13 Super Cute and Healthy Halloween Snacks!

Candy corn, chocolate bars, caramel apples and so many other sugary treats are front-and-center at Halloween, even before the trick-or-treating begins! If you want to get into the holiday spirit in a healthier way, here are some easy-to-make Halloween snacks we found that kids (and grown-up kids) will love.

What are your favorite healthy Halloween snacks?

Jack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups
Add color and fun to your Halloween with these smiling jack-o’-lantern faces carved into navel oranges. Slice off the tops of the oranges, scoop out the pulp, use a paring knife to cut out jack-o’-lantern faces, and fill with grapes and/or mixed berries.
 

Orange You Lovin’ Fall Fruit Salad
Save the pulp from your jack-o’-lantern fruit cups to make this fruit salad. Fill small mason jars with pineapple slices, orange wedges, and top with Greek yogurt.

Slithering Snake Dip
Eek! What is lurking in your hummus? A slithering snake made from black olives! Cute Food for Kids carved beady eyes from string cheese and added a carrot tongue. Even those who hate serpents will love this little guy.

 

Candy Corn Popsicles
Here’s a healthier spin on candy corn! These colorful homemade popsicles are made from pineapple juice, orange juice, and yogurt. We want the popsicles! Click here to get the recipe.

Mummified Apples
Googly eyes and gauze tape turn green apples into mummies that are almost too cute to bite into.

 

Monster Pie
Kids will love this Monsters, Inc. tart because it’s so darn cute, and well, because it’s dessert! Visit Creative and Healthy Fun Food to get this recipe that’s got a filling made from avocado, banana, and almond milk!

 

Spooky Spider Eggs
Deviled eggs get extra creepy-crawly when they’re topped with spiders. To make eight scary spider eggs, cut 12 black olives in half vertically. Place one half in the center of each egg to form the body, then slice each remaining olive half into four sections to create legs. Shiver.

Ghoulish Hard-Boiled Eggs
Let your kids in on the decorating fun! Use black foodsafe ink pens to draw ghostly faces on white hard-boiled eggs. This example from Wit & Whistle shows how simple – and cute! – each drawing can be.

Frankenstein’s Monster
Is this a trick or a treat? This veggie tray made to look like Frankenstein’s monster is a little bit of both. Let your kids play with their food to help create this healthy platter and they might just be tricked into eating their veggies.

 

Eyeball Pasta
Start off a night of trick-or-treating with this clever eyeball pasta! Visit Spend with Pennies to see how she used string cheese, black olives, and a straw to create eyeballs of different sizes that stare out of ghoulishly green spinach pasta.

 

Jack-o-’Lantern Clementines
Pick up a foodsafe pen and the whole family can have fun decorating the skin of clementines, tangerines, or oranges with spooky or smiling faces. Pop these into lunch boxes the week leading up to Halloween.

 

Pumpkin Veggie Tray
This veggie platter is a Halloween party essential! Mom Endeavors shares some tips for constructing this spooky pumpkin from baby carrots and black olives. The stem can be made from broccoli, the end of cucumber, or a celery stick. Serve with Slithering Snake Dip!

Banana Ghosts and Orange Pumpkins
Boo! Turn bananas into spooky ghosts with chocolate chip eyes and mouths made from chocolate covered raisins. Make a pumpkin patch out of peeled clementines or tangerines. Just use a sprig of celery in the center for the stem!

Via the Team Beachbody blog with photos by Mom Endeavors, Princess and the Frog Blog, Spend with Pennies, Blue Skies Ahead, Wit & Whistle, Creative and Healthy Fun Food, Marci Combs, Chew Chew Mama, Cute Food for Kids, Frugal Coupon Living and Amanda Meixner!

NO-Mess Sand! Yes It Really Does Exist!

 Yesterday my family and I decided to venture down to the Santa Monica Promenade since it was a nice (but windy) day in So Cal.  One that wasn't too hot or crowded since it's not yet the summer months. Anyway, we went into the Brookstone store and saw this incredible "Sand" that all of us fell in love with!  It's a 98% sand with 2% polymer blend that makes that sand sort of stick together. It never dries out (as long as it is used then put back in the jar), dust free, gluten free, easy to clean and the options for pretend play are endless!

