Happy Halloween!

We had lots of crafty and party fun this year for Halloween.
Here's what we did, and how we did it!

fRaidy CAt Masks

You'll need:
small black paper plates, black popsicle sticks (store bought or spray painted), pipe cleaners (or orange raffia, cut to 4"), glue dots, glue zots, green buttons, colored papers, scissors
Tip: glue dots are larger, stickier, thicker and more heavy duty, glue zots are thin and flat and more lightweight

Prep Work:
An adult will need to do a little prep before handing it over to kiddos. First, draw triangles on the back of the plate, all the way around, as a template for the "furry" face. If the child is too young to cut triangles, they can just snip straight into the plate.

For the ears template, draw a line down the middle of the plate, then an "x" making 6 triangles on the backs of plates. These are the ears.
Snip a few triangles (noses) and circles/curved shapes (mouths) out of colored paper.

What to Do:
Have the child work on cutting out the triangles from around the plate to make the face "furry". With glue dots, have them attach the triangle ears to the back of the plate. Then, place two zots on the plate for them, marking the place for the eyes. Let them place two green buttons on the zots. Take 3 pipe cleaners and twist them together in the middle. Place them down on a glue dot. Top the whiskers with a triangle nose, then add the mouth. Lastly, use a glue dot on the back of the plate to attach the popsicle stick.

Easy Peasey and super cute! I saw this idea in a book I check out from the library, "A Ghostly Good Time, The Family Halloween Handbook", A Woman's Day Special Interest Publication. It's great with lots of ideas I'm going to be using for years to come!

Games and Party Favors

For party fun and games, we played pin the spider on the web and pumpkin poppers. Here's how.

Pin the Spider on the Web

You'll need:
1 white poster board, plastic toy spider rings, black sharpie marker, glue dots, blindfold

Draw a web on the poster board with the black sharpie. Take the plastic spider rings and cut the ring off with scissors. Use glue dots to attach the spiders to the poster board. You know the rest, blindfold the kiddos, spin around three times, and see where the spider lands! For little kids, we did not keep score and have any certain place they had to place the spider. For older children, you could add a point system onto the web to make it more complicated.

Pumpkin Poppers

You'll need:
1 plastic halloween pumpkin, several hopping frogs (I bought the orange and black frogs at Jo-Ann Fabrics)

The kids try to hop the frogs into the bucket. It's much harder than it sounds and keeps them busy for quite a while!

Party Favors:

I filled candy corn treat bags (found at the local Dollar Store, 100 for $1...seriously, so cute and cheap). I place inside a small plastic toy, sucker, and tootsie rolls...all nut free as as allergy free as possible. I used my printer at home to print out a cute little card to tuck inside...wishing all friends a fun and safe Halloween.

Skeleton Cupcakes

Funny Cake/Wacky Cake

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil

In a blender, mix oil and sugar. Meanwhile, sift together all dry ingredients, then add the water. Pour the mixture into the blender and mix well the the sugar/oil . Pour into cupcake molds and bake 350 degrees for about 22 minutes.

Use white icing to pipe dancing skeleton bodies onto the top of the cupcake, add a marshmallow head. This idea was seen on http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/scrumptious-skeletons-686972/
Here's my white icing recipe.

White Decorator Icing:
1 cup crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon clear white vanilla extract
2 teaspoons butter extract
2-3 tablespoons water

Mix together in a blender (it will make a huge powedery mess, so toss a kitchen cloth over the mixer). Add more or less water for thicker or more smooth icing. The thinner the consistency the easier to pipe shapes.

Again to be as nut free/allergy free as possible, I had to get a little creative in the cupcake recipe. A big thanks to Debbie Williams for passing along her family recipe to me.