CRAFTASTIC: DIY Halloween Decor the Kiddos Can Make!

Day 19 of GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH brings a fun craft you can make with your kids - Bagel Witches from Pizzazzerie!

Are they fabulous or what?  And they're so easy to make using bagels, pretzels, candy and some embellishments.

Get the full how to HERE at Pizzazzerie.

And while we're talking Halloween projects, here are the pictures of the crafts from my visit to The Martha Stewart show last week.  This Glittered Candy Garland is made from Styrofoam and glitter and is a simple way to spookify your house.

And the Candy Wrapper House is a great post-Halloween project since you'll probably have lots of candy wrappers lying around!

Images: Pizzazzerie & Martha Stewart

Can You Spare a Click?

Or two actually.

I'm so honored that AFOMFT is a finalist in the WHO'S WHO FOR 2010 Blog Awards!

AFOMFT is nominated for BEST BABY/KID/FAMILY BLOG along with four other fabulous sites.  If you love AFOMFT, I would really appreciate it if you would click THIS LINK to vote.  There's a list of all of the blogs nominated in five categories that you should totally check out too.  I'm sure you'll find some new favorites.  And guess what?  Everyone who votes is eligible to win prizes too!  Just enter your Twitter ID before you submit your ballot and you'll be entered to win.  If you don't have a Twitter account, just type n/a into that box and your votes will still count.  And that's not all - if AFOMFT wins our category or BLOGGER OF THE YEAR, we'll be giving away our prizes to one of you!

And one more huge favor.  The voting at Top Baby Blogs has reset and we'd love to get AFOMFT into the Top 10 again!  And if we do, we'll have a great giveaway worth more than $200.  To vote, just click the banner below and then the "Cast Your Vote" graphic and you're done.

You can vote for both the WHO'S WHO Blog Awards and Top Baby Blogs once per day per IP address so if you have multiple computers or can vote from your phone, you can tally more than one vote per day.

I know all of this must seem silly but being in the top 10 on Top Baby Blogs and winning Blog Awards helps me draw bigger companies to AFOMFT which means better discounts and giveaways for all of you.  Thanks so much for your continued support!

DEAL ALERT: Sales Around the Web

Here are a few great deals you can score this week!

At The Mini Social:

Toys and Puzzles from Mudpuppy from $4!  My favorites?  This Sporty Girl Magnetic Dolls set:

And the Where the Wild Things Are First Puzzle.

While you're at The Mini Social, check out their Crocs sale too!  Prices start at $15 for boys and girls styles.

At Zulily:

You can score Rockabye Rockers at 40% off!  My girls got two of them for their birthday and they LOVE them.  There are lots of styles to choose from.  My picks?  The bi-plane.

And ladybug.

Zulily also has great clothing from Wild Mango in infant, toddler and boys sizes.

As well as for girls too.

And last but not least, it's Buy More, Save More time at The Children's Place!  Spend $40 and save 15% with code SAVE15, spend $50 and save $20 with code SAVE20 and spend $60 or more and save 25% with code SAVE25 online.  Get the same savings in store, no coupon needed!  Get your holiday shopping done early.

If you're not already a member at The Mini Social or Zulily, please use the links within this post so I get referral points.  Thanks!

CRAFTASTIC: Fast & Easy DIY Treats!

Need a bunch of treats to hand out to your child's class or a bunch of co-workers?  Staci at Lizard & Ladybug has the perfect solution.  All you need are some white and black napkins, lollipops, ribbon, a sharpie and some monster faces (she cut them out of Germ-X ads in magazines but you could print them out from Clip Art too).

And in no time, you'll have some ghosts and alien pops!

Use different color napkins for more options, too, like orange for pumpkins, green for Frankenstein.... you get the drift!

Thanks to Staci for sharing this fun craft.  Check out Lizard & Ladybug for lots more haunting Halloween ideas.  I love her decked out mantle!

