Have you ever been Boo'd at Halloween?

Tis' the season to "Boo" your family, friends and neighbors! Whenever I say that to people in October, they all ask me, "What does being 'boo'd' mean?" I want to put the question to rest and let everyone know what it means to "Boo" someone.


Being "Boo'd" is basically spreading Halloween cheer to your neighbors, family and friends. You take a little token (whatever you want that to be - you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want) to your family, friend's and neighbor's homes. You put whatever it is you brought on their doorstep, knock on the door and RUN! You don't want to be caught because they aren't suppose to know who left the treats. If you know what May Day baskets are all about, then this is the same concept, just a different season and holiday!

You can find "Boo Kits" in stores sometimes, but they can be pricey. You can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost! I basically decorate a bag and then put Halloween candy or trinkets in the bag and then type up a note for the outside of the bag. Something like:

"A bag of treats - but what's it mean? That you've been boo'd for Halloween. When all your yummy treats are gone, just fill this bag and pass it on!" (I got this saying from a bag given to us).

Then your family or friends are suppose to fill up the bag with their own treats and pass it on to someone else. This tradition we started a few years ago has caught on to our group of friends we "boo", but I would love to see more and more people get involved each year! It is a lot of fun and it is my kid's favorite thing about Halloween. They would much rather "Boo" our family and friends then go trick-or-treating!

Trash to Treasure

Look what a little paint, hardware and elbow grease can do to something that was doomed for trash! This is my new buffet that I got for free! My mom's neighbor was setting this piece down at the end of the street for garbage and I asked her if I could take it. It had all the hardware with it, but it wasn't pretty. I had a vision for it though. I sanded it down, spray painted the hardware (I got 3 new knobs for the drawers), painted the whole thing in a creamy white color and then I sanded down the edges to give it that "worn" look and WAHLA........ new buffet!

I love pieces that have drawers and doors on it because not only do they look pretty, they are functional too! One of my favorite things to do is finding new uses for things that people are throwing away. It is the best way to recycle and keep things out of our landfill! Instead of going and buying something new, see if you can repurpose something in your house or ask family and friends if they have anything they want to get rid of. With a little creativity and elbow grease, you can come up with very cool, custom pieces for next to nothing!

Apples, Apples, Apples!

Today we took the kids to the Apple Orchard and they got to pick apples! They had a blast and we had an abundance of apples. We came home and I decided to make our Mini Apple Pies. I had the kids help me which of course was a lot of fun for them.

I cut all the skin off the apples and then cut away from the core. Then the kids were in charge of cutting those pieces into little "squares". They use their Pampered Chef child knives. They absolutely love to be able to cook and bake in the kitchen with me. It is a great way to make memories and all kinds of different creations! No matter what you are doing in the kitchen, if you can get the kids involved, do. You'll be glad you did.

Here is our recipe for Mini Apple Pies:

Ingredients:

• Refrigerated Pie Crust
• 7 Apples (any kind will work really)
• 2 Tbs. Cinnamon
• 1/4 c. Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp. Almond Extract (you can use vanilla extract)
• 4 Tbs. Butter
• 1/3 c Water
• 2 tsp Flour

Take the skin off the apples and then cut the apples into little bite size pieces. Put 4 Tbs. butter into a pan on medium low until melted. Add the flour and stir until flour is dissolved. Add the apples and stir. Add the water and stir until the mixture thickens (about 3-5 minutes). Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Once the mixture is thoroughly combined and the apples are soft, you can take it off the heat or leave it on low while you prepare your pie crust.

For the pie crust, I use a pizza cutter to cut them in half. I lay them down on the counter and then I take the apple mixture and fill one side of the crust with the mixture, making sure I leave a "lip" at the edge of the crust. Don't put the mixture all the way to the edge of the crust because then you won't be able to seal it properly. Once the mixture is one, fold the other half of the crust on top of the apple mixture and seal the crust together all the way around so none of the filling oozes out. I use a fork to make a press into the seam to make it look pretty. On the top, I brush on either melted butter or one beaten egg with water. Then I sprinkle the top with sugar. I baked them at 350-375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until the crust has browned a little. They are wonderful warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping! YUMMY! Enjoy!

Under the Sea Birthday Birthday Party!

Planning a Little Mermaid or Under the Sea Party? Here are some ideas:

• Have a jar of goldfish crackers or shells sitting out and have the children and/or adults guess how many are in the jar. The one who comes the closest, wins the jar of goodies!



• Serve goldfish crackers in small fish bowls. Serve cheese with a fish cookie cutter and serve with boats (crackers).



