Halloween Candy

What do you do with your kids Halloween candy? Let them have at it, and it is gone in a few days, Ration it out - that could last at least a year with the loot that my kids got
For the last couple of years I have let Skyler have a treat or two a day, all the while Jordan eating it at night, and then after a month or so I have made Jordan put it away, or threatened to throw it all out - then it ends up in our bedroom, but he finishes it off and life goes on. I was thrilled when I saw This idea for dealing with candy - we were already a week late, so I didn't stamp, I used a silver marker, and I didn't waste my time on brads, I used a hot glue gun to attach the cups
Skyler was able to pick 2 treats a day, and put them into his cups which are attached to paper covered diaper box (that is where all of my card board comes from)
Then I glued tissue on top so that he can use his little fist to get at his treat each day.

I love it this way the candy is done and gone in a month. Skyler got to pick out what he wanted before Jordan ate it (although he seems not to go for Chocolate, so Jordan wouldn't have had too much competition)

Next time I would plan ahead and find slightly smaller cups, and maybe a bigger piece of Cardboard and make it more into a calender, but I like the idea all the same.

Halloween Costumes

I didn't even realize that I had not posted my kids Halloween costumes until my Dad asked me to send them to him. Ethan was a puppy, Skyler a dinosaur and I wore the dollar store green devil horns, and Skyler thought I was the coolest mom around. Worth the buck I guess.

Jordan 's Halloween Party

We had Jordan's Halloween Party on Saturday night, and it was a lot of fun. He really enjoys throwing Halloween parties, he thinks it is the best time of year for a party. Last year was adult scary with eyeballs in the drinks, Psychological Horror movies, and Nasty looking (but yummy tasting) food. This year (since I am less excited about Halloween) we did a murder mystery and it really did turn out great. After doing a party like this, I don't think that I would be able to go back to How to Host a Murder games.

I should have taken pictures of Jordan Mocktail bar - by far one of his best ideas for the night, and all of the decorations, but I forgot - big surprise.

Part of the game was extortion, blackmail, and pickpocketing of course, so each player started with some money. Jordan decided to charge for their drinks, which turned out great. Some of the guys were schmoozing girls to get info, or just to play up their characters. At one point Jordan got suckered into buying his whole table rinks because in Character he was the runt employee of the Boss of Bosses, or something along thoses lines.

The one thing that didn't turn out great is that those who had played other Murder games were holding onto their action and murder cards waiting for more rounds, which in this game doesn't happen.

Dinner was Garlic shrimp with Pasta Carbonara, Ceaser Salad and Tomato Basil soup, and dessert was squares so that you could mingle and enjoy the sweets.

Decoration were for the Grand opening of the club and were black, whits and red with some gold and glitz going on as well. After all this was happening in th roaring twenties.
There were prizes for best performance, best costume, most money, and best detective, it really was a lot of fun - things we learned and would do a little differently next time, but overall a fabluous experience!

Skyler's Party

So to start things off lets do some clarification I am not creative, in fact I am far from it, I am a class A copycat, and will give credit where credit is deserved! Also, I don't often do just for the heck of it parties for my kids, I go all out on their birthdays, but my husband for some reason loves throwing Halloween parties - he says it is the best holiday to throw a party for. Anyways I go along and totally get stuck on all of the details and trying to make his party the best that it can be. Last year Skyler was terrified of Halloween, but this year he is excited and loves all of the Scary things there are to see, so I decided that he could have a party of his own - I think I will probably let him have one in the future as well, tweaking some things of course and learning from the past.

This year he invited all of his cousins (they are only on one side of the family) and then of course Grandma and Grandpa had to come because they were going to be in Europe on Halloween and not get a chance to see the kids in costumes, and because they were there they were a ton of help! The grand kids all love them!

I am horrible at taking pictures at these kinds of events though because I am the one organizing everything.

We started off with dinner - nothing too festive, just something fast that we could all enjoy so that we would have time for the fun before bed (fresh rolls, crock pot tortellini, Jello Salad, and Strawberry poppy seed salad)

then the fun began, we made witch cupcakes found at Martha Stewart although they have popped up on blogs all over the placethe kids loved making them - Skyler really loved the hair for some reason, and made really hairy witches!

We made Caramel apples, and I would say it is the best way to go about it, we used craft caramels (about 2 cups) with 2 Tbsp of milk, melted them in the microwave and went nuts! Jordan especially likes the Smartie, Caramel combination
We then played Spider web bowling which was so fun, the kids loved it and took turns really well, but I forgot to get a picture of it.

Then we carved the pumpkins, again I only have a picture of our 3 after the fact because I was up to my elbows in Pumpkin guts, and then we decorated Sugar cookies! I did up a few extra plates to take to some neighbors, and it was quite obvious that I had a 3 year old helping, but it was his party after all right?

Halloween Sugar Cookies

Now that Halloween is getting closer I can indulge in all of the fun activities that I have been eagerly waiting to do with my kids for months now. Today we made Halloween sugar cookies so that we can decorate them for school tomorrow, and Skyler loved it!

I do believe that this is the best sugar cookie recipe ever (ok actually they are called sour cream cookies, and the recipe is not mine, it originally came from a friend Allaina)

anyways I love these because they are always soft and chewey, and are impossible to screw up. I also use wax paper to roll the dough which keeps down on the mess, and keeps the cookies lighter because there is no extra flour


Sour Cream Cookies

1 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour

cream margarine sugar, eggs and sour cream. Add dry ingredients. Mix thouroughly and chill for 1 hour. Bake at 375 for 8 min.

oh, and I love pairing it with this icing

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

combine all ingredients, and beat until smooth.

Now I have 6 dozen cookies a very happy boy, and an activity/ snack for school tomorrow which is at my house!