{magic potion punch}

Another parent made this {magic} punch at my daughter's Halloween party at school. Maybe I'm sheltered but I thought this was awesome...She put a cube of dry ice in this cute {walmart} spooky punch bowl followed by pouring in a couple gallons of green Hawaiian Punch. Super Easy. and Super Delightful!  Maybe I'm easily entertained but it was a hit for the kids they loved it...saying it was smoky, foggy, and magical.

Pumpkin @ its {best}

Pumpkin Pancakes recipe

Pumpkin for breakfast is a treat way to start the day. Ready in minutes, this recipe is especially good topped with a drizzle of real maple syrup.

Ingredients:

1 medium egg

1 cup milk

¾ cup unbleached white flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup cooked pumpkin

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Pinch powdered ginger

2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, as needed

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except vegetable oil in a large mixing bowl, whisking to blend.

2. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium skillet over medium. Add ¼ cup pancake batter at a time, allowing to cook until bubbles break around the edges. Flip and allow to cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes, until light golden. Repeat with remaining oil and batter.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie Bars

1/2 c Butter or margarine; softened
1 c Brown sugar; firmly packed 

1 1/2 c Flour; unsifted
1 c Oats 

1 Ts Baking powder 

1 Ts Salt 16 oz Pumpkin 

1 can Sweetened condensed milk 

2 Eggs; beaten 

2 Ts Pumpkin pie spice 

1 1/2 Ts Vanilla extract 

1 c Pecans; chopped Confectioners' sugar (optional for dusting)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. 

In large mixer bowl, beat margarine and brown sugar until fluffy; add flour, oats, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Mix until crumbly. Reserving 1/2 cup flour mixture, press remainder on bottom of 15x10" jellyroll pan. 

Bake 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile in medium bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Spread over baked crust. In small bowl, combine reserved 1/2 cup flour mixture with pecans; sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. 

Bake 30-35 minutes or until set. Cool. Cut into bars. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if desired. Store covered in refrigerator.

halloween {party} food ideas

Campfire Cooked Apples 

Description: A delicious and simple campfire treat.

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Ingredients:

One Apple per person

Light Brown Sugar

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Preparation Directions:

1. Cut the core out of the apples.
2. Place an apple on a piece of aluminum foil.
3. Fill the empty core cavity with brown sugar.
4. Wrap apple in aluminum foil.
5. Repeat steps #2 - #4 for each apple.
6. Place apples in campfire and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until tender.
7. For cooking at home, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until tender.

 

Monster Toes

Description: All too many Halloween party treats are high sugar foods, that will have you scraping the kids off of the ceiling. Monster toes are not sugary. The kids will love to munch on a few tasty toes. 

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Ingredients:

Ingredients:

1 package cocktail wieners

1 package 6-inch tortillas

ketchup and mustard

toothpicks

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Preparation Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut a toenail shaped wedge into the end of each cocktail wiener.
3. Cut tortillas into strips, about 4 inches long and 3/4 inches wide.
4. Soften the strips in the microwave between a damp paper towel for 15 to 30 seconds.
5. Roll each wiener in a tortilla strip, keeping the side with the "toenail" exposed.
6. Place on a baking sheet, with "toenail" up.
7. Secure the the tortilla strip with a toothpick.
8. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool a little.
10. Remove toothpicks.
11. Fill the toenails with ketchup or mustard.
12. Serve while still warm. 

Boogers on a Stick

Description: As Halloween party treats go, Boogers on a Stick is real snotty. And, these little boogers taste good. They will go fast.

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Ingredients:

Pretzel sticks

Cheese Whiz (or Velveeta)

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Preparation Directions:

1. Melt the Cheese Whiz in the microwave, according to the directions on the jar. Allow it to cool slightly.
2. Add green food coloring to the Cheese Whiz until it is a "booger-green" color.
3. Dip an end of a pretzel stick into the Cheese Whiz.
4. Pull it out and allow to cool for a few seconds.
5. Continue to dip it until it is a lumpy, booger size.
6. Place it on a plate and allow to cool.
7. Repeat this step for as many as you want to make.  

Tip:  Have a couple friends help you to make them. But, don't eat them all.! You need to save some for the Halloween party.

You can use Velveeta instead of Cheese Whiz, if you prefer. 

Worms in Mud

Description: This is so quick and easy, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it or make it before. It will be a big hit at your Kid's Halloween Party.

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Ingredients:

• Chocolate Pudding Mix (Regular or Instant)
• Gummy Worms

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Worms in Mud Recipe:

• Make the Chocolate pudding by following the directions on the box.
• Add in Gummy Worms and stir.
• Immediately pour into individual serving cups.
• Chill as directed on the pudding box instructions.

 

Peanut Butter Ghosts

Description: Here is a Halloween party treat that is as much fun to make, as it is to eat.

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons margarine, soft
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 16-ounce can vanilla frosting
• mini chocolate chips, 2 per ghost

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Preparation Directions:

1. Mix together peanut butter, sugar, margarine, and vanilla.
2. Take a ball of dough and shape into a ghost shape that is about two inches high.
3. Place the ghost, standing up, on a cookie sheet.
4. Continue to make ghosts with the dough.
5. Put frosting into a micro-wavable bowl. Microwave frosting 10-15 seconds until warm and runny.
6. Remove frosting from microwave and stir.
7. Use a toothpick or a fork, and pick up a ghost by stabbing into the top of it.
8. Dip the ghost into the warm frosting. Place frosted ghost back onto the cookie sheet.
9. Press two chocolate mini chips into the ghost for the eyes.
10. Put the Ghosts into the refrigerator to harden.

