food (especially highly sugared food) after our Halloween meal!?
All you do is get donuts (we get a variety). Tie a long piece of string onto each donut. Grab a dowel or long sturdy stick. Decide who is going to go against each other (don’t go against Anjeanette…she is the QUEEN of this game…that’s all I’m saying). Each person picks their own donut. Tie donuts on the dowel and go at it (without using your hands!). For our little kids we’ve let 3 go at a time, but otherwise we stick to 2 at a time. This is also best played outside as it leaves a mess below.

Another really fun game is this Pin The Hat On The Witch Game I made one year. I love variations of Pin The Tail On The Donkey. Don’t forget the other games like bobbing for apples!

You could do this as place settings for the party (though this was what I had for my kids on the first day of October). I just printed out a pumpkin on orange paper and wrote out Happy Halloween _______ using my awesome Halloween fonts. That was for their placemat. Then they got Halloween cups to use all month, that were filled with Halloween pencils and toys. I also give them their Halloween shirt for the year, on the first day so that they can wear it the whole month long. These were shirts that I added beaded Halloween designs to.
The Gals here at Roots And Wings Co just love holidays and Halloween is right there at the top of the list. We have Halloween parties every year. The family one this year is tomorrow night! I am holding another one for the kids today. So many things to do. I love doing the same things year after year, and I also love adding new things every year. Some things for the kiddos party will be tossing bean bags into my large cauldron and crafts. We always make Haunted Houses at this party (like gingerbread houses for Christmas except we use chocolate frosting to make it spookier, and you construct your house funny so it's a crooked haunted house). For crafts we will be making fingerprints in orange, green, and black. Then, we draw parts on them that turn them into witches, pumpkins, and monsters. I turn these into stickers and then the kids make Halloween cards for family using their fingerprint stickers.
Hope you enjoyed the party. For those of you that are still hosting a Halloween party this week (or for your fun Halloween night dinner) I hope this gives you some fun ideas to try.

Rebecca

Enjoy The Season-Cookie Decorating

I Love Halloween! Seriously!

Today I am putting everything aside to just enjoy the time with my kids.  We are going to decorate cookies.

I’ve got some great sprinkles and frosting and am just going to let my kids go at the cookies. 

I like to have crafts and baking set up so that my children can easily make the project the way I want them to.

Thankfully, years ago I learned that sometimes all they need are the supplies.

They come with their own inspiration and ideas of how they want things!!

They do not need to make perfect looking crafts or foods. 

What they come up with on their own is so much cuter anyways!

 

Yes, I let them pile on layer upon layer of frosting. 

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am that Mom that strictly limits sugar intake.  However, that is so that on times like this, I can let them splurge and I know it is ok!

And messes…they are a great thing!     

Rebecca

 

I guess I felt like I needed a post that showed the less than perfect pictures and messy baking fun!  I do not want people to come to this site and feel like they can never live up to the pictures they see.  As I’ve seen over and over again on crafty and homemaking blogs, we are all human.  Pictures I post on here are usually of just the crafts that worked out.  There are always many that don’t.  There are also usually messes left behind as I make things.  I don’t take pictures of the messes, but believe me they are there!

I hope people feel inspired when they come here, or leave with some fun ideas to try with their families.

However, what I most hope is that this blog reminds people to take time with their families and/or friends. Make life special and magical by putting in a little extra effort.  Sometimes remember just to enjoy the moment and not feel the need for the moment to be picture perfect!

My Mom always taught me that life is meant to be celebrated.  She celebrated EVERYTHING all.the.time!  I am thankful that she did this.

I hope everyone has a great Halloween!  We have a few parties planned, a very minor surgery, lots of homework for me, and hopefully way too much candy! ;) 

The Great Pumpkin Tradition solves the "too much candy issue"

Do you ever feel like you have too much candy around the house after Halloween? Do you have to remove certain candies from your child’s stash because of food allergies?

Last year I started a new tradition at my house. You know the Charlie Brown story “The Great Pumpkin?” Do you remember how Linus told the story about the Great Pumpkin coming to give all the faithful boys and girls gifts? Last year I elaborated on that story a bit. I told my boys that if we put out a nice sign letting the “Great Pumpkin” know that we believe and that we welcome him, he will come and trade their candy for a toy. This solves two things for me. 1. most of the candy is gone. 2. I don't have to replace candy my boys can't have because of food allergies (I have to replace something like 90% of the candy they get Trick-or-Treating).

Just before Halloween, I found this pumpkin decoration. I also purchased a small rectangular piece of wood that I painted up and put rub on letters to make a sign to welcome the great pumpkin. I Drilled a couple of holes in my welcome sign and into the bottom of my pumpkin. The night of Halloween we put this sign on our front door letting the “Great Pumpkin” know he is welcome. Why the night before? Because I have another Halloween decoration that also hangs on our door. ;)

I know, I know….my boys are a bit spoiled. ;) The toys they got were Bakugans. The “Great Pumpkin” left them with about 10 pieces each of candy they could eat. They still kept a little candy and were totally thrilled with the exchange.

