Getting ready for Halloween

I lived in the US for a number of years, San Francisco to be exact, and Halloween is a big thing there.  I discovered that I love dressing up and parading around the streets with the other happy halloween revellers.  My favourite outfits were the dead bride that involved wearing a long, long black wig and another year when I wore a 1960‘s vintage Balenciaga lime green suit and painted myself bright orange.  I was a pumpkin.  A very HIP pumpkin!

But enough about me, obviously these days Halloween is all about the kids.  Well except that it was at a halloween party that I began my plans for Mrs Fox’s.  My friend Vicky and I had got the children together to carve pumpkins and have a little halloweeny fun and started talking about how we wanted to be the kind of mums who threw wonderful parties for our kids.  That we could organise, and make things, and create great memories for our children.  Vicky had an aunt, or friend of her mothers, who threw great kid’s parties.  I can do that I thought...

But enough about Mrs Fox, this year it really is all about the kids.  As Halloween falls in our school’s half-term this year Una and Louis are having a party.  I have some games in mind, more on that later.  I’m thinking about making sweetie cones for the party favours and Una has decided she wants to make Halloween flags for her friends.  We're having spooky food and we are going to make the costumes next week.  Today we created the invitations.

I like to get the kids involved in making things for their parties.  It gives them a sense of ownership and it gives us a craft project for the weekend.  Una is 6 and Louis only 3 so we needed a craft that both could do.  So printing with apples fit the bill rather well I thought. 

With gloopy orange paint the children have printed orangey-red apple circles and then painted on pumpkin stalks and leaves and spooky black facial features.  I’ve printed the party details in a suitably gothic font and then stuck the pumpkins onto the card.  I’m really pleased with the result.  

We managed to fit this around a visit from Grandad and Grandma Wendy and whilst all our printing dried it adorned the kitchen making me think that some Halloween bunting also needs to be made.  So, look out more crafty halloween posts.

And I will certainly be getting in touch with Mibo for some of their fantastic origami Halloween creatures.  At Mrs Fox's we love their beautifully designed paper animals and will be stocking the Christmas creatures this festive season.  

Mibo's Team Halloween

And don't forget, in our previous weeks blog we give you more ideas for Halloween crafts.  Look below...