Milk and Cookies
with Linda and Kristen
Milk and Cookies is a savory web venue for cool products, useful tips, and idea-sharing, prepared especially for busy moms like you. From the must-haves to avoid-at-all-costs, we're dishing out tools for a delicious life balance.
Visit Linda's fitness site at Bodies in Motivation and check out Kristen's blog at Swistle.blogspot.com
This year I don’t have much planned for Halloween: a quick mosey through my husband’s workplace, where they are inviting employees’ families to come by for an office party of sorts; a family viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; and the inevitable Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Gorging. If I can fit a disturbingly splattery horror movie in there somewhere (yes, after the kid goes to bed), I’ll call it a success.
I am, however, looking forward to the coming years when our kids can be forced to join in family activities whether they damn well like it or not merrily participate in some holiday festivities. I love the idea of family traditions during the holidays, things we do together each year . . . you know, like when it’s Christmas and the air is crisp and cold and pure, and the whole family goes outside to sing carols and build an anatomically correct snowman. What, you didn’t do this?
Anyway, I’ve been thinking of Halloween traditions, and I’ve discovered a few tolerable (ie, non-horrifically-complicated or time-consuming) Halloween craft ideas that I can see working into our yearly routine.
Halloween Popcorn Balls. Why is this a Halloween recipe? Because I said so. Also because everyone should have an annual reason to make these. It’s a popcorn ball with Butterfinger pieces, and I’m seriously having a salivary problem right now just thinking about it.
“Spooky” Coloring Pages. Hey, Halloween-themed pages to occupy the kids’ urge to cover all available surfaces in random Crayola scribbles, cool. I know this page creator is a little hokey, but I love that you can customize the text. Choose your own special family Halloween message! Display the NC-17 ones after the kids go to bed!
Tin Jack O’ Lanterns. Despite being a Martha-Endorsed Activity, this seems like a fun and neat-looking project. Have the kids help draw on the design, before handing over the hammering to an adult.
Paper Luminaria. I don’t know if this is a common Halloween decoration, but it could be—think how awesome these would look lining your driveway. Well, not if you live in Seattle like I do, where your paper bags will be soaked into little disgusting piles of Raisin Bran mush the instant you put them outside, but for you dry-climate folks, check out this handy tutorial.
Pumpkin Photo Holder. Discovered via PhotoJojo, this is a unique idea for displaying photos on a pumpkin: do the yarn-art decoration as described, then slip pictures behind the string. Could be a neat way to show off images of the kids’ costumes, old and new.
Do you do any Halloween activities outside of trick-or-treating? Let me know, I’m interested!
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Hey, ya know what might work on those pumpkins as photo holder thingys? I’ve seen at Garden Ridge/Michaels/Hobby Lobby/etc. fake pumpkins made of some space age polymer (probably dense styrofoam) that you could use and then not have to redo every year. Of course, then you’d have to store that sucker.
Cara | October 26th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Do you know that my husband has never watched the Great Pumpkin? Can you believe that!
I love those pumpkin tins, we do the luminary bags every year but we buy them from i Party. It rained one year and they all stayed lit too.
I have a craft that I used to do every year but have been slacking, we call them “ghosties” they are small (you could use large ones too I guess) white plastic trash bags and I make a round head out of white tissue paper and put the bag over it and tie it under the head. Really simple, I make a lot and draw faces on them. then we hang them from the trees.
Eric's Mommy | October 26th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
My son’s birthday is on 10/28…so its become a little tradition that every year on his birthday we carve a pumpkin (actually 2 one for each of the older kids) and I roast some pumpkin seeds in the oven. YUM.
Leticia | October 26th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I started this when the kids were a little older and it’s still a tradition they look forward to. (My son is now 17 and a senior in HS; my daughter is 13.)
Every year I make a disgusting menu, in a Halloween font (dripping blood, bone letters, etc.) I give our normal dinner foods disgusting names and they try to guess what it is. I print the menus in color and leave them out for the kids in the morning so they know what to look forward to at dinner.