Oh and by the way, I got my idea from Anjeanette. She was talking about the idea a couple of years ago. I have to give credit where credit is due.

Katrina

Pumpkin Carving Option

With Halloween coming around, many of us tackle the tradition of carving pumpkins.  I have always enjoyed carving them...or so I thought.  My jack-o-lanterns have never been great creations of art and so this year I decided to tackle something a little more complex.  I even went out and bought a special Pumpkin-Carving Dremel tool from some hardware store.  I spent hours scouring over the internet to find the PERFECT design.  

Then I started carving the pumpkin.  Not only was the dremel tool a bust (I'm sure it works great for some people) but I realized that I lack the patience to carve an elaborate pumpkin.  So I settled upon one of the patterns I had deemed too "EASY" for me to undertake.  Turns out it was the PERFECT way to go.   

I LOVE this Jack-o-Lantern.  I only had to cut out the windows and the moon, and then I painted in the house.  SO easy!  Did I mention that I love to paint?  Much more so that I like to carve, so this way I got an elegant design without spending all those frustrating hours carving it out.  And I like that it looks cool during the daytime as well!  Looks like this is how I will be carving pumpkins from here on out.

 

Erika

Mummy Loves You- School Lunch

Today’s lunch was “Mummy Loves You!”

 

English Muffin Mummies and Strawberry Mummies.  You could use black olives for the English Muffin eyes, however my kids don’t like olives!  The strawberries eyes are mini chocolate chips.  The wrapping is melted white chocolate.

Just a quickie today.  I snapped this picture of my kids lunches as we were heading out the door!

Rebecca

PS Do your kids ask ridiculous things of you because they are the children of a crafter?  My daughter asked me how the fruit cup (upper right corner of the lunch) fit the theme.  I told her it was all red (grapes, pomegranate seeds, and raspberries) so it was blood.  Gross, I know, but it was all I could think of on the fly!

Easy Pizazz To Add To A Fun Circle Lunch

You will never guess what those cuties are made from?!

Whoppers! 

Just push toothpicks into a bunch of Whoppers.  This also forms a flat bottom because of the pressure when you push the toothpicks in.

 

Add Caramel.

   

Next a fun drizzle of chocolate.

Drop on some circle sprinkles.

That’s it!  So cute and easy, right!?

I added these fancy Whoppers to my kids’ circle lunch.  Other parts of the circle lunch are a circle pizza pocket (made like my football pockets), 3-berry wheat mini muffins, sliced carrots, and raspberries.

Those whoppers were such a huge hit for my kids!  They loved their circle lunch.

Rebecca    

A few tips.  I always add wheat germ, flax seed, shredded veggies, or other healthy things to my mixes like the muffins and the pizza dough.  That way this lunch is even more nutrient packed then it first appears.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

All things root beer just scream October to me.  Growing up my Mom was always the room Mother in our classes.  For our Halloween parties they always made dry ice root beer.  We have also made this at our family Halloween partes.  So, this has clinched Root Beer as a Halloween/October thing for me.

I saw these FANTASTIC Mini Root Beer Float cupcakes at Gourmet Mom On The Go!  I love her site!  I knew I would have to make them!  I have no shot glasses so I experimented with many different versions.

My thought was to make these for my kids’ lunches. 
I baked up some of the cupcakes in thin layers (in mini bread pans that I have).
Then, I cut out circles of the cupcake to layer in these plastic sample cups that I have (I get them in bulk from Party City and use them ALL the time!).  I layered the cupcake circles with my root beer frosting, and topped with an M&M for the cherry. 
I also punched a hole in the lid of my supply cups, for the straws to go through (of course the straws were cut to size as well).  
They were a huge hit in their lunches!
Here was my version for an after school snack.  These were slightly bigger versions than their lunch snacks.  I had these stainless steel condiment cups and thought I would see how well the cupcakes baked up in them.  They worked perfectly.  I will be baking up many more mini things this way!

I baked up some in mugs to see how well that would work.  They are not see-through but I still loved the look and have many more ideas of things to bake in a mug this Winter!
 
