Or House is Halloween Dress-Up Crazy!

I love all the holidays, but getting a chance to be someone else, real or fanciful, now that is my kind of holiday!

I know things have been quiet around here, but my time has been taken up with family and their school activities. Right now it has all been around dress-up and decking these kids out for their various parties and events. Am I the only one who does multiple costumes each year? With all the great costume possibilities I am not sure how to choose only one!

This year has given me the chance to create a family costume, have the kids pick out their dream costume and let me help create some special pieces to go with their imaginative ideas. Hopefully all the projects get finished in time. I still have one Tin Man's heart to sew.

This year the annual elementary school carnival has a superhero theme, so of course, costumes are involved. My son has his own personalized cape from Etsy, but since he really loves Captain America, I made him a simple mask and this Captain America shield out of felt.

Superhero masks are very easy to make. I highly suggest creating a pattern with freezer paper, ironing it to felt and then cutting it out. The freezer paper stencil can be used multiple times and will give the masks not only stability while cutting, but will also keep them uniform.

Since I was pretty sure this would be the last year I could convince my family to go in for the whole family costume, I let my daughter also pick out a costume to fit her personality. She is old enough to have a strong costume preference for her upcoming parties. She really admires the elegance and beauty of Audrey Hepburn (Or "Headburn", as my daughter says), so we went for this adorable Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired costume from Chasing Fireflies.

I just couldn't resist!

Our group costumes will be for The Wizard of Oz with Audrey as Dorothy, my oldest as the Tin Man and the baby will be dressed up as the Cowardly Lion. His costume is my favorite! It was another Etsy find. The whole body suit and hood were comparable in price to the costume sites, but the costume is neither itchy nor sheds fuzz. I made the mistake of buying him a store model this Summer and the thing didn't stop shedding.

Weather dependent, I would like to go as Glenda. But, I don't want to spoil all the Halloween day excitement, so this Dorothy costume (from a great Etsy seamstress) is the only sneak peak I will give. I just hope the weather will cooperate and I can set up a photo shoot like last year to show off our group look.

Lastly, my son decided for his class party to go as Sir Owen. This was another Chasing Fireflies find and I love not only the detail, but the personalization that I opted to have done with the cape. From his boot covers to his flowing cape, my son was able to get in character effortlessly.

So why all the costumes? Well, besides needing a little boost to our dress-up box with the kids both having a massive growth spurt this past Summer, I completely understood the trouble they had deciding on a costume. Do you remember the world of possibilities that Halloween opened up to you as a child?

To be a princess waiting to be found by her prince, or a peacock in all his splendor. We don't do scary around here for Halloween, but we do let our imaginations soar and our costume fantasies become reality.

How does your family decide what to be for Halloween?

Easy Felt Bat Hair Clips

We are in full Halloween countdown in my house. Costumes have arrived and finishing touches have been made. Somehow I was able to convince my kids to indulge their Mother in one more Halloween night family costume... though both kids chose their own costume for school activities.

I just love Halloween. Not just the costumes and sweet treats, but all the decorations and fun.

So besides costumes my kids each have Halloween outfits, but I still needed a clip or Halloween inspired bow to finish off my daughter's outfit.

Why not just make one?

Yes, I love working with felt because it is inexpensive and fast to work with. Recently though, I got smarter about using and cutting felt. If you don't already use freezer paper for your designs, you should be!

Freezer paper is perfect for drawing (or tracing) images and outlines on. It also is fabulous for stabilizing the wool felt.

Just iron the freezer paper stencil lightly to the felt and cut it out.

 the best part is the stencils can be used over and over. Just apply with heat and the freezer paper easily pulls away from the felt or fabric afterwards.

I stitched the two pieces of felt together with white embroidery floss. and then used my hot glue gun to attach an alligator clip to the back.

Does it get much easier than that?

Now my daughter is ready for Halloween, and I may have to whip up a few more for our friends.

An InLinkz Link-up

Spooky Halloween Bowling Pin Craft with Dasani and Fanta

This Dasani and Fanta #SpookySnacks shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and experiences are mine alone. #CollectiveBias

This time of year is so busy! Trips to the pumpkin patch, school carnivals, parties and apple picking. Don't get me wrong, I love Fall, but it seems like we are out go-go-going more than we are home. With all those activities I try to keep a stash of water and Halloween snacks handy in the car, my bag or stroller. It never hurts to be prepared! 

And is it just me, or do kids get thirsty at the most inopportune times? Like when there isn't a store around for miles?

