halloween Archives - Busy Moms Helper

Trick or Treat Smell My Feet Halloween Gift

October 19, 2016 by Danielle

Woohoo, it’s time for another Craft Lightning post! I love joining in on this every month, being able to join with other amazing bloggers as we share crafts that take 15 minutes or less. With October drawing near (aaack!), we’re doing some fun Halloween crafts, like this Trick or Treat Smell My Feet Halloween Gift, with free printables, of course! Originally shared September 2014

Who else thinks this is just totally adorable? Plus it’s combining a cute gift package with a delicious treat….cookie mix in a jar! This was super quick to put together, and I can’t wait to hand them out to neighbors soon. As you can see, the recipe (and the wet ingredients for the person to add) are nicely included on the tag.

Printables you’ll need

Plus this tracing sheet for the witch shoes & legs

Supplies – per Halloween Gift

Printables listed above
Jar with lid
2 fun Fabric pieces
Ribbon of choice
Paper for legs & shoes of witch
Paper for tag
Scissors, Hot Glue Gun & Hot Glue, Tape, Glue Stick, Hole Punch
For cookie mix in jar: 3/4 cup Brown Sugar, 1/4 cup Sugar, small pack Instant Pudding Mix, 2 1/4 cup Flour, 1 tsp. Baking Soda, 1/2-1 cup Chocolate Chips (or Halloween M&Ms to make it extra fun)

Directions

Print out the tags and traceable sheet. Cut out the pieces. Use a glue stick to attach the tag parts to the front and back of some cute paper. Tape the witch shoes to the legs, then the legs to the jar.
Cut out your fabric pieces for over the lid. Hot glue onto the top of the lid. Fold over the edges and glue a ribbon around the edge of the lid. This will make the fabric ruffle like a skirt!
Put your ingredients for the cookies into the jar, then put the lid on top. Use a ribbon to attach the tag, and you’re good to go!

Don’t forget to check out the other fabulous Craft Lightning posts!

Printable Fall Party Invitation

September 10, 2016 by Keri Houchin

Once we get past Labor Day and the beginning of the new school year, it’s time to start thinking about fall. Download this pretty printable fall party invitation to send to friends and family for a Halloween, Thanksgiving or other fall celebration.

Fall is my favorite season. I love the cooler weather after months of blazing Texas sunshine and always look forward to being able to bake pumpkin muffins and unpack my sweaters again.

Really, we are probably as busy in my family as we are during the summer. It seems like we slow down just a bit for fall, though. September, October, and November are a time to reflect on the past year and look ahead. After all, the new year will be here before we know it, right?

This season brings plenty of reasons to throw a party. You might throw a late back-to-school celebration in September, plan a kid-friendly Halloween party or host a big Thanksgiving gathering. In my house, we also have a few fall birthdays.

What are you celebrating this season?

I made this printable fall party invitation in autumn leaf colors – gold, orange, maroon and lime green. It is simple and cute and I couldn’t resist adding a little owl sitting on a tree stump at the bottom.

The text says “It’s time to celebrate!” and has lines for you to write in the date, time, location, and contact info. I made it generic enough that you can use it for any type of seasonal celebration.

Click to download: Fall party invitation

This card measures 5”x7” and can be printed on stationery cardstock for a flat 5-by-7 invitation. You could also print it on regular 8-1/2”x11” card stock or paper, but you’ll need to trim it. The design doesn’t have any copyright info on it, so you should be able to get these professionally printed at your favorite copy shop if you prefer.

To throw a fun fall party, you might also like these ideas:

{matching} Fall party printables with woodland creatures – full alphabet banner, tent cards & circles

Printable Halloween scavenger hunt

12 tips for hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner

Candy Corn Mickey Mouse Cookies

September 6, 2016 by Danielle

I loved visiting Disneyland during Halloween-time last year! Super festive with the decor, yummy treats and the characters in costumes themselves added to an amazing atmosphere of fun. Now you can bring some Disney into your Halloween with these delicious Candy Corn Mickey Mouse Cookies! Yummy sugar cookies that are easy to make, and even easier to decorate! It’s part of this month’s Craft Lightning, so you know they’re not only fun, but QUICK, too!

