Halloween Ideas Anyone??

So if you know me, you probably know that I LOVE Halloween.

What better holiday is there for those of us who love to create? No limits.... no boundaries..... you can have ghosts hanging from the ceiling and rats on your bookshelves..... spiders on the stairs and cobwebs on the chandeliers. And best of all -- Sweets, Sweets and MORE Sweets!

So I was a pretty happy camper this week working on a Halloween Dessert table featuring my new Shindig Halloween Party Printables. I made the rounds about town (Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Target, etc.), found my goodies and thought of a plan.....

You must have a plan, you know!

I'm all about a "do-it-yourself-on-a-budget kind of party," so I went to work "do-it-yourselfer-ing." You'd be surprised at what you can find in the grocery store to help a busy mom have a cute party.... Oreo cakesters, fudge covered cookies, Oreo cookie sticks, marshmallows, Ding-Dongs. These things are MADE to help us mommies at "party-crunch time." Make use of them, ladies! Don't feel like you have to make it all yourself.

In fact, I think the only thing I made completely from scratch for this table were the cupcakes, and that was only the cake part -- I cheated on the fudge frosting, too!

So anybody can do this. Really. And your kids will love getting involved, too. I don't know a child out there who wouldn't want to pour a few sprinkles on something!

So here it goes..... the Shindig Halloween Party Table

featuring my new Halloween Collection of party printables sold on Etsy.com

Shindig Halloween Collection 2" Party Logos used as cupcake toppers (punched out with a 2" scallop circle punch). I backed each of these with a circle of black and white stripe scrapbook paper and punched with the next size larger circle punch, glued them to a coffee stirrer and -- Ta-Dah! A cupcake topper!

Sweet cupcakes - you can't have a party without them!

Shindig's Halloween Collection's Food Label Tent Card

used as a sign on the cupcake stand.

I also cut out some cupcake wraps for the bottom of the cupcakes

out of coordinating scrapbook paper.

Another 2" Party Logo used as a candy jar label (with a larger punched circle of striped cardstock behind), and those too-cute-to-eat Halloween Marshmallow pops, too.

More food labels tent cards and these scary little (or maybe I should say BIG)

snake suckers from Walmart. (I cut a scrap piece of board and placed it

inside the plate, drilled small holes for the suckers to stand in, and covered up

all the mess with black crinkle bag filler and purple foil - dark chocolate - Hershey's kisses).

I found these marshmallow candy corns at Walgreen's individually packaged. I put them on top of fudge marshmallow cookies (that I also bought at Walmart) and colored some frosting (from a can) with orange gel food coloring. Using a disposable decorating bag and a star tip, I swirled the frosting on top of the cookie, add some chocolate sprinkles and stuck the candy corn in with a toothpick. So easy!

These little babies are just Oreo cakesters (Double stuff) with some Halloween sprinkles for color and the Shindig Halloween Collection 8" Sign that I put in an ornate black frame

My favorite Halloween Trick -- floating candy!! Yes.... floating! Featuring the Halloween Collection's Mini-Candy Bar Wraps (they fit Hershey's miniatures)

The kids around here are fascinated each October when they enter my house

and see the urn full of candy on my foyer table, which just happens to be floating in the air!

They always want to know, "How? How Ms. Amanda did you do that? How? Tell me!!"

I don't ever tell them, but I WILL tell you.

No magic at all -- just Martha!!

(From a Halloween issue of her magazine a few years back -- I tried to find the how-to on the internet and couldn't so if anyone out there has a link, please let me know).

I saw these cute marshmallows in the new Betty Crocker Fall Baking publication at Target. They were featured on top of cut square brownies (also a great idea!), but I like my food on sticks, so I decided to pierce a couple of Oreos and some marshmallows and make these little treats!

My kids were oooohing over these eyeball cookies. So simple.... just an Oreo chocolate cakester with a little fudge frosting (from a can) on top. I found the eyeballs at the Dollar Tree (6 for $1). They were suckers, but I cut the sticks off and used them to embellish the cakesters.

