HALLOWEEN TREAT: Snack-O-Lanterns Fruit Cups

I've been looking for some new activities, recipes and such to help spice up the holiday's for my daughters. Things have been a bit rough lately and I want  to make sure they have the best Holiday Season yet! 

Snack-O-Lanterns

Photo and Recipe Source: Cookie's Kitchens

I found a super simple recipe that puts a new twist on fruit cups with a Halloween touch. These little guys are fun and festive and kids love 'em! (Grown-ups do too!) Snack-O-Lanterns are perfect for any Halloween themed party and are sure to be a conversation starter. They're also great for a quick festive snack for the kiddo's.

You will need:

Oranges

2 or more fresh fruits of your choice

(strawberries, peaches, mango, etc.)

Sharp kitchen knife

Spoon

Plastic spoons or forks

To make Snack-O-Lanterns you simply:

• Slice the top off of the oranges and hollow them out with a spoon. Do not throw away the top piece.
• Dice a bit of the orange into cubes and set them to the side.
• Dice up the other fruits into cubes as well and mix together with orange cubes. You can also use pre-made fruit cups from the grocery store.
• Carve faces into the oranges to make them look like Jack-O-Lanterns.
• Add the fruit the orange bowl.
• With the knife slice a hole in the center of the top piece and slide the handle of plastic silverware through the hole and place into orange bowl to finish off the Snack-O-Lanterns.

All that's left to do now is serve them and watch as your guests eat 'em up!!! (Of course you'll be eating one too!)

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So Many Costumes... So Little Time!!!! - Costume Idea's

Halloween is just around the corner, just 10 days away! My daughters have bounced around with their costumes LOTS of times this month and I'm really not sure what they are going to be yet! And to be truthful, I have no idea if their father and I are going to dress up either and if we do.... WHAT ARE WE GOING TO BE? Alan, my fiance, has a ninja outfit that is lost somewhere in our room so if we happen to find that in the next 9 days then he may go as a Ninja. One of our friends gave him a double sword a few weeks ago and I'm thinking that he will want to bring it along also..... but it's real so I don't know about that idea. But me on the other hand..... I have no clue what I could be. At first I wanted to be Rainbow Bright but then I realized that I wasn't sure if I could figure that costume out. I'm still going to keep an eye out for ways for that one but I'm not spending alot of money on a Halloween Costume. I want to try and make all of our costumes with help from Thrift Shops, there's no point in spending lots of money on something that we're only going to wear for one night. I do have a Geisha Costume but I don't like the fact that it is an actual costume and the dragon fabric on the front of the dress is upside down! It really really bothers me, for some reason :-) I really want to dress up bad but I also want to make sure that we're all warm and not getting sick while collecting candy, that my fiance will more than likely eat most of. (I don't let my girls eat alot of candy but its fun to let them dress up and collect bunches anyways!) I believe that my daughters ideas at the moment are a Ghost and Arial the Mermaid. We have a Arial costume somewhere but I have to find it and I if my oldest, Loran, wants to be a ghost.... I want her to be an awesome Ghost. So as long as both girls still have the same costume idea tomorrow..... Then I will start getting to work on those. But in this month, Jade and Loran have came up with lots of ideas. Including ~ Share Bear - The Purple CareBear, Rapunzel from Tangled, A Witch, An Angel, Mermaid (that one has came up more than once) and a Ghost and a couple more that I don't remember. Decisions Decisions Decisions!!! So I looked up Halloween Costumes and found a few ideas....... Some are Really Cool........ And Some are Really Odd!!!!
Take A Look

Costumes for all Occassions

Spaghetti Baby??


 

Not to sure what I think about this one.... It's very cute but a bit weird too. I'm not sure if I would dress my baby as a bowl of Spaghetti but I would love to see a "Baby Bowl of Spaghetti" in person!!

* 2013 Update*
(If you've dressed your baby up in a funny costume before - I would love to see photos! Maybe I can make a gallery of some sort soon... Something like a Fan Gallery!!)

IPod Dad




This dad really got creative! It's funny but not our style at all! I'm sure this family got alot of attention on their Trick-Or-Treating trip!


Man Baby Birth??




This is just wrong on sooo many levels! I don't really know what else to say.....




Paper Doll




How adorable!! Not sure if I could talk my girls into this but it wouldn't take much to make.... Just some poster board, Velcro, Markers, and Some warm clothes to Velcro the paper clothes too!! HOW COOL!


Leaf Pile


 

This is the cutest Leaf Pile EVER!! My daughters are to "girly" for a Leaf pile but it wouldn't take much to make this costume either! Some black sweat pants, black shirt and some plastic fall-like leaves from the local craft or department store. Simply glue the leaves all over the Black clothes, add a black eye mask (You can find these masks at almost any store around Halloween time!), add a little rake and some black shoes as well and there you go!! You got yourself a leaf pile costume! How nifty!
Costume Idea found at: Coolest Homemade Costumes


Reptar?


