Clearance Time

I love the days after the Holidays. Why? Because it is the best time to buy some of those once expensive displays that wanted but wouldn't pay the price for. Clearance sales can save you hundreds on Halloween decor and costumes.

Next year my goal is to be part of the Trunk or Treat. I've never experienced until this Halloween. My family told me they love to go down to our church for Trunk or Treat and then about three to four block away is another church doing Trunk or Treat with houses in the middle. One of the homes went all out with a homemade haunted house. The haunted house was very good and scared my 12 year old.

I was amazed at the displays people did for Trunk or Treat. Some made getting the candy a game. Some just dressed up with chairs to pass out candy. Other went crazy using their car for huge displays. We saw haunted castles, haunted trains, and even the back of a car tuned into a jail cell. One church did a raffle and ours passed out food (hotdogs and chili) and drinks.

Seeing all the displays and the fun has inspired me to join in passing out candy at Trunk or Treat has inspired me to keep an eye out at the Halloween clearance sales for ideas for next year. My husband and I will do a theme together as our children will be old enough to Trunk or Treat together.

So if you enjoy seeing those happy faces on the kids and all the fun costumes. Consider checking out the clearance sales to save money on displays for next year.

She is out to ruin Halloween!!

For anyone this lady thinks is overweight she is going to give them a letter telling their parents that their child is overweight and does not need candy. You can see the actually let and more at this link...
 http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/23823811/woman-handing-out-letters-not-halloween-candy

I try not to ever get into the politics and ignore crazy people but this is unfair to children. When I lived in Michigan as a child we would make our costumes bigger to hide winter clothing under the costume so we would stay warm. What if that was us back then?

Plus what if the overweight child has sibling or friend going there that are skinny. Now the kid feel bad and has a lower self esteem. You can't always blame people for being overweight sometimes it really is a medical condition. Life is hard enough as a child. If the child has a weight problem they already have a hard enough time.

My advice, organize some neighborhood walks or exercise programs and invite them. However not all parents can afford to pay for programs. Towns could even get better exercise programs in their schools. As in the letter, "it takes a village to raise a child" then find way to help keep everyone healthy.

Ever wonder why a poor or tight budget kid might be overweight? Take a look at prices. The produce department is not cheap and the food doesn't keep as long. A package of hotdogs, not the expensive all beef ones, can be found for under a dollar a pack. That one dollar can be a meal for the whole family along with chips. Under five dollar for the meal. Not bad once in a while but what if that is all you can afford? Don't say "There is food stamp". Food stamps don't help everyone. There are real people working hard to make ends meet. They make too much for food stamps but not enough to pay all the bills, especially if there are medical conditions in the house home. Maybe money is why that kid is overweight.

Don't ruin Halloween of political bull. The kids want a fun night. We have them out and walking. If you are worried they are getting too much candy then pass out something healthy. There are lots of options. There is nothing wrong with passing out fruits.

Halloween if fun for everyone

Halloween is a holiday that can be fun for everyone. It doesn't matter how young or older you are. It How Halloween can be fun for all ages explains more details on all the ways Halloween can be fun for all.
doesn't matter what your religious beliefs are. Halloween is just fun and that is it. This article on

There is only one way to not enjoy Halloween... by missing out and not participating. It doesn't matter if you don't have much money, you just need imagination. No kids? Just visit your local truck or treat celebrations for a chance to help out or host your own halloween party.

Halloween Recipes

I found this page for Halloween Recipes from a post on Facebook. I had to share the post because it had lots of good recipe including pumpkin pie and pumpkin seeds. I have a recipe on here too for pumpkin seeds, but this recipe is slightly different. They saute the pumpkin seeds before they bake them. Plus the recipe doesn't call for days to soak, no soaking at all was required and suggested a few hours of soaking in a variation.

There is also lots of ideas to turn pumkins into useful Halloween decor, like a Pumpkin punch bowl. That would sure amaze your party guests.

