Happy Halloween!

Thursday was the start of the Halloween Festivities for us and the fun continues through tonight.  We started with the Story Time party at the Library.  It really snuck up on me this year and I forgot that we were supposed to take treats to share until the night before at bedtime.  So Brailee and I browsed through some past Halloween issues of Family Fun and found something that would work with what we had on hand.  She picked these Skeleton cupcakes so the next morning when we woke up we got to work baking and decorating.  I didn't have a good selection of cupcake wrappers on hand, and most of them had been smooshed together, so they were mis-shaped.  I tried to straighten them out but it didn't work so I baked them as-is and it ended up being a happy mistake.  After I took one batch out of the oven, I looked at it just right and noticed that it was shaped like a skull.  I actually liked them better than our original cupcake plan!  I added M&M's for the eyes, a chocolate chip for the nose and used decorator gel for the mouth.

Here's my little owl on the way to the party - bet you've never seen a pink and striped owl before ;-)  Everyone thought she was cute, but nobody knew what she was - but she loves it, so I'm happy!

And my little handyman.

That night we started out at the town activities - which began with a costume contest.  I didn't get a pic of the older girls in their costumes but I will have plenty of chances today.  By the time the contest FINALLY got over, the kids were cold and hungry, and it was almost bedtime so we headed home for dinner.  We missed the costume parade and trick-or-treating to all of the businesses and their activities, but oh, well!  Then Saturday we took the kids to a Haunted House put on by the Young Men and Young Women from our ward - the kids had been BEGGING to go to a haunted house so we chose that one this year.  Today all of the kids have their school parties and then tonight is Trunk-or-Treating at the church, and that will probably be it for this year!  I am so glad I had all of the costumes done well in advance this year, it's been fun to relax and enjoy the activities. 

Yesterday we decorated and carved pumpkins...

I didn't get pics of the two little ones and their pumpkins, I'll have to do that tonight, but here are the big girls.

...and made eyeballs and bones.

We found this fun idea online for Halloween Treat Bags and Boxes and couldn't wait to try some out!  Using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge from Close To My Heart, I cut everything we needed to create the fun bat boxes, including the Chinese take-out box.  I used the holly leaves to create the bat wings, the holly berries to cut various circles for the eyes, the circle band (cut into thirds) to create the mouth.   The only thing I didn't cut from the cartridge were the teeth - those were freehanded from scraps.  Here's my little crafter gluing them together this morning.  These were for the preschool kiddos.

Here's the final results - aren't these the cutest little bats you've ever seen?  I especially love the fangs that are pointing up ;-)  One of them ended up being a spider because I either lost or failed to cut one pair of wings and it was just easier to turn it into a spider.

Today I am making banana bread, and if I get a chance, some Dracula Dentures!  If you're looking for some more last minute creepy cupcakes here are some more fun ones I found - click here!