Halloween Fun with the family

I have a love hate relationship with Halloween. I know a lot about the traditions and like reading about them. As a child I enjoyed the simple things, like apple bobbing and silly scare games at halloween parties. But the way it has become a huge deal (old traditions enlarged and migrated back to us from America I guess) especially with the pumpkin obsession (RIP my Instagram feed at this time of year - if you don't like pumpkins avoid Instagram) and the 'trick or treating' which, while cute with little kids, with teenagers is just scary, and not in a good way.

And then this year of course the world feels like more of a horrific place than in years gone by. Threats of nuclear war (common in my childhood but I had thought long gone), terrorist attacks, increased knife crime, all of these things make 'celebrating' horror feel just wrong.

Looking around the shops for halloween party and costume ideas I couldn't giggle at fake blood, artificial slashed throats, comedy knives, hachets, and even, in Poundland, Donald Trump costumes and themed decorations!

And so I decided to ask some friends what they did at halloween that could be enjoyed by all the family without the usual horror or the dreaded pumpkins!

and here are some of the ideas.

Becky, clearly my soulmate, just hides!

"I mainly hide! I don't mind the little ones coming to the door, but beyond 7 o'clock I won't answer and pretend we're not in. I hate the gangs of teenagers who don't even dress up. "

Lizzie, given up on the niceties on halloween, just gets drunk!

"Many years ago as a joke I back combed my hair put on a black sack and handed out rubber cables. As I've gotten older I've become much more aware of how embarrassing this is but it's become somewhat of a tradition. So I have to be very drunk every Halloween. It's something I hope my children will do for me once they're of age"

Laura focuses on doing some halloween crafts with her family, and while she does go trick or treating, only to houses she has previously checked with.

"Mine are just 3 and 5 so it's more Halloween related crafts, movies and snacks than anything. We do go trick or treating though as the kids love it, but only go to obviously door knocking friendly houses, friends and neighbours that we know won't mind. This year there's a local disco for little ones so we may do that instead"

Sarah celebrates her birthday with the family, with a meal out.

"We love Halloween in our house, it is also my birthday. We do costumes with a different theme every year and then do family photos and often go out for dinner dressed up."

Louise has a doorstep party! Which sounds really fun.

"I was never allowed to go trick or treating as a child as my parents hated the idea. Now I love Halloween but the idea of not trick or treating has stayed with me and so instead, we hang out with snacks, music and wine and have a 'doorstep party' with our friends & neighbours as they call in!"

Jada likes a halloween movie, but in costume!

"A Halloween night in, a “spooky” movie - age suitable of course, popcorn, a treat and we do sometimes have a Halloween buffet style tea - it’s easier than cooking as the door constantly knocks by trick or treaters. We also do dress up too so we’re not missing out on the costume side of things! "

Following Jada's lead I think that on the 31st I will be wearing my Deadpool morphsuit (just in case anyone calls) while watching a comedy halloween movie and munching on autumn snacks like apple cake and popcorn. Although we are squeezing in a halloween party on the 27th - a party at Fizz's dog groomers! So there will be some silliness and fancy dress and no doubt tricks and treats at Pooched Paws Halloween Party.

What will you be up to? And which (not too scary) halloween movies would you recommend?

For some safety tips pop over to Carolin's blog - and also think about using pumpkin lights instead of candles

Pup image copyright: adogslifephoto / 123RF Stock Photo

I'm a Crafty Sew and Sew

DD being crafty

I'm not the best seamstress in the world. Maybe I would be on the Discworld...but not in this one.

I inherited a sewing machine from my MIL and I was taught needlework at school (and yes it was only the girls, boys did wood work of course!) and I learned the ways of the sewing machine under the stern eye of my needlework mistress. She was scary. "Gels! I do NOT want to see any lipstick on your thread! LADIES do not lick or bite their thread, they cut it neatly!" but she taught us well, I know the uses of the various 'feet' on a sewing machine, I can sew a button hole whether by machine or hand. I can sew a button on too - including into a coat (slightly different technique needed to avoid it being too tight) I can sew a tacking stitch, a blanket stitch and I can do a double seam on denim. I can hem too. All because I learned at school.

