Easy-to-Make Venus Flytrap & Snake-Wrapped Candy Halloween Centerpiece

This easy Halloween centerpiece post has been sponsored by Oriental Trading Company, your Halloween headquarters.  All opinions expressed are my own.

October is a busy time of year for us, especially now that my children are older and are not all at the same school.  Between all the fall festivals, fundraising, and help with homework, I hardly have time to even think about Halloween.  That's why I was super-excited to come up with an easy Halloween centerpiece that both my children and trick-or-treaters would appreciate.

Putting together an easy display like this would be a fun Halloween activity to get the children involved in.  That's right!  This centerpiece is so easy to make that a child could probably do it.


How to Make a Halloween Serving Tray . . .

All you need is a basic serving tray and some printed Halloween-themed paper.  The tray can be black, woodtone, brown, orange, green, purple, or any other color that reminds you of fall.  Then measure the inside dimensions of the tray and fold the edges of the printed paper under itself to match the tray measurements.  Then place it inside the tray.  That's it!  I chose not to glue the paper down so that I can switch it out for different themed paper in the future.  The printed paper could be from scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, or a Halloween bag.  Use your imagination!  I used part of a paper Halloween table runner.

How to Make Snake-Wrapped Rock Candy . . . 

It's tough finding candy that everyone will like that is also safe for children with allergies.  I discovered that rock candy is gluten-free and dairy-free.  These rock candy lollipops paired with some cute fuzzy hair monster bookmarks are sure to be a big hit with trick-or-treaters, even ones with some dietary restrictions.


Here comes the fun part!  To wrap bendable snakes around the rock candy, first coil them around your index finger.  When the snakes are in a coil shape, wrap them around the rock candy lollipops.  If you intend to display these treats in a cup or a pail, like I have, then be sure to keep the snakes towards the top of the lollipops.  This would also work well with hard candy sticks.

How to Put Together Your Halloween Centerpiece . . .

I was lucky to find a set of 3 Halloween pails that I fell in love with.  Either little pails or flowerpots would work well in this case.  The first pail is for holding your decorative Venus Flytrap plant.

The other two pails are for holding your snake-wrapped rock candy lollipops.  Place the three pails in the Halloween serving tray you created.  Add a few snakes here and there, and you're done!

Like this Halloween decor idea? Pin It for later . . .

What ideas do you have to delight trick-or-treaters?

Share them in a comment here.

How to Make an Easy Black Crow's Nest Centerpiece for Halloween

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for providing some of the supplies used to create our Halloween centerpiece.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Halloween is such a fun time of year to decorate.  I always try to find a good balance between cute and spooky.  My favorite part of Halloween is handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters, so I would feel terrible if I ruined even one child's Halloween because something at my house was too scary.

This year, I saw some black feathered crows in Oriental Trading Company's Halloween Headquarters.  I showed them to my children, who thought they were pretty cool looking, so I felt inspired to come up with some easy crow-themed Halloween ideas.

How to Make a Crow's Nest Candy Bowl Centerpiece . . . 

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

1 clear round 5qt serving bowl

1 clear round 2qt serving bowl

1 pair decorative feathered crows

1 bag decorative fall leaves

1 bag black metallic shred (can also use matte)

2 or 3 small pumpkins (real or artificial)

1 bag bulk candy

Step 1.  Separate your artificial leaves into two piles, one pile for crinkled leaves and another pile for flat.  Take the crinkled leaves and make a large bed of foliage at the center of the table.  Then scatter the flat leaves on and around the pile of crinkled leaves.

TIP 1:  Using flat leaves in the areas around the leaf pile will make it easier for you to place other decor items or serving bowls and platters on the table.

Step 2.  Place the larger of the two clear round serving bowls in the center of the leaf pile.

Step 3.  Place the black shred (black Easter grass) inside the large bowl.  Pull the shred apart until it is loosely intertwined and covers the bottom and sides of the bowl all the way to the brim.  Then nestle the smaller clear round serving bowl inside the bowl of black shred.

