Halloween Mummy Veggie "Meatballs"

     This Halloween snack is almost too cute to eat.  The recipe is from Pillsbury, but made it vegetarian and modified it a little.

Ingredients:

*Veggie "meatballs" (I used Nate's Zesty Italian Meatless Meatballs)
*Crescent roll dough
*Marinara sauce

Tools:

*Knife
*Toothpick

Directions:

*Roll out the crescent roll dough.

*Cut the dough into thin strips.

*Wrap the strips of dough around the "meatballs" to form "bandages."  Make sure to leave a gap between the bandages for the "face."

*Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown and the "meatballs" are cooked all the way through.

*Use a toothpick to make marinara sauce "eyes."

*For a dinner, serve with spaghetti and crescent rolls.

Nail Polish Painted Utensils

     Jazz up plain cutlery with nail polish.  I just brushed polish over the handle, but if you're skilled at nail polish designs, you could do all sorts of neat decorations.

Caution: do not paint the whole utensil.  You only want to paint parts that people will not eat off of.  If your partygoers are at an age where it's likely they will try chewing on the handle, it's best to save this craft until they're a little older.

Materials:
*Plastic cutlery
*Nail polish

Directions:
*Paint the handle of your cutlery with nail polish.  You can always add glitter or small sequins too for some extra sparkle.

Here's my original design for the party.  I thought those stat sequins might get in the way too much or be uncomfortable to hold, so that's why ultimately I went with the other design.  With smaller star sequins, though, this might work well for a slumber party or star/space party.

Glitter "Dipped" Cups

     Give your next party some extra sparkle with these easy to make glitter cups.

Materials:
*Paper cups
*Glitter
*Mod podge
*Sponge paintbrush

Directions:
*Cover your workstation with newspaper or something that will similarly protect it from stray glitter and glue.
*Dip your paintbrush in Mod Podge and carefully move the brush around the cup, marking out where you want the glitter to end.
*Fill in the area below this line with a thin layer of Mod Podge as well.
*Pour glitter over the cup.  Set aside to dry.
*Once dry, shake off excess glitter and then pour the excess glitter back into its container.

Birthday Un-Slumber Party

     As far as parties go, it's hard to beat a sleepover party.  My sister and I used to have friends over whenever possible growing up, and I have fond memories of those days (some of which you'll find at the end of this post).  Living in a one bedroom apartment with no couch, hosting an overnight party is out of the question.  However, there was nothing keeping me from offering the games, activities, and food of a slumber party during the day, and I decided to throw an un-slumber party.
     Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing the details of how I made the various crafts for this party.  For now, though, here's an overview of the decorations, activities, games, and food I had at my party, plus some memories of sleepovers past.

     While in years past I've thrown some elaborately decorated parties, this year I focused a lot more on the games and activities than I did on aesthetics.  As far as themes go, an un-slumber party doesn't have an obvious decorating scheme.  I chose a black and silver color scheme because that reminds me of stars in the nighttime sky.  I made this curtain of streamers to cover the entryway.

     Here are the plates, cups, utensils, etc.  All of the tableware came from Dollar Tree.  I bought plain black party supplies and then decorated the cups and utensils so that things weren't so dark.

     Here's the tablescape.  I bought a plain black tablecloth from Dollar Tree and scattered silver stars across it.  On the table you'll see two of our party activities.  One is a nail polish roulette game I made.  The other is coloring page photo frames which I designed, although you can't really see what's on the pages in this picture.  My plan was to have people color the photo frames and then send them home with the photo frames and a group photo to put in one of the frames as a souvenir.  However, we ended up spending a lot of time on the other activities, so I gave people plain pages to color at home.

     Brian made homemade pizza.  Pictured above are the pickle and cheese pizzas, but he also made Alfredo pizza (cheese pizza with Alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce) and his "heart attack pizza" (pizza loaded with hamburger and pepperoni).

     Playing nail polish roulette . . .

     . . . and the aftermath of our game.  Some of the colors kind of worked together, and some really didn't.

