Just One Mom Trying: Halloween

Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Gingerbread Graham Cracker House & Frosting Recipe

Halloween is officially over and Christmas is right around the corner! I'm getting excited because there are so many fun things to do!

One thing that I love is decorating gingerbread houses. This is a great activity for a family night, preschool, or even a party. I'm not into making my own gingerbread but I do buy my own gingerbread graham crackers.

These crackers are fun because they smell and taste like gingerbread but still have the texture of a nice graham cracker.

**With Halloween just finishing set aside some hard candies from that bucket and save them for when you assemble your gingerbread house. (Jolly Ranchers, Smarties, Skittles, Candy Bracelets/Necklaces, M&Ms, etc.)

Here are some "not so great" pictures of a timed gingerbread house contest we did YEARS ago. I couldn't believe I still had these pics. Here are my "out-of-the-box" favorites.

Lemonade Stand

Vegas

"No Boys Allowed" Tree House

Below is a great recipe for graham cracker house frosting. It is easy and holds very well.

Graham Cracker House Frosting

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

3 c. powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. cream of tarter

Directions:

With an electric beater, beat the 2 egg whites in a glass or metal bowl until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar.
Add the cream of tarter to make the frosting shiny and smooth.

TIP: Spoon the frosting into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Snip the end off one of the lower corners and use as a piping bag.

ENJOY

Click HERE or on the image below to download and print this recipe.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Costume

Emily 7:29 PM 0 Comments

I love the vintage Strawberry Shortcake with her cute dress and pinafore. Unfortunately the vintage Strawberry Shortcake costumes aren't sold anywhere. I thought it would be fun to have MJ dress up as Strawberry Shortcake and to have Peanut dress up like Custard, her cat. MJ wanted my husband to be Pie Man. If I had more time I would have made a Pie Man apron and hat but I didn't get that far.

I took on this costume project and this is what I came up with. (This was the best picture I could get.)

I sew stuff but not clothes- there's too many directions and curved seams. ;) But, I decided to do it anyway. I made it a size too big because I wasn't sure if she was going really wear it. She wanted to be the Little Mermaid for a little while but I convinced her that if she wore the Strawberry Shortcake costume she could chew some strawberry gum. That did the trick. She was so happy to wear it AND she SMELLED like strawberries. Her white and green striped tights are in the mail. Supposedly they're a popular item EVERYWHERE! Who knew? I think I'm also going to cut the yarn hair a little bit shorter. It looks a little like Raggedy Ann.

All in all it was a success. I have a couple more days to make last minute adjustments.

# crafts # dress up

Friday, October 14, 2011

Dating at Home: Halloween Comedy

Emily 9:42 AM 0 Comments

Halloween is approaching faster than I think it is. All my crafts and plans to make my home look super cute aren't looking like they're going to make it this year. (I should just start planning for Easter at this point.) But, I'm not letting the month go by without doing something festive. Tonight we're watching one of my favorite old comedies, Arsenic and Old Lace. This is my VHS. Yes, I still have a VCR too... I hope it works.

If you haven't seen this movie, rent it! It is also available on Netflix on DVD and streaming. Here's what it's about:

Two gentle and loving sisters poison lonely old men without any family as a charity act. They give them a proper ceremony and bury them in the cellar of their home. Mortimer Brewster, their nephew, discovers their terrible habit when he stumbles across a dead body in the window seat. Mortimer tries to keep his sanity as he sorts out his relationships with his aunt, his new wife, his brother Teddy (who believes he's reallyTeddy Roosevelt), and his long lost brother who stumbles into the house with a dead body of his own.

Oh! And the best part? Mortimer Brewster is played by Cary Grant. Who doesn't love Cary Grant?

What are your favorite "old" movies?

# dating at home # Halloween

Monday, September 26, 2011

Don't Underestimate Used Bookstores

Emily 6:36 AM 1 Comments

Used bookstores are great! Since we LOVE books, we take a trip to the used bookstore quite frequently. We have found some fun treasures. They are cheap and they are in really good shape. I think these books were $1.29 each.

I found some fun Halloween and fall books for $1.99 each. These are so nice to have for our little rotating preschool.

I'm collecting books for Christmas. Instead of an advent calendar, we are wrapping up 24 books and putting them under the tree. Each night MJ gets to open one book for her bedtime story. I was super happy to find these to add to our collection.

I found an animated scripture story DVD of "The King Is Born" for $4.00 so that will be a fun treat to mix up the books.

These two books were hardback books. I paid $2.99 instead of $1.99 for them. The one on the left is one of my FAVORITE books. I was so happy to find it!

Check out your local listings to see if you have a used bookstore by you! You might be surprised by what you find. As a former high school teacher and now a mom/homeschool preschool teacher, I wish I knew about this earlier. What a great resource!

# books # Christmas