TIP #2: Although you want to have the shred to show above the rims of the bowls, you can pull out any long strands hanging down over the edges to neaten your nest a bit.

Step 4.  Add the decorative black feathered crows to your centerpiece.  The pair of crows from Oriental Trading Company have wires at the bottom of their feet so I could bend the wires around the edge of a bowl or a pumpkin stem to help position the crows where I wanted them.

Step 5.  Fill your crow's nest with the candy of your choice.  One bag of bulk candy should be enough to fill this candy bowl to the top.

TIP 3:  Want to use your crow's nest candy bowl for handing out candy? If you have a place to set your bowl down on your porch, then the crow's nest can be used as-is.  If you need to hold the candy bowl or carry it to and from the door, then simply remove the crow.

Step 6.  Add a few small pumpkins to complete your Halloween display.

More Black Crow-Themed Halloween Ideas . . .

I also found this cool Eyeball Feather Wreath at Oriental Trading Company.  This wireless wreath was perfect for our door and will surely delight trick-or-treaters.  It runs on 3 AA batteries (not included) and has an on/off switch on the back.  You could also place the smaller of the two crows in the center of the wreath.

I also thought it would be super-fun to have a crow on your forearm when you greet trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.  To do this, simply take a glove or gauntlet with buckles or fasteners on it and wrap the wires on the crow's feet around the buckles.  We used an Anakin Skywalker costume glove and it worked out perfectly.

How will you be decorating for Halloween this year?  Share your ideas with us in a comment here.

Remember to Pin these Crow-Themed Halloween Ideas for later!  Also, be sure to check out our Zombie Head Eyeball Centerpiece from last year . . . 

Visit Oriental Trading Company for more fun Halloween ideas and supplies to inspire you!  Just having a quick look around always sparks new ideas for me.

Easy Spooky Zombie Head & Eyeballs Halloween Centerpiece

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for providing most of the supplies needed for our DIY zombie head Halloween centerpiece.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Our children will be 12, 9, and 9 in a few months.  Our oldest decided that he's too old to go trick-or-treating this year.  That's why I decided that we better squeeze in as much Halloween fun as we can before they are too old to enjoy Halloween the way only kids truly can.

Zombies are all the rage these days, whether you're 8 or 80.  Checkout this easy Halloween table centerpiece I made with a few Halloween supplies from Oriental Trading Company!

What you'll need . . . 

Zombie Head Centerpiece

zombie punch bowl

latex monster hands

strong double-sided foam tape

big bags of assorted candy (red and pink preferred)

Bowl with Eyeballs & Floating Candles

floating candle bowl

eyeball erasers

3 red tealight candles

rat prop

Table Coverings

orange tablecloth

stretchable black web

Scary Hands Holding Zombie Head Candy Bowl . . .

This candy bowl will be super-easy for you to make because we have done all the trial and error.  All you need to do is attach the latex monster hands to either side of the zombie punch bowl so that they look like they're holding the head.  We tried hot glue, white glue, model glue, and a tagging gun and could not get the hands to attach securely. What finally worked is double-sided foam tape.  I highly recommend that you use permanent double-sided foam tape because the non-permanent kind we used still allowed the hands to detach now and then.

If you are careful in the placement of the foam tape, then it will hardly be visible at all.  You can also make it so that a person can put their hands inside the monster hands to hold the candy bowl for trick-or-treaters to help themselves to candy for some spooky fun.

Speaking of candy . . . we used two big bags of assorted candy (85 pieces each) that had mostly red and pink wrappers.  I removed the small handful that were other colors so that only the zombie brain-colored ones remained.  This punch bowl can hold a ton of candy.  My two bags only filled half of the head, so I placed a plastic food container upside-down at the bottom and stuffed some paper around it to help the candy reach the brim of the bowl.

Bowl with Eyeballs and Floating Candles . . .