The “restaurant” is called The House of Wretched Cuisine. Here’s a sample menu:
Appetizer:
Worms in Bone Marrow Sauce
(Sliced hot dog with ketchup to dip in)
Main Course:
Bloody Eyelids (shell pasta in marinara sauce)
Abdominal Cavity Slices (fig-stuffed bread cut into slices)
Zombie Arm with Creamy Pus (breadsticks and butter)
Beverage: Blood of Newt (punch)
Dessert:
Tortured Tarantulas (cookies with licorice strips for legs)
Oozing, Coagulated Eye Balls (I cheated on this–it was a store-bought gummy treat thing)
I used to try to make new recipes but found it was better to go with tried-and-true foods that were easy to cook and just come up with horrible names for them.
Wendi | October 26th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I like the tin lanterns! finally — another use for my coffee cans.
Daisy | October 26th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Hi Linda,
My name’s Danah and I’m from Columbia Sportswear.
I recently came across the site, and think it’s absolutely fabulous, and I wanted to tell you and your blog followers about a current challenge Columbia Sportswear is running.
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We at Columbia would like to know:
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I really hope to see you on our site.
Cheers, d.
DB | October 26th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
The thing about pumpkins is, they’re kind of moist. I think the photos might get damp and wrinkly. But I don’t know if it’s from the PUMPKIN, or if it’s because I am DROOLING over those popcorn balls.
Swistle | October 26th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Ooh, I love the Pumpkin Luminaria - will have to check it out. It’s our first year owning a house so I feel obliged to do something ridiculous. This isn’t it, but it could be a nice way to decorate:)
Nataly | October 27th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Some fun crafts ideas for Halloween…
These are some fun ideas for crafts for Halloween - nothing too complicated….
Anonymous | October 27th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
- footprint ghosts : white paint + black construction paper + foot. Let dry. Turn upside down (heel is the head, toes are the ruffled bottom) and add google or sharpie drawn eyes. cute momentoe (pun intended).
- Halloween photo album: (note: I have one and add to it annually) small orange photo album + photos from halloweens past. Put in cronological order and date them. I add scans of halloween cards or downloaded images between years. Store with Halloween decorations and add to it annually.
- I have photos of kid#1 and kid#2 in the same halloween sleeper and kid#3 will be photographed in it this week. Also kid #1 & #3 in the same super cute cow sleeper/costume (didn’t fit #2 at halloween).
Deanna | October 28th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Forgot to mention we have a book basket.
A basket of seasonal books. I pick them up at goodwill, yardsales etc. It is nice because I pack them away with the decorations and so there are always fresh books in that basket. There really are books for any holiday- haloween, thanksgiving, xmas. valentine’s day etc.
It’s a good thing to add to and a quickie gift idea for relatives.
Deanna | October 28th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Not to put a damper on things, but the pumpkin photo holder, unless done with a fake pumpkin as Cara suggests, is going to result in a very smelly rotten pumpkin. And as my sister’s dorm found out her senior year, that’s a funk that doesn’t come out of carpet.
Leslie | October 29th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Leslie: yeah, that would be seriously gross. I only meant you could put your photos on the pumpkin for as long as the pumpkin was on display, like a few weeks at most.
milkandcookies | October 29th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Hi Linda,
I did a really fun craft with my oldest son last year when he was about Riley’s age. We got different pages of Halloween scrapbook paper, seasonally colored felt, etc. Then used contact paper and made place mats. My son tore up the paper, super fun, and then stuck it to a piece of contact paper that I taped on his high-chair tray. Then you just put another piece on top. Also, thumb print spiders. Color his thumb with a marker and press it on a piece of paper them help him draw legs. Happy Halloween!
Hanna | October 30th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Healthy Food at Food Network…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…
Healthy Food at Food Network | November 20th, 2007 at 1:41 am
I love the paper bag idea! I thought it was just soooo cute!!! I had an idea about a fortune telling head. All you do is you take a small cardboard box just big enough for someone to stick their head in. Then you can paint their face to however you want it to lok like. You just place the cardboard box inbetween 2 tables. You cover the 2 tables with a cloth that has a hole right under the box. Then someone could stick their head through the cloth and into the box!!!
Kaylee | October 15th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
this site sucks!!!!
anna | October 15th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I LOVE BALLLS BALLS BALLS BALLS. POPCORN BALLS THAT IS,,,
Sophie Muhlherr | November 1st, 2009 at 5:18 am