happy halloween

 

 

 

Since we are going trick or treating with friends I put out my wreath again this year.  Trick or Treaters can grab one and go,  Have fun tonight!  Eat, drink and be scary!

that's a wrap

We are feeling very blessed that we never lost power and have minimal damage to our property after "Frankenstorm."  Since I am assuming that Halloween is still a go in our neighborhood I put together a few more treats.  I know I'll be busy tomorrow so I thought I would post my "that's a wrap" post today instead.  I found the eyeball chocolates at the grocery store.  The girls used them to decorate their candy pumpkins and I put the rest of them in a glassine bag.  We made a card with lots of googly eyes and my daughter wrote "eye hope you have a fun Halloween" on the card.  The second gift is for the family that is hosting us for trick or treating.  It is the ingredients and recipe for pumpkin pie martinis.  I hope that all of my readers have a very Happy and safe Halloween tomorrow. 

On another note, my son's Halloween play date is going to be featured on Apartment Therapy today.  Check it out here.  Yay!

that's a wrap

We were invited to a pumpkin carving party yesterday.  As a hostess gift we gave them a pumpkin bread mix that I picked up at Trader Joe's.  I "wrapped" it in a Halloween dish towel and tied both ends with ribbon so that it kind of looked like a piece of candy!
We have spent most of today preparing for the BIG storm that is heading our way.  I am really hoping that our Halloween isn't cancelled due to the weather like it was last year.  We will be very disappointed.  Stay safe everyone. 

tiny treats

Yesterday was my daughters doll Halloween play date.  The idea for this play date came from this book that she was given for her birthday last year.  All of the dolls got a bat mask when they arrived.

 

 

For the crafts the girls made lollipop ghosts.  Big ones for themselves and mini ones for their dolls.

 

They also used candy to decorate tiny pumpkins.

There was also a dress up area for the dolls.

 

 I made tiny doll sized sugar cookies.  I put them in little bags and tied them with twine.

 

 

 

 

The girls and thier dolls played bingo.  They used candy corn for the markers.

 

 

 

 

They watched "Eloise's Rather Unusual Halloween" and we served popcorn with candy corn.  I was lucky enough to find popcorn containers in two sizes. 

 

 

 

 

The girls and their dolls played a mini version of pin the spider on the web.

 

 

In addition to taking home all of the crafts the dolls also got to pick their own trick-or-treat bag.  Inside we tucked some tiny bags of gummy bears. 

 

 

 The girls had pizza and boo-nilla milkshakes for dinner.  Since it was a lovely evening we ended the play date with some fun outside in the dark.  The girls all got glow necklaces and had fun running around and jumping in leaves.  This was definitely one of my favorite parties to plan.  I love the idea of finding things in doll sizes. 

pre school play date

 

 

This morning was my son's pre school play date.  He invited a handful of his friends over from school for some crafts and snacks.  I served popcorn, ghost boo-nanas, mini caramel apples, pumpkin doughnut muffins and clementines.  We had orange milk, cider and mummy juice boxes.  I also had hot cider on the stove for all of the mom's.

 

 

I used white duct tape and eyes to make the juice boxes into mummy's.  I put them in galvanized window boxes that are hanging on the deck.

 

For activities the kids decorated pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, glittered pumpkins and tried to eat pumpkin doughnuts on a string without using their hands. I also put some halloween toys (spider rings, plastic bats, etc) in the sand box for them to find.

 

 

 

 

 I also put out the dress up box and a mirror outside and that was a big hit with the four year old crowd.

      And the favors were the orange jello play dough and pumpkin cookie cutters.  It was a very fun morning and my son was delighted to share the fun with his friends. 

haunted candy houses

We had another busy weekend and were hit with the stomach bug AGAIN.  On Friday it was a wet and rainy day in Connecticut so, I thought it would be fun for the kids to decorate their haunted candy houses.  They loved it.  This year we decided to put them on display along with our fine china. 

