Halloween cupcakes

What you need:

• 24 cupcakes

• 1 container of vanilla icing

• Tube of red icing with a fine tip

• Gumballs

• Spatula – for icing cupcakes

• Bounty paper towels

Directions:

1. Before handling any food, make sure kids – and adults – have washed their hands.

2. Place Bounty paper towels on the table to keep it tidy.

3. Let kids ice the cupcakes using spatulas.

4. Once the cupcakes are iced, place a gumball in the centre of the cupcake – eventually it will look like an eyeball.

5. Take the red icing tube and draw lines on the cupcake to create the look of bloodshot eyes.

6. Place the cupcakes on a serving platter until you’re ready to eat them – or use them in a funny photo.

7. When you’re done decorating, wipe down all surfaces with Bounty paper towels – they have the strength, absorbency, and cloth-like durability that you are looking for.

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Kids love carving Hallowe’en pumpkins, but the clean-up can be a monster mess. Try these simple tips to keep the focus on the fun.

1. Great artists plan and sketch their paintings before they start work; encourage kids to do the same. Get out the crayons and markers and let them draw the pumpkin they want to carve. Let the kids share their creations with neighbours when trick or treating.

2. Find or create a clean, clear surface to start. Counters work well and will allow for plenty of room to move around the pumpkin as you work on it. This is preferable to putting down newsprint, which can leave ink on surfaces and clothes.

3. Put aprons on the kids to protect their clothes from the pumpkin mess.

4. Minimize the mess by scooping pumpkin seeds and flesh into a bowl that can easily be emptied into the composter or garbage can. To scrape out the pumpkin, save your spoons and use an ice cream scoop – they’re also easier for little hands to wield.

5. Once you’ve scooped out and carved the jack o’lantern, wipe down the surface with Bounty paper towels – they have the strength, absorbency, and cloth-like durability that you are looking for.

Additional Hallowe’en craft ideas can be found online at www.bountytowels.com.

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- Consider giving out coins, toothbrushes, pencils, or apples instead of candy.

- Make your own costume from scraps, cardboard boxes, and old clothing you may have around the house.

- Think about different ways you can reuse your costume. White sheets can be used as a wall hanging or decoration for next year’s Halloween.

- Don’t drive your kids from house to house. Either walk with them or drive them to a neighbourhood where the houses are closer together.

- Use leftover makeup for crafts or for your dress up box.

- Make sure to put your jack o’ lantern in the compost.

Donate your costume to a secondhand store. If you decide to sell it, use the money to support an organization that practices environmental initiatives like Christian Children’s Fund of Canada www.ccfcanada.ca. You can help a farmer plant a garden or educate children to care for their environment.

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It’s that spooky time of year again when skeletons, spider webs and gravestones make a style statement! Whether you prefer family-friendly Halloween décor for your home or want to turn your front yard into the scariest place in the neighbourhood, Canadian Tire has everything you need to plan a fun-filled Halloween for your family and friends.

Spooky front yard makeover tips

• Animated rising ghosts or skulls with spooky sounds and LED red flashing eyes are sure to thrill trick-or-treaters.

• A wide assortment of hanging ghouls and friendly fiends from Canadian Tire can give your home and yard the perfect haunted look.

• Decorate trees or plants with string lights featuring spiders or bats for that perfect creepy touch.

• A great addition to your Halloween décor is an indoor projector that allows you to project scary, haunting images on your walls and windows with spooky sound effects.

Family-friendly décor

Halloween doesn’t always have to be about scary and gruesome. Buying family-friendly décor can be a fun activity to do with the kids.

• Plan a trip to your nearest Canadian Tire store and have some fun picking out Disney decor to match your costume!

• Creating a decorative Halloween walkway in your front yard is a great way to add to your outdoor décor while ensuring a safe, well-lit path for trick-or-treating kids.

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Halloween ghosts like these can be made from tissues, cotton handkerchiefs, or coffee filters, as you'll see below! They're an easy and fun way for the family to get in the Halloween spirit!

Some of the best craft projects can be made from common household items, and here we’ll learn how to make two fantastic Halloween craft projects from coffee filters and a few other items: Coffee Filter Ghosts and Coffee Filter Bats.  These are both easy projects that children and adults of all ages can enjoy!

It is recommended that adults accompany children with these crafts, as scissors are used – and besides, it’s more fun for everyone that way!