     Here we are taking a group photo with some of the photo booth props I made.  It's hard to see from this picture, but dad and I tried to give Katie bunny ears simultaneously.  Also, you can see Katie's lovely Stephen King book artwork on the fridge.

     For my cake this year, we I didn't do a lot of decorating.  I just made that Little Owl cake "topper."  Brian added some icing decorations.  I found the black candles with silver glitter at Party City.
     While eating cake and ice cream, we also played Mad Libs.  There is a free Mad Libs app that you can download for your phone or tablet.  It comes with a handful of free stories, but if you need more than what they offer, you can also buy whole Mad Libs books through the app.

     Aren't these slippers adorable?  They have the cutest little faces.  Brian got them for me for Christmas.  If you're throwing a party for a younger audience (I think the size I have is about the largest they offer) and you can afford to spend some money, these could make for great party favors.

     Dad always gives awesome birthday cards.

     It wouldn't be a Hathaway family function without an attempted murder!

     Failing to give dad bunny ears.  I always underestimate how high I'll have to lift my arm to make bunny ears visible.
     Well, that wraps up another birthday party.  What are your favorite sleepover activities?  Snacks?  Any favorite sleepover memories?  Here are some of the sleepovers that stick with me.  

     Katie, Becky, and I decided to camp out on Becky's porch swing.  We draped sleeping bags over the swing to seal it off from the bugs, but the bugs still got in and had a feast.  Plus it was really cold.
    Another time, we camped out in a tent in Becky's front yard.  Katie had seen one of those true crime shows in which a man cut a hole in the wall of a tent and abducted and murdered a little girl.  Katie was worried that someone was going to cut a hole in our tent and kidnap her, so I had to sleep near the wall of the tent.

     One final memory.  When my mom bought a shed for our house, Katie and I decided that before she started filling it up with boxes, we were going to have a sleepover in it.  She, Breanna, and I grabbed our bedding and junk food and camped out.  One of our neighbors heard about our plan and started banging on the shed.  We were sure we were about to be murdered.

     I can't remember if we barred the door before or after the knocking, but we were not letting any murderers in if we could help it!

Spring Shapes Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Bites

     While spring may still be weeks away, and perhaps even further here in Maine, that doesn't mean that you can't make things feel springy inside.  Bring some spring cheer to your snacking with these cinnamon sugar tortilla bites, which are as tasty as they are adorable.

Materials:
*Spring shaped cookie cutters
*Flour tortilla
*Butter
*Cinnamon
*Sugar

Directions:
*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
*Cut spring shapes from your flour tortilla and place these shapes on a baking sheet.
*Melt butter and brush it across your shapes so that each one has a light coating.
*Sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar.
*Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

My Halloween 2016 Party

My favorite photo from the party.  It's a very accurate depiction of my family.

     This past Sunday I hosted my annual Halloween party.  It took a lot of work putting it all together; Brian and I spent most of the day Saturday and right up until the morning on Sunday cleaning, digging out and putting up decorations, finishing the last minute prop additions, and making and decorating the food.  If it wasn't for fall break, I wouldn't have had the time for this (and really I didn't; the rest of the semester is going to be a bit more hectic because I took the time out, but I needed a break), but it's something I'd been looking forward to for weeks and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Here's a recap of the party with plenty of food, games, and snack ideas.

Halloween Snacks

     Brian and I made our cemetery cupcakes (recipe in this post, although you'll have to scroll a little to find it) and eyeball deviled eggs (recipe in this post, although you'll have to scroll here too) again this year.  We had some bananas on the verge of spoiling, so Brian decided to make some banana bread too.  My family is all about cheese, but instead of going with just a cheese platter, as per usual, I decided to make these "witch's broomsticks" which are fast and easy to create.  I threw in some extra cheese cubes on the side, though, because you can never have too much cheese.

Witch's Broomsticks

Ingredients:
*String cheese sticks (each stick makes three "brooms")
*Pretzel sticks

Supplies:
*Knife

Directions:
*Cut string cheese in thirds lengthwise.
*Cut slits in the cheese pieces, going about halfway up.
*Carefully pull up on the thin sections you've created.  These will form the "bristles" of the broom.
*Place a pretzel stick in the other end, being careful not to push it in too deep, or else the broom might break.