• Make blue jello in clear plastic cups and when it is almost ready to set, stick a gummy fish in it and then put it back in the fridge to set the rest of the way.



• Party favors: Tackle Box: Use small plastic containers with lids for the box. Print labels that read "Tackle Box" to stick on the box. Fill with your party favors. A few ideas for party favors: water balloons, beach balls, individual packets of Goldfish crackers, water guns, fish stickers.



• Decorations: Put blue table cloths on the tables. Put sand and seashells in the middle of the tables. Use blue utensils, cups, plates and napkins. Use clear helium filled balloons to look like bubbles. Blue and green streamers look like seaweed. Rummage through your summer/beach toys and use all of that for decorations/games/table decor, etc.



• Food: Make PB & J/turkey/tuna fish sandwiches and cut them with a fish cookie cutter or splurge and buy the fish shaped bread.



• Pinata: Make your own pinata! Pinatas can be so expensive! I have been making my own since my kids were little. This way, I am always guaranteed to have a pinata to fit my theme! Making your own pinata saves you money and it is also a fun project that the entire family can get involved with. It is messy, but fun! For an Under the Sea party, I would make either a beach ball or an octopus! Get a "round" balloon for the beach ball or a regular balloon for the octopus. (I will post a step by step on how to make your own pinata). The basic supplies you need to make a pinata are: balloons, newspaper (cut into long strips) and flour and water. Blow up the balloon to the size you want and tie it. Then, mix flour and water to make a glue-like consistency. Then, take your newspaper strips one at a time and dip them in the flour/water mixture, take off any excess "glue" and then wrap in on the balloon (make sure you leave a small space at the "tie" of the balloon, without any newspaper, so you can fill the pinata there). You keep doing this until your balloon is fully covered. Once it is covered, let it dry and then repeat the same thing for at least 2 layers so it is sturdy enough to hold the goodies. (To dry it, I hang the balloon upside down on the laundry line with a clothes pin). It will take a few days to dry so make sure you are doing this ahead of time. Once it is dry, pop the balloon. It will shrivel up inside and then just take it out. Now, you can paint the outside whatever you want. For the beach ball, paint it with the beach ball pattern and for the octopus, paint it brown or gray and add eyes. For the tentacles, glue streamers at the base. To hang the pinata, make two small holes at the top and thread through string, fishing line or whatever else you have. When the paint is all dry, fill the pinata. Patch up the hole with tape or a piece of construction paper the same color of the pinata (I like to use clear packaging tape for this). Making your own pinata takes a little time and makes a bit of a mess, but the money you save and the memories you make doing it, is more than worth it!




• Games: Fishing Game - paint an appliance box blue and add some sea creatures on it. Have someone sit inside the box and have the kids throw their fishing pole over the box and catch a surprise. To make a fishing pole, just get a stick and tie some string and a clothes pin to the end so the surprise can be pinned on to it.

These are just some things we have done at our parties that I thought would be great to share with anyone else out there trying to throw a special party without breaking the bank!

Monkey Munch Game!

This game was a huge hit with my kids this summer and it was so simple to make! I wanted to come up with a fun game that incorporated letter sounds and "Monkey Munch" is what I came up with. To make the monkey, I took an empty cereal box and wrapped it with brown construction paper. I cut out a half circle at the bottom of the box for his mouth. I used a lighter brown paper for the eyes, ears and bottom portion of the monkey's face. For the ears, I cut out the circular part of the ears, but I left a longer "tab" at the base of the ear so I could use that to glue to the side of the box. This enabled the ears to stick out. The eyes are just 2 circles - a bigger circle cut from the lighter brown paper and then a smaller one cut from white paper is glued on that. Then, I just colored in the black pupils. I glued all of these pieces on using a hot glue gun. The nose of the monkey was not glued because that gave me the perfect place to set my alphabet flashcard (see the top picture).

How to Play "Monkey Munch": Each day, put a different letter flashcard on the monkey's nose and then say, "Monkey Munch Time!" The kids see what letter is on the monkey and then they have to go around the house and find things that start with that letter. Once they find something, they put it in the monkey's mouth (so he can munch on them). If the item was too big, I just had the kids set it next to the monkey. So, for instance, if "F" is the letter, they could feed the monkey a frog, food, fruit, flower, fox, etc. Once they were done looking, we would all sit down and I would take each thing out of his mouth and the kids would tell me what they were. I would repeat what they said with emphasis on the letter sound at the beginning of each word.

There was not one day this summer that my kids didn't ask me, "When are we doing 'Monkey Munch'?" or "What letter will be on 'Monkey Munch'?" I loved this game because they were learning the entire time, but had no idea because they were having so much fun! A win-win situation!