Coffee Filter Ghosts

What you’ll need:

• Basket coffee filters (one per ghost)
• Ribbons in Halloween colors like orange, purple, and black
• Magic Markers
• String (optional)
• Assorted decorations like googly eyes (optional)
• Candy or tissue for stuffing the head
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Take a coffee filter and place a wadded tissue or some candy in the center.  This will serve as the stuffing for the head.  If you use candy, they make for super Halloween party favors!
2. Tie a Halloween colored ribbon around the neck of the ghost.
3. Use magic markers to draw faces on your ghosts.  You can also use googly eyes and other fun items to get creative with it!
4. If you want to hang your ghosts up as Halloween decorations, you can tie a piece of string around the neck and tuck it under the ribbon.  These are great for hanging in Halloween trees, or just around the house!

Coffee Filter Bats

What you’ll need:

• Basket coffee filters (one per bat)
• Black watercolor paint
• Paintbrush
• Clothespins
• Googly eyes
• Purple and/or orange ribbon
• Scissors
• Craft glue

Instructions:

1. Create an environment suitable for painting
2. Paint the coffee filters with black watercolor and set aside to dry.
3. Once dried, fold the painted coffee filters in half.
4. Fold them in half again, folding it in quarters.
5. Take a clothespin and pinch the new fold with the clothespin.
6. Open the filter and glue to the clothespin as needed to make the wings spread out.
7. Glue googly eyes to the front of the clothespin.
8. Cut semi-circles around the edges to make it more bat-like.
9. Tie with orange or purple ribbons for hanging.

And now you have two cute handmade Halloween decorations to adorn the porch, the windows, and anywhere else around the house!

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Ghost Meringues

I make this recipe every year for my family and for Halloween parties and it is always a big hit!  It’s great because the recipe is easy and the treats come out light and tasty.

It’s also a great Halloween project to do with the kids, because they can get creative with the shapes and decorations.  In our house our favorite Halloween meringue cookie shapes are ghosts and bones, but the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 5 egg whites at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to taste
• Black gel icing

Directions

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees fahrenheit.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with mixer until soft peaks form, this could take from two to five minutes.  I alwys use a Kitchenaid standing mixer but a hand mixer will work as well.
4. Gradually add sugar while also gradually increasing the mixing speed to medium.
5. Add vanilla extract and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
6. Spoon the mixture into a cake or pastry piping bag with a 1/4 – 1/2 inch tip or with a plastic bag and cut off a 1/4 – 1/2 inch tip at the corner of the bag.
7. Pipe a swirl to make a ghost and repeat until the cookie sheets are filled.
8. Bake for one hour. Then, turn off heat and allow the cookies to sit for at least an hour. Do not open oven at any time during the baking process.
9. Use black gel icing to make eyes and mouths on the ghosts.
10. Carefully remove cookies from parchment paper and enjoy them while they are fresh or store in an airtight container.

If you want to make meringue bones, simply pipe a 3-4 inch line and add two balls to the end of each.

Recipe yields 3-4 dozen.

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1. Hosting Halloween Hooplas

Despite conventional thinking, sugar is not completely taboo for people with well-controlled diabetes. This means that children afflicted with this disorder don’t have to be deprived of occasional sweet treats, especially at Halloween.

“It’s true that a bag overflowing with candy must be managed by parents, but sugar is not the lone menace it was once thought to be,” says Dr. Doug Tkachuk at LifeLabs, a leading diagnostic centre. “What counts is controlling the total number of carbohydrates consumed at one time. Sweets can be included in moderation, as long as they are balanced with the other glucose-creating foods consumed that day.”

Here is some LifeLabs guidance on how to do it:

• To enjoy some Halloween treats following a meal, make a plan to eliminate one or two of the other carbohydrates on your plate such as the bread, pasta, rice, crackers, potatoes, fruit and vegetables.

• For example, if a meal contains grilled chicken, whole grain rice, carrots, a green salad and fresh fruit for dessert, look for ways to substitute foods with equal carbohydrate counts. Trade your carrots and fresh fruit for the chocolate. Or replace the carrots and salad with a low-carbohydrate vegetable such as broccoli, and add the chocolate.

• Prepare a lootbag trade. In advance, purchase non-edible treats like stickers, small toys, books and other favourites and make it fun to swap these for sweets. This will help make Halloween treats more than just “sweet treats”. Or, ‘buy back’ candy overflow and allow your child to use the money to purchase a toy or book.

