Boo to You!

Like most things this year, we are having to get creative to still enjoy the things we love, especially when kids are involved. So now that Halloween is upon us and with a lot of places opting not to allow trick-or-treating, I have been coming up with some fun things we can enjoy as a family to celebrate spooky season this year. I plan to make a fun-filled Halloween Day with these things since it falls on a Saturday, but you could also spread these ideas out throughout the remainder of October too!

Fang-tastic Breakfast

Vampire Donuts

You’ll Need:
Donuts
Plastic Vampire Teeth
M&Ms

Last year on the day before Halloween, I went to Krispy Kreme to get half a dozen of Halloween chocolate frosted donuts with sprinkles. The morning of, I carefully put plastic vampire teeth (that I had already washed) in the middle of the donuts and added two M&Ms as eyes. When Laney opened the box she loved the surprise! Krispy Kreme also offers a Halloween dozen that comes with the same chocolate frosted with sprinkles, chocolate frosted that look like werewolves and then 2 different kids of creme filled donuts that look like a Vampire as well as Frankenstein.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Spooky Sprinkles 

You’ll Need:
Pumpkin Pancake Mix, and any other ingredients the mix requires (We LOVE Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancake Mix)
Spooky Sprinkles
Syrup
Festive Spatula, optional

Because Morgan was still battling some food allergies this time last year and was still eating a gluten-free diet, we tried Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancake Mix. It is ah-ma-zing!! I went back to get more and they were already sold out for the season! So this year, I made sure to go at the beginning of September and I bought 4 boxes. Yep. It’s that good. So this year on Halloween morning, the girls and I are going to make these pumpkin pancakes with a spooky spin by adding some sprinkles into the batter as well as on top at the end. I found these bat & ghost sprinkles at TJMaxx. 

 

Craft + Boogie Digital Kit

If you’ve been following me, you know Laney and I love getting our monthly craft boxes from Craft+Boogie! The Halloween kit is always a big hit, it even sold out back in September! But did you know you can sign up to receive the monthly digital kit? This is a great option if you already have a bunch of craft supplies around your house. Sign up between now and the end of the month to receive the following:

• 3-4 themed craft instructions with photos, printable templates, and lists of materials needed to complete each project
• 4 simple snack recipes with photos
• 1-2 printable games and/or activities to get kids talking and moving
• A bookmark that teaches the history behind the holiday or theme
• Printable flag banners in both color and black-and-white to cut, decorate and hang
• 6 exclusive hand-drawn coloring and activity pages that you can print over and over again, and bring to parties or play dates year after year, with the option to enter a coloring content for a chance to win a special prize
• A link to a themed Spotify playlist so the whole family can boogie while you craft and celebrate

Each month following, you will receive your digital kit between the 1st and 3rd of the month. These digital kits are now available on a sliding scale, which means you pay what you are able. At Craft+Boogie, they believe that financial status should not dictate whether or not you get to enjoy what they have to offer nor limit the quality family time together these crafts facilitate.

I’ll be doing a $30 gift certificate giveaway to Craft+Boogie on my Instagram page @multiplyingmichie tomorrow, October 12. Drop a yellow heart emoji in the comments when you enter and I’ll give you an additional 5 entries for reading my blog post!

For more information or to sign up now, check out the Craft+Boogie website here.

 

Plastic Bag Pumpkin Painting

Supplies:
Gallon Ziploc Bag
Permanent Marker
Several Colors of Paint
Super Glue
Painters Tape

My friend and fellow mom blogger, Lauren, recently shared this awesome mess-free activity. It provides lots of fun for the kiddos with a simple set up and clean up — win win!

Smooth your plastic bag flat on your work surface and use the permanent marker to draw a jack-o-lantern face. You can also have fun with it and add bats, ghosts or whatever you’d like! Then, add 3 different colors, as recommended by Lauren, into the bag. Squirt them into their own area of the bag as to not mix them together. You can use traditional fall colors, Halloween colors or use these fun glow in the dark paints if you want to do this activity as the sun is setting. Once you have your paint in the bag, carefully remove the air as you press the bag shut. Add a swipe of super glue and then reseal the top of the bag. Using your painters tape, secure the bag to either a tabletop or to a window.  Then let your little ones enjoy this fun and colorful sensory activity as they move around their paint. This is also a good opportunity to work on shapes and colors. Have fun!