The Tablescapes

     We had two tables at the party, the snack table and the main table.  On the snack table, the deviled egg eyes are on top of the Halloween platter I made a couple of years back.  The cupcakes are balanced on this spider web cupcake stand.  I included the appetizer picks in their spooky stone holder, although they ended up being more decorative than functional (we were supposed to have some green olives too, but forgot to pick them up when we were out on Saturday).  Here's how I made the tablecloth.  I ended up going with plain black paper plates and napkins because they were cheaper and there weren't any plates at Target that were must haves.  I think they worked out really well.

     For the big table, I went with a very similar setup to the one I've done for the past couple of years.  The tablecloth I picked up on clearance from Joann ages ago and the bat salt and pepper shakers came from the Target dollar aisle, also years ago.  I think the tealights might also have been from Target.  Here's how to make the glitter drip glasses.  I also swapped out my spiderweb candle from Kohl's for the spooky faced candle Brian and I made this year.

Outdoor Decor

     Here's the whole outdoor setup.  If you've seen my post from last year, you'll notice there's a new display, which I'm super excited about!  But first up, the old stuff.  The eyeball path markers I got from Kmart several years back and the jack o'lantern lights on the door Brian surprised me with a couple of years ago for Halloween.  He got them from Rite Aid.  Those zombie lawn gnomes lurking at the edge of the house Brian's mom gave me for Christmas.  She got them from Oriental Trading.

     Here's the doorway.  In addition to the jack o'lantern lights, you can see my glow in the dark eyeball wreath and my "knock if you dare" door hanger, which used to be available for free online, but I can no longer find a link to it.  Also, see that thing hanging off the bottom of the rusted old mailbox?  That's our new doorbell, which we picked up from Target.  The top part opens up when you push the button to reveal a glowing eyeball that moves as the doorbell says spooky stuff.  It's pretty neat.

     This is what my cemetery ended up looking like this year.  My little cemetery is my favorite Halloween display, so this year I did not let the threat of rain stop me.  Farthest to the left you'll see my tombstone with plaque accompanied by my eerie graveyard bouquet.  The bouquet was the only part of the display that seemed like it would get ruined by the slightest bit of rain, so I brought it inside as soon as I finished taking pictures.  The next stone over is my original insulation foam tombstones accompanied by one of my Styrofoam tombstones, with my Barbie "stone" angel statue propped against them,  Since Barbie's wings are cardboard, I'd caution against putting her outside in the rain, although my statue seemed to hold up just fine.  The other tombstones came from Target (they were part of a kit along with some of the skeletal remains and fencing), Dollar Tree, and some sort of yard sale/flea market.  If you look closely, you can see my haunted hedge eyes peeking out from behind one of the stones.  I got the hedge eyes from Target at the end of the season a couple of years ago.  The fence that came with the kit you saw in last year's post.  The "haunted: keep out" tape I used to string the fence pieces together I got on sale at A.C. Moore last year.  I didn't have a chance to use it for my party (not sure if I'd even bought it then), but I did use it for Halloween night, so that wasn't new to this party.

     Notice the bat gate posts in the cemetery picture?  Those came from Dollar Tree, but they had this ugly, peeling accent paint on them.  You can't really tell from the picture above, but the bats had poorly done red eyes and peeling purple wings.  I quickly brushed some black acrylic paint over them (spray paint would probably have worked really well for this, but I didn't have any on hand and forgot that I had to paint these until the morning of the party) and they looked so much better.

     Here's the new display.  I'm hoping to devote an entire blog post to it next year, so I'm not going to say too much about it here, but it's basically a modification of the "beware of dog" idea for your pet werewolf.  In the original display, the werewolf is gone, the leash just hangs limply over the sign.  The scare factor is in what's not there rather than what is there.  However, when my friend Ken showed up dressed as a (were)wolf, I couldn't resist getting some pics of him in our werewolf display.  Yes, that's Brian the dark sorcerer in the background.  No, I don't know what he's doing.