I'm all about the cute-no-bake-goodies! It doesn't have to be hard to be adorable!

I also used the Halloween Collection's 2" Party Logos for various candy jar embellishments.

Shindig's Halloween Collection 4" circle logo used to decorate the spider plate. Again, the spiders were so simple. Use a Ding-Dong cake, cut a small marshmallow in half for eyes, and cut licorice for the legs. I also dotted the center of the eye with some black gel icing.

It must have been a success!
I've had all the kids in the neighborhood BEGGING for these treats to eat!
Well, guys, today's the day! Photo shoot over...... Yum-fest begins!

Remember, the Shindig Halloween Collection of Printables

is on sale 40% OFF until October 15th!!
Get it now - time's a-wasting!!!

Shindig's Pirate Party Printables Featured!!

My friend, Chris, from Celebrations at Home has been such an inspiration to me this year as I've been developing Shindig. Chris is a party planner extraordinaire and has a very popular party planning blog, too! I've enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months, and recently she was telling me about a pirate party that she was working on for her son. Busy as she is making the "party world" a better place, Chris was running short on time completing her son's big birthday bash. So I helped out a little and made her some of my new Pirate Party Printables and shipped her my Shindig Pirate Party pennants, too. I was so glad to help, and she -- as usual -- pulled off quite the soiree.... uhhh, I mean piratey adventure!!

Pirate Party Table for her 8 year old son. Love the ship sail -- great minds DO think alike!

(We have a ship sail of our own for our Shindig Party Party !)

Cute, huh? Although I think she's had a comment or two about serving the kids' "Pirate's Rum!" Shindig's Pirate Place Cards are too cute in the small treasure chests.

The sign we made for Tyler turned out cute, too!
The perfect customized addition to your next pirate adventure.

That skeleton skull on a post -- yikes! He's a little scary!

Definitely for the "OLDER" pirate boys!!

Chris's Pirate Food Table featuring my new Shindig Pirate Party Printables (hopefully I will have them listed in the Etsy shop by the weekend!) Didn't she do a great job with the display? I love the crates and how she used my pirate tags on the popcorn containers.

And my favorite -- the close-ups.... Our pirate ship sails can be used for cupcake toppers, hot dog toppers, sandwiches, etc. Chris used our toothpick flags around the skewers for her marshmallow pops, she used our favor tags on the popcorn boxes and of course, our pirate party 2" circle logos for cupcake toppers -- Arrghh!!

Chris used Shindig's Pirate Party Favor Tags
on the pirate bags full of goodies for the boys to take home with them.


And what's a pirate party without a costume and a parrot??

Looks like Tyler had a GREAT 8th birthday!!
Thanks, Chris, for the shout out on Celebrations at Home! Happy Birthday, Tyler!
Go check her out and become a follower or a fan on Facebook!

Auburn Family..... ALL IN!!!

We spent the day yesterday tailgaiting and heading to the stadium for the game last night. I've been so busy lately, it was GREAT to have a little family time and see some friends (in fact, I saw 2 that I hadn't seen in probably 15 years!!) It was a beautiful day.... great gameday weather. The kids bought all the junkfood they could possibly stand, and I loved spending a little time with them with no parties ANYWHERE in site!! Here are a few picts from the day:

Let's Get it Started! Macy sportin' the Tiger tail.

Jacob was loving his Finger. It was in all of our faces all night!!

(He even came down the stairs with it on this morning! Dye-hard I tell ya!)

Jonathan, Kevin, Heather & Sullivan at Tiger Walk

Stuart Up Front, Tiger Walk - waiting for Aubie!

I can't believe how big she is! Next year she'll probably be towering OVER me!!

Best seat in the house!

Whooo - Hoooo! Go Tigers!

Weagle! Weagle! War Damn Eagle!

Uhhhh........ feeling a little lightheaded up here!

It doesn't get much better than this!

Well, maybe it does.... 4-0!!!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Cake

How cute is this theme for a one year old!?! I love it!!!

A better view of the characters...

And it of course was topped off with a pizza b/c teenage mutant ninja turtles LOVE their pizza!! ;)

Mr Finn's smash cake...