BUT even if you don't have all of those skills and even if they, quite frankly, terrify you, you should ensure your home has a sewing kit. Everyone, of every gender should be able to fix stuff! No one should be throwing away a pair of trousers due to a lost button or a jumper because of a frayed hem.

In the time of the internet you can even learn online using youtube tutorials or friendly bloggers and once you are feeling happy with a needle then you can craft! It needn't be perfect either. I learned to make a rather cute strawberry at a festival last year under the careful eye of RedTedArt and it was super easy and fun!

Ditch the wunda-web, the hem-bond or whatever it's called, grab a sharp and get sewing! Be not afraid.

This year I plan to learn to knit (other that finger knitting which I learned at Camp Bestival) and it looks like Wilderness Festival might be the place as they are planning a Naked Knitting Circle!

Do you sew? Do you knit? How 'crafty' are you? and did you learn at school?

My 99p Fashion Designer

The summer is nearly at an end but amazingly I am still having fun with those initial 10 things I bought at the 99p Stores! My 99p Summer has turned out to be more crafty than I imagined! 

We are still building tracks and tunnels for the Whizzy Bugs (99p each)

and next week we hope to be camping and playing with the bag of tiny water ball bombs, and the pack of frisbees and boomerangs! (a mixed pack for 99p!). I also hope we'll need to 99p sun protection milk!

 

We have a pipe cleaner animal creation set in reserve in case of bad weather

But today we launched 'operation T shirt' using a 99p T shirt (what else!) and a pack of 99p permanent markers.

Careful to place a piece of card inside the T shirt so the pen didn't mark through to the back, DD began planning her design. She went for a simple but colourful 'Live, Laugh, Love' theme and set to work.

f

After some snipping at the bottom, removing the hem and cutting strips up the T shirt she was left with a funky fringed T shirt she is rather proud of, for the princely sum of £1.98 and of course we still have the pens for another project.

Thanks again to the 99p stores for the chance to have fun this summer and I hope the posts have given you some ideas for some bargain value fun of your own!

Craft Swap - some lovely things but.....

I fear the Christmas Craft swap was a bit of a damp squib this year and I won’t be doing it again. 

There were some lovely items sent and received but far too many people didn’t reply to emails, and therefore didn’t send pictures of what they sent or received. At least two people sent gifts but received nothing. It’s not good enough! 

Next year I plan a simple swap with one person! They can be sure I will send them something. And if they fail me I will hunt them down.* 

So here follow some pictures of the lovely things (no picture of the cute felt owl I made as I failed to take a pic before sending (idiot!) and the person I sent it to has failed to answer any emails) 

 I won’t be naming and shaming though – tempting as it is. You know who you are.

*May be a lie

Christmas Decoration Swap

We did one last year and I know I've left it a wee bit late for the keen crafters so I'm amending the rules a bit...

If you would like to play you need to, 

• be over 18 or have your parent/guardian's permission to give out your address.
• add a comment here AND email me your name, twitter/blog name and address
• let me know if you would rather send a gift to someone in your own country or are happy to post abroad (I'll do my best but if you are alone in wanting to play in your country this may not be possible)
• be prepared to make/buy a Christmas decoration and post it to arrive by 15th December (or as close as you can if sending abroad)

This year I think the decorations can be handmade or bought or a mixture! You could buy a bauble and paint it for example! (maximum spend about £5 but no minimum, if you can make something gorgeous for 30p go for it!)

There will be a theme and the theme is animals, of course there is a Christmas theme too, so giraffes dressed as Santa, Mary on a donkey, a festive ferret, the world is (almost) your oyster! (hmm Christmas themed sea creatures?)

If you'd like to sign up I need to you to have commented and emailed me by 10th November.

Also why not include a Christmas card with your favourite holiday recipe? Thanks for playing. Spread the word.