Decorating Pumpkins with Young Children

Young children like to decorate pumpkins too. Carving a pumpkin however can be very dangerous for young children. Here is my rule of thumb, if the child can use scissor correctly and cut some of their own foods, then they can carve a pumpkin. If the child is too young for scissors then they are too young to carve the pumpkin BUT this doesn't mean the child can't have fun with the pumpkin.



Depending on what your child likes to do should tailor how to decorate the pumpkin. Generally the child helps to clean the pumpkin out and draws the face with a marker or crayon. The parent does all the cutting on the pumpkin.

My youngest child however never liked to clean the pumpkin out. Drawing on the pumpkin was never much fun for him either; he just wanted it to be funny or scary looking. For him getting some glow in the dark paints was the answer. With a lot of newspaper or plastic to cover everything including the child's clothes, paint the pumpkin with glow in the dark paints. If the child want a certain design. Draw the design on the pumpkin with a bold permanent marker. Then have the child paint the design.

Another great deign is to allow the kids to completely cover the pumpkin in glow in the dark paint. Let them go crazy and cover the pumpkin any way they want. Then you can carve the face out of the pumpkin. This way the outside shell will glow in the dark. Place a different color light inside the pumpkin to make the eyes glow a different color.

There are knives made for children for cutting pumpkins. The knives are not as sharp as the kitchen knives and they often have a thinker handle. The thinker handle give the child more to grip on. Parents may need to help start the knife into the pumpkin but the child can then cut out their own shape. This can be safely done with adult supervision.

Children can also do the tracing of the pattern and let the parents do the cutting. Many pattern books with have a wheel with teeth. The wheel is used to make little hole in the pumpkin while tracing the pattern. This is a safe step the child can do. Depending on how detailed the design is, there may be too much for a young child to do all alone. Just take turn tracing out different parts of the pattern.

All children can have fun decorating pumpkins and making Jack-O-Lanterns. They will need the help and guidance of a parent but this will make a lifelong memory for both. So don’t skip that pumpkin patch this year. Even if you do truck or treating the pumpkins can be decorated around the car and bring joy to the children as they get to show off their designs.

Halloween Safety

Keep these guys safe

Safety is a concern on we must have on the fun Halloween night. Every year we hear stories on the news the next day of things that have gone wrong. Here are some tips to help be safe on Halloween.

1. Don’t be alone. This goes for trick or treaters and people passing out candy. Keep together with at least one other person.

2. Lights. Lights can help people see the walkway and help protect people from dangers. Lights do not have to take away from the Halloween spookiness; just use black light, strobe lights, and orange lights.

3. Candy check. Check the candy before eating it. This includes while trick or treating. Take some time and make sure there are no factory defects with the package or any issues.

4. Don’t give treats to pet unless they were made for the pet. Chocolate and other Halloween goodies are not good for pets.

5. Keep pet put safely away. Too many strangers and people acting in the Halloween spirit can scare the pet. The pet doesn’t understand what goes on. They could bite someone or get scared and run away. Also some people are not nice to pets, so keep them safely away from those people. Some kids are also afraid of dogs, like my youngest, and we don’t want them running out into traffic.

6. Make sure the kids costume won’t make them trip and they can see. If the costume is too long or they can’t see, cut the costume so it will fit them. Most costume only make a year or two and it better to be safe.


I also found this website on Halloween Safety. This site looks great and goes more into detail then I have gone.

Halloween Costumes for Women




2010 Witch Costume

Halloween costumes for women are difficult, especially for the plus sizes. This year it seems the women costumes have gone completely in the wrong direction. Instead of scary they have gone sexy, many too sexy. They look like something that shouldn’t be worn out of the bedroom.

I’m a witch every Halloween. It is just a charter that I love since I was a little girl. Thankfully the costume has been mostly homemade. Each year I add something new. I have wanted to add a new dress to the costume but the price and designs have held me back from making the change. I’m hoping to soon customize a new dress for the witch costume.

