Halloween Party Games, Food, and Fun

We had the best weekend! The boys had a little Halloween party for some of their friends. My four year old helped with a lot of the planning and it was so fun to watch him get excited about setting up the party. We had set the date a few weeks ago, but we did not get around to planning until the week before. Apparently,we do our best work last minute. We had a 10 am party so anyone that had other Saturday plans could hopefully make it.

 

We started out by having the tables inside set up with Ziploc bags full of foam sticker crafts for the kids as they arrived. It was so adorable to see them all in their Halloween costumes in the daylight. They also decorated some white treat bags with spooktacular Halloween stickers. This kept them busy and away from all the games until everyone arrived.

 

 

 

I think the biggest game hit was the pumpkin pop game. My husband helped me adorn a piece of plywood with treat filled balloons. I filled orange and black balloons with candy, Halloween rings, and prizes. We attached the balloons to the plywood with push pins. (It took a hammer to get them in)

 

 

The kids walked up one by one and carefully selected their balloon. They took a push pin and popped the balloon of their choice.

 

Even the little ones loved it. They hardly jumped as the balloons made a large POP!

 

We had enough balloons for each child to take two turns. They were jumping up and down in line to go again. Ha ha! Precious.

 

 

The night before the party, I decided to make pumpkin name stakes for all the kiddos. With the porch light on, I cut out these little cuties with a jigsaw, painted them, and wrote the kids names on them with a black sharpie marker.

 

I had a large stack of monster masks from oriental trading in my Halloween storage tub. The kids put them on and walked around and danced in a circle to some monster music. We would stop the music and they had to freeze in their monster poses. (This would have gone much better if I had showed them how silly to be first.) However, the parents all got a kick out of taking pictures of their kiddos in the funny masks.

 

Our next game, was a ball toss into some ghost buckets. Each game had a separate "participation" prize. We handed out mini Halloween puzzles, Halloween bubbles, Halloween books, and Halloween activity pads. I tried to stay away from too much candy because we had desserts and a pinata to go still.

 

After a round of different games, the kids played outside while lunch was prepared.

 

 

Pumpkin Toss Game (make me)

 

I filled a medical glove with water and hung it up in my freezer with a clothespin. It made the perfect floating hand in our vampire blood (Kool Aid).

 

 

I also made a batch of red jello and filled syringes with it. I think it was my husband's favorite. It made me giggle to see him act like a big kid. These took only minutes to make the night before.

 

 

My sweet friend Melissa brought these adorable monster puddings with Oreo cookies crumbled on top. (These were my favorite!)

 

These precious orange pumpkin cups were a find at the dollar store. We labeled them with each child's name so they would not get mixed up.

 

Everyone is standing around anxiously awaiting the pinata.

 

Here is my little pirate giving it his all!

 

 

We ended up having just as many helpers on the rope side as we did in line.

 

Now off to the hay ride...a huge hit!

 

When we announced it was time for the hay ride the kids took off running. I never expected them to be quite that excited.

 

 

We had hung some fake spider webs through the barn and some Caution tape. As we rode through the spooky all barn we realized there was already plenty of natural spider decor.

 

What fun things do you have planned for a Halloween party??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monster Bread Tags

Over two years ago, I saw this fun idea featured on Someday Crafts for monster tags. I finally found where they originated from Amanda here. Anyways, just this week I got around to making some similar monster tags of my own out of my stash of bread tags. I can't think of a better way to repurpose bread tags. I have been throwing them in a little drawer in my kitchen for months now in preparation for the official Monster Month of Halloween.

 

These funny little tags would be perfect on your own baked goods, goodie bags for school treats, snack bags for your child's lunch, and much more. My husband laughed when he saw me making them. He asked what I planned on using them for. My answer..."Anything. They just make me smile when I see them." I really feel like that is what crafting is all about.

 

Supplies:

 

Bread tags

Acrylic paint

Sharpie Markers

Sealer (optional)

 

 

Gather your stash of bread tags. (No I don't have this many. Lol!) I started with different shapes and sizes. I painted a solid color over the whole bread tag to start with.

 

Then I began embellishing my silly little guys with faces. I used the end of the paintbrushes to make the polka dots on my monsters. As each layer dried, I continued my painting. I also found my sharpie marker collection to be incredibly helpful in adding small details to their monster eyes, crazy feet, and minor stitches from injuries.

 

 

How can I not smile when I grab this...

 

 

 

Magic Pumpkin Seeds

On our camping trip last weekend we participated in the most precious activity. It was called "Magic Pumpkin Seeds." My boys received a bag with 2 pumpkin seeds, a craft stick with the end painted orange, and a baggie full of glitter. We met at the the hay ride and rode far out into the "magic pumpkin field" filled with straw.

 

 

Each of the boys dug a little hole with their finger and planted their magic pumpkin seeds. They covered them up carefully with hay and sprinkled the magic dust (glitter) on top. Then they placed their stake with their name written on the orange section beside their seeds.

