Ok people, friendly Halloween-candy-handing-out people, I want to ask you a favour. Could you please stop giving my kids so much candy? Like seriously, one piece is enough. This whole, "Oh my goodness. Look at you! You're so cute. Here let me drop two big handfuls of junk food into your pillowcase.", stuff has to stop. Please just give my kids one piece of candy, one … [Read more...]
“Fancy-Spooky” Halloween Cookies, with Go-To Cookie Cutter Sugar Cookies Recipe
I promised my nieces Halloween Cookies. “Aunt Holly, will you bake some Halloween cookies?” No problem. “Fancy-spooky decorated ones?” Ummm… Sure kids, why not. I used to love baking elaborately decorated sugar cookies for Christmas, but that was back when I had a large kitchen to work in with lots of counter space to roll out dough. Now I have a tiny apartment kitchen … [Read more...]
Glinda the Magical Pokemon Trainer of Oz and the Pikachu Princess in Black…
This year the girls wanted Pokemon costumes. The idea was partly fuelled by their obsession with watching Pokemon on Netflix, and partly by the fact that they had seen a "make your own Pikachu costume" section in their Chirp magazine. The 5 year old brought September's magazine to me, folded carefully open to display the magazine's idea for a Pikachu costume. "This is what I … [Read more...]
What are your kids eating for Halloween dinner? How about Bugs ‘n’ Cheese?
So, this is pretty awesome. You know how each Fall Boston Pizza sells Kids Cards to help raise donations for the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects? Well this year they set a new record, and raised more than $900,000. That's amazing! That's money that will be going directly towards helping kids by supporting The Rick Hansen Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Kids Help … [Read more...]
Halloween Cowboy, Circa 1980
My husband as a rootin' tootin' Halloween cowboy, circa 1980 or so. … [Read more...]
Where are all the Trick or Treaters?
Last year my mother-in-law had one trick-or-treater at her house. Let's put this into perspective, shall we? There was a nice old lady sitting with her porch door open, giving away free candy to kids, and only one kid showed up. ONE. I mean, what the heck? We didn't have too many kids show at our place either last year, maybe a dozen. The truth is, in the ten years we've been … [Read more...]
Fear the unknown…
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” ~ HP Lovecraft … [Read more...]
Halloween Town {Wordless Wednesday}
When we visited last November I snapped a couple of photos of one of my favourite parts of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland (in Frankenmuth, Michigan) -- the large set ups of wee Halloween houses and decorations. … [Read more...]
Count Scary! #ThrowbackThursday
"Ohhh, that's scaaary." Growing up in a border city in the pre-cable TV days, I watched plenty of US television when I was young. Detroit WDIV used to have B-movie marathons that were hosted by this silly vampire guy, Count Scary. He was a hoot (and well, so were all those old Vincent Price films, oh and the giant monster ones, and those 70s vampire flicks... ahh, so … [Read more...]
The ONE magic ingredient you need to make a Scarecrow Costume in 10 minutes or Less
For Halloween, my Oz loving girls asked if they could be the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman. The seven year old had a clear vision of her Tin Woodman costume and some pretty elaborate ideas involving cardboard boxes and tinfoil. I was left wondering how I was going to turn her younger sister into the scarecrow. I had some ideas involving making straw out of yellow felt, or.... … [Read more...]
An Autumn Visit to Canada’s Wonderland & Halloween Fun with the Kids at Camp Spooky
Last weekend we visited Canada's Wonderland. I've never been in the fall before, and I was excited to check out the Camp Spooky kids Halloween themed event. Each Saturday and Sunday in October the "Planet Snoopy" kids area in Canada's Wonderland is transformed into Camp Spooky. My seven year old was half excited, half anxious. Would there be scary things and spooky guys there? … [Read more...]
Halloween Cookies {Cake Magic, Cookie Edition}
Here's a dose of devious inspiration for sugar cookie designs and decorations for your little ghouls and goblins to gobble up. … [Read more...]
What are you #ThankFALL for? What Special Things are you doing this Holiday weekend?
Fall is my very favourite time of year. I love cool clear sunny days, where it's almost warm out but there's a wonderfully cold breeze. I love wearing sweaters, but never needing a coat. This is the one time of year when I absolutely love to be outdoors. The kids and I go on long walks and collect pinecones, nuts and colourful leaves. The first frost has come and went, which … [Read more...]
Spooky Guys, Being Brave & Partying with Monsters
It's October. The month of "the spooky guys" is here, and like most young children my daughters can't decide if they are titillated or terrified. They love Halloween, and they know that the decorations mean Halloween is coming, but some of the decorations we've been seeing lately are a little grim and over the top (hello dollar store, just because you can make realistic looking … [Read more...]
Picturebooks for Halloween from Sourcebooks
My favourite time of year is here; it's October, the air is crisp, the leaves are changing colour and Halloween is on it's way. To help celebrate the Autumn season, Sourcebooks is offering up a trio of delightful Halloween and Fall themed books to share with your little ones. Sesame Street Happy Halloween It’s Halloween night, and Count von Count is dozing … [Read more...]