I’ve looked though lots and lots of store for a good and not expensive Witches dress. Many of the costumes are really revealing. Sex appeal is becoming a big hype that goes with Halloween. The issue is these costumes are not appropriate for trick or treating with the kids. In many northern areas it is way too cold for such little clothing.

There are some costumes that are not based on sex appeal but they are hard to find. The best solution is to make your own costume with old clothes. Often old clothes are best found at thrift stores for these projects. Hopefully the people who make costume will hear our plea. If you know of a site/store that has Women plus size costumes or even costumes that don’t show so much please share below. Those of us searching will be happy to check it out.

How to pick the right pumpkin?

Carved pumpkin light up at night

Picking the right pumpkin can be different for everyone. It depends on the style you are going for.  Maybe a skinny and tall pumpkin, or a round a fat pumpkin, or maybe a pumpkin so big you need a forklift to help get it home?

Once you think you have the right kind of pumpkin you want there are a few more things you should look at.

1. Are there any holes? Holes may mean the pumpkin is invaded with nasty bugs or could just be a hole. Either way the pumpkin will not last as long as the other pumpkin.

2. Has does the pumpkin sit? Its no fun carving a pumpkin with lots of detail showing off your best work only to discover when the pumpkin is places outside the carving is hard to see or faces down. Place the pumpkins on a flat surface and make sure the carving area is facing the right way.

3. Squishy? Like with most produce, squishy feeling is bad. The pumpkin is rotting on the inside, put it back.

How long will a pumpkin last after being carved? There are tons of answers for this all over the web. Some says weeks, some a week, some a few days. There is a lot that make this question have different answers. Pumpkin has many different varieties. Some varieties last longer than other. Some climate are better for pumpkin then others and of course those nasty bugs help speed up the process too.

A co-worker brought up to use petroleum jelly on the pumpkin to make it last longer. Not only is this recommend all over the web but I found this article for a great way to help keep the bugs, germs, and mold off the pumpkin.

Halloween Safety - Be Seen

by gun4hire

Halloween safety is or should be talked about every Halloween. Did you know that Halloween is the top day of the year for children being hit by cars! People try to be careful but its dark out, kids are in dark costumes, the costumes limit seeing and sometimes hearing abilities, and kids are often in a hurry and caught up in the fun. There are some simple ways to help keeps kids safe without taking away from the fun of Halloween.

Lights

We used to carry small flashlight when I went out trick or treating as a kid, but we didn't alway use them. Add costume accessories that will light up is a wonderful way to help the child see and be seen.

Lights should be added around thing dangerous. No one wants a kids walking through their garden. The child doesn't want to trip on the garden either. Lights around the garden will keep everyone happy and safe. The lights can be normal lights or the can be any fun or spooky color you would like.

Reflective tape

Reflective tape is a wonderful item that can be used in many many ways. When the light from a car shine on it the light will bounce back to the driver so they will see the child/tape. Use the tape on Halloween bags, costumes, shoes, backs, strollers, wagaons, bikes, and anything else you can think of. Reflective tape is also good for decorations as well.

As stated before, if you can walk with the children don't drive. Less cars moving around the less chance someone will get hit. I love the idea of parking the cars and having a location with little or no cars to trick or treat.

Making Halloween more environment friendly – Pumpkins

Pumpkins are a staple around Halloween time. Pumpkins give us Pumpkin seeds, Pumpkin pie, Pumpkin spice, and of course Jack-O-Lanterns. Now pumpkins are pretty environment friendly already because we use most of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Guts

Pumping guts can be reused. I know some people use pumpkin guts in cooking. I haven’t tried that but you can use the pumpkin guts in pumpkin pie. Pumpkin guts are pureed and is like what you would be out of a can. However they can be a wonderful discussing Halloween decoration that doesn’t last long unless you are going for the nasty smelling and bug infested decoration. Food coloring can be added to the pumpkin guts to make them look like blood or snot.