The eyeball erasers from Oriental Trading Company come in a set of 24, which was the perfect quantity for this project.  We had enough to put in the bowl and to scatter around the centerpiece.  The erasers are flat on one side, so the eyeballs remained stationary with the pupils facing up even in the floating candle bowl filled with water.

As for the candles, I just used tealights I already had in the house.  You can certainly purchase small floating candles, but the tealights worked just fine for us.  If you are using tealights, you'll need to carefully remove them from the plastic cup.  Be sure to check that the metal disc on the bottom that is connected to the wick has at least a thin layer of wax over.  If the disc is not covered, then water might get up through the center of the tealight.  Before placing the tealights into the water, trim the wicks to 1/4" tall.

Halloween Table Covering . . . 

For an easy Halloween backdrop for our centerpiece, I layered a stretchable black web over a vinyl orange tablecloth.  The web was not what I was expecting.  I pictured something more stringy, but this web worked out fine.  It was sticky just like you'd expect a web to be and even came with a handful of spiders designed to hook onto it.

Let's talk candle safety! . . .

PLEASE DO NOT leave candles unattended while they are lit and do not leave your children or pets alone with the them.  Also, DO NOT place anything, including decorations, close to or over the edge of the floating candle bowl.  The candles float around with the slightest air current.  I placed the rat prop next to the bowl to make the centerpiece more interesting, but had to remove it shortly after I lit the candles because one of the tealights floated right over to it.  Remember, Halloween is not just about having fun.  It's about being safe as well!

For more Halloween inspiration, be sure to visit Oriental Trading Company's Halloween section!

If this Halloween centerpiece looks fun & easy, Pin It for later . . .

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Weekend Wishlist: Sydney Love Handbags, Mother/Daughter Aprons, Fall Decor, and More!

It's Friday!  That means I've been browsing the new sales on Zulily.  I love shopping on the weekends because I only pay shipping on my first order and get free shipping on everything else from Friday through midnight on Sunday.  Are you all set for Halloween?  I usually have all three of my children's costumes purchased by now.  Our 6 year old son says that he wants to just use the same werewolf costume he used last year because it was so cool and scary.  Our daughter has a whole slew of costumes to choose from in her closet.  In fact, she had a fairy costume all ready to wear to King Richard's Faire this year, but we saw a Maid Marian costume at Marshalls for a great price last week, so she'll be wearing that to the Renaissance faire instead.  Our 9 year old son wants to be a ninja this year, so that will be the only costume (plus accessories) I'll really need to buy this year.

What's new on my Zulily wishlist today?

1.  Blue & Black Gromm Beard Beanie - $14.99 (Originally $25)

2.  26" Berry & Leaf Wreath - $37.99 (Originally $90)

3.  Pumpkin Mosaic Hurricane Candleholder - $14.99 (Originally $27)

4.  Black Denim Bootcut Jeggings - $19.99 (Originally $45)

5.  Sydney Love Pewter Perforated Hobo and Cosmetic Bag - $54.99 (Originally $126)

6.  Teal Crinkle Lace Silk-Blend Infinity Scarf - $13.99 (Originally $39)

7.  Field of Dreams Loretta Apron - Women - $21.99 (Originally $35)

8.  Field of Dreams Jessica Apron - Kids - $13.99 (Originally $20)


If you haven't already, be sure to checkout my post "6 Tips for Shopping on Zulily"!  What's on your weekend wishlist from Zulily or somewhere else?

Getting Ready for #Halloween with Party City Decorations and Kids Costumes

There's a week and a half left until Halloween and I am happy to report that we are all ready for the holiday.  Our decorations are up, we have cool goodie bags to hand out to the trick-or-treaters, and our children have settled on their costumes.