And now, a few party ideas for your TMNT party!!!

click to enlarge

Gotta have PIZZA on the menu!! It is a staple in the TMNT's diet!

To the right is the tissue paper poms. Red, orange, blue and purple to represent the different turtle characters. And then of course lots of green!

Is that turtle watermelon not the cutest!!?! I love it. Carve your hollowed out watermelon to look like a turtle and fill it with fruit salad!

Add little toy rats all around the house for decor. These turtles live in the sewer so rats are definitely invited to this party!

Check out Oriental trading for some toy ninja swords to pass out as party favors. Add in some TMNT masks and it will be great entertainment during the party!

For a cute and EASY craft for little hands check out this pizza craft from Family Fun.

Next is more party favors! Slime would be a great one (again b/c they live in the yucky sewers) And then for cute drinking cups to dress up your table check out these trash can cups.

Directly below the cups is some colorful candy that would be perfect to match the TMNT colors! Pictured here are Twizzlers and Skittles.

And then beside that...last but not least a great table scape idea! Replace the yellow strip of fabric with purple and you have all the colors you need to complete a TMNT table!

SHINDIG WON!! SHINDIG WON!!

Wooo-hooo! My Fairy Party Printables won!

Top ten Party Ideas on Create Something Inspiring AKA The CSI Project.
That's pretty exciting considering there were 162 different parties to choose from!!

You should go check out their website (just click the image above). So many cute parties and great ideas for your next birthday bash!!

Here are some photos of the printables:

And Remember..... The Halloween Collection of Printables -- designed for you decorate your home with, make cute treat bags, and even throw an easy and quick Halloween Party -- They're on SALE 50% OFF until Oct. 1st!!! So get them now before time runs out!

It's a SIMPLE Process. Just open your email....

PRINT, CUT, and your on your way to a great Party!!

20th Anniversary Monogram Cupcakes

These were made for a good friend of mine who is throwing a 20th anniversary for her in laws. (what a great daughter in law huh?!!)

She is creating a dessert buffet with cupcakes, candy and cake balls (below) using the 20th anniversary colors (emerald green and white) with a splash of silver. We decided to do silver cupcake liners with white icing and green monogram cupcake toppers, "M" to represent the couple's last name.

Groovy 60s Cake

Made for Miss Madison who is turning 9. Hope you have a totally groovy birthday Madison!

The top tier of this cake is chocolate and the bottom tier is yellow cake. I wanted to make it as "far out" as I could, so not only did I tie dye the outside, but when they cut into the cake it should look a little something like this....

Totally groovy cake!

Can you dig it?! ;)

PUMAS on the PROWL!!

Gosh, we're lucky!! The schools in this town are F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.!!! Yesterday, my oldest had her first pep rally at her new middle school. Excellent school.... AMAZING principle (you may know Mrs. Debra Bebe from Survivor a few seasons back!) and home of the GREATEST pep rally I've ever been to.... YES, for 6th and 7th graders. The whole school was rockin, teachers included, war paint on, cheers practiced and ready, band fired up..... it was unbelieveable!

There are so many 6th & 7th graders (1,600) that they divide every grade up into teams and the pep rallies are all about out-cheering the other teams. They've got signs, BIG signs, a whole lot of face paint, glittery hair, team mascots, flags, shakers, the whole bit. I had such a great time it even made me want to go back to 6th grade!

The mood was electric -- the kids were so pumped up

See what I mean?? PUMPED UP!

I came to paint some Puma faces

And I got pretty lucky to get my baby, too

She was quite the giggle box today

Oh yeah.... even their hands were in the spirit

Casey and Maddie - how much fun is that??

Music was blaring, drums were beating, kids and teachers were chanting! And this picture is only one half of the gym

Here's the other half -- see how many kids!! And that's only 1/2 the school. It's so big, they have 2 pep rallies back to back for the other half of the school.


Madison and her friends had so much fun -- What a Great Memory!!

Thanks to all those wonderful, supportive and CRAZY teachers -- you're the Best!