Pumpkin Seeds

The pumpkin seeds can be turned into a somewhat healthy snack. I say somewhat because I love them with lots of sale. You simple wash the pumpkin seeds and then soak them for a day to two in salt water, changing the water once or twice. Then place them on a baking pan. Put the oven at 350 degrees. Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds with the desire amount of salt, mine are completely salt covered. Cook until nice and crunchy. I cook min for 20 minutes and then check every five to ten minutes until they are the right doneness for me.

Jack-o-Lanterns

Jack-O-Lanterns don’t need any discussions but it is the one main reason many people buy pumpkins at Halloween time. You can save money by plant your own pumpkins. They are easy to grow up take up space as they are grown on vines. You can cut the vines and limit how long the vines grow. This will produce larger but smaller amounts of pumpkins.

Making Halloween more environment friendly – Trick or Treat Bags

Every year you can see lots of plastic bags and bucket for sale for Trick or Treating. When my children where younger the bucket had a triple use. The buckets would carry candy until I dumped the candy in to bigger bad, usually in the stroller. Then we would use them to hold little toys. Finally the bucket would be used to play outside either with water fights or down at the beach. Summer would usually sound the end to the buckets.

The problem I got with the bags and the bucket is that I would get stuck carrying most of the candy. When their bag or bucket got heavy we would poor them into an old pillow case. When the children got old enough to carry all of their candy themselves we just gave them the pillow case. I have still had to carry extra pillow cases just in case the bags still got too heavy or a hole happened. Those same pillow cases are used every year. A hole just meant another stitch in the pillow cases giving the pillow cases a little more of a Halloween look. My kids never did decorate their pillow cases, but you could if you wanted to.

If you don’t have old pillow cases you can make one out of Halloween fabric or out of old clothes sewn together. Making a pillow is fairly easy and a project that the children can help to make as well.

Another option is McDonald's kid's meal buckets. I love the McDonald's Halloween buckets because they have multiple uses. The buckets carry the kids meal to them, then is great for trick or treat night (although you will most likely need a 2nd bag to dump candy into), and the bucket is great for playing around the house, in the sandbox, collecting things outside, or playing on the beach. This is a wonderful option for younger children who can't the larger pillow cases or bags.

Making Halloween more environment friendly – Walking

Every year on Halloween you can see a lineup of cars following the children. In some cases this can’t be helped but cars can be dangerous to the trick or treat children. Children can be so small and we trick or treat when it is dark out in many areas. Walking is the best bet for everyone. It is healthier for the environment, gets exercise in for the whole family, and saves gas.

Reduce the number of cars driving around if you can. Walking with the children will add extra safety into their trick or treating. This will add more safety to your children and to yourself. I loved where my parents live when we lived near them. They live in subdivision which is one of the prime locations in that area for trick or treating. Most parents would park at the beginning of the subdivision. The subdivision went in three circles but had only the one in and out. This created the perfect trick or treat spot. Although some people did drive, many would walk with the children.

Walking on trick or treat night is a wonderful way to get exercise in as most of us are going to enjoy some candy in the end. A good walk can help us to burn off those extra calories we are going to eat. For the best reason to walk on trick or treat night is the money you can save by not using so much gas, which is also good for the environment.

Halloween Fun Facts

Are you looking for some Halloween trivia or maybe just some fun facts about Halloween? I found an article on Halloween fun facts and had to share it.

I found the article to be full of fun facts that I didn't know. Check it out I hope you find something new as well.

Making Halloween more environment friendly – Halloween Box

Many of us are doing are best to keep our Earth as healthy as we can. Many cities recycle. We try to reuse what we can. We donate items that are still good that we no longer want. Halloween is no exception. A Halloween box is a great way to save decorations and costumes from year to year.