 

Is that Reptar from Rugrats?? I sure hope so because I LOVE it!!
Rarrrrrrrr!!!!! hehe


The Flintstones Family


 

This Flintstone Family idea, from Coolest Homemade Costumes, would be cute for a big family! Don't you agree?


Twister and Operation





How fun!! These game costumes that are also from Coolest Homemade Costumes, are kinda cool and very creative! Not too sure if I could convince my fiance to wear anything of that nature.... He's not much of a "clowning around person".


Thing 1 and Thing 2


 

This has to be the Sweetest Thing 1 and Thing 2 that I've EVER seen!
My little cousin dressed up for Dr Seuss' Birthday in Kindergarten and she was Thing 2! 

Wasn't Alex an adorable Thing 2???

Sexy Vampire


 

This is A very sexy Halloween costume and I like it but I want to be warm and I'm not sure how easy this would be to make warm.


Rainbow Bright

 

I found a kid and an grown-up Rainbow Bright. They both give me lots of ideas but not sure if I could pull it off or not.


Ghosts


 

These cute little ghost give me so many ideas!! The 2nd one, The older girl, is made from a pillow case the directions are on Sugar Bee Crafts. I may try that out or try and go a bit spookier! I'll ask Loran and see what she likes :-)


Rapunzel



 

I found a few different Rapunzel costumes and I'm really not sure which one I wanna swing toward. A long fancy purple dress from a thrift store along with some lace, white paint and a bit of pink ribbon should do the trick!. It shouldn't be too hard and I'm planning on not using a sewing machine so the less sewing possible is what I'm looking for!


Arial ~ Mermaid

I've found a few different Mermaid costumes and the top 2 photos are my favorite! The one Jade has looks very much like the bottom one. I've got find it and see what I can do for my lil' mermaid lover!


Alice In Wonderland

I love the Alice costumes! Don't you? If I can find a cute little blue dress, a white apron, some black ribbon, black shoes, either black and white stripped stockings or some tall socks, maybe even some black lace, stamps and paint then I could try it out. I wouldn't mind being Alice in Wonderland one year!!


We have alot of decisions to make before Halloween gets here. Not to mention that my girls are suppose to dress up for Halloween for School as well! But they have to be a character from a book.
Then we have our Trick or Treat Costumes!
I hope these ideas helped some of yall out like they did me! I have LOTS of planning to do!!!

ENJOY!!!!

I hope everyone enjoys the costume ideas!
Keep an eye out for next years ideas's too!!
Halloween 2013 is just around the corner!!

Our little family, all dressed-up and bundled-up while enjoying our Trick-Or-Treating adventure!!

 

Loran the Black Cat is on the right and Jade the mermaid is on the left!

The above photos are what our family ended up dressing up as for Halloween in 2012!
I went with my Geisha Costume and was very happy! (Some baby powder mixed with wither foundation or lotion is a GREAT way to pail for face up!)
Alan found his Ninja outfit and he wore it.... Without the sword!
Loran decided that she wanted to be a Black Cat. Soooo with some black clothes and a little face-paint, I fixed her up. I even sewed up a scrap piece of black fabric to look like a tail and stuffed it with leftover stuffing. I ended up attaching the tail to a belt and it worked GREAT!
Jade went with her Arial costume and went as a mermaid!



So what do you think?
Did we pull off our Halloween 2012 costumes pretty well?
(Please overlook the grain in the Family photo, My camera's batteries died during the beginning of our trick-or-treating and thankfully, we ran into our landlord later that night! She offered to take the family photo's of us (with her cell phone) and sent them via text. I have alone one but it's just as grainy :( I need to
2013's Halloween photo's will be much clearer... I promise! Hopefully...... My camera will not only have fully charged batteries, I'm plan on bring back-ups as well!)



"Getting to know My Readers"

How early do you start planning Halloween Costumes and Decor?
I would love to hear your input on this subject!

*ATTENTION BLOGGERS*
I NEED YOUR HELP!

If you happen to know who these photo's belong too (Other than the 2 bottom photo's and the "Happy Halloween" photo at the top, which are all 3 mine)...
Please contact me via email at AutoFaerie@gmail.com and I'll give proper credit ASAP. This post was created long before I truly knew what I was doing as a blogger and I didn't think about linking the owners to my post. I will gladly link every blogger/site that needs to be linked, if I can figure out who and where they all belong! :)
Thanks in advance for you help!!

Photo Source - Google Search & Thru My Eyes Photography

Have Yourself a Homemade Halloween!

