Joy School in October

For Joy School the week I taught we carved a pumpkin and the following week we had a Halloween party.  I rosted the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin.  That was the first time I had ever tried that.  They tasted pretty good.  Ava liked them.  The kids had fun dressing up and singing Halloween songs for the mommies.

Halloween Lunch Box Jokes

What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?  FROSTBITE!
Click here for some fun holiday joke notes to pack in school lunches or where ever.

Game: Don't Eat Frank

Have you ever played Don't Eat Peat?  My kids love this game.  Essentially the 'it" player leaves the room while the other children decide who "Peat" will be.  The game board consists of several faces and you place a small candy like m&m's or a cereal piece ect. on each face.  The  child who is "it" then comes back and proceeds to eat the treats one by one until he finally chooses the face chosen as "Peat" at which the children all yell "Don't Eat Peat".  And then you start again with a new player and the group chooses a new "Peat".

The Idea Room has come up with a Halloween version called Don't Eat Frank.  Here is the link to the PDF game board.  Game boards will need to be cut and will hold up better if laminated.

Easy Lollipop Halloween Craft.

It doesn't get much easier and the cute factor gets and A+.  These suckers are covered in tissue paper and tied with string.  I believe the Frankenstein ones were painted with craft paint to make the hair. 

Put these in a cute bucket from the dollar spot at Target or the Dollar Tree and you have a fun little treat for the sisters you visit teach.  These would be cute in a brown paper bag tied with ribbon.  Brown paper bags are one of my favorite packaging wrap.  They are also cute just bunched together and tied with ribbon or string.

I have a ton of suckers left over from birthday parties and this will be a good way to use them up.  The girls at church can only take so many sucker treats for brining their scriptures before I need to switch it up. 

Go here for a tutorial if needed.   Click here for gift tags to go with the treat.

Materials Needed:

Ghost Lollipops: Scissors, Black Marker, Suckers, Toilet Paper, Ribbon or String

Pumpkin Lollipops: Scissors, Orange Paper (tissue paper works best), Suckers, Green ribbon
Frankenstein Lollipops: Scissors, Black Paint, Green Paper (tissue paper works best), Suckers, Ribbon or String

Idea by somewhat simple.

You've Been BOOED

This activity is a fun surprise gift that is left on someone's door without them knowing who left it!
Print out the poem & instructions below on one side of the paper and print "BOO" on the other side. Gather a few treats then put them all in a little treat bag or basket and leave them on someone's front steps - don't let them see you!

Print or write out this poem:

The air is cool, the season fall,
Soon Halloween will come to all.
Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...
Tricky witches at your door.

The spooks are after things to do,
In fact a spook brought this "Boo" to you!
The excitement comes when friends like you,
Copy this note and make it two.

We'll all have smiles upon our faces,
No one will know who "BOO"ed who's places!

Just two short days to work your spell,
Keep it secret, hide it well.
Please join the fun, the seasons here .
Just spread these "BOO's" and Halloween cheer.

You have been BOOED! Please keep it going by following these directions:
1. Enjoy your treat
2. Place the BOO sign on your front door or visible in a window
3. Within 2 days, make 2 copies of this note, make 2 treats & 2 BOO signs
4. Secretly deliver to 2 neighbors/friends without a BOO.
5. Keep an eye on nearby front doors to see how far and fast it spreads by Halloween.

Print out on orange paper or decorate with Halloween clip art and use a fun font to spice it up or just print on plain white paper works great too!  We like to do this as a FHE activity the first week of October.

Update - Check out this cool site been booed dot com.  All the work has been done for you.  There is even an office version. Thanks for the tip Heather!

I also like how the site mentions that you don't have to participate if you get booed.  It states:
Must I Participate?
Nope. You should not feel obligated to go out and "BOO" somebody because you have been Boo-ed. Some people don't pass it on, others may choose to Boo many more than two. What you do is up to you. It is all in good fun and should not be a burden.