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As part of Craft Lightning, this takes only 15 minutes of ACTIVE time – that doesn’t include fridge time, baking, or drying time for the icing. The basic ‘craft’ of this tutorial is the fun icing decoration part!

Ingredients – Cookies

5 cups All-purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter, softened
2 cups Granulated Sugar
4 Eggs

Ingredients – Royal Icing

2 Egg Whites
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Orange & golden yellow gel food coloring

Cookie Cutter: Mickey Mouse Head

Directions – Cookies

Cream the soft butter with the sugar until the combination is smooth (not grainy) to the touch in a mixing bowl. Add all 4 eggs at one time. Continue to mix. Add the vanilla. Continue mixing. Sift the four, baking powder, and salt together. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Continue mixing to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly blended.
Make the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap completely covering the entire dough ball. Put in the refrigerator for about 6 hours or overnight.
Check to see if the dough is firm. If so, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Pull the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and sit it out to soften up a bit. Put flour out on the wood cutting board, rub flour on the rolling pin, and work some flour into the batter (if needed).
Roll the dough out on the cutting board and, using the mickey head cookie cutter, begin to cut out your cookies. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a metal spatula, move the cut cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes. Check to see if the cookies are thoroughly baked. Take the cookies off of the cookie sheet and put on a wire rack to cool completely. (About 10 minutes).

Directions – Icing

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. (except your food coloring) If icing is not stiff enough add 1/4 C powder sugar. When the icing is ready….
Divide the icing equally into 3 bowls. The first bowl of icing add several drops of yellow gel food coloring. Stir to mix. The second of icing add several drops of orange gel food coloring. Stir to mix. In the third bowl, keep this bowl of icing white. Spoon each color of icing into individual frosting bags with a #5 tips. Twist the open end of the bag to push the icing to the tip.
Following the picture of the Candy Corn Mickey, visually divide the cookie into 3 parts. Outline the top of the cookie in white icing. Starting with the middle of the ears and straight across the head and continue to outline around the ears and head. Allow briefly for the white icing to dry. Outline the middle section of Candy Corn Mickey in orange icing. Starting with the lower half of the ears and half of the face.
Outline the lower part of the Mickey’s head in the yellow royal icing. Allow for all of the outlining to dry. Fill in where the cookie has been outlined in white( the top part of Mickey’s head) with the white thinner icing.* Allow to dry for about 30 seconds. *Squeeze the half of the white of the icing into a bowl then add 1 tsp of water to this and mix it in. Leave the rest of the icing in the frosting bag for later use on the cookies. Fill in where the cookie has been outlined in orange ( the middle part of Mickey’s head) with the orange thinner icing.* Allow to dry for about 30 seconds. *Squeeze the half of the orange of the icing into a bowl then add 1 tsp of water to this and mix it in. Leave the rest of the icing in the frosting bag for later use on the cookies. Fill in where the cookie has been outlined in yellow ( the bottom part of Mickey’s head) with the yellow thinner icing. *Squeeze the half of the yellow of the icing into a bowl then add 1 tsp of water to this and mix it in. Leave the rest of the icing in the frosting bag for later use on the cookies.
Allow the cookies to dry for 5-10 hours and ENJOY!

Go check out the other Spooktacular Halloween crafts with this months Craft Lightning here:

Other Disney fun…

No Sew Clown Fish Dog Costume

June 2, 2016 by Danielle

Guys – how stinkin’ ADORABLE are my dogs? I can’t get over this fluff-balls, and our family just wouldn’t be the same without their funny personalities. Add on this crafty No Sew Clown Fish Dog Costume, and they’re ready for summertime fun! I can totally picture them chasing around my kiddos through the sprinklers in these – just need the weather to cooperate a bit more.

While the Shark Costume post the other day was sponsored, this post is NOT – it’s just an extra thing I put together for fun, for our pets.

Look at those big puppy smiles – Kita is on the left above, Tula on the right. LOVE THESE DOGS! I made this Clown Fish Dog Costume for Tula specifically – since they have different body shapes/sizes (Tula’s neck is REALLY long) they couldn’t really fit in the same one. I thought that, since Kita’s more the dominant one, she should be the shark and Tula the cute little fishy.