 You can find more party recipes Here

 

 

{pumpkin} carving tips

http://wls.wwco.com/garden/pumpkin.html

http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookvegetables/a/pumpkincarving.htm

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/perfect-pumpkins-710086/

http://www.getcarvingquicker.com/CarvingTips.htm

http://www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/pumpcarvingtips

http://crafts.kaboose.com/pumpkin-carving-tips.html

{decorate} a pumpkin

Need and alternative to pumpkin carving? here's a perfect idea. I think we may be doing this in addition to carving..since we are not doing what most other people are doing for Halloween...{maybe} we'll just stay home decorating pumpkins!

Supplies:

• Pumpkin
• Assortment of HERSHEY'S Candies (HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates, REESE'S Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures, YORK Peppermint Patties, TWIZZLERS PULL-N-PEEL Candy, etc.)
  
• Confectioners' glue:
• 4 teaspoons all-natural egg whites (meringue powder, such as Just Whites-TM dried egg product)
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

1. Create faces or patterns by gluing HERSHEY'S Candies onto your pumpkin. It's easy, clean and safe!
2. To make Confectioners' glue:
3. Gently stir together egg white powder and water according to directions on the egg white powder package or until completely dissolved. Beat in powdered sugar until thick and smooth. Use immediately!
4. Completed craft is for decorative purposes only and candy should not be eaten!

Find the link Here

{meaning}of Halloween

Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration.

History

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise showing a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The young children on the right bob for apples. A couple in the center play a variant, which involves retrieving an apple hanging from a string. The couples at left play divination games.

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year".
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.
Another common practice was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.
The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era
 Find the article Here

{free} pumpkin carving templates

I've compiled a gigantic list of websites that offer FREE pumpkin carving templates! If you cannot find one you like from these sites than perhaps you need to design your own...

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mpatterns.htm

http://www.ehow.com/halloween/templates.html

http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns-freebies.htm

http://www.pumpkinlady.com/plwp/free-pumpkin-carving-patterns/

http://www.stoneykins.com/Free_Patterns/Page_01.html

http://www.celebrating-halloween.com/pumpkincarving/index.shtml

http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/interactives/pumpkin-carving-patterns

http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns.php

http://www.koa.com/familyzone/activities/pumpkincarving.htm

http://www.nickjr.com/printables/nickjr-pumpkin-stencils.jhtml?path=/printables/all-shows/seasonal_halloween/all-ages/index.jhtml

http://www.hersheys.com/celebrate/halloween/fun-stuff/stencils/index.asp?id=0&img=stencils&t=content

http://www.familymanagement.com/holidays/halloween/pumpkin.patterns4.html

http://www.pumpkinglow.com/Patterns.htm

http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/pumpkin-carving-decorating/

http://www.rd.com/home-garden/12-free-printable-pumpkin-carving-stencils/article100924.html

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving/pumpkin-carving-stencils-of-favorite-dogs/

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/pumpkin-templates

http://www.paperpumpkins.com/

{halloween cupcake wreath}

I'm really not into the creepy Halloween decor mostly b/c I'm not a huge fan of Halloween in general. But I decided to make this wreath to add some color to our porch/door. 

I purchased a package of Halloween dimensional stickers for $3 & a wooden wreath frame at Michael's Craft Store $2, Large Halloween cupcake liners $2.50, Small Halloween cupcake liners $1.50, small box of jewels $3.50 all at Wal-Mart. 

total = $12.50

Actually, everything I had left over (cupcake liners, stickers, and jewels) I will use in other crafts so it wasn't very expensive to make. 

I used Tacky Glue to layer the goodies on the wooden wreath frame. I also used some ribbon that I already had for my daughter's hair bows. I added foil and markers to add color. When I was given this idea I was told to paint the wooden wreath frame with black paint but I used a black sharpie marker to color the inner/outer rim and any other exposed parts.

I'm  handicap when it comes to the craft department. I'm not lacking in the creative area but making it actually look like it did in my head is a different story! But this is a very simple project.

Need a New Family?

Tools and Materials

 Two dozen 6-inch skewers
Wax pencil
Child-safe pumpkin-carving saw
Toothpicks
Staples
Waxed twine
Round wood gouge

Gather some natural objects for decorating and for facial features: We used almonds, carrots, pear berries, pear leaves, pine cones, oak leaves, pumpkin seeds, gourds, hazelnuts, chrysanthemums, and radishes for eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and hair.

Gourd Family How-To
1. To make the bodies, select pumpkins in a range of sizes, stack, and secure them to one another with skewers.

2. To make faces, trace the object you will use for each feature onto pumpkin with wax pencil, then cut and scoop out a slightly smaller opening. Lay object on the opening, and press to wedge it in. Poke holes for small objects such as twigs and leaf stems using skewers or toothpicks. Push in staples to hold hair, such as dad's comb-over.

3. For the dad's glasses, twist a 2-foot-long twig; tie in place through the lenses with waxed twine. For the mom's apron, tie Swiss chard onto twine.

4. For the child's hat, an adult should cut a small pumpkin in half horizontally and scallop the edge of the top using the wood gouge.

From Martha Stewart Kids

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Gourd Family - Martha Stewart Holidays