Halloween Crafts

Halloween is just around the corner and it is time to start thinking about great party and costume ideas. This year at our family reunion we had a halloween party. (There is a reason why we don't celebrate halloween in July. It's too hot for costumes! Guess we weren't thinking about that.) We just thought the kids love dressing up and we never get to see everyones costumes because people live so far away. Well, I love making costumes. I always like our family to have theme costumes. Well this year my son really likes toy story so I thought this would be a good idea. I will post more in depth instructions of how I made each of the costumes later but here is the final product. Sorry it's not a very clear picture but you get the idea.

My aunt came up with the following ideas for a halloween party. She did a great job and it was a lot of fun. This was the menu.

Hand and Cheese Sliders-Really was Ham and Cheese Sliders.

I had never had this before and it was really good. I thought it was prefect for halloween dinner because the sandwiches look like bugs are crawling on it. (just poppy seeds) You can find the recipe at http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/2010/04/ham-and-cheese-sliders.html/.

Mummy toes- just little sausages in a biscuit and Brain Matter and Chips- Chip and Dip.

For dessert was apple slices and you got to dip them in carmel then in your favorite type of candy.

When it comes to decorating for a party one of the easiest things to decorate with is candy. I went to the local thrift store and found different size jars for .75 cents and filled them with different types of candy. Here are a few of the different tables we had decorated.

This last picture was not only our decorations, but our craft. The little kids decorated the little jars with tissue paper and mod podge, then cut a little face and tied a ribbon to the top. They were cheap and easy craft for kids. One of the days the women got to paint their own wooden BOO. There is a store in Utah called wood connections that has tons of wooden crafts. My aunt order a bunch of BOO's for us. We sanded, stained, painted, glittered, then sprayed a clear gloss on them so the glitter wouldn't come off. They turned out so cute.

Then the last thing that makes a party fun is games. There are tons of games out there on the internet and in books. Just remember to keep kids ages in mind and they will have a great time.

Princess Tea Party

For our family reunion this year we had all sorts of different activities one of the activities was a princess tea party. I was in charge of this activity. I was inspired by Skip to My Lou blog. She has some darling witches shoes. I thought why not just change them a little and make them into princess shoes. They turned out so cute and fit right along with my other decor and party

favors. If you would like you can view her template at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/.

If you are planning to host a princess party here are some ideas of things to do. First off most girls love getting their hair, nails, and make up done. I set up a table just their size and decorated with jewelry and big mirrors so they could see what you are doing. I had tons of pictures of different hair styles to choose from. I had another table for make-up and nails. The girls loved it. While I was preparing lunch, the girls got into their dresses and played "Pretty, Pretty Princess". For lunch we had princess crown shaped sandwiches and grapes, waffle cookies, jello, carrots, and pink lemonade. After they were finished eating we headed to the palace for story time. We read some princess books and then headed to the ball. The little girls just loved dancing around. They looked like they were in princess heaven.