Note: All dogs are different shape/size, so I won’t put measurements – just size it to fit your own pup 🙂

Supplies

Orange felt
White Felt
Black Marker
Foam Pieces (or stuffing) for fins
Hot glue/gun
Ribbon/Velcro to attach at the bottom/belly

Directions

Cut out a rounded rectangle for the body from the orange. Glue on three white felt stripes, tracing with black marker.
Cut out the foam pieces to look like fins, then hot glue orange felt around. Glue the small fins on the back, and the side fins on each side.
Add ribbon or velcro pieces to the bottom to secure it at the belly.

That’s it!

It’s very much like the shark dog costume we shared the other day – plus they’re both NO SEW making it a great, quick craft!

Which costume would YOUR dog like best?

Free Printable Joke Labels for Snacks

September 29, 2015 by Danielle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ReadySetSnack #CollectiveBias

My kids love school, but it’s still nice to give them a little extra smile and laugh during the day by sneaking a fun note or joke into their lunchbox. Now it’s even easier with these Free Printable Joke Labels for Snacks! Choose the Halloween sheet, or the general jokes – do them both, if you like!

My family loves Hershey’s Ready to eat Pudding snacks, so I like to sneak one into their lunchboxes every now and then – or have it waiting for them after school when they’re needing to refuel after a busy day of learning and play. I thought it’d make it even more fun if we added little joke wrappers around the pudding cups – so I swung by Walmart to grab some Hershey’s Chocolate Pudding cups and the new S’mores flavor, too! Remember, these are in the refrigerated section – look for the label sticking out of the shelf to find it easier!

It actually works out PERFECT for our family that they come in the nice 4-packs, since that’s one for each kiddo! It’s so easy to just pull out a pack, grab some spoons, and let them enjoy a premium, high-quality snack of chocolaty goodness that’s made with real Hershey’s cocoa.

Download and print the 8.5×11 sheets (5 labels per sheet): here’s the Halloween Sheet with fun jokes about ghosts, spiders and more. You can also nab this sheet of General Jokes that are kid-friendly.

Cut out the 5 labels on each sheet and tape them around the pudding cups.

And guess what? The September/October issue of ALL YOU Magazine has a $0.55 off coupon for Hershey’s Ready to Eat Pudding! Tasty snacks that are quick and easy, make you laugh with fun jokes, and more money saved? That’s a win-win in my book!

By the way – don’t forget the spoons! One day I didn’t send a spoon in the lunchboxes, and I was worried. They made it work, though – they didn’t let a silly problem get in between them and their snack!

Check out these fun topping ideas and crafts to do with Hershey’s Ready to Eat Pudding Cups – let me know your favorite!

Easy No-sew Trick-or-treat Bag

September 25, 2015 by Keri Houchin

Halloween is one of those holidays that calls out for creativity. Chances are, no matter what your child wants to be, there’s a tutorial on Pinterest for how to DiY it, although some are a lot more work than others. Even if you think you aren’t crafty, this no-sew trick-or-treat bag is super easy to make. After you make a few for the kids, you may want to make one for yourself too.

Hi! It’s Keri from One Mama’s Daily Drama and today I want to teach you how to make an easy no-sew bag. Since Halloween is coming up, I thought it would be fun to make trick-or-treat bags.

My kids always end up with more candy than they need on Halloween. They also tend to tear their bags before we get home!

I love this project because it makes a really strong trick-or-treat bag. Oh, and it’s super easy. You don’t need any sewing skills.

Supplies

tee shirt
scissors
ruler (optional)

Directions

1. Start with a clean tee shirt and spread it out on a flat work surface. I used my dining room floor.

2. Next, cut off the sleeves, collar, and bottom hem. I cut just inside the seams, but you could trim further if you need the opening at the top to be bigger or want it to be more square.

3. Now, cut the fringe at the bottom of the tee shirt. To do this, I measured about four inches using my ruler, but you could just estimate it. I cut up each side and then used that as a guide to cut strips about 1-inch wide all the way across.

4. Line up the fringe and tie each front piece with the coordinating one on the back. You’ll probably have a lot of gaps at this point.

5. Once everything is tied loosely, go back and tighten each one. Tie a second knot to make sure they’re secure. You shouldn’t have any holes at this point, although something really tiny could poke through.

That’s it!

I made these using old Halloween shirts, but you could be really clever and find a shirt to match your child’s costume.

