This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support! Some of our grandchildren were going to be in town two weekends before Halloween, so we thought we would gather the family together and have an early celebration. Since we also have 2 birthdays in the family that are close to Halloween, it seemed like the perfect time to have a party! Because we had our party early, maybe some of our ideas will help you with any event you are now planning at the last minute! The Menu: I wanted to keep it simple, yet satisfy a lot of different tastes and make it feel like Halloween! Maddy and I planned the menu together and we came up with:
Maddy loves strawberry cake, so I used a cake mix to make one. But, to make it special I decided to decorate it with my Disney Skeleton Apple mug that Maddy bought me from Disneyland one year. I made strawberry sauce to use as blood! Click the gallery below to see how my granddaughter and I did it. The root beer was a big part of the fun! I found root beer extract at our local grocery store. That brand was much less expensive at the store than on Amazon. But, if you can't find any, there are a lot of brand choices on Amazon that are less expensive. We made 3 gallons, which was way more than enough. The best part was putting in the dry ice. The kids loved that! The root beer was delicious! The Fun! Two days before the party, I went to the store and purchased a variety of different pumpkins. Maddy came over the morning of the party and she and my son set up a pumpkin patch in my strawberry garden box (without smashing my strawberry plants) and decorated with fall leaves and flowers. We had been having some cooler weather in Phoenix, but of course on the day of the party , the temperature shot up again, so some of our plans didn't happen as I had hoped. We set the carving tables up at the side of the house in the shade! We had hoped to have everything outside, including a fire in the firepit, and then lighting the jack-o-lanterns around the yard after they were carved. But, we had to move everything inside because of the heat of the day. The kids loved carving though! We had plenty of those carving kits that make the carving so much easier! After the carving was over, we sat all of the pumpkins on the table. The kids were able to sit and eat their dinner all around them. Then, we all visited and talked awhile until the sun set. I had purchased small battery powered candles to put inside the jack-o-lanterns. We lit them and turned off all of the lights so everyone could oooo and aaah! Then we sang happy birthday and ate dessert! The party was a success overall, in spite of a few glitches to our plans. Of course, today the Fall temperatures are back! I guess we can have our firepit going on the real Halloween, but it won't be as much fun without the grandkids! Other Halloween Ideas You May Enjoy:
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This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support! In June of this year my wonderful mother passed away. When I look at this awesome picture of her, it is hard for me to believe that she is gone. She was always so alive and such a presence in my life, even though I lived far away from her most of my adult life, I knew that she was always there for me. I've written about the many things I've learned from her on posts here and here. In reality, there is no way to express in just a couple of posts all she has meant to me and my siblings throughout our lives.
Not only did she mean so much to her own children, but she was adored by grandchildren and great grandchildren alike. She had made quilts, afghans, and slippers for everyone over the years that all of us cherish. She wasn't afraid to teach life lessons to any of her posterity, even just days before she passed away. She had 26 grandchildren and if I'm counting correctly, 41 great-grandchildren. (forgive me family if I counted wrong!) At any rate, with almost everyone making it to the funeral, there was a lot of children in attendance. Many of them were young and didn't have any experience with my mom except as an old woman. They didn't know all of the wonderful things about her and the things that she experienced throughout her life. For example, they didn't know that she loved to dance and that she always made the most delicious tacos, pies and cookies. We wanted the children to have something to keep that would teach them more about her. Also, there needed to be something to keep them entertained throughout the funeral service. Alicia came up with the terrific idea of making a special program booklet for the great-grandchildren that would keep them busy and somewhat quiet throughout the service and also teach them something about their marvelous great-grandmother!
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
I've always enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles, especially during the holidays. They seem to have experienced a resurgence of popularity over the last couple of years and they aren't just for the Christmas Season anymore.
If you live in a hot climate like we do, a puzzle can be a great activity, away from screens, to do indoors while staying cool with the AC! You may be thinking, "But what do you do with the puzzle when you want to eat dinner on the table? I don't have room for a puzzle!" Guess what! I've got you covered! There are some great options out there to make doing a puzzle less of an inconvenience and consequently, more enjoyable to do at your leisure! My mom used to love to do puzzles and she ordered herself this puzzle table that I talked about on this post. There are a few options, depending on how much you are willing to spend. These tables are great because there are little drawers to help separate the different puzzle pieces as you find them.
My DIL always has a puzzle going that she and her kids are working on. She taught me this idea to keep the puzzle safe and out of the way while you aren't working on it. She purchased a dog crate tray to use to work the puzzle on and when no one is working on it, she slides it easily under the couch! Genius! You will want a tray for a large dog to make room for the puzzle and all of the pieces. I commandeered my daughter's crate tray because she never uses the crate! I just washed it and it works great! But, you can find them on Amazon!
This is the least expensive one I could find:
Now that that is settled, let's look at some of the awesome puzzles!
My grandchildren just gifted me with a couple of beautiful puzzles for my birthday! The colors are so vivid! I love them. I started with the 500 piece puzzle and we had it done in half a day!
This one, called Birch Birds, is so colorful and fun to do. It is by Buffalo.
Here are a couple more by Buffalo that I love. Just click the image to find them for yourself!
My birthday wouldn't be complete without some owl themed gifts! This beautiful owl puzzled fits the bill. Also by Buffalo, it is a 1000 piece puzzle.
Here are more from the Vivid Collection:
I can't wait to get started on my owl puzzle next! My grandkids are happy to help me. PS-puzzles are a great stem activity!
Here are a few related posts! This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support! I was never the Mom who could hardly wait for her kids to go back to school. I have always loved having my entire family around me at home as much as possible, creating strong family ties and making memories. I know that some families have had school start already, others are starting this week, some not until much later in the month. But, the time flies when it comes to family time together and some children really stress out about starting school. Giving them that feeling of family togetherness, love and support can help them cope with life at school as the new school year begins. Even though I hated sending my children back to school on the inside, on the outside I tried to be excited and encouraging and let them know that our family was there to help them be successful. We were blessed over the last couple of weeks to have some of our grandchildren with us during these last days before school. We had so much fun together going to the waterpark, swimming and crafting. We played old school Wii and had bowling tournaments and fun on the Wii Fit. We watched our watermelon grow in the garden (no ripe ones yet, darn it!). We also did 1/2 hour of reading every morning AND, we did a bunch of little activities that cost very little, but were super fun! Having cousins together was also a highlight of our time together. My message to you in this post is to find little ways to help your kids squeeze every minute of fun and enjoyment out of their summer. Even if they have already started school, many of these activities could easily be done in the evening or on a weekend and would be a respite from the homework grind!
The adults also joined into this competition!
Do you have any end of summer traditions that you do with your kids that squeezes in one more fun activity that starts them out in school with happy memories? Please share them with us in the comments!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
March 2024
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