Costumes can be expensive. A Halloween box can be just cardboard box or a nice plastic tote to help protect the costumes. Costumes can be reused or turned into something new. Families and friends can even share their costume boxes. Sharing costumes will help the family and friends to save money and allow the costumes to get reused more.

Keeping some old clothes, especially black ones, are perfect for the Halloween box. The used clothing can enhance other costumes and help to create new costumes. Personally one of my best witch’s gown was an old black maternity dress. The maternity dress was cut and ripped. I used black hairspray on my blond hair and green makeup on my face. Both of which ended up as stains over the years on the gown. This just made the gown even better for the next year. Old pants covered in fake blood from an older child the previous year would work great on a younger child this year.

By being green we can keep our planet clean for our children. Keep checking back for more Green Ideas.

Halloween Parties

Halloween time brings amazing Halloween parties. A good Halloween party will keep guests talking until next year. What makes up a good Halloween party?
1. Food
2. Drink
3. Guests
4. Music
5. Fun
6. Good Costumes
7. Events/Contests.

Everyone wants some good food and drinks at the Halloween party. Having some scary looking and yummy food it a wonderful way to spruce up the night. Pumpkin can be turned into items like this pumpkin cookies.

How to make pumpkin cookies.

Decorations will also help to bring the party alive. The decorations will help to get all the guests in the same fun Halloween mood. Below is a link to an article on tips to help liven up a Halloween party which includes some good decoration ideas.

Tips to Liven up a Halloween party.

Guests and fun are linked together some. You need people who are ready for Halloween fun. Be careful not to invited too little or too many. Too few and there may not be enough people for the fun Halloween games. Too many and the party is just crowded.

Fun can be dancing, games, scavenger hunt, scary movies. Contest and Events can be fun too. A Costume contest can be a wonderful way to get guest to really dress up for Halloween and show off some creative skills. For a really creative bunch you can even make the best homemade costumes.

I think the best part of a Halloween party is all the fun I get to have decorating and then seeing all the different costumes. A little bit of planning and the Halloween party will be hit.

Pumpkin Air freshners

Picture by Tallia22

I have to share this article. It is a wonderful way to give a nice wonderful fresh smell into home while the trick or treaters come for visit. Check out this simple and effective way to make a pumpkin air fresheners.

This is a wonderful way to freshen the air at Halloween parties and fall get togethers.

Halloween 2013: Making Costumes

Picture by Kylesatori

When I was a children living in Michigan and upper Ohio, many of the Halloween were a little cold
 so the costumes we wore also had a nice layer of dark clothing under the costumes to keep us warm. Now living in the south I have to remember not to put that much clothing on the kids or they will roast as we Trick or Treat. My son this year is planning on being a killer. With an old pair of pants and a white shirt both splattered with spray blood. He has a sword that blood drips down the blade. It will be a simple costume, yet affective. Hopefully we can convince him to do something with his hair and maybe a scary face. A good costume can come from old leftover clothes. For example a Lost Pirate:

• Lost Pirate

Take some old clothes that are a little too small. No worries, we are going to make the clothes comfortable to wear by ripping the parts that are unaffordable. Those clothes are what the pirate was wearing when he was lost; he had ripped them as he grew. If you are in a climate that is cold you will want big enough clothes to go over coat or undergarments. The end of the pants and shirt sleeves will need to be ripped, ratted, and dirty. You can make them look dirty by using black and gray spray Halloween paint or simple walk on them in the garden, providing there is an empty spot without plants. With a dirty face by spreading some brown makeup on and an eye patch. Put some black makeup under your eye to give you a tired look. You can add a sword or even a broken sword to this costume.

• Vampires

Vampires are a popular costume. They can be dark and scary or light and pretty or a mix of both. Boys can use old dress clothes or suits. Girls can use old fancy dresses. If you’re going for the pretty look you need nothing more than makeup and teeth. For a dark look rip up the bottom of the clothes. Girls may want to wear a layer underneath and rip the dress on top a lot. This will allow the dress to flow but the second layer will provide warmth and coverage. Pop in some vampire teeth and a little whitish makeup and you’re set to be a Vampire.