My kids primarily drink water, so having the smaller bottles of Dasani water on hand are convenient for us to take on our adventures. In fact, I will be packing the little 12 oz. bottles so we can stay hydrated while out Trick or Treating this year. All that walking makes us thirsty! 

Did you know  Dasani bottles are shaped so they won't fall over in the fridge. So, yeah... go ahead and stock the fridge so you have cold water bottles to grab when you leave the house.

This last trip to Walmart my daughter helped me stock up on Dasani water in various sizes. Of course, all those water bottles means we need to be conscious of recycling, or at least re-purposing them for something fun.

I like that Dasani bottles are made from plant resin so they are good for the environment, unlike some other plastic water bottles. So go ahead and craft with them, everything can benefit from being used a little longer, but know you area already starting with a good choice.


And all those bottles are crafting possibilities just waiting to happen. We like to craft and any day I get to break out the hot glue gun and creativity is a good one.

All these bottles in the kitchen got me to thinking. My in-laws have an adorable monster bowling set the kids love to use. Well, I thought with a few simple items including my used Dasani water bottles, felt and embroidery thread I could make my own. 

If you really want to create a memorable set, use the large 2 liter Fanta bottles for your bowling pins instead. Orange Fanta is a favorite of mine, especially this time of year the orange color works well for fun #SpookySnacks and party punch.

I started by creating a template to use for cutting out my felt. I used the 16.9 fl oz. Dasani bottles for my bowling pins. If you use a larger or smaller bottle, you might need to adjust yours. Just print off this Monster Bowling Pin Template and pin it to your felt for cutting.

I like to cut two pieces of felt at a time so they match up perfectly. I just used the inexpensive acrylic felt found in the Walmart craft section.

Then I used the blanket stitch to attach my felt front and back. I chose this stitch because it is more flexible when stretched out over a water bottle. If you want to use craft glue, give yourself an added margin around the template.

Then I used crochet thread and large embroidery needles to make my stitches. I like the homemade look the blanket stitch gives felt toys.

Then comes the fun part! Grab some wiggly eyes, pom-poms, felt scraps, pipe cleaners and a hot glue gun. Or go all out with glitter or sequins if you want.

I hot glued the wiggly eyes to each cover.

Then I started customizing each monster. It was easiest for me to hot glue on my felt and then cut around the cover to fit. It also saved me a fair amount of time. 

To help my monsters stand up, I stuffed the heads with just a little polyfill stuffing. I stuffed it down with a wooden spoon and then slipped the cover over my water bottles.

Then grab a ball and start rolling! My kids didn't need any prompting to start knocking down our little monsters. 

So there you go. We are going to stay busy all month long, so I had better come up with some other creative ways to re-purpose our used water bottles. 

How does Dasani and Fanta fit into your Halloween?

Dressing Up Our Snack Pack Pudding Cups for Halloween (printable included)

This delicious #SnackPackMixins shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and tasty outcomes are mine alone.

Looking for a scary/cute lunch or treat idea?

This year both of my older children will be packing a lunch on Halloween and so I had to create a cute... but also Halloween appropriate treat for their lunch boxes. And if you know our family, you know we enjoy our Snack Pack pudding cups!

Yes, we all have our favorite flavors. For my older kids there is lemon, my husband really likes vanilla, I go for butterscotch and the baby? Well, nothing is quite as fun to dig his fingers into as chocolate. Since I had big plans for these little Snack Pack cups I went with the classics, chocolate and vanilla.

Of course, our Walmart carries a whole wall of Snack Pack pudding cups in a variety of great flavors, so there were some decisions to make. I even spotted a seasonal mint variety I need to try next time. Keep an eye out for a special Snack Pack Halloween display in your store.

I try to keep several Snack Pack on hand in the pantry for those last minute celebrations or go-to treats after a busy day. To really make my kids smile I will sneak one into their lunch box while they aren't looking. Every kid loves a little lunch surprise now and then. I enjoy that the Snack Pack pudding cups both taste great and contain the same amount of calcium as an 8 oz. glass of milk. That is pretty sweet to me.

So armed with a few packs of Snack Pack pudding cups, I set out to create a simple wrapper for easy traveling. That is where my Silhouette Cameo came in.

After measuring the cups and creating a template, I used the basic shapes and design tools on my Silhouette to create these creepy and crazy monster faces. It always amazes me what a few lines and circles can turn out.

Because I love to share the fun, you can create these monster Snack Pack pudding cups for your kids by printing out my full color printable pdf. Just print then cut them out and tape to your favorite flavor.

