Ten Days to Halloween!

October sure is a fun month when you have little kids around! In honor of the upcoming holiday, I decided to do some countdown posts with just some of the activities we've done over the years. We haven't done everything every year, of course, but the memories survive forever.

Halloween Activity: "You've been BOO-ed"

Kids (and grown-ups!) love finding a surprise on the doorstep. If you're not familiar with this, just google it, but here's the poem that was left for us years ago:

Since this is the time for goblins and bats

Halloween sports and ghosts and cats

Weird happenings and witches brew

These are the things I wish for you

May the only goblin that comes your

Be the neighborhood phantom you'll want to give away!

Then there were directions to hang the picture, copy the poem, and pass it along to some other neighbor. Before checking my file drawer, I looked on the internet. You can find anything you want there! If you're interested, there's a great discussion on this activity here and prepared graphics here.

Halloween Treat: Flaming-eye Ghost Cake

Do you remember the flaming-eye ghost cake in the Betty Crocker Kid's Cookbook years and years ago? I'd always wanted to try that, and one year we did. This year I saw the same idea using Oreo cookies (with one side removed) for the eyes, which is probably more practical since sugar cubes and lemon extract are no longer staple cupboard items. Basically you bake a 9x13 cake, round the tops corners to make a ghost shape, frost it with white icing, and use 2 egg-shell halves with a lemon-extract soaked sugar cube inside. Light the sugar cubes when you're ready to serve for the flaming eyes. Here are some directions I found.