Images: Lizard & Ladybug

I featured a round up of terrifying sweet treats earlier in GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH, so today I'm going to share some savory dishes you can serve at a spooky soiree or to celebrate with your little ones.

Let's start with something for the kids.  What child wouldn't love a Ghostly Pizza?

You'll have to fight to keep their hands out of Martha Stewart's Dirt and Worms.

And they'll be all about carving into this Mummy Meatloaf from The Knead for Speed!

These Jack-O-Lantern Sandwiches would be perfect for lunch or brunch.

And so would these Ghosts of Monte Cristo sandwiches from Martha Stewart.

Any sandwich would be that much scarier - oops, I mean tastier - with some Eye-Popping Soup.

Add some Snake Breadsticks for an extra fright!

Martha Stewart has some amazing recipes for a buffet for grown up ghouls.   From Black Bat Wings:

And Spinach Ricotta Skulls:

To Guacamoldy and Creature Chips:

And Ladies Fingers and Men's Toes....

These dishes will leave your guests screaming.... for more!

Images: My Recipes, Martha Stewart, The Knead for Speed & Woman's Day

Get Spooked at CSN Stores!

If you read AFOMFT regularly, you've seen me mention CSN Stores before.  They're a collection of more than 200 websites that sell pretty much everything under the sun.  Need a drop leaf table?  CSN Stores has you covered.  What about new bath toys?  They've got those too.  Kitchen gadgets, fire pits, tricycles, bedside lamps - you name, CSN Stores has it.

So what does this have to do with GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH?  CSN Stores also has a super fun collection of Halloween goodies.  From costumes:

And serving pieces:

To baking kits:

And outdoor decorations:

There's a spooktacular selection  to choose from.  And I've got great news - we'll be having a giveaway for a $75 credit to CSN Stores at the beginning of November.  There's nothing scary about that!

Images: CSN Stores

Bowling for Boos!

Today's GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH feature is all about knocking the ghouls down in Pumpkin Bowling!

When I saw this great game from Kimbo at A Girl and a Glue Gun, I couldn't wait to share it.  She decorated ten old formula cans with all sorts of Halloween designs - you can print some out from online, or use stickers or even coloring books - and filled each one with a piece of candy or other prize.  Then she let her kids bowl with a little gourd....

And whatever they knocked over, they got to keep!  So fun, right?  I'm sure my girls would just love knocking the tins over, which means I could keep the candy for myself! 

For more details and so many more fantastic projects, visit A Girl and a Glue Gun.  Happy bowling!

Images: A Girl and A Glue Gun

AND THE WINNER IS....

Congratulations EMILY SIMMONS!  You've won a set of 12 color-your-own sippy cups! 

You can personalize them so many ways - like these for Halloween.

Please e-mail me at afomft@gmail.com by end of day Monday, October 18th to claim your prize. If I do not hear from you by then, a new winner will be chosen. 

Boo-worthy Beverages! {FREEBIE}

Whether you're throwing a party or just hanging with your family, Centsational Girl has a frighteningly fun way to incorporate some spookiness into your Halloween.

How creepy cool are those juice and soda bottle labels?  And there are lots more where they came from!  You can get them for water bottles:

And juice boxes too!

Want something for the grown up ghouls?  Centsational Girl has it covered.  Beer drinkers can pick their poison from the choices below.

Wicked winos have their own assortment.

And if you want to be haunted by hard alcohol, these potions should do the trick.

To make your own boo-rific beverage labels, Centsational Girl has a full tutorial on her site but she's also made the ones she created available for download!  Get the Ghoulish Grown Up Set HERE and the Kid-Friendly Set HERE and give your drinks a little Halloween kick.

Images: Centsational Girl

It's a Party with Martha!

This where I was at 8:30 this morning.  In my pajamas.

Why, you ask?  I was invited to the taping for The Martha Stewart Show's slumber party episode and everybody there - including Martha herself - had to be dressed for the occasion.  Believe me when I tell you I had quite the debate over which PJ's of mine were worthy of today's excursion.  I finally settled on a pink flannel pair with donuts all over them.  Who doesn't love donuts, right?  Here I am with "Martha" before the show.