Indoor Decor

     This year I again had to have multiple Halloween "mantles" to display all of my decorations.  I threw some cloth over the printer and then added my spooky display items.  The setup is similar to the layout I had last year.  At the top there's one of my creepy dolls.  My spellbook moved up to the top as well.  I made the spellbook using my Silhouette CAMEO for Halloween last year (see last year's party post for details).  There's my haunted mirror and at the opposite side, one of my Halloween lenticulars which came from Rite Aid a few years back that I reframed.  In between the two are some new additions to my Halloween decor.  That tiny blue bottle is an antique poison bottle that my dad gave me.  I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my Halloween decor somehow and this seemed like a good spot for it.  Beside it is my new spooky telephone, which I got from Target.  You pick it up and it says creepy things.  I adore it.

     Here's the other "mantle," a pile of storage boxes covered in my tie dyed sheet with some Dollar Tree gauzy cloth thrown over top.  In addition to the lenticulars, the creepy dolls, and the bouquet, which I decided to put up there after I brought it inside so it wouldn't get rained on, you'll see my felt gingerbread zombie.  This little critter almost didn't make it into my Halloween display this year.  When I was setting up the decorations, I could not find it anywhere and eventually gave up.  However, my mom came to my party early and I was showing her my spellbook.  I opened it up to show her that it had a space for storage inside and there was my zombie.
     Below the "mantle" is a shelf of spookiness.  Previously, I had put a lot of these items on one of the counters in the kitchen, but when Brian bought the bread machine, that ended up taking up that bit of counter space that I had used in previous years.  We have a "junk" shelf of assorted trinkets and I had cleared it off so I could move it down the hall without spilling everything everywhere.  I realized that I could use that shelf for my Halloween display.  On the top shelf are my Halloween tree and my potion bottles.  I added a couple of vintage glass bottles I got from dad, one to the middle shelf and one to the bottom, because I thought they fit with the aesthetic.  On the other shelves you'll see some little Halloween figurines I've accumulated years ago from A.C. Moore and a yard sale, my "beware" sign from ages ago from Target, my old centerpiece candle, my pom pom pals, and a plush bat I got from Target a couple of years ago.

     This was the last indoor setup.  I needed a spot near an outlet for my haunted grove and the other printer seemed like the ideal location, so I threw some fabric over the printer and set the grove up there.  There was a lot of extra space on top of the printer and I'd been needing a place to put my spooky sign, so that's where it ended up.  I usually hang up my felt sleepy bat along the wall toward the end of the kitchen, but this year it was going to be so far removed from everything else that I decided to move it in closer.

Games and Activities

     We did not have the Yankee swap (scroll to the activities section of this post for details) this year because I didn't have a chance to gather prizes, but if you're looking for an activity for your party, that's always a fun one.  What we did instead was we played my jack o'lantern game.  We had six people for the first round and that seemed like a good amount; any more and it would have been too many.  Dad won and got the first trophy (DIY post to come) of the day for his prowess at the jack o'lantern game.  We also had a costume contest and awarded trophies for best individual costume and best couples costume.

     I set up a photo booth for my guests.  I'll have instructions for how to DIY your own in a future post, but this picture was too awesome to wait to share.

     Finally, Brian did his annual Tarot readings.

Costumes

     Looking for some costume ideas?  Here are a few from my party.  Katie dressed up as Sandy from Grease, while Jacob went as a ghost.

     Brian went as a dark sorcerer and I dressed as a witch (for "magic" wand instructions, see this post).

     My friends Ayesha, Ken, and Stephanie went as characters from Little Red Riding Hood, which made for an awesome group costume.

Mini Mask Cake Toppers

     For my birthday cake, I wanted it to represent both the masquerade and The Shining themes.  I added the notorious phrase "redrum" in red lettering, sprinkles for confetti, and topped it off with some mini masks I made.  Brian did the icing.  It's not perfect, but then again we're mathematicians, not cake decorators and on the whole I'm pleased with the way it came out.  If you're hosting a masquerade of your own, these mini masks make for excellent cake or cupcake toppers.

