Easy and cheap 3-minute Halloween wreath!

When making crafts, I usually only have 2 criteria: easy and cheap. I don't mind working at it for hours or days at a time, but luckily this one took me all of 3 minutes to make.

The inspiration came from pinterest [as usual]:

Pinterest Link

It's been sitting on Christmas board forever, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I thought about it again as I was walking through Michael's for some inspiration/instant gratification on Halloween decor. I saw some cute wreaths, but they were well over my budget of as-cheap-as-possible. They did bring to mind the aforementioned pin though. Handily enough, there was a dollar store right next door! I figured I'd pick up a wreath form, a couple boas and some little accents and I would be all set. Here's how it all went down:

Step 1: Gather supplies

I bought a 1m feather boa ($2) and a sparkly hanging sign ($2). 

[They didn't have any wreath forms, so I used a wire hanger from home.]

Step 2: Bend the hanger

I just stretched out the hanger until it was a rough square shape. 

Step 3: Start wrapping the boa around the hanger.

No need to secure it in any way, just wrap and wrap. To make my wreath I only needed 1 boa to go around a standard hanger.

 Step 4: All wrapped up.

I left the hook part up at this point.

Step 5: Add your decoration.

Since I chose a hanging sign to begin with, I slipped it over the top. The wire of the sign hangs over the wire of the hanger.

 Step 6: Hang it up and bask in your awesomeness. 

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When I hung it on my door, I realized I didn't like the hook of the hanger, so I bent it back and wrapped it around the rest of the hanger. This also served to keep the boa in place. If you're having issues, use some thread to hang and secure. 

That's it. The kids loved it. What do you think? 

Party Weekend!

It's raining, it's pouring and Mr. Puss is snoring.

I missed posting yesterday, but I have a good excuse reason: I was still recovering from a super busy party weekend. (That usually works with your boss, right?)

My cousin celebrated a milestone birthday on Saturday night. There were about 60 guests. She and my aunt made their home into a "sports bar" to reflect my cousin's love of sports. Jerseys were hung from the ceiling with care, there was a beer tent in the back yard, amazing food and of course, a cake provided by yours truly:

Hockey Jersey Cake

We all came dressed in our favourite team jerseys or colours. Anyone who didn't come dressed appropriately was given a choice of several t-shirts from my cousin's collection. All in all, a very good time. 

Following that revelry, we had to wake up way too early on Sunday morning to set up for my father's birthday. Also a milestone: 60. He loves a good party, and this year he asked for a Roman/Gladiator-themed bash. Naturally, we obliged. If there's anything everyone knows about our family, it's that we love themes and dressing up. Come Halloween, we usually go nuts [this one notwithstanding]. So, my sister, my brother, my mother and I set the stage. We hand-delivered scroll invitations instructing guests to come in their finest Roman vestments for the celebratory Games and we were not disappointed:

Toga!

 We all wore gold leaves in our hair, and even the smallest baby was dressed in a mini toga. Golden [chocolate] coins were given to the victors of each of the games. A scale model of the roman Colosseum was built by my brother to hold a massive fruit bowl. [Yes, we do go that far.] We ordered a roasted pig, which was delicious, by the way, in addition to all the other food we brought along to the park. And, naturally, the cake. Because every birthday needs a cake:

Roman Temple Cake

Good times. Good times. Salve!

WW: Tin foil makes everything cooler

The Halloween Fairy

Does the Halloween Fairy visit your house? No? Well, maybe she will this year!

On Halloween night, after all the children have gone to bed, the Halloween Fairy may pay a visit. Like her sister, the Tooth Fairy, the Halloween fairy likes a good deal, and is willing to barter. For the small price of a carefully selected bag of candy and other treats, this frugal, tummy-loving fairy will leave a special non-edible treat. At our house she has been known to leave a book or game for each child.

This is how my monsters prepare for her nocturnal visit: after trick-or-treating for an hour or two, my ghouls come home to empty their bags onto the kitchen table to scan and sort their loot. After I take out all the unwrapped, old-looking and otherwise too-nasty treats, the beasties are welcome to pick what they would like to keep. I've never set a limit on how much they can choose. I always say: "Take what you want". For the past two years, they've not kept more than 10-15 pieces each. As for the rest, the happily throw it back into their bags and hang them outside their bedroom doors in anticipation of the morning. They prepare for bed with glee and [I assume] dream of what the dawn will bring. They seem to believe that the "better" the bag, the "cooler" the gift will be. I've done nothing to temper that belief. :)

For the price of a couple dollars per kid, the Halloween Fairy helps them stay away from sugar overload and upset tummies. Hopefully this year, she'll remember to take the price tags off.

Usually the Fairy is kind enough to leave me a small stash of Smarties and other special snacks that can be used as bribes doled out as treats every once in a while to make me look like a hero. I'm sure the rest is composted *whistling innocently* or taken into work by the Fairy's good husband.

Here's a pic of my little freaks last year:

That's Fronk N. Shteen on the left, and Spider Fairy on the right. This year I have to come up with a Jedi master [where am I supposed to find a brown robe to fit such a skinny little dude?!] and a Fairy Witch Princess.

Wish me luck!

Halloween: Tricks or Treats?

I'm contemplating whether I should be a witch this year. Not a black-pointy-hat kind of witch, but your general let's-egg-her-house witch. I've got this bee in my bonnet that is suggesting I give out pencils instead of candy.

Fun fact I feel I should have known: Lead has not been used for writing since Roman times. [Lead poisoning from pencils was caused by ingesting the lead paint of the outer coating when chewing or sucking!  --> Thanks, Wiki!]

Is this an invitation for beasts, large and small, to throw rotten eggs at my house, smash my triangle-eyed pumpkin and decorate my maple with tp? We only get about 50-75 kids. That's 6 or 7 packs of pencils. If we have leftovers it's not like I'll be scarfing 3 or 4 of those babies down at a time. Do the kids really need that much candy?

What are your thoughts?