These bags are surprisingly handy. They would actually be a great way to upcycle old tee shirts into tote bags for everyday use too.

You’ve Been BOO-ed!

September 23, 2015 by Nikki Cole

You’ve been BOOed! This is Nikki and one of my favorite holiday traditions is ‘You’ve been BOOed!’ gift for Halloween. I love sneaking up to a neighbor’s house and leaving some goodies, but instead of a plain old paper plate this year I’m going to leave a festive treat bag.

Supplies:

Square scrapbook paper (Halloween theme, orange, black, whatever you like, sizes are variable too, my biggest was made by a 12 x 12 piece of paper and my smallest was an 8 x 8)
Crafting wire (about 12 inches per door bag)
Extra festive paper cut into 12 x 1 inch pieces
Tape
Hot glue gun
Goodies!

This bag is easy, cheap, and way cute for all your neighbors. It is also very customizable in size, patterns, and looks.

Instructions:

Fold square paper into a cone. Try making the tip pretty pointed so your treats don’t fall out the bottom. Glue the edge to hold together. Careful you don’t burn yourself!
Cut any unsightly paper that hangs over or cut the back tip off to make it more circular. (optional)
With the wire or a pin to get started, on both sides about 1 ½ inches down poke a hole for the wire.
Over the place two pieces of tape on the inside and outside for extra strength.
Put the wire through the whole and twist to secure.
Take your piece of 12 x inch paper and fold it to make it look like ruffles. Glue to the top of the cone. Can put two strips all the way around or just in the front.
Print out this We’ve been BOOed tag, and this poem plus sign for the window.
Tape the small tag to the front of the cone.
Put treats, poem, and a window sign in the cone and sneakily deliver to a friend or neighbor! (if you don’t want to fill the whole thing with treats you can put crinkle paper in the bottom and the treats on top!)

Crashing Witch Door Decor

September 27, 2014 by Danielle

I’ve seen so many fun Halloween porch decorations lately, it made me want to do at least SOMETHING to spruce up our rather plain porch. I’ll admit, my front door has always been really basic, with a stylish, fun but simple wreath on it, usually. That’s it. I wanted something a bit more, and decided this Crashing Witch Door Decor would be perfect!

Even though it may look like this takes a long while, it’s actually super quick and simple! I whipped this up in less than an hour, so don’t be intimidated at all.

Notes: feel free to change up the colors for your own Crashing Witch, this is simply what I used. You don’t need much of any of the fabrics, so if you have scraps around, great!

Supplies

Green Fabric – arms and legs
Black fabric – shoes and skirt trim
Patterned fabric – dress/cape
Witch Hat
This printable shape for the shoes, goes on size 8.5 x 11 paper
3 or 4 Paper Towel Rolls (or a long stick, or old broom handle, even better)
Brown paint (if painting paper towels rolls/broom handle)
Hot glue gun and glue
Duct tape (to secure paper towel rolls together so they’re long enough)
Scissors
Broom fibers/raffia
Rubber band
Cardboard
Ribbon, yarn, or something – hair

Directions

Print off the shape of the shoes here. Trace it onto cardboard or cardstock, and cut out. Paint your ‘broom stick’, if you need to. Cut some black fabric to cover the shoes. Hot glue them on, then cut the fabric around the edges.
Fold your green leg fabric so the edges are smooth, then glue to the back of the shoes. Cut your skirt/cape patterned material, and the black skirt trim to hang a bit below. Glue these together, then the legs underneath the skirt.
For the hair, I cut strips of a stringy yarn, then used a random scrap of cardstock to hot glue over them onto the top of the skirt. The cardstock strip will be hidden under the hat, but it saved my fingers from hot glue burns sticking on the yarn. Hot glue on the arms, as desired.
Duct tape your paper towel rolls together, then use a rubber band to secure a bunch of broom fibers/raffia to one end as the ‘broom’. Glue behind the skirt, so they’re sticking out on two ends. If you want to glue an arm around it, go for it! Hot glue on the witch hat, then hung as desired.

See, it really is super quick, and is a nice way to use up some random fabric scraps you may have lying around! I’d really advice using an actual stick for the broom, but I wasn’t able to for this one. Now my porch has a little ‘spunk’ to it….all thanks to this witch that had a rough landing 😀