It feels like moist stand and does not separate much or stick to your hands. It's sort of like a granular play dough and my daughter wouldn't put it down.  She played with it for at least 30 minutes and it never got on her clothes, the counter or her hands.  Brookstone kept it in a small wooden sand box that they also sell.  The sand itself is $20 for the 2.2lb jar or $14.99 for the 1lb jar.  The 1lb jar is also on sale for 2 for $25 but the large 2.2 lb jar is still a better deal.

I am a major neat freak and not a fan of sand at all. It creates a mess whether kids play with it inside or out but THIS stuff was incredible.  I am planning on buying a few of the larger jars for my daughter soon and will add some follow up pics and an additional review.  I would have bought it yesterday but we are the type of parents that don't buy her stuff all the time.  It has to be her birthday or Christmas or she has to earn it (i.e., by reading a new book, doing all of her chores for the week, getting all of the stars on her behavior chart, etc).  So, if you are looking for a new toy or pretend play stuff for your kids, this  "sand" is excellent.  Kids can use cookie cutters or sand toys from the dollar store and create shapes, castles and anything else they want with it.  An excellent alternative to a doll, car or video game!  This free flowing sand is also great for sensory therapy.  This product was designed for Fine Motor, Sensory, and Cognitive Development.

Cupcake Crayons Made Out of Crayon Scraps

 If you have young children, you surely have your fair share of broken crayon pieces around the house.  Instead of throwing them away, recycle them and make fun cupcake crayons they can reuse.  Not only are these fun for them to use, they can be made in any color combination you want.  They are also the ideal shape for smaller tots that have a difficult time grasping a standard crayon.  If you don't happen to have broken crayon pieces, I'm sure your children's teachers at school, church or day care have some you can use for this craft.  Promise your kids will love it!  Follow the steps below:

What You Will Need

--Broken crayon pieces

--Mini cupcake tin

--Mini cupcake liners

Steps

1) First you'll have to remove the paper off each of the crayon pieces. This is definitely the most labor intensive part of this project.  My daughter (4 years old) was at it for almost an hour with me.  She was so excited to make her cupcake crayons, though, that she didn't care! LOL 

2) After peeling them all, we broke the larger pieces into smaller pieces that would better fit into each mini cupcake tin.  

3) After breaking down all of the crayons, we put 2 liners in each of the cupcake tin spots.  If you only put one, the crayons will leak through and it will be difficult to clean and reuse for actual baking next time. You can also use the foil liners.  They are thicker and the crayons don't bleed through them like they do the thin paper ones.

4) After you've lined the tin, turn the oven on to 200 degrees.  It won't take long to heat to such a low temperature so I usually wait until this step to even turn it on.

5) Once the oven is on,  add the crayons to the cupcake tin in any combination you'd like.  You can make some solid color crayons and you can mix colors as well.  We kept color families together but made some cool combinations as well (orange + yellow, red + purple, blue & green, red + orange, multi-color).

6) After the tin is full and/or you're out of crayon pieces, place the muffin pan in the oven and "cook" for about 10-15 minutes.  Watch them carefully so they do not overheat or burn.  The smell is not great but it will be worse if they burn.  They will also stick more to the pan.

7) When you remove them, make sure to do it carefully and slowly.  The crayons will be a thin, watery liquid consistency and can spill easily.  Let them cool for about 30 minutes and remove them from the tin.  

8) After they have completely cooled, remove the cupcake paper/foil wrappers and they're ready to be used! 

 

My daughter absolutely loves them and doesn't even want to use her regular crayons anymore.  

So You Want A Mermaid Tail?

So a few weeks ago we were swimming at our HOA pool and a little girl walks in with a mermaid tail. My daughter immediately fell in love with it so I proceeded to ask the little girl's mom where she got it.  She said she got it online, so I saved the website on my phone and promised my own little mermaid that we would look them up when we got home.

As soon as we got home, she reminded me of what we needed to do. When I looked it up, I couldn't believe that the cheapest one was upwards of $50 plus shipping.  I couldn't understand why it was so much, outside of the demand from so many little girls seeing them and wanting them. After all, it was made out of a shiny stretchy fabric and slipped on like a simple straight length tube skirt that flared at the bottom for the tail. So.....after thinking about it, I figured I'd save some money and try making my own. After all,  I had a sewing machine and it couldn't be THAT hard.

