Know What I love about October... and Brenna's Monster Ball

I used to HATE Fall...

It meant that the snow was coming and summer was officially a thing of the past.  I totally dreaded this season... In my younger years anyway.

In my adult years I have really come to love Fall, more specifically October.  My first born entered our lives on a beautiful October day.  This is when my feelings about Fall began to change.  I now look forward to October.  We still have a few lingering warm days accompanied by some crisp cool/cold days that we get to bundle up in blankets on the couch or in bed with a cup of hot something to drink.  I love that.  In October I get to bust out all the spice candles/air fresheners, which in case you didn't know are my FAVORITE scents. In October we are given a little bit of the best of both warm and cold seasons.  October really is that happy medium. 

In my adult years Halloween has become one of my top favorite holidays as well.  On October 1st you had better believe I am busting out my Halloween decor. I LOVE decorating for Halloween and I love busting out my creative juices to come up with fun original costumes for my kids.  I have found that I get really bummed out when my kids choose costumes that come in a bag ready for wear.  They are boring to me and look cheap, no matter how much money you spend on them.  AND in all reality it takes away from my own personal enjoyment.  Last year was one of those years... Brenna was Alice and Sam was Super Mario.  I didn't get to make anything.   This year October has been wonderful and my kids didn't let me down in the costume department.  I am feeling very festive and my cup is overflowing.  Brenna decided she wanted to be a Monster High Doll.  She didn't really care which one, so when I happened upon a Monster High skirt at Ross for 5 bucks it was decided that she was going to be Claudine Wolf (the werewolf).  I made her ears out of sticky back felt and just wrapped them around a headband then glued a bow to one ear.  I used an old see through stretchy black shirt I had and cut it to shreds and placed it over a solid brown long sleeve shirt.  I found some cute purple leg warmers for a buck somewhere (sorry can't remember if it was target or the dollar store) and put them over some cute black spiderweb tights.  Easy and inexpensive costume that looks just as good as those $30 ones you can buy at the store.  

We still may add some accessories to the costume before Halloween, but all in all it cost me less than $10 for the entire costume.  SWEET!

Sam chose a Mummy for his costume this year.  I was really excited about this because I knew that it would be another inexpensive costume to pull off, but I would still be able to enjoy making it.  I got a sweatsuit from Walmart (shhhh don't tell Sam, but he is wearing girl bottoms because they were out of the heather gray in boys) and 2 yards of plain fabric that cost less than $2 a yard.  I tore that fabric into strips and just hot glued it to the sweat suit.  Below is a pic of Sam at Brenna's party and his costume wasn't 100% complete yet, but even still I think it turned out well.  

As you can see there is still more sweatsuit that needs covered and come Halloween we will have his hair sprayed white and spiked up all over out of the head wraps.  He wants a little bit of dirt and blood splatters as well.  Not only was this costume cheap to make, BUT it will also be WARM on Halloween night.  Double bonus right?!?!  Though his girly friend would much rather him be her Prince Charming, I think she was okay with a "Mummy Prince" instead...

  

Yet another year of costumes to be proud of if I do say so myself!

All these above pictures come courtesy of Brenna's 7th Birthday Bash.  Brenna's birthday party theme selection was a PERFECT choice to put me in the Fall spirit.  I got to create a Monster Ball for my princess.  Surprisingly, I didn't break the bank with this party either... though I personally think it looks like I did.  The best part of homemade stuff is that in most cases it costs far less than what you can buy in a store.  Homemade also looks better (in my opinion anyway).  I have discovered that the dollar store really is the BEST place to get the bulk of stuff for parties (plates, cups, table cloths, spiderweb, goody bag fillers).  My number one tip for birthday parties it DO NOT buy the cups and plates with characters on them to match the theme.  They are rediculously priced and really unnecessary.  After about five minutes of food on them they end up in the trash anyway, so go to the dollar store and just pick a color that coordinates with the theme. The dollar store really does carry the majority of must haves for parties, and it saves a GRUNDLE of Moolah!  I can't tell you how many bags of spider web I used this year, but I can tell you that I was grateful for the dollar store for this one decor choice alone.  I have spiderweb spread indoors and outdoors. My black, white, and red living room really is the PERFECT place to create that creepy, but classy, Halloween environment.  

