Archive for the ‘kids do’ Category

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. – William Shakespeare

It’s getting spooky around here… and the little witches love it.  Even though she can hardly see above the rim of the cauldron.

I always look forward to decorating for Halloween… and I love that many Halloween decorations don’t have to cost much, if anything at all.

This spooky cauldron is easy and inexpensive to create.  I happened to already have everything I needed.

I started with an old twiggy wreath.  It used to hang on my front door long ago.  It’s the perfect first layer for the cauldron.  You could even make a twiggy wreath by wiring twigs to a metal form available at most craft stores.

Next use a couple of pieces of colored tissue paper to make the flames.

Place heat proof bowl into the center of the wreath on top of the tissue paper.  Place a strand of Christmas lights into the bowl, make sure all the lights are in the bowl and will not come in contact with the tissue.  Those lights get hot, and you don’t want a real fire!  It works great to keep the lights bundled up. Plug an extension cord into the lights and run it out the back.

Next comes the cauldron.  This is a copper colored plant container.  You can also use a black canning pot or a dutch oven.

Every Halloween, I make homemade Root Beer or Swamp Juice with dry ice served right out of the cauldron…  Doesn’t that look like a real fire?  When it’s smoking… I almost think I’m a real witch.   Maybe the owl carrying my letter to Hogwarts got lost in a storm over the Rockies.

Hopefully the owl for my kids will have better luck.

Are you looking for ways to entertain the family this Halloween?  Why not scare the daylights out of the kiddies?

The other night we made caramel apples with the kids.  We used Honeycrisp apples and rolled them in melted caramel and then into crushed Butterfinger bars.  They were so good!

Then we popped a big bowl of popcorn and snuggled in to watch the old Disney classic, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

That movie will scare the pants off you, let me tell you.  And we all loved every minute of it.  Ba, ba, ba, boom… Bing Crosby’s voice is awesome.  The animation is timeless.

I don’t remotely remember ever seeing the Mr. Toad part when I was a kid.  But the Headless Horseman… him I didn’t forget.  He’s just absolutely frightening and wonderful.

A scary movie night is great “Make it Do” entertainment this Halloween.  Now if the kids wake me up with nightmares, I guess I asked for it.