Pumpkins are already starting to pop up in grocery stores and creepy Halloween skulls are right around the corner! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays but having a party for the kids can get so pricy! So this year I have decided to have a Homemade Halloween! It's a somewhat new challenge for me. I normally always make atleast one thing for Halloween but this year I'm planning on making almost EVERYTHING! Food, decorations, Games, etc!

While searching online for DIY Halloween ideas, I found this wonderful blog post called 10 Cheap DIY Halloween Decorating Ideas, it has some really cool ideas from indoor and outdoor Halloween stuff! My favorite idea from that post is the Backyard Grave yard! It's very simple and creepy!! :0)

Just get some big pieces of cardboard (or for a waterproof version you can use scrap wood for instead of Cardboard)

Cut in the shape of tombstones

Paint to look like aged concrete

Place in your yard with pumpkins, skulls, hay and whatever you would like to make your graveyard spooky!

I found 2 different sites with Specimen Jars and they are pretty much the same thing but a tab different. Find small plastic/rubber bugs, rats, doll heads etc. and place in a cleaned mason jar (You can also use old sauce jars or even baby-food jars)

Add water and a few drops of food coloring to make it look like lap specimens.

These little jars just might make it to my party!! Aren't they Spooky Creepy?! My daughters are going to love all this Halloween stuff! Sometimes scary stuff freaks them out because they are still young but I'm thinking that if I let them help me make the scary stuff then they won't be so afraid of it. It will be great family fun time and there is no telling what kind of stuff will pop out of my daughter's mouths while making scary Halloween Party props! (My girls can be really silly sometimes!) 

I also found 2 cute props that are pretty much just for show but I fell inlove! One is a Book Pumpkin! That looks kinda simple and kinda hard...

And some really cool Potion Ingredient Bottles at squidoo! My fiance's mom gave me an old spice rack a few months ago with lots of spice jars in it so this project will be perfect for them!

Now that I found a few decoration ideas, it's off to food prep!

 I'm not really wanting to serve up a full dinner and meal for the party-goers so a few spooky snacks should do the trick. Maybe even a creepy juice!

 While soaring through some blogs I found the perfect blog post that is full of Halloween Style finger-foods and party treats! It even has the sites that the ideas came from!! The blog is called Cute Food For Kids?, the post is named "41 Cutest Halloween Food Ideas". The Spider Lollipop from Party Frosting blog is adorable and would be great for classrooms and I may make a few to pass out to the kiddo's at the party. Just pipe-cleaners, googlie eyes and a Blow Pop!

 I even like the idea of the spider lanterns, also from Party Frosting even though they ain't food :0)

I found some Marshmallow Zombies that are awesome!!! 

How cute and creepy are they?!?! I'm pretty sure that they are just jumbo white marshmallows with the smaller colored marshmallows and use some editable markers to draw the faces! SIMPLE AS PIE! (even though pie is NOT always so simple!) 

I found this next idea on Pintrest (Such a wonderful site!) It's a Creepy Cool floating hand Ice Cube!! Make some Red Kool-Aid or other red punch (red for blood) Turn a rubber glove inside-out (so you don't get the powder from the inside of gloves in your ice cube) Fill up with water and Freeze! Don't put it into your punch until your ready to serve because the fingers will melt faster than the palm due to them being smaller so you will slowly have a fingerless hand floating around in your punch!! :0)

Look how cute!!!!!!

Mummy Juice Boxes from Parents

From the looks of the picture, you can use the Waterproof Adhesive Tape and wrap up the whole juice box. Add the googlie eyes about half way through and over-lap a piece like a mummy :0) I LOVE IT!! (Once I read the directions it says that they used white electrical tape. I like the Adhesive Tape idea better, it's water-proof and will stay on longer.... atleast I think it would, but what would I know? I haven't tried it...yet!)

I think my daughters would enjoy making a Halloween paper Village for a center piece! I can always find scrap paper and small boxes! All I need to buy is paint.

I found this idea at claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com also!

And the Nutter Butter ghost from The Hob- bee Hive are adorable! Just add some iceing and a stick to some Nutter Butter cookies and your good to go!! WOW! All this Halloween searching is making me ober excited! I'll update with all the new things I find and the crazy ideas that fall out of my head!

If you have any ideas on how to make my Homemade Halloween please feel free to let me know in the comments! I'm hopping that this Halloween is the best one yet!

Here are a few of the sites that I found the above ideas at:

www.cutefoodforkids.com

www.claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com

 www.moneycrashers.com

www.diynetwork.com

Written on September 14, 2012 by a crazy stay at home mom of 2 beautiful little girls. With 2 step sons that come over every-now-and-then, and a pretty decent fiance! Very crafty and don't like to leave the house without a camera!