Last year for Halloween, we had put luminaries in the windows.  This year, we wanted to do something fun and slightly spooky, but not so spooky that the young children in the neighborhood would be scared by the decorations.  I ended up choosing two items from Party City for the door and two more for the window.  On the door, we have the 17" Vacuform Keep Out Sign (only $.99) and the 34" Shackles on Chain (for $4.99), which are actually a costume prop.  In our window, we made a display with a 21" Small Fabric Ghost (only $2.99) and a 12' Metal Link Chain.  If you have a ghost, you have to have chains for it to rattle, right?

We have 30 Magic Wand Goodie Bags waiting to be handed out to the trick-or-treaters.  We made those using Wizard of Waverly Wands ($2 per 4pk), Spider Party Bags ($1.99 per 15pk), Spider Rings ($1.29 per 30pk), and the Charms Candy Carnival Assortment ($9.99 for approx. 150pcs).  You can find the instructions for making them here.  I do want to note that, although the description for the bag of candy says "approximately 150 pieces of candy", there were really only about 100 pieces.  I used 3 pieces in each of the 30 goodie bags and only had just less than 10 pieces leftover.

We were also sent the Party City Exclusive Boys Brave Crusader Costume along with another mass market crusader costume.  When it came time for the boys to choose which costume they wanted to wear to King Richard's Faire earlier this month, they immediately chose the Party City costume.  It really was not a tough choice because that costume had so much more detail, such as a cape, gauntlets, structured boot coverings, and a sash.  My only complaint is about the gauntlets.  The same size gauntlets came with both the size Medium and the size Large costumes, so the fingers were far too long for our 5-1/2 year old son.  Also, part of the seam on one of the fingers started to come apart on our 8-1/2 year old's glove, but I was able to repair it after the fair.

Here are the boys in the mass market costumes.  Their first complaint was that the extremely large paper tags inside were itchy, so we had to remove them right away.  Aside from being a little long, the costume looks okay on our 5-1/2 year old son, but it just does not look tailored.  A huge problem we came across was that the hood and the boot coverings were the same size in both costume sizes, except this time they were both the smaller size.  Our 8-1/2 year old could barely get the hood on and it was uncomfortably tight.  The boot coverings only covered 2/3 of his shoes and kept falling down because they are unstructured.

We also received a Girls Deluxe Rainbow Fairy Costume (also a Party City Exclusive) plus a mass market version for our daughter.  Again, the Party City costume was far more detailed and included sequined-trimmed wings that attached with Velcro, sequin trim on the attached tulle tutu, leg warmers, arm puffs, and a headband.  This costume seemed to run a little large compared to other costumes.  The elastic on the arm puffs were not tight enough to stay up on their own on my daughter's upper arms.  I ended up pulling them over her shoulders instead.  I also had to bring the straps together at the back of the costume because the bodice was sitting too low on her.  I should mention that this costume is a dress and does not have a built-in leotard.  I really thought that the tulle trim on the neckline and the tulle arm puffs would irritate my daughter's skin, but she said that they were not itchy at all.  I do wish that this costume came with a matching wand because the colors and look of this costume are pretty specific.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

The mass market rainbow fairy costume was sized for 3 to 5 year old girls.  My daughter would not have been able to fit into it if she was a half an inch taller or wider.  This costume is a leotard style and also does not come with a wand.  Our daughter actually liked the look of this costume better because it is wispy and had flowers and gems on it.  The other one is more bold and modern.  The mass market costume came with a separate pair of fairy wings that hooked around her shoulders with elasticized straps.  I could not for the life of me get the wings to sit straight.  They kept tipping no matter how I tried to bend them to balance them out.  Quality-wise the Party City costume is better hands down, but our daughter preferred the softer look of the other costume.  Personally, I think the Party City costume is perfect for Halloween and the mass market costume would be more practical for dressing up during pretend play.

What do you have left to do to get ready for Halloween?  Checkout the party supplies, decorations, and costumes at your local Party City store and on www.PartyCity.com, who is now offering 25% off all Halloween merchandise plus Free 3-Day on orders of $60 or more.


Thank you to Party City for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon.