Looking at some of the newer costumes for Halloween, there are many adult costumes. Great for adult parties, but not so great for Trick or Treating with the kids. All costumes here I will try to keep PG13, if you have a new costume you would like to share with us… please post a link in your comments below. I will delete any adult costumes, so please keep it clean.

Healthy Halloween Treats

Picture by icekitty37

There is lots of talk about Candy being bad. Too much of anything is bad. I remember a local doctor
who would give out apples at one door and his wife gave out caramel at the other door. I didn’t mind the apples. Thinking back it would have been good to gather up the apples and make since nice baked apples. Could have even melted the caramel to go on top, but I’m getting off subject now. There is some Candy that is better than other and there are some other snack items that can be given out in place of candy like listed below:

Twirlers, my husband’s favorite, are a fat free candy.
Lemon Heads are fat free and about 10 pieces is about 50 Calories.
Pretzels are good but salty snack.
Nuts can be a good protein snack, but some people are allergic to them.
Juice boxes or flavored water bottles, kids get thirty as they Trick or Treat.

These are all good alternatives to just candy. If you are concerned about all the candy and would like to try another route by all means go ahead. Just need to think outside of the box for some yummy and healthier options.

Baking Pumpkin Seeds

I love to make homemade pumpkin seeds. My recipe uses an entire container of salt. I soak the pumpkin seeds in salt water for a few days, then lots of salt to bake the seeds in. Now I love that salty pumpkin seed but I’m also checking out other pumpkin recipes to consider making some adjustment to my recipe.

My recipe can be view at:
How to Make Pumpkin Seeds

I’m interested to hear what recipes the readers use. Please share ideas in the comments. I also welcome any suggestions to my recipe.

Pirate Dictionary

Piratese : a Pirate Dictionary

Whether your little buccaneer dresses as a pirate this Halloween or just likes pretending make others walk the plank any day of the week, check out Piratese : a Pirate Dictionary. Your young one will learn a little piratese to make his or her costume a little more authentic (and you won't be driven to walk the plank from the constant "arghs.") Don't faint should you hear Young Blackbeard say "Avast! Mom! Dad! Be Hearty! I be swabbing my room!"

http://www.squidoo.com/pirate_dictionary

Deadly Snowmen

I've been sitting here think about snow all ready. We have moved from
Ohio to Tennessee, where we are not going to see snow like we had up
north unless we go into the mountain tops. I was remembering the last
time we made snowmen with the children. Hopefully I can go through the pictures soon and show you the snowmen. Since I don't have the picture now, I can at least tell you about the snowmen and the bad drawing on the left by me too.

We made two snowmen. The first snowman held with two sticks as arms, and toy sword. The second snowman was in front of the first snowman, except his head was on the ground. Then we used red Kool-Aid to color the snow. My children and husband was very proud of their killer snowmen.
Thankfully the neighbors got a kick out of the snowmen too.

This memory leads me to a good craft idea for the Halloween Party Foods:

*Killer Snowmen on a Pretzel*

Gather these Items:
Popped Pop Corn
Caramel
Large pretzel
Red Food Coloring
Grease Cooking Pot
Licorice
New Small Paint brush

Cut the Licorice into stick shapes, eye, noise and mouths.

Melt 3/4th of the caramel in a well grease cooking pot.

Drizzle some caramel over the popped popcorn and roll into three
different size balls. Assembly the popcorn balls like the snowmen;
large, medium, and small. Except every other snowman leave the head off
to the side.

Drip a dot of caramel on the pretzel where you want the snowman parts
and people to go.

While the popcorn snowman is still sticky; attach the licorice pieces to
the snowman.

Melt the remaining 1/4th of the caramel. Add red food coloring to the
melted caramel to give it a red tint.

With the small paint brush, brush the red tinted caramel on the snowman
without the head.