 

Here is my youngest and I on the way out. His favorite part was the tractor and the "farmer" driving it.

The kids cousins came along for the fun filled weekend.

 

 

The driver told us a story of the Hidem Ma Hidem tribe that had buried their dead at this site years ago. It apparently makes it the magical place it is today for pumpkins to grow sooo quickly. She warned them not to dig the holes too deep or they would get Hidem Ma Hidem guts on their fingers. (You should have seen the little kids disgusted faces. Ha!)

 

Two hours later, we took a second ride out on the hay wagon to find our "magical" pumpkins.

 

The kids thought it was incredible and were so exicted to haul their magical pumpkins back into  the wagon.

 

My youngest tried desperately to pick his up and carry it. This would be such a fun activity or tradition to do at home every year for Halloween. I am going to be sad when my little ones grow up and they are not quite such believers in the "magic" of simple things like these pumpkins.

 

RIP Graveyard Sign

We had the most fabulous weekend. Our family went camping at Jellystone campground in Burleson, Texas. This Yogi Bear themed park is fabulous. There were activities planned all weekend. From Friday until Sunday we managed to decorate our campsite for a contest, trick or treat, go on a scavenger hunt, ride on a Haunted Hay Ride, go to a fall carnival, plant magic pumpkin seeds, and go through a haunted maze!! Apparently, it lis every weekend in October. This might have to be a new family tradition.

 

We had heard of the campsite decorating contest on the internet before we went, so I created these spooky gravestones. It is so hard to get a clear picture without having a flash on my camera. This picture does not do them justice.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Plywood

Black Spray Paint

Jigsaw

Drill

Staple gun

Christmas lights (50 count)

 

Directions:

 

1. Cut tombstone out of plywood using a jigsaw.

 

2. Paint with black spray paint.

 

 

3. I used 1/4" drill bit (same size as my Christmas lights) to drill out the letters for RIP.

 

4. Next, I pushed my Christmas light through the holes from the back side of the tombstone.

 

5. I used a staple gun to hold all the lights in place.

 

6. I leaned them up against a tree, but you could easily put little stands on the back of them.

 

Here are my crazy little pirates. My little one is screaming Arrrghhh!!! Lol! You can see the tombstones in the daylight in the background. His home made costume won 1st place in the costume contest and he was super excited to take home a huge pumpkin as a prize.

 

 

Halloween Wooden Peg People

Recently I have seen all kinds of precious peg people. When I realized you can buy a package of 8 wooden peg people for $2.49 at Hobby Lobby, I decided to try my hand at painting. I started out with some simple characters...a witch, vampire, ghost, mummy, and a pumpkin head. I love that they are small and easy to store each year unlike the rest of our Halloween treasures.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Wooden Peg People

Paint

Sharpie Markers

 

Directions:

 

 

1. I started by painting three wooden pegs black and two white. I used some accrylic paint I had at home.

 

2. Next, I painted on faces. This took several coats, but the paint dried quickly.

 

3. I used a black sharpie marker to decorate the ghost and a red one to draw a heart on the mummy.

 

4. After a few more painted designs I drew on faces with sharpie markers to finish them off.

 

 

 

My son had fun playing with this rough crowd of spooky Halloween creatures all weekend.
They remind me of the old fashioned (antique) Little People. At a total cost of $2.50, this was a great investment of time! Now I just wish we still had our cardboard haunted house from last year. We might need to construct a new one.

 

 

Click here for directions.

 

 

 

DIY Felt Halloween Sugar Cookies

I saw some cute Halloween cookies on Etsy and was inspired to make similar ones of my own. You can always click the link and order an embroidery pattern. I wish my sewing machine was that fancy. I made a set of these for my boys to play with and for a sweet little girl whose birthday party we have later this month. I never realized felt food was so popular until I started looking around etsy. We may just have to make some more because it was a huge hit at our house today.

 

Supplies:

White Felt

Orange Felt

Black Felt

Beige Felt

Sewing supplies

 

Directions:

 

1. I started by drawing my patterns on paper. For the pumpkin, I cut out my orange shape first. Then I laid it on top of double layers of beige felt and cut out two background (sugar cookie) pieces at the same time.

 

2. Next, I used some black thread to sew on the design for eyes and a mouth. Embroidery thread would have worked even better, but I didn't have any laying around.

 

3. Then, I sewed my orange pumpkin on top of my top layer of the sugar cookie. I tried some with hand stitching and some with my machine. (Both ways worked well. Of course the machine was MUCH faster)

 

4. Fill with a small amount of stuffing.

 

5. Sew your two layers of "sugar cookies" together.

 

Apparently, my little one thinks cookies should be cooked on the stove top. Ha!

 

Our cookies provided tons of fun this morning. I hope they make a great birthday present as well!