The Perfect place to host a Monster Ball...

Now Brenna's Monster Ball was no simple event.  It wouldn't have been complete without all the homemade Halloween treats I made... We really had it all....

And you had better believe that the majority of this food was devoured by all the little ones that attended...

We painted little pumpkins too...

(Which may not have been one of my better ideas because paint ended up in far more places than just the pumpkins)

I should have known better.

All in all though, I hosted a pretty good Monster Ball and Brenna was very happy with the event as well.  

 Brenna has been blessed with some pretty awesome friends.  She had a great turn out (above pic isn't even everyone who showed) and made out like the little princess she is.

October is in full swing and this is just a small amount of the fun I have been able to have this year.  Being a teacher opens up a whole other world of fun and creativity.  Up next in our month is all the Halloween celebrations themselves.  I have two days of Halloween festivities at school with my own kids and my preschool kids, then of course there is HALLOWEEN!

I sure hope everyone is enjoying the Fall and October as much as I have been... It really is a time of year that brings joy to my house. 

How To: Angry Birds Cake Pops

I have had several people ask me how I made the cake pops for Sam's 5th Birthday Party.  I decided to make a little tutorial so you can all attempt them at home.  I first searched the internet for someone else to tell me how to do it, but failed miserably which left me scrambling to get in touch with my creative side.  Sam had demanded cake pops for his birthday for two months prior so I had already purchased a cake pop baking pan from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

First step is to bake the cake pops and then set them out to cool.

Once they are cooled and baked, the next step is to insert and secure the sucker sticks.  To do this, melt a small amount of melting chocolate (I found mine at Michael's).  Dip the sucker stick into the chocolate and insert into the cake ball.  Place in fridge or freezer for 10-20 minutes allowing the chocolate to cool completely and stay secure in the cake while dipping in the next step.

While the cake pops set in the fridge/freezer I melted a small amount of green chocolate.  I then drizzled the chocolate into small (pig nose size) dots onto wax paper.  Be sure to make enough dots for the amount of pigs you wish to make.  Place those in the fridge to set as well. 

(I did not take a picture of this step, I apologize.)

Once the cake pops are set and the sticks are secure you will melt the remainder of your green chocolate.  Begin carefully dipping your cake into the green chocolate spinning slowly to coat the entire ball of cake.  Slowly remove from chocolate and continue to spin slowly over the bowl helping the excess chocolate drip off.  

For the pigs helmets I just used chocolate sprinkles.  Once the excess chocolate is off, dip the ball a little less than half way into the chocolate sprinkles.  At this point you will need to place the eyes and noses of the pigs as well.  For the noses I removed from the wax paper and placed the flat side out making for a good finish for the pig nose.  The eyes I used white chocolate chips, but pre-cut the tips off of them.  Set pops on wax paper to allow chocolate to begin to harden.  

This is what your pig will look like while the chocolate sets and hardens.

I had a little helper

Once the chocolate is completely hardened I did the finishing touches to the pig.  I just used black icing and dotted the eyes, the nose, and made a little mouth.

And here is the final thieving pig!

For the Birds I used much of the same technique, but obviously skipped the dipping in the sprinkles step and there was no need to place a nose before the chocolate is dry.  And I obviously used red melting chocolate.  

I used the same white chocolate for the eyes, placed right after dipping then set on wax paper to dry.  I used the same black icing after the chocolate had hardened for the eyes and brows.  I also placed some small tail feathers on the back in black also.  

For the beak I just used orange icing.  

The finished Angry Red Bird

The cake pops should be stored in the fridge until ready to serve.  

And here are the finished pops!

Useful Tips:

The amount of cake balls made with one cake mix can be coated with one bag of chocolate that I purchased from Michael's so long as you allow the excess chocolate to drip off as needed. 

As you can see from my red pops, the tops ended up flat because of how I placed them on the wax paper to cool. The ones dipped in sprinkles did not have this issue, so if you want to make a clean, smooth overall cake pop, consider using foam purchased at any craft store to insert sticks while the chocolate sets.  

I hope this helps others while attempting to make your own Angry Birds cake pops.  I know I would have found something like this useful when I started, but I am happy with how they turned out.  I would like to attempt to make the other colored birds at some point... Maybe when my son turns 6?

Gives me a year to recoup from this year!