I've been to quite a few talk show tapings and honestly, the Martha Stewart Show set is the biggest and nicest one I've seen.  We were allowed to take pictures before the show started so here are a few peeks.  This is the view from my seat of the kitchen area and the beds set up for the slumber party:

A witch flying through the studio:

They have a water tower, which is very NYC.

The crafting area was all decked out for Halloween (I know - it's far away, but I told you the set was big!):

And I love these cream pumpkins and gourds lining the staircase.

Here are some of the cutie pies who got to take off school to be part of the party.  They were all adorable!

 
And this is me pre-show.  Yup, that would be in the front row! 

Remember when I said everyone had to be dressed in their sleepover finest?  When Martha came out, she was wearing some fabulous silk animal print pajamas and I adore the fact that she paired them with Manolo Blahnik slingbacks.  No slippers for this fashionista!

And then it was show time.  The episode revolved around a slumber party that Darcy Miller, the editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings, had thrown for her daughter's fifth birthday party.  I've been a huge fan of Darcy's for years.  I love her sense of style and even modeled the invitations for our wedding on the ones from hers, so it was no surprise that I was totally impressed and inspired by the attention to detail she put into the slumber party she planned for Ella.  

Darcy set the tone for the celebration by making the cutest invitations - little illustrated pictures of Emma that she tucked into vertical envelopes to look like sleeping bags.  The night of the sleepover, the 20 guests got to participate in activities galore.  There were personalized pillowcases and flashlights to decorate, goodnight journals and bookmarks to create, Mad Libs to write and giant books to read.  I think my favorite activity was the "Pin the Bear on the Ella" game, where the girls were blindfolded (with sleep masks, natch!) and had to tape a paper bear onto a blown up illustration of Ella.  Here's a look at what the poster looked like:

You can download this image to use at your own slumber party and get all of the details for the crafts and activities at MarthaStewart.com. 

Darcy talked about how all of the food at the party was cut into moon, star and teddy bear shapes to tie in with the invitations and graphics, and one of my favorite moments of the show was when Martha oohed and ahhed over a bowl of Teddy Grahams.  Apparently, she'd never seen them before.  It's nice to know that I have something in my pantry that can impress Martha should she ever stop by!

After Darcy's segment, Bobbi Brown came out to talk about beauty tips for teenagers and Dylan Lauren from Dylan's Candy Bar, one of my favorite places in NYC, created Candy Wrapper & Bubblegum Houses with Martha.  (How cute are her candy PJ's, by the way?)

The houses were super cute and a great craft project for kids.  Dylan has a new book out, which we all got a copy of, called "Unwrap Your Sweet Life" and it's filled with terrific ideas for how to decorate and celebrate lots of different holidays and occasions with candy.  And the tips aren't just for kiddie parties - the Halloween section has the recipes for Black Widow and Vampire Cosmo drinks, which look like must tries for any grown up fright night festivities!

If you read AFOMFT regularly, you know it's GET YOUR GHOUL ON! MONTH and you're probably wondering what slumber parties have to do with Halloween.  Well, not to fear!  Martha shared a frighteningly fun craft that fits the bill - a Glittered "Candy" Garland.

Can you believe that's made from Styrofoam?  It's so simple to make - just coat some Styrofoam with white glue and then sprinkle on glitter!  Okay, there are a few more steps than that (one of which involves cupcake liners - I know you're intrigued now!), but you get the gist.  Get the full how to HERE.

I promise to have better shots of all of the crafts tomorrow but in the meantime, if you missed The Martha Stewart Show this morning, the slumber party episode re-airs tonight at 8:00 EST/PST on the Hallmark Channel and can be found online at MarthaStewart.com.  Be sure to look for the chick in front row sporting pink donut PJ's!

Images: AFOMFT & Martha Stewart