Logan's Spooky Lab - Halloween Birthday Party

I love Halloween! It has always been my favorite holiday and now that I have a kiddo that was almost born on Halloween, I love it even more! Logan came into the world at 5:56am on 11.1.05. I can't believe that was 6 years ago?!

Anyway, to celebrate his birthday this year Logan actually wanted a Halloween theme. (It varies from year to year which is fine with me.) I really didn't know what theme to go with. Should we do something cute or something scary? Logan wanted it to be spooky. I started watching American Horror Story on FX. Well, the intro to the show gave me inspiration and I decided a "spooky lab" would be perfect.

I looked on Google images for some inspiration and found all kinds of simple specimen jar projects. Martha Stewart had a simple tutorial using a large glass vase, a cauliflower and food coloring to make a "brain in a jar." I also hunted for rubber eyeballs, plastic insects and other fake body parts to put into jars. I found a plastic heart at the Dollar Store! I also created really gory looking guts using food coloring, water and pumpkin guts from the Jack O Lanterns we cut the night before. I couldn't believe how real and disgusting it looked!

In addition to the body parts, I used dead plants from around the yard to make swampy looking specimens and put fake insects in with them. My mom found this cool "spirit ball" at Walgreens and it was the perfect addition. I set everything up on Mike's old work bench and it really turned out to look like a mad scientist's spooky laboratory!



Of course, because this was a spooky Halloween birthday, the food had to be gory too. My husband made "witches fingers" out from his artisan bread recipe. They looked like knarled fingers but tasted amazing! I made "brains" from Kraft Homestyle Mac n Cheese and we also served meat balls that looked like they were coated in blood (ketchup). Mike made some of his famous "Green vomit" (guacamole & chips) and my Mother in Law brought some awesome chili-cheese dip and chips.

For the drinks we served "witches brew" punch, "Beetle Juice" (Diet Pepsi) and "Blood - Type O Negative" (Cranberry Sierra Mist.) I created his "Grim Reaper" cake and it was just a simple spice cake with cream cheese frosting (food colored orange) and drizzled in a chocolate glaze with a cute cake topper. I also had a back drop on the buffet table of a white picket fence with ghosts and pumpkins!

Logan wanted to have a bonfire for his birthday so we hosted it in the garage. I had Mike hang black plastic everywhere to hide all of our clutter and create a spooky space. Then we strung Halloween lights everywhere. It really looked great when we got everything set up.
We played Halloween party music and people could go back and forth from the bonfire to the garage. Of course, the kiddos ended up playing night games. There is something just so fun about playing tag in the dark!

Of course, it was a costume party! It was so cute to see all the kids dressed up in their costumes. Logan was Optimus Prime because he is obsessed with the Transformers right now.

Lily was a purple fairy because she loves all things princess, and fairy right now. Jake and Gavin were cute dinosaurs and Maya was a ballerina! Mike was a train conductor and I was Pippi Longstocking. :) My brother and his girlfriend were Spy vs Spy, one white and one black (they were so cute!)

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to help us celebrate Logan's Halloween birthday in style. I know that he loved it because he told me, "Mommy, this was the best birthday ever!" It was hard work but well worth it! :)

Preschool Party - Mommy Volunteer

I am so honored to have the opportunity to volunteer in my daughter's preschool class! They hosted a Halloween party for the preschoolers and it was so fun to participate. I was the "Pin the nose on the Pumpkin" game helper.

Lily went as a purple fairy, of course. Purple is her favorite color and fairies are better than Princesses, so there you go! I made her purple tutu and she looked absolutely adorable in it! The rest of the accessories I got at the dollar store. Who can pass up purple fairy wings, a crown, and a necklace for only $3.00? I dressed her in a purple shirt and purple pants, curled her hair and put on make-up. She lllooooveed her costume and couldn't quit admiring herself in the mirror! LOL.

Anywya, the preschoolers went "Trick or Treating" around the building, which meant they got to show off their costumes to different classes, the Kids Play Daycare and the Knights Academy School. Three different levels of our community center have different schools for our children! :)

Afterward, we played a variety of fun games where each child earned a prize. Then we had our fun Halloween snack, read spooky stories and sang spooky songs. Too soon, it was time to go home. I had a great time helping my child's teachers and being a part of her wonderful preschool experience. :)

Hanover Harvest Festival - Carving Pumpkins

Every year, the small town just to the south of St. Michael does a Hanover Harvest Festival! This year, we went to their pumpkin decoration and carving contest. My children were each given a tiny pumpkin, some craft supplies and the creativity to do whatever they wanted! Since mom was on her own for this trip (Dad was at Kung Fu) we decided to just decorate the pumpkins instead of carving them.

It was still a lot of fun! They broke the contest up into catagories, preschool, 6 years old + and 12 years old +. Although we didn't win a prize for our pumpkins it was still a lot of fun participating. In addition to the decorating, we enjoyed cookies and juice and dancing to fun Halloween songs.

There was also a variety of fun fall activities. My kids got to do gunny sac races, play "needle in the haystack" which Logan won, and sit next to the silly scarecrow for pictures!


There is also a wonderful park in Hanover, where the Harvest festival was. :) They spent at least an hour running around with all the other kids playing. It was a good day!