And here they are in square shot glasses.  I liked the shape of these a lot!
My favorite version was in the sundae cup, because that is what I would have served my real Root Beer Floats in.  So that made the most sense and added to the cuteness, I think.  But my second favorite was the layered one I made for their lunches!
I used the recipe from Gourmet Mom On The Go.  You’ve really got to check hers out as hers are beautiful!
These are from a vanilla cake box mix!  You do not add eggs or oil!
Mix 1 pkg Vanilla Cake Mix, 1 Tbsp Root Beer Extract, and 1 1/2 C Root Beer.  (The original recipe was slightly different but I wanted a bit more root beer flavoring).
Spray your containers with nonstick cooking spray before filling them 1/2 full with cake batter.  Cook at 350 degrees.  My cooking times varied for each of the containers that I used.  10 minutes for my tiny bread loaves, and up to about 14 minutes for my mug.
I used white frosting that I added 1/2 tsp of root beer extract to.  This does turn your white frosting light brown which makes it look less like the whip cream or real vanilla ice cream.  However, I changed this because, again, I wanted more root beer flavor.  I liked it this way.
I put the frosting into a ziplock baggie for decorating the top of the cupcakes.  Just snip a tiny bit of one corner off and you are ready to pipe it on.  I keep my kitchen gadgets to a minimum so I don’t have pastry bags and specialty tips, though they definitely would make it so much cuter!
Cut some Pirouette Rolled Wafers to size for each of the containers, for the straws!  Then, just slide them down the side of your container!  Make sure to top your cupcake with a cherry of some sort.  On my bigger cupcakes I used Cherry Sours.  On my tiny cupcakes I used red M&Ms.
Rebecca

I am joining the fun at the following parties, Hoosier Homemade, Blue Cricket Design,

Halloween Manipulative-Halloween Bean

Here is one of my fun Halloween activities for the kids.  Aren’t those cute Pumpkins and Ghosts?  They are just painted beans!  Then, use a sharpie to make the faces!

I actually got this activity from a garage sale from a teacher.  I'm not sure what kind of paint was used on these beans, but it's very shiny!  I'm going to guess it was spray paint.  I've had a few people tell me that they have used that on Pinto beans, and that's what looks like is going on here!  Thanks to everyone for helping us figure this out! ;)  I can see lots more of these for the future (Green christmas trees, or maybe as ornaments?).

You can use them as is for sorting, patterning, counting, etc!!

Or you can add a fun picture for extra fun and activities.  This is just a basic shape out of felt!
 
Aren’t those hands the cutest?  I do this with kids as young as 18 months (just watch them to not put them in their mouths!) 

Rebecca
We are joining the following parties; ABC and 123,

Let The Boo-ing Begin!

My BFF already Boo-ed us last weekend.  This was tricky to do because she lives in California, and I live in Arizona…and we were in Las Vegas.  But she’s one of those who ALWAYS is on top of these things no matter the distance, busy lives, etc!  She is amazing!  Last weekend she took me to see Garth Brooks, in Las Vegas.  (See, I told you she was amazing!).  It was my first concert ever!  And I LOVE music.  Crazy, hu!?

Anyways, she left that cute furry Halloween gift bag on the front seat of the car for me!  I can’t wait to drink that Scary Orange Hot Chocolate, from a coffin!  The ghost is soap-on-a-rope!  And then she had two Halloween spiced car fresheners for me!  How fun was that for a Boo Bag!?

Check out our post last year on Being Boo-ed.  Anjeanette Boo-ed the family with those Jack-O-Lantern baskets filled with goodies to make caramel apples!  It was soooo cute, and sweet! 

The year before that Anjeanette gave out these adorable baskets tied up with cute Halloween ribbons and filled with Halloween goodies!!  Can you tell that Anjeanette knows how to get her Boo on!?
Yesterday I did some baking for this year’s Boo-ing.  You’ll get pictures next week of those (they are going out this weekend).  There are so many fun things to do for these!  I hope everyone else joins in on the Boo-ing fun. 

I’d love to hear what others do for this, or have had done to them.  Pictures would be especially great!

Rebecca

I'm linking to the following fabulous parties; Someday Crafts,

Scary Halloween Garland-So cute!

Garlands are such a great holiday decoration.  This Halloween one is so cute, and easy to sew up.
Anjeanette came up with this garland, using Paper Crave’s Halloween template.

Anjeanette whipped these up from felt, using the technique she used with her Pumpkin Pencil Toppers, shown below. 

Click here for that technique.
Happy Haunted Sewing!
Rebecca

We are partying with the following: Sew Much Ado,

Halloween Table Runner

Hello October!

A super great Halloween decoration is Anjeanette’s Halloween Table runner!  So cute, right!?

Anjeanette posted this Halloween Table Runner last year when she was talking about what/who inspires her.  This is what Anjeanette said last year, “I thought I would share some fabulous blogs that have inspired me this month, to recreate something from their tutorial.
This is a wonderfully talented lady Kim of Bitty Bits and Pieces. I actually found her Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial sometime earlier this year. I thought it was just adorable. Then her blog popped up on my horizon again when she was on Moda Bakeshop. I love Moda Bakeshop. I bookmarked her Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial to come back to when I had some time. She also has an adorable Pumpkin Tissue Holder Tutorial that I have on my to-do list. I also found out that aside from having an awesome blog, Kim is a very nice person! Yay nice!”

Thanks, Anjeanette, for letting us know who your inspiration is, as well as giving us this Halloween eye candy!
Rebecca

We're joining the following parties:  Sew Much Ado,