• When purchasing chocolate treats to hand out, check the label. If sugar is the first listed ingredient, look for a different chocolate. Bittersweet and semi-sweet dark chocolate generally contain less sugar than other chocolates, except unsweetened chocolate, of course. White chocolate generally has the highest sugar content (up to 55%).

“It’s always recommended that blood glucose levels be checked often if diabetic children are participating in Halloween parties, costume parades, or tiring activities,” Dr.Tkachuk continued. “The same goes on any day that candy is consumed. Ask your doctor for advice since an insulin adjustment may be in order.”

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Once you’ve chosen a suitable costume, the first part of the process in making masks for Halloween is to download a template from one of the many websites which offer them. This might be a very basic mask that simply covers the eyes and bridge of the nose, or it can be one which covers the entire facial area. Free masks can be found in the following categories:

• Politicians
• Movie stars
• Animals
• Scary monsters
• Cartoon characters
• Starwars characters

Once the decision has been made about which mask to make, the picture should be downloaded and printed on very heavy cardstock. Be sure that the printer being used is set to handle the chosen thickness. At this point, younger children may have fun just coloring their simple masks with crayons or felt tipped markers. Glitter, feathers, sequins, and other decorative items may be glued on if desired. The more complicated masks will print out in solid ink colors and will be ready for further treatment once printed.

To prepare the mask to be worn, the following materials will be needed:

• Scissors
• Heavy cardboard
• Craft knife
• Hole punch
• Clear tape
• Strong rubber or elastic string

Using the scissors, cut around the facial features of the printed copy, eliminating any none-printed portions. Then, hold the mask to the face to determine the positioning of the eye holes and mark them. Some masks templates are printed from the Microsoft Word program and allow adjustments on the positioning of eyeholes before the mask is printed.

Because cutting the eyeholes requires such precision, the mask should be placed on a piece of cardboard, and a craft knife used to create these openings. Parents should always do this job for young children. Next, place a square of clear tape on each side of the mask, about a half inch from the edge. Punch a hole through the tape with the hole punch to form a place to attach the rubber or elastic.

Insert about two feet of rubber or elastic string through the holes on each side of the mask, loop it around and tie it behind. Test the mask for size and adjust as necessary by cutting and retying until it fits properly and feels comfortable.

Many people find making Halloween masks to be such an enjoyable activity that they make it a traditional family craft event each year. It can certainly bring out the smiles and giggles faster than most other craft projects and allows every member of the family time to show their creative side.

You can find more ideas for a Halloween party, from cupcake recipes to party games, at HalloweenPartyIdeas.org.

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Haunted Castle

Muskogee, Oklahoma is home to one of the best Halloween festivals around – the Haunted Castle.

If you’re in the area, you should really check it out for some Halloween fun for all ages!

Activities, shops, and food around every corner!

For the youngest kids, there’s Halloweenland, where kids eight and under can play games and trick-or-treat.  For kids a little bit older, there’s the haunted maze which leads you through many twists and turns – and who knows what will pop out around the next corner!  My nine-year-old daughter’s favorite part was the Torture Chamber, which is a sort of medieval museum of torture devices.  There’s also a haunted hayride and even more activities for adults.

Their activities are on a 1-5 skull rating system, where one skull is the most tame and pretty much OK for all ages, and a five skull rating is the scariest and not for people under the age of 17.  So whatever your age and/or scare-level, there’s something for everyone.

And aside from the haunted houses and hayrides, there were a number of other activities and shows going on – we enjoyed story-telling around a campfire and made our own candles and sand-art bottles among other things.

Here are a few examples of fun and activities to do at The Castle of Muskogee!

Come one, come all and get your tickets to a variety of Halloween fun!

Guests can choose from a variety of activities and different packages at the ticket booth located near the center of the festival.

Candle Making

My daughter loved making her own sand art and candles at this little shop.

Rock Climbing

Kids flocked around the rock climbing wall between visiting Halloweentown and haunted hayrides.

I have a feeling that going to The Castle is going to be an annual Halloween tradition for this family because we had such a great time!

Check out their site for details, and read more on the food and wine tasting at The Haunted Castle at Tasty Tulsa.

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Ghost Ship at HallowZOOeen

Looking for some safe Halloween fun on Halloween?  Well if you happen to be in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, you should check out the Tulsa Zoo’s annual HallowZOOeen!

The folks at Zoo Review have posted all the spooky details and photos of this Halloween wonderland – check it out!

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