An All in One Pumpkin Carving Kit

Pumpkin Masters is one of the leaders in pumpkin carving tools for Halloween. Their new All-in-One Kids Carving Kit has all the tools and decorations your children need to carve a fun, scary, or altogether unique pumpkin. Kids can create dozens of pumpkin designs with this kit which includes 12 patterns with instructions, 12 foam stickers for added fun, 8 teeth and eye inserts, 3 tools for removing seeds and carving, one battery-operated light, and a crayon.

I thought my kids would enjoy carving the pumpkins since we do it every year, but this year they were oddly uninterested, so I ended up doing most of it myself with the help of a friend. They loved the finished product, but not so much the act of doing it. These tools are great for children because they aren’t sharp enough to really injure them badly and they are easy to use.

Once we got going, the Pumpkin Masters tools worked very well and we had it done pretty quickly. I’m not a crafty person and pumpkin carving definitely requires a level of craftiness that I lack, so mine’s not perfect but it looks really nice lit up. This is not the first time we’ve used Pumpkin Masters carving kits and it won’t be the last because they are very handy tools for getting kids in on the pumpkin carving fun.

You can see Pumpkin Masters products on their website, www.pumpkinmasters.com, and they can be bought at most major mass retailers, including grocery and drug stores.


Thank you to Pumpkin Masters for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

My Photos (W/E 10-8-11)

It's starting to look a lot like autumn around here.  The air is no longer humid and temperatures dropped down to the 30's at night last week.  Of course, today it's in the mid-80's.  That's what we get for living in New England, right?

(Click any photo to enlarge)

"Night Owl"

"Flowers for the Dinner Table"

Thank you for taking the time to view my photos this week! If you'd like to play along or see more great photos, stop by to see Lotus a.k.a. Sarcastic Mom.

Lighting Up the Night with Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries

Since we live in a townhouse community, we need to abide by some strict rules about decorating the outside of our home.  We are allowed to put up outdoor lights for the holidays, but aside from hanging or placing potted plants at our front and back steps, that is about all we are allowed to do.  That is why, in addition to hanging something on our doors, I have been focusing on window decorations the past few years, whether they be decorations to sit on our windowsills, to hang from the curtain rod, or to cling to the glass panes.  That way our home can look festive from the outside without breaking any of the community guidelines.

This year, we have one of the Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries in three of our first floor windows.  I chose the Pumpkin, because every home needs a Jack-o-Lantern on Halloween, and the Skeleton because I thought my children would think he was spooky, but in a fun way.  I have a thing for owls, so I also chose the Owl Luminary, which I found to be adorable.  If you can believe it, of the 3 luminaries, my children thought the was the creepiest.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

These luminaries are made of paper maché and then hand painted with touches of glitter added here and there.  They are said to be water-resistant, so you could place them outdoors for a few hours Halloween night.

Of the 3 luminaries, the Skeleton fit best on our windowsill.  The back of the Owl protruded a little bit, but the  back of the Pumpkin overhung the edge of the sill by a few inches.  Still, as long as they were not disturbed, all the luminaries stayed put just fine.

Since these luminaries were not meant to use with real candles, I tried using electronic tealights inside them.  The battery-operated tealights I had did not seem bright enough, so we ended up placing a mini flashlight in each luminary.  The flashlights did a great job illuminating the insides enough so that there was light showing through all the openings, even the ones on the front of the owl's body.  You could also try other types of flameless lights, such as glow sticks.

I am very pleased with how these PBK Luminaries look in our windows.  They are large enough so that they can still be seen even though our first floor windows are slightly high off the ground.  I also find them to be festive and fun for the children without giving the false impression that we run a daycare or a nursery school in our home, as some window decorations sometimes do.

To view the full line of Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries, visit PotteryBarnKids.com.  You can also look for them in your local Pottery Barn Kids store, but quantities and selection will vary by location.


Thank you to Pottery Barn Kids for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon.