Countdown to Halloween With CTMH's-Cricut Artistry and 50 Fun Family Activities!

*** This is the first of a two-part post.  The video and Artistry measurements will be in the next post. ***

CTMH Artistry Halloween "Ornaments"

It may seem a little strange to post this in August but there is a method to my madness. Really. It isn't just madness! First up, any holiday that by its very existence encourages chocolate consumption in copious amounts is going to rank as one of the top Best Days of the Year. As a Type A Personality, I am required to plan ahead and I don't want to give short shrift to anything that may have something to do with eating yummy things... so it is either a genetic flaw or an unfounded fear of missing out on Hershey's Harvest Miniatures that must have prompted this early Halloween project.  Regardless, I can not help myself. Plus, I want to give you the entire month of September to get your Halloween mojo on. :-)

Halloween marketing has extended the Autumnal Eating Season by several extra weeks because every store has themed candy by mid-September.  Actually, Costco usually has Halloween candy in August but I am trying to avoid the center section of the store until at least the first week of September so I don't know if it is in, yet.  

And since, apparently, this post has become all about me and not so much about Halloween, there is yet another reason for this seemingly early-in-the-season post.  That bit has to do with my forgetfulness, which is getting worse as I age. It occurred to me that if I link recipes to my list of activities posted below, it will be easier for me to find them later! If I remember to look here.

Pumpkin Scones with Crystalized Ginger and Candied Pineapple

Yesterday, I made three practice batches of pumpkin scones with different add-ins. This was a taste-test kind of activity so that I can be prepared to make the 'real ones' in October, based upon which were the best received by my taste-testing-panel.  As I make things or find good references to the items below, I will link them. Check back for updated links.

Rat cut from CTMH's Artbooking Cricut Collection

Here is my list of 50 Activities to help pass the time as we "Countdown To Halloween"

Trick Or Treat Activity Center Vignette

1. Make a popcorn “hand” in a glove with candycorn fingers
2. Bob for apples
3. Carve a pumpkin
4. Make a paperbag monster
5. Make a Halloween card
6. Make a paper plate mask
7. Make and eat apple, marshmallow, peanut butter mouths
8. Make ghosts from tissues
9. Make breadstick or cookie “fingers” with almonds for nails
10. Make a tag for a small gift – such as a caramel apple
11. Make caramel apples
12. Make leaf prints
13. Bind prints into a stick and rubberband book
14. Make frozen banana “ghosts”
15. Make peeled clementines into miniature pumpkins
16. Make pipecleaner spiders
17. Make pumpkin scones - King Arthur recipe here
18. Make Babybel cheese monsters - lots of images here
19. Do temporary tattoos (Martha Stewart has some here) or face painting
20. Do the “Monster Mash” - YouTube to the rescue! 
21. Read a spooky story
22. Tell ghost stories
23. Decorate sugar cookies - favorite chocolate sugar cookie recipe here
24. Design a Halloween Coat of Arms
25. Watch a Halloween movie or show
26. Visit a graveyard – the older, the better
27. Collect pinecones
28. Rake leaves and jump in the pile
29. Have black spaghetti for supper
30. Read The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
31. Make Pumpkin donut holes or mini donuts - recipe here
32. Make Halloween party favor candy bags
33. Make a Halloween Garland or Banner
34. Make cat and rat (or mouse) black cardstock silhouettes for placing at baseboards
35. Make a spooky gingerbread house
36. Make tootsie pop ghosts or pumpkins
37. Make dough monsters
38. Die cut or cut out bats from different papers for a “specimen” board
39. Make bats for window decorations
40. Make puff paint spiders for windows or walls
41. Make milk jug luminarias
42. Make a spiderweb watercolor resist
43. Make a spiderweb with a marble in a pie tin and white paint on black paper
44. Make mummy cupcakes
45. Make mini donut spiders
46. Make rice krispie treat monsters
47. Make paper ghost favor bags
48. Make shrunken heads from apples
49. Take a neighborhood stroll to see decorations
50. Practice evil cackles and find household items for spooky sound effects

Activity Jar For Halloween

After brainstorming ideas and doing some Google searches I typed up the list of activities. Then I printed the ideas onto regular paper, cut out each item and glued each one