We'll need a minimum of one and a maximum of 20 to play. ;-)

Jubilicious

Well, the Jubilee was a bit of a wash out in our house. DH is failry anti-monarchy so the bunting was subdued (allowed on 'my side' of the house only!) and poor DD came down with a horrble cold on Sunday afternoon causing her to want to stay in bed (on a holiday!!) 

The cold also meant that there was no chance of a trip to the Arundel Lido on the Monday. A Monday where we also had a street party invite which due to cold and rain we also didn't attend. All in all a rather sad Jubilee. 

We did however, find time to bake some jubilee cakes, and make most of a sock bunny using instructions from here, although we are out of stuffing now so he is pathetically skinny until our ebay order arrives.

Red(ish), white(ish) and blue(ish) cakes

 

We also found time to watch the rather fun Jubilee Concert, causing merriment in the house when DD said "At least Cheryl Cole isn't on the bill" only 3 minutes before Miranda Hart announced that Cheryl would be singing with Gary Barlow! Our fave bits were Jessie J, Tom Jones and the light and firework displays, we also enjoyed Grace Jones (talented on the hula hoop) and Madness who are just always fun.

How was your Jubilee? What did you get up to? Did you love it or loathe it?

Easter, Ēostre, Chocolate and death and life

So as soon as February and the lusts of Valentine's day is over (and in many cases before) Easter will be heralded in, in the traditional way with an aisle of overpriced chocolate, shaped like eggs, rabbits and chicks, in every supermarket and corner store in the land.

I shall not dwell on how I hate that. Or on how DD is not allowed too much chocolate (and doesn't like it much either) and how we have lots left over from Christmas (despite binning lots already). I shall not dwell on the loss of the religious aspect, or the hijacking by Christianity of a far older festival.

I shall instead focus on...




Craft! Yes indeed ladies, gentlemen and assorted others, I plan a craft swap to rival the joy of the Christmas Craft swap! This time the theme is Easter Gifts that DO NOT CONTAIN chocolate. So if you feel you can make a fluffy pompom chick, a papier mache egg, a cross decoration, a fur hare etc etc then this is for you! As before you will sign up - email me your email and address, I will pair you up and you can send anonymously or not as the mood takes you.

So you are under starters orders! Get on the case. If you are stuck for ideas I suggest this fabulous blog by Red Ted Art, and check Wikipedia etc for theme ideas. (and you can always get your children to help!)

Let me know if you prefer to post in your home country only and I'll do my best!

Sign up deadline - March 1st

Posting Deadline - April 1st
(Easter Monday is 9th April this year)

Long, long ago...

well ok, September actually,

I had a plan for a Handmade Christmas Decoration swap. I didn't know how much interest it would get as I'm not a very prolific blogger (haha!) and although I have lots of friends on Twitter, one can never be sure anyone is really paying any attention, so it was a nice surprise when my 'limit' of 20 people was reached!

The range of decorations was fabulous, from simple ideas that we could all have a go at to eleborate artistic ventures, and all were really Christmassy, made with love and generally wonderful.

Lazily I haven't got around to posting the pictures of these gems, so now is the time.

Behold the glory of the Handmade Christmas Decoration swap!

with many thanks to the twitter users who played

@beckycheeks
@frugalfamily
@Lady_Gyr
@mamacrow
@mummylion
@redtedart
@missielizzieb
@peekaywrites
@rea_g
@MotherScuffer
@snafflesmummy
@chickenruby
@cherrytweep
@smokerette
@liveotherwise
@WahooCoo

@smiffysmrs

@Georgina_Giles

(You'll see I am missing some pictures - watch this space - I'm hoping to have more up soon)

The Painting of the Tent

After finding advice online I decided to risk painting my tatty, second hand, poly cotton tent. I used fabric paints (Dylon make them and there are other brands) after I painted on the design it was left to dry, and then I ironed each painted section of the tent on the hottest setting the tent would stand to fix the dye. Once dried and ironed I sprayed over each painted area with   Fabsil waterproofer (you can see what looks like a wet patch around the painted areas, it dries clear and invisible) and now all I need to do is test the tent in the rain! 

Wish us luck! The tent will make it's debut at Camp Bestival this year.