On Sunday (despite some of us not feeling great) we decided to make a quick trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a perfect fall day and the patch is literally two minutes from our house.  The fresh air made us all feel a little better.  I feel so blessed to live in such a gorgeous part of our state.  Sometimes I wish I could bottle up these crisp mornings and warm days, the golden leaves and crisp apples.  I hope that you all had a nice weekend full of fun and good health!

jello play dough

Instead of having a Halloween party the children are each having some school friends over next week for a Halloween play date.  For my son's pre school friends we made some orange jello play dough.  I used this recipe.  We packaged it in little Tupperware containers which we topped with some polka dot fabric.  Each child will also get a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter.  This would be a cute idea for classroom favors or to give out to trick or treaters. 

trick OR treat

Years ago I saw a candy topiary on Martha Stewart and always wanted to make one. I attempted one years ago and used the glue gun as suggested by MS.  However, I found that after the glue dried it made the candy wrappers really gross and who wants that?  So I decided to use straight pins instead.  It worked perfectly.  Once I had all the supplies this took minutes to put together and I think it is such a fun (not to mention edible) Halloween centerpiece.  The candy can be changed to suit holidays too.  This would be darling for Christmas or Valentine's day. 

boo

Yesterday we "Booed" our neighbor.  She also happens to be my daughter's fabulous first grade teacher!  I already knew some of her favorite things from when she filled out the "getting to know you" questionnaire at the beginning of the school year.  So in the bag we included two mugs which we filled with some dark chocolate kisses and some pumpkin chai tea that I picked up from Trader Joes.  Since I didn't want her to feel like she had to do anything except enjoy it I changed the note a little.  It read "The air is cool, It's time for Fall, Soon Halloween will come to all.  The Spooks are after things to do,  And it looks like they "Booed" you!  Enjoy your treats, they're yours to keep. No spook will tell who left them, not even a peep!"  My daughter was hysterical running across the yard to leave the bag at her door.  She pressed the doorbell and then turned and ran back as fast as she could.  Do you want to make someones day? Drop off a little treat for your neighbor, co worker or teacher today.

that's a wrap

Know someone who has a birthday in October?  If yes, then consider wrapping their gift in a fun trick or treat bag!  This one is from the Disney store and went with the theme of our gift, but you can find all sorts of adorable treat bags from Pottery Barn kids to Lands End. 

weekend fun

 

 

 

We had a very busy weekend.  On Saturday, I helped run a tag sale to raise money for my son's cooperative nursery school.  On Sunday, we went to see the Monet Exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens.  Monet has always been one of my favorite artists and I was excited to go see this exhibit and share it with my children. It was an easy drive to NY and although it was cold and rainy we enjoyed our visit.  We saw beautiful flowers and two of Monet's paintings as well as one of his palettes. 

Yesterday my mom and I took the children to see the fairy houses at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut.  If you live anywhere near this place I suggest you take a visit.  The children LOVED it and so did we.  So many fun details from tiny swings to a fairy Ferris wheel.  It has inspired us to try and make our own fairy house.  Hope you had as much fun this weekend as we did!



 

October

How is it October already?  We had such a busy September, it just flew by.  I was hoping for a quieter October, but our calendar already seems to be filling up.  I LOVE this time of year and the kids are enjoying our Halloween countdown calendar that I put up on Monday.  I found the black wire baskets (in front of the calendar) from the dollar section at Target.  I put some of the larger items in them and added some witch hat lights to make it look even more festive.

that's a wrap

Last weekend was our local country fair.  Some friends let us park at their aunt's house which was SO helpful.  To thank her aunt and uncle we brought a bottle of wine that I wrapped in a bandanna and tied a "moo-chas gracias" tag to the top with some raffia.

We also brought a bunch of snacks..... apple tart, baked brie and some of these tiny caramel apples.  Yum!  They would look adorable with white lollipop sticks and paper flags attached to the top too.  I may do that for Halloween!  Here's what we brought last year!