Or, add a bigger smile to your child's face just by adding a delicious mix-in to the top of your cup.

With a can of Reddi Whip and color-coordinated sprinkles my little grey alien was ready to eat. 

Nothing takes me back to my childhood faster than Snack Pack pudding and whipped cream. By the age of 6 I remember how important it was to get a bite with both whipped cream and pudding in it, so my 6-year old self would ask you to please be generous with the toppings.

For the little green spider-eyed monster I topped him with Reddi Whip and a little green sparkly decorative gel. I found this with the Halloween decorating supplies in Walmart. This was a big hit with my son.

And my personal favorite was the little wild-haired devil topped with Crunch n' Munch Popcorn. I used a chocolate Snack Pack for this one and the toffee flavored crunchy popcorn was perfect with the smooth chocolaty pudding.

Both kids were excited to dig in! When I can create some fun and it is this easy, that is a total Mommy win. 

So whether we are celebrating a good day at school, a dance practice or just a day ending in "y", these dressed up Snack Pack pudding cups are an easy to make dessert the whole family to enjoy.

How would you Dress Up your Snack Pack?

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October 8th at 12 PM EST

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Halloween 2013 - Alice in Wonderland

I hope you all had a great Halloween.

Being an only child I never had the opportunity to do family costumes for the holiday. I have seen so many great ideas for group costumes and this year I just had to go for it.

This year my kids watched Alice in Wonderland, the Disney version, for the first time. My son loved the idea of being the Mad Hatter, and if you know him, you know it kinda fits. I found a shop on Etsy for a lovely hand made Alice costume and we were set.

You could say Audrey and Owen had fun.

Now, I still let them each choose a costume for our annual pumpkin ride and school party. My daughter was little red riding hood and my son was a firefighter, again. If you are counting that is 4 years in a row he has asked for a firefighter costume.

As a family, I was a playing card and the baby went as the white rabbit.

First Halloween? Elliott nailed it!

I am already thinking about next year and hope to work more on the costumes myself. I haven't decided between Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan for our family costumes.

Have you seen great family costume ideas? What was the theme?

Fun with Jigglers! Our JELL-O Halloween

My kids love Halloween, but what they enjoy the most about holidays like this are the treats we create together in the kitchen.

Last year we made JELL-O JIGGLERS and cut them out using Halloween shaped cookie cutters. They kids loved eating their creations! This year I decided to try something different - molds. I saw the skull and crossbones ice cube trays a while back and put them away for just such an occasion. I also saw some cute little jack-o-lantern molds, but when I went back to get them, they were all gone.

We really wanted to make jack-o-lanterns though, so I had to think of something.

Think, think, think.

Rummaging through my kitchen boxes I found this freezable mold for baby food. Sadly, I have never used it for baby food. But, it did look like the perfect mold for my little pumpkin jack-o-lanterns. This was a moment when I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

We grabbed the best Halloween JELL-O Gelatin colors we could find: Orange, Lime and Grape. Then I told my kids we were going to make JIGGLERS. How do you think they took the news?

My son chose Grape JELL-O Gelatin. He wanted to make the skull and crossbones shapes. Typical boy, right?

JIGGLERS are fast and easy to make which makes it easy to let the kids do it themselves. These are much less messy than decorating cookies.

After the JIGGLERS set up, we were ready to decorate them. I am not a fan of piping onto JELL-O, it always slides right off the shapes. My kids love fruit leather, so I cut the pumpkin eyes, nose and mouth out of grape flavored fruit leather. It cuts easily with a pairing knife or kitchen scissors and then sticks when moistened. Easy!

For the stem I cut the green part off of a gummy worm or used green candy. I found volunteers to eat all the red and yellow worms, don't worry. Then with my pairing knife I created a hole for the stem to fit into.

My JIGGLERS tip? When using molds, always use non-stick spray so they will come out easily. Believe me, I have tried to make them without and it wasn't pretty.

So easy to make, these jack-o-lanterns only took 5 minutes to decorate. The skulls and crossbones also came out perfectly. The kids were thrilled.

So whether you use cookie cutters, ice cube molds or random stuff at home, you can easily make a spooky JELL-O JIGGLERS treat for your family this Halloween.

For more inspirations check out the following JIGGLERS ideas for:

• Halloween Cat Eyes JIGGLERS
• Creepy Crawly JIGGLERS
• MMMMonster JIGGLERS

What would you create with your JELL-O?


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.