Materials:
*Cardstock in a variety of colors
*Scissors
*X-acto knife
*Pencil
*Toothpicks
*All purpose adhesive
*Rhinestones, stickers, and other embellishments

Directions:
*Shrink mask template to the desired size and cut out.
*Trace the mask template onto the cardstock and cut out.
*Glue the mini mask to a toothpick and let dry.
*Add embellishments.  I used the eye hole cut outs for feathers, plus some rhinestones, beads, and stickers.  Now they're ready for your next cake decorating endeavor.

Oreo Strawberry Shortcake Bites

     Looking for a fast and easy snack for your upcoming Fourth of July celebration?  Why not try a twist on strawberry shortcake, using vanilla Oreo Thins as the "cake" for a bite sized alternative?  Check out the video below to find out how I make them.  If the embedded video doesn't work for you, you can see the video on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYz1934Qcfk.

Bat Mask and Halloween Party Ideas

Bat Mask

Materials:

*Tulle

*Puffy fabric paint

*Elastic cord

*Waxed paper

*Scissors

*Tape

*X-acto knife

Directions:

*I got the template and instructions for this craft from Joann's website.  I basically followed the directions given there, except for the following:

*I used elastic cord in place of ribbon to hold the mask up.

*I practiced drawing lines on a scrap of tulle to get a feel for drawing lines on the material itself.

*I peeled the mask off the waxed paper before cutting.

*I used an X-acto knife to help with cutting out parts of the mask, including for making incisions through which to loop the elastic cord.

Halloween Snacks and Food Related Party Crafts

     Brian and I made our cemetery cupcakes again this year, but we varied the recipe slightly.  I found some cute Halloween tombstone candy molds from Joann and thought they would be perfect for my cupcakes.

Halloween Cemetery Cupcakes

Ingredients:
*10 oz bag of white candy melts

*10 oz bag of black candy melts

*10 oz bag of pumpkin spice flavored candy melts (could be substituted for flavor of your choice)

*Brian's vanilla icing (scroll to the bottom of this blog post for recipe)

*Green food coloring

*Devil's food cupcakes

*Oreos

Supplies:

*Tombstone mold

*Microwave safe bowl

*Spoon

*Food processor (or blender)

Directions for tombstones:

*Place 3 pumpkin spice candy melts, 5 black candy melts, and 14 white candy melts in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute (we have a 900 watt microwave, so time may vary depending on the wattage of your microwave).  Stir until smooth and the colors are thoroughly mixed to produce a uniform gray color.

*Spoon the mixture into the four tombstone shaped molds.  The amount of candy in the bowl should be enough to fill each mold about halfway.  I liked filling them halfway because the thinner, lighter tombstones didn't have to be pressed as deep into the cupcakes to stay upright, but if you want maximal thickness, use twice as much candy as the first step calls for.

*Place candy mold in the freezer.  Let sit for about 10 minutes and then pop the candies out of the mold.  Clean the mold and repeat the process to make the remainder of the tombstones.

Directions for cupcake decorating:

*Prepare devil's food cupcakes according to the directions on the packaging.

*Prepare icing and add green food coloring a few drops at a time, until the icing is the shade of green that you want for your cemetery "grass."

*Place three Oreos in a food processor and grind them up.

*Take one of the cupcakes, ice it, push a tombstone into the center, and sprinkle some Oreo "dirt" at the foot of the tombstone.

     Here are some of the other snacks we had.  This year Brian and I made our eyeball deviled eggs again (for recipe, see this post.  It also has instructions for how to make a neat Halloween egg plate, which the eggs are resting on, although you can't really tell from this picture).  We cut up some sharp cheddar cheese and put it in the center of the egg plate.  Brian's mom made the eyeball cookies by making a chocolate chip cookie type dough and placing Hershey's Hugs and Hershey's Drops in the center.  As for the non-food items present, here's how I made the cupcake stand, here's how I made the appetizer skewers and their "stone" holder, and here's how I made the tablecloth.

     Here's the table setup.  It's basically the same as it was for last year's Halloween party.  I again used my glittery goblets.

