Pumpkin glass lantern

What you’ll need:

• glass jar
• black and orange paint
• tea light candle

What to do:

1. Paint the  glass jar orange and let it dry completely.
2. After it has dried, paint a pumpkin face using the black paint.
3. Let it dry completely before inserting a lit tealight candle inside the glass jar.

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Ghost glass lantern

What you’ll need:

• glass jar
• white and black paint
• tea light candle

What to do:

1. Paint the glass jar white and let it dry completely.
2. Paint a ghost face using the black paint.
3. Make sure it’s completely dry before inserting a lit candle inside.

Cities to visit during Halloween

1. Salem, Masachussetts:  They turn it spooky every year around Halloween.  Experience Salem’s dark history and take a walk back in time on the candle lit Witch Trial Trail.  Participate in the histroric Hawthrone Hotel for its Annual Halloween Costume Ball and check out the Festival of the Dead.
2. Transylvania and Bran, Romania:  You can visit Bran Castle, where  Dracula is said to have lived. As well as areas like Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle that were associated with Vlad the Implaer in the 15th century.
3. New Orleans,Louisiana:  With a history of Voodoo worship, and the above ground cemeteries it is spooky indeed.  You can take a Spirit Tour traveling through the cemeteries and a haunted neighborhood.  There are also voodoo shops that are still in use today.
4. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:  One of the most actively haunted places in Canada, The Bytown Museum has reported 6 ghosts known to live there.  The Doll Exhibit is known to have some spooky activity as well.
5. Orlando, Florida:  Every year in Universal Studios after hours they turn it into Halloween Horror Nights.  There are haunted houses, entertainment, and  shows. At Walt Disney World the Magic Kingdom they also host Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party.  Check out Fright Fest at Six Flags as well.
6. London, England:  Experience the bloody history of the London Dungeon.  This museum includes scary tours from Bloody Mary, Jack the Ripper, and Sweeney Todd.  Other fun activities include Highgate Cemetery, the Tower of London, and William Shakeaspere ‘s Globe Theater.
7. Long beach, California:  The Queen Mary transforms the ship into the Ship of Terror with mazes and terrifying surprises.  other activities include live music at Purgatory Park and dancing at the Dome of Doom.
8. New York, New York:  Stop by the Nightmare Haunted House for a frightening experience or dressed in costume go to New York’s Village Halloween parade.
9. Rachel, Nevada:  Check out Area 51. The closest observation point is at Tikaboo Peak, about 26 miles from the base. Located 27 miles to the North of Area 51 is the town of Rachel, tucked in the Sand Springs Valley, Nevada.
10. Oaxaca, Mexico:  Dia de los Muertos is a tradition that fused celebrations.  The city is decorated in skeletons and they host a  huge cemetery parade .

They also have tons of haunted places all over the world that can easily be found online to which you can travel to if you want to be spookified.

11 Fall Cravings

We seem to crave different foods during the seasons.  Fall is no exception.  I prefer hearty and homely food during this season.  This is a perfect time to eat anything with pumpkins or apples in them.

Below are the top 11 must eat during Fall.  Enoy!

1. Pumpkin pie
2. Apple Cider
3. Sweet Potatoe or yams
4. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger spices
5. Chili, soups, and stews
6. Turkey
7. Squash
8. Apples
9. Cranberries
10. Brussel sprouts
11. Oven baked foods like macaroni and cheese and pot pies

Fall Activities

11+ Simple Fall Activities that you can do with your family this year.

1. Hay Rides
2. Pumpkin Patch
3. Corn Maze
4. Jumping in pile of raked leaves.
5. Start Straw Bale Gardening.
6. Plant bulbs in your garden for next spring.
7. Go apple picking
8. Carving out pumpkins or painting them.
9. Visit a farm.
10. Play a family football game or just for the kids.
11. During Halloween many cities and churches have Trunk or Treat where you can check out decorated trunks and collect some candy.
12. Remember what you’re thankful for.