Save Your Pumpkin from rotting

Article on How to stop Jackolantern mold:
Essentially, we’re going to embalm your jackolantern, here are the simple steps:
Remove dirt: Wipe the exterior surfaces of the pumpkin clean using a damp cloth.

Make a bleach solution of 1 tablespoon of Clorox bleach per quart of water and put it in a spray bottle.

Spray the pumpkin inside and all cut areas of the pumpkin with the solution. This will kill much of the surface bacteria and mold that cause rotting.

Let it penetrate and dry for about 20 minutes

Next, rub all of the carved or cut surfaces with petroleum jelly. This will keep out new bacteria and molds as well as dramatically reduce the dehydration!

Wipe away excess with a paper towel!

Now, keep your pumpkin out of direct sunlight and try to keep it as cool as possible (but above freezing) and you should get at least a week’s enjoyment out of it!

Halloween Poem

The Old Graveyard
By: Kurtis Primm

There is an old graveyard
I always walk by
Where others before me
Have died and now lie.

And when I walk by it
It gives me the creeps
To know that one day
It’s there that I’ll sleep.

Sometimes I see shadows
And I often hear sounds
Could it be coming from those
Buried deep underground?

I walked past one evening
It was quite late at night
I could see them there standing
A trick of the light?

I saw one approach
With it’s pale outstretched hand
And it beckoned to join it
So I turned and I ran.

Now I’ll never walk past
That old graveyard again
Cause I’m scared
I may never be heard from again.

The old graveyard’s still there
And I know in my mind
That the dead are there waiting
Just biding their time.

So if you walk past
And you hear the wind moan
It may not be the wind
But them calling you home.

Halloween Witch

Does the Halloween Witch visit your house?

Besides snitching some or sending a bunch to your husband's office, what do you do with all the Halloween candy your kids accumulate?

I love the following idea:
If the kids leave most of it out on the front porch the night of Halloween, the Halloween Witch comes and leaves a little toy/book, etc treat in its place.

We need new Hero Capes

We need new super hero capes around here.  I think this will be my next sewing project.  Aiden's cape made from Mimi's zebra blanket needs to be upgraded.  Halloween is fast aproaching.  I love traditional costumes like the mummy and witch.  Maybe this year I could try and come up with a super hero duo.

Halloween Party 2009

I can't believe it's the last week of October. I love October and I love Halloween. Luckily I have found some great friends to help me indulge in my love for all things spooky. Growing up my friends and I would have the best costume parties. It's been fun to try and carry on the tradition.

These are some of the decorations I put up. I made the ghosts in the front yard the first year we moved here. The first time we put them up it poured that night. Every year since, the first night we have put them up it has stormed and hard. I call them my rain makers.
Here are some pics from the party. You should be able to click on the pictures to make them larger.

Joette came as Mahanna the 10 cow wife. Hippies were quite popular with Josh, Melli, Kelly, Dasha & Rob playing the part. Daryl came as a Spanish Cowboy or George Hamilton from Zoro the Gay Blade (his accent kept changing) and Jillian came as a kitty kat. Dave channeled his inner Elvis and Drady (bless her heart she doesn't like to dress up) came as a hobo.

Wyatt went as Dr. Johnson and I dressed up as a housewife. The Horan's came as Wolf Man and Alice in Wonderland. The Smith's came as Indiana Jones and the Wicked Witch and Briona as the Tooth Fairy. We had some great food. You can see my spooky punch in the corner picture.

Michael and Rosa came as an inmate and a football player. Susan was a very spooky Halloween Lady in her goth lipstick and outfit and Peter showed up as a Rugy Player. Christina and Heleman came as Christina and Heleman.Melli played her guitar for us (Wyatt wants her autograph, he just knows she is going to be famous). She was awesome. Then we played a few rounds of catch phrase, one of my favorite games. You couldn't here my Halloween music mix I made because it was too loud but it was awesome, trust me.

It was a fun night. We missed everyone that couldn't make it. Hopefully the date works out better next year. Thanks to all who came, we had a blast.