Indoor Decor

     This year I had so many decorations that I wanted to keep on my Halloween "mantle" that I ended up throwing some spare cloth over the printer and its stand and using that as a secondary place to put my spooky accent items.  Here's how I made the haunted mirror.  I used my Silhouette CAMEO to construct the spell book in the center.  I combined elements from this pattern and this pattern and used Old English Text MT font for the text.  That particular lenticular portrait is one that I bought from Rite Aid last year.  All of the lenticulars I've bought have either come without a frame or in a tacky plastic frame, but in this post I explain how to make them look nicer (scroll to the bottom of the post to find the directions).  On top of the printer is one of my creepy dolls.  Here's how to make them.

     Here's my traditional Halloween "mantle" (read: tower of storage containers I've thrown a sheet over).  I took some black gauzy cloth I got from Dollar Tree and threw it over my tie dyed sheet that I usually cover it with.  Instructions for the gingerbread zombie plushie will be coming in a later post.

     Here's my felt sleepy bat and my spooky sign.

     And here's my Halloween banner.

     And some pom pom pals hanging around with the sign I got from the Target dollar aisle a few years back.

     The figurines and the light up haunted grove in the foreground of the photo my mom gave me a number of years ago.  I think she got them from A. C. Moore.  There's my Halloween tree with ornaments and behind that you can see my potion bottles.

Outdoor Decor

     Here's the whole outdoor setup.  The eyeball path markers I got from Kmart several years back and the jack o'lantern lights on the door Brian surprised me with last year for Halloween.  He got them from Rite Aid.  Those zombie lawn gnomes lurking at the edge of the house Brian's mom gave me for Christmas.  She got them from Oriental Trading.  Also, it's hard to see, but there is a light up spider on the glass part of the screen door that I got this year from Dollar Tree.

     Here's a closeup on the door.  That's my glow in the dark eyeball wreath on the door.  The door hanger I printed out from the internet and laminated, but I can't find a link to the PDF for the door hanger anymore.

     Here's my little Halloween cemetery.  It was predicted to rain up until noontime, which was one hour before my party started, so I had to wait until then to put everything up.  That's why it looks like it was just thrown together, but I'm so glad that I got to put it out there that I don't care.  The tombstone on the far left of the picture I made from insulation foam and the third and sixth from left I made from regular styrofoam.  The other tombstones came from Target (they were part of a kit along with some of the skeletal remains and fencing), Dollar Tree, and some sort of yard sale/flea market.  In front of my insulation foam tombstone you can see my eerie graveyard bouquet.  Those skeletal arms in front of the two tiny tombstones I made from skeletal salad tongs I picked up from Dollar Tree (directions to come).  Lastly, it's hard to see, but peeking out from behind the tombstone that the skull is in front of you can see my haunted hedge eyes, which I got from Target last year.  We don't have any hedges nearby, so I figured that was a good place for them.

Activities

     We had a Yankee swap again this year.  I wrote numbers on masking tape and stuck them to the bottom of the paper witch hats I made last year and Brian stuck numbers to the prizes so that no one would know which hat corresponded to a particular prize.  This year I didn't have time to craft prizes (too much time spent writing my paper on quantum teleportation :p), so I picked up inexpensive items from Joann and Dollar Tree.  What we did for the swap was that people would pick up one of the hats and then find the prize corresponding to the number on the bottom of the hat.  If they liked their prize, then they got to keep it and if they didn't, then they could swap with someone for their prize.

     This year Brian also did Tarot readings for our guests.  People seemed to get a kick out of that.  Yes, Brian is wearing his Mad Hatter hat with a vampire cape.  Don't ask me why.

Costumes

     For my Halloween parties, I like to reuse bits of old Halloween costumes.  This year I went as a "bat lady," (like a cat lady, except fond of bats instead of cats).  I'm wearing the mask I wrote about in this post, my batty cape, and a bat headband that I'll give instructions for soon.  Brian's mom went as the Queen of Hearts.  I have a number of other costume ideas in the Halloween section of my craft blog (as well as other Halloween crafting ideas), so if you're looking for costume ideas check that out.