Halloween Night

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Halloween is not traditionally celebrated in Cyprus, but every year in our neighborhood we organize Halloween and all the children go Trick or Treating.  It is so much fun, the kids love it and its of course another excuse for a party!

We had a great time this Halloween! Last year Emma and her friends were much smaller and got afraid when they saw some of the scarier costumes.  But this year, it was a whole different story! They couldn't get enough...

This year we carved our first pumpkin, Emma helped and it came out wonderfully!  We also did a lot of other Halloween decorations which were a great hit!

And as soon as all her friends came, we made our way around the neighborhood, holding our handmade Trick or Treat baskets, which, needless to say, got filled up very quickly!

 

We served indian food this Halloween and lots of spooky deserts! We had the Ghost Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cake pops, Halloween shapes cookies, and a Wormy Oreo Cake!

We had a lovely time! Can't wait until next year.  Happy Halloween!

  

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Ghost Cupcakes Recipe

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These amazing cupcakes are perfect for Halloween!  They'd be a hit at any party!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes (follow any recipe you like) 

Lollipops

White fondant

Chocolate Chips

Make cupcakes, wait for them to cool.  You could put frosting on the cupcakes, in which case you should be careful when putting the fondant.  Trust me, I talk from experience! The simplest way is to do them without frosting. If you really want frosting you could use white so there would be no danger to ghost skirts but then you lose the contrast.

Once you've got your cupcakes ready, stick a lollipop in the middle of the cupcake.  Roll out the fondant to a thickness of 2-3 millimeters and make a circle using a large cookie cutter.  The circle should have a diameter of about 10cm.

Drape a circle of fondant over the lollipop and arrange to look like ghost.  Take a couple of chocolate chips and glue to the ghost to make eyes.  You can do this either by using water or fondant gel.

And that's it! So simple and so effective! 

  

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Homemade Trick or Treat Baskets

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This year, instead of using the Trick or Treat bags we bought last year, we decided to invite a bunch of friends and make our own!  It was great and the kids had a lot of fun!

What you'll need:

A large yoghurt container

Purple paper

Black paper

White paper

Orange paper

Scissors

Glue

Save an empty yoghurt container (or other container with handle) and wash it.  Cut a large purple strip to glue around the container to cover the print.

Cut out a black circle for the cover.  Cut bats and witches' hats out of black paper, Jack o'lanterns out of orange paper and ghosts out of white paper.

Let the kids go about decorating their treat baskets!   They loved it and each came up with a different and original arrangement! 

Can't wait for Halloween! They were so proud of their creations...

  

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Halloween Skull Bento

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Its countdown to Halloween. Here's another fun Halloween Bento.

What's in the box?
Skull cheese sandwich with licorice eyes, bread fingers dipped in yoghurt, apple jack o'lantern.

  

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Footprint Ghosts

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These will make a great memento! Its a wonderful craft for Halloween and I don't think I've seen cooler (or cuter) looking ghosts!

What you'll need:

White paint

Black cardboard

Wet wipes

Scissors

Brush

We did this craft with both the 3.5 year old Emma and 3 month old Lia!  It was great fun, Emma even helped me paint Lia's foot!  She also painted mine! Although my foot definitely did not make any cute looking ghosts! 

Cut a rectangular shape out of black cardboard.  Big enough to fit a small foot! Paint your child's foot white using a brush and stamp it on the paper.  Using wetwipes wipe off a little bit of paint on the heel of the footprint to make ghost's eyes and mouth (and wipe your child's foot).

We had a lot of fun with this one and it makes a lovely decoration.  You could also make many footprints, cut them out and add them to the Halloween Wreath we made a few days ago.  There are many possibilities.

  

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Ghost Lanterns Craft

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This is a great way to decorate the entrance to your house! This craft is a little bit more difficult to do, but you can still get your kids to help you!  We did this for last year's Halloween, but I never posted a tutorial for it.  So here we go...

What you'll need:
An old white T-shirt
Balloon
White Glue
Water
Black marker
Wide glass or cup
Scissors


Take an old T-shirt and cut it up into long strips.  Blow up a balloon, and place it on a wide cup or glass.  This will hold the balloon in place while you arrange strips of T-shirt on the balloon, making sure it covers everything and there are no holes.

Mix white glue with water in a large container, and using a brush apply it to the T-shirt.  Keep applying until the entire T-shirt is covered and soaked through.  Allow to dry over night.  Once dry, pop the balloon removing it slowly making sure the T-shirt stays the correct shape.