To learn more about Straw Bale Gardening, take a look at these:     

http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2012/04/beginners-guide-to-straw-bale-gardening.html

http://ruminski.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/straw-bale-gardening/

Where to find Hay rides and Corn Maze, and Pumpkin Patch in season:

http://www.bedners.com/

Halloween and Fall Games

I love everything about Fall.  This year I want to have a Harvest festival.  I have a list of games and activities to do with the kids.  Hope you guys enjoy!

1. Pumpkin painting:  For all the little ones and the not so little ones.  Now that you have finished picking out your pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, you can paint the pumpkins.  All you need is paint to either paint on a face instead of carving one out or you can paint on any Halloween theme like a moon or a cat.
2. Harvest Bowl:  Draw ghost faces on the toilet paper with a black marker and use a small pumpkin to use as the ball.  Roll it to knock down the toilet paper rolls.  Try stacking some to make it more fun.
3. Pin the nose on a jack-o-lantern or Pin the tail on the cat .
4. Bobbing for apples.
5. Pumpkin passing:  Similar to musical chairs.  Once the music stops the person left holding the pumpkin is out until last person who is left will be the winner.
6. Apple-apple-pumpkin:  Similar to duck-duck-goose but instead it’s Apple-apple-pumpkin.
7. Costume contest
8. Harvest dash:  Fill up containers with candy corn and see who or which team can empty it the fastest.
9. Relay Race:  Pass the corn instead of a baton.
10. Hot Potatoe
11. Pumpkin Pie or Sweet Potato Pie eating contest.
12. Pumpkin Foot race:  See who can kick their pumpkin across the finish line first.
13. Guess the Pumpkin’s weight
14. Throw pennies in a carved out pumpkin
15. Pumpkin seed toss:  Line up a couple containers in a row and have the children take turns throwing seeds into them in seqeunce.
16. Pumpkin Ring Toss:  Line up the pumpkins and toss a ring to see if you can get it through the stem.
17. Mummy Wrap:  This game calls for 2 person teams.  Using a roll of toilet paper see who can wrap their team member as a mummy the fastest.
18. Cauldron Guess:  You can buy small cauldrons at a Dollar Store and fill them up with icky and creepy food and have the players guess what is in it. ( ex:  noodles for the brain or worms, boiled quail eggs or olives for eyeballs, peeled grapes, corn husk for hair, string cheese cut in half as fingers, spiderwebs, almond slithers as fingernails,  loose corn as teeth, fake fur, red jello mixed with small sausages as guts)
19. Cauldron and Jack-O-Lantern toss: Line up small cauldrons and jack-o-lanterns in a row and have the players toss a small creepy rubber objects like eyeballs or animals in them.
20. Candy Corn guess:  Fill a jar with candy corn and have the players guess how many are in the jar.
21. Pumpkin Carving contest
22. Witch’s Brew:  Cut out creepy shapes about the size of a silver dollar using construction paper (apples, pumpkins, eyeballs, fingers, newt, frog legs, candy corn, tongue.)  Using a straw as a vacuum, each contestant tries to pick up the shapes and place it into a bowl.  Time the players to see who can do it the fastest.
23. See who can dress a Scarecrow the fastest
24. Find an object in a haystack

Witch Hat

I just Love witchy stuff…  This is a very simple activity to do with your children for arts and craft time.  You may need to help making the cone, depending on how old the child is.

You will need:

• construction paper ( 2 black, 1 purple)
• scissors
• tape
• yellow  marker
• glue

What to do:

1. Use one of the black piece of construction paper to make the hat by rolling it into a cone and gluing or taping together.
2. Cut an inch strip out of the purple construction paper.
3. Draw a buckle in the middle of this strip and color it in with the yellow  marker.
4. Glue this around the larger end of the cone.
5. Use the other black piece of construction paper to trace around the larger end of the cone.
6. Then draw a bigger circle around that smaller circle.
7. Cut them out.  This will be the bottom end of the hat. You will have a hole in the middle.
8.  Tape it together  to the cone from the inside.  Gluing it will be too hard and sloppy.