You can find Lauren’s blog here and her instagram page here.

 

Pumpkin Cutting Activity

Supplies:
PDF file, attached
Printer
Black Marker
Scissors

One of Laney’s favorite things to do when we are crafting is to cut with scissors. She knows that goal is to stay on the line indicated, though most time she starts on the right track but them goes rogue just having fun with it. So we are still working on that, ha!

For this activity, print out the PDF and cut out the individual pumpkins. If you don’t have the ability to print, you can use construction paper to create your own little pumpkins. Once prepped, use a black marker to create different types of lines on the pumpkins. Then the challenge is for your little one to follow these lines while practicing their scissor skills.

 

Halloween Story Time

Reading is one of our favorite things to do as a family! I especially love to collect fun, holiday books that can be pulled out each year during that season. Here are some of our favorites to read during Halloween:

   

   

 

 

Trick or Treat Halloween Hunt

Since we won’t be trick or treating this year, I decided to treat Halloween a bit like Easter. During nap time on Halloween day, I am going to fill the girls’ candy buckets with some goodies and I’m going to hide some candy filled eggs outside. Then either before or after dinner, the girls will don their costumes and run around to find those Halloween treats. I went through my Easter stash to find orange eggs to stick with the Halloween theme. I actually didn’t have many so I also grabbed some eggs that I have with a pink and orange marble effect. I also found some plastic toy-filled pumpkins at Target that came in a pack of 6 so I grabbed 2 of them to mix in. I think the girls are going to love this as something different but still a fun way to get to dress up, go outside, run around and end the night with plenty of treats!

 

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party: Boo To You Parade!

I attended my first ever Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party with my brother back in 2012. Disney offers this event at both of their parks on select nights throughout the fall. It was SO much fun and the event’s exclusive parade, Boo To You, was incredible! It quickly became my new favorite Disney parade.

Last year, we took the girls to celebrate Morgan’s 1st birthday and had the best time! Laney chose a Moana theme for our family: Laney was Moana, Morgan — Pua, Brad — Maui, Me — Hei Hei, Nana — Te Fiti and PawPaw — Moana’s grandfather (the original way finder).

Because of current Covid times, Disney World is not offering this special event this year and DisneyLand hasn’t even opened back up yet from the spring closure. However, you can bring some of this Disney Magic into your own home and experience the Boo To You parade from the comfort of your couch — if you can resist getting up to dance. We have probably already watched it half a dozen times so far in October and the girls go crazy for all of the fun music, dancing and character costumes! Watch it here: Boo To You Parade

 

Halloween Movie Night 

For the Littles

 

Family Favorites

 

Petrifying Popcorn

Popped kettle corn (or whatever your family prefers)
White chocolate chips
Food coloring
Halloween M&Ms
Spooky Sprinkles

Arrange the popcorn on a baking sheet in an even layer. Melt the chocolate according to the package instructions. Once melted, stir in a little bit of food coloring to get your desired color. If you want to do several different colors, melt your white chocolate chips in several different bowls and then add food coloring accordingly. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn. Mix in the M&Ms and the sprinkles. Use either leftover sprinkles from your pancake breakfast or use some of the fun mini candy eyeballs! Let cool before serving and enjoy!  

 

Pumpkin Muffins

1 box yellow or spice cake mix (we use yellow cake mix)
1 can pumpkin
chocolate chips (add as many or as few as you’d like)

Preheat oven to temperature as instructed on the cake box. Mix all ingredients and put into a greased muffin pan or silicone mold. (Last year I made them for Saturday game day and used my football and helmet silicone molds.) Bake according to the box instructions. Enjoy as a dessert or in the morning as a muffin. 😉 

 

I hope this helps create a fun Halloween season or day for you and your family! Do you just let your kids dress up or do you do a family costume theme? I’d love to know down in the comments! My husband and I are sitting this one out this year but Laney and Morgan have decided to be Eve and Wall-E!