I bought the fabric (about $12 bbecause it was on sale & I had a coupon!) and decided to buy a rubber floor mat at Walmart to use for the tail. The website the little girl got hers from sold some with rubber tails but those were $75 and up! Being the over achiever that I am, I decided to add this to my daughter's. I was definitely getting adventurous.  Then, while looking for tips online,  I saw the same type of mermaid tail but it was a full dress with a tank style top. Of course,  I saw this and figured I could pull this off too.  After all,  the dress version was even MORE expensive and we're on a tight budget as it is now since we are currently on only one income.

So we got home, I pulled out my sewing machine and laid out the fabric. I measured my daughter's width around her chest and decided to do the dress the same width all the way down.  I took one of her tank tops and cut out the straps up top for the tank top portion (about double the width of what I wanted the straps to be since I'd have to sew them under).

I started to sew the side seams and that went well.  Then I went onto the tank portion and that was a little more difficult, but not bad.  After completing the main part of the dresss, Ihad my daughter try it on and we decided to put a slit on the back, slightly below the knees to make it easier for her to walk. That worked out well and we moved onto the fins.....

I cut two pieces of fabric into triangles and sewed them on 2 sides.  Then I cut pieces of the rubber mat in the same size,  placed it inside the fabric triangle (fin) and sewed the fin onto the side of the dress. I did the same thing for the other side and to my surprise,  it turned out pretty well. I thought I was done when I saw another piece of fabric on the floor and then decided to make a pleated little ruffle for the front.  Once completed,  we tried it on and I had one very happy little mermaid!

So, after completing the "mermaid tail for the pool" we decided it is way too nice and fancy of a mermaid dress for the pool, so we'll be making the swim skirt with fin with the remaining material.  And not as fancy or elaborate of course.

So moms, if you have a mermaid wanting her own tail and/or mermaid dress,  go for it and try making it yourself.  If I can do it, anyone can!  Up until now, all I'd ever sewn were a few burp cloths and those came out less than perfect, and that's being generous.

If you're interested in having me make one for you, contact me via email at theparentcenter@gmail.com. I really enjoyed making it, although it was difficult and took about 4-5 hours, but the happiness in my little mermaid's face was absolutely PRICELESS! I will post pictures of the swim tail when I make that as well too ;-).

A Fun, Rainy Day Experiment!

Need something to do with your kiddos indoors on this rainy day? Try this easy Ice & Salt experiment I found on Surviving a Teacher's Salary blog. All you need is a frozen block of ice, salt and food coloring. Check it out at http://www.survivingateacherssalary.com/2011/10/awesome-ice-salt-art-experiment.html

Make a Scarf Out of an Old T-Shirt!

Saw this and thought it was an ingenious idea!! Who doesn’t have TONS of old t-shirts hiding in their closets and all over their house. Now, thanks to Money Saving Mom and Make It and Love It, you can put them to good use and have a new accessory too!! All you need is the following: an old t-shirt, thread, scissors and a sewing machine. You could sew by hand but the machine makes it much easier J Find t-shirts in different colors and make multi-colored scarves, scarves with different patterns and textures and more. I loved that I could make scarves of different lengths and widths! Great activity to do with your kids too!

Birthday Ideas for Your Kiddos!

Does your little one have a birthday coming up? Do you want to do something different, unique, memorable for his or her special day? Here are some ideas....

Babies

--Babies LOVE to look at pictures of other babies. Why not make a book, either by hand as a scrapbook or online on a photo storage website such as Snapfish or Shutterfly, of his or her pictures each month during the last year of his or her life? This will not only be a great keepsake for you and your child, but it can also serve as a book about him or her. Under each picture, you can put a short caption about what he or she is doing in the picture and use the number of the month as another learning tool!

Toddler

--Toddlers & young school age kids love the outdoors and everything that comes with them.... trees, flowers, dirt, bugs... Why not celebrate his or her birthday doing something outdoors AND helping the environment by planting a plant or tree in your yard. It can me something that your child can care for all year long and, each year after that, you can take a picture next to it and compare your child's growth as well as his plant or tree's growth.

Toddler, Tweens, Teens and Beyond

--Kids change so much throughout the years and so does their personality. For their birthday, why not make a video diary asking him or her a set of questions (about 5) that you can repeat each year. It'll be interesting to see how much the answers change from when your child is 5, 10 and 15 years