Using a black permanent marker, draw two eyes on your ghost.  Place in front of your house with a battery operated tea light underneath.

And enjoy!

  

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Halloween Wreath Preschooler Craft

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A Halloween Wreath for your front door! Its really simple to do with your child and it will be their pride and joy on your front door.

What you'll need:
Black paper
Orange paper
Paper plate
Glue
Black pen or coloring pencil
Scissors
Black or purple pipe cleaners

Medium pom pom (any color)

Thread

Cut out the middle of a paper plate to be left with a ring.  Draw bats on the black paper and pumpkins on the orange paper.  You could also draw witch's hats or spiders.

Cut them out and start gluing them to the paper plate.  Make a small spider, use these instructions for Creepy Crawlies.  Once the spider has dried take a piece of thread, tie it around the spider's head and glue the other end to the wreath. 

The string should be long enough to reach the middle of the wreath, so that the spider appears to be hanging from his web.

Create a small hook from string at the back of the wreath and hang on your front door!

Enjoy!

  

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Cloud in a Vase Science Experiment

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I decided to start doing some science experiments with Emma.Today we made a cloud.

What you'll need:

A thick glass vase

Hot water

Metal tray

Ice cubes

Pour hot water into the vase cover it with the metal tray and place ice cubes on the tray, right above the vase opening.

A little cloud will form very quickly and just as quickly it will disappear.  I only managed to take a picture it as it was already disappearing.  I'll try to do this experiment again, and be ready to capture the cloud on camera.  

Emma had said that its not the same as the cloud in the sky.  So I told her that it was different because it has been captured. :) She was happy with that answer, but then she demanded we release it.

The clouds are formed when sun warms the lakes and rivers and seas, the water evaporates and rises high into the sky.  When it is met with cold air in the atmosphere, this warm air starts turning into little tiny drops.   This is when clouds are formed.  

  

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Severed Fingers Halloween Food

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Another very effective and simple recipe for Halloween. 

Ingredients:

Frankfurters

Onions

Ketchup

Before you boil the frankfurters, make three cuts in the middle of the frankfurter where the knuckles should be.  Once you boil them according to packaging instructions cut of the top where the nail should be.  You should cut off about a centimeter down and about half the thickness of the frankfurter.  

Next chop some onions thick and chunky to use as nails.  Stick them to the frankurter using ketchup.  To serve make them stick out of a ketchup fillled bowl to give an appearance of severed fingers!  Creepy!!

If you have some Hot Dog buns ready, ketchup, mayo, mustard and caramelized onions these would make great Hot Dogs for everyone!

Here are some other fun Halloween recipes:

Creepy Eyeballs
Monster Smiles
Snack o'lanterns

  

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Witch's Lair Halloween Bento

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Here's another Halloween bento.  The Witch's Lair!!

There are three smouldering cauldrons (jam rollups), the batty bat pasta caves, a carrot broom, grapy eyeballs of a green monster and ham rolls on a bat pick!

  

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Creepy Crawlies Halloween Spider Craft

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Keeping with our Halloween theme here's another fun and simple craft.

What you'll need:

2 Black pipe cleaners

2 large pom poms

4 goggly eyes

Glue

Scissors

Cut the pipe cleaners in thirds, take three pieces put them next to each other and twist in the middle.

Take a pom pom, spread the hair a little on one side, put a dab of glue and stick it to the twisted part of the pipe cleaner.  Bend the legs to make the spider stand and leave to glue to dry a little.


Once it's dried, put a little bit of glue on the goggly eyes and stick it to the pom pom.

That's it! You have a couple of fun spiders which if you attach a piece of thread around their heads you could hang anywhere you like and use it as decoration.

  

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Muffin Tin Monday - Fruit Platter

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Here is a Muffin Tin submitted by one of the contestants for the Muffin Tin Challenge.  

It looks lovely! 

Top Row: Grapes, Melon Balls, Orange Wedgies, Orange Wedges

Bottom Row: Orange Boats, Plum Half Moons, Banana Slices

I especially love the melon balls!

As you know I'm running a Muffin Tin challenge on Emma's Lunch Facebook Page!  All you need to do is serve your child's food in a Muffin Tin for one meal this week, take a picture and upload it to Emma's Lunch Facebook Page by TODAY Monday October 17th. 

Your kid will love it and you will enter into a draw to win a lunchbox for your child! You can also leave comment on the blog letting me know that you've done it :)

Here's what could win, depending on whether you have a boy or a girl!  Note that the actual lunch box design may vary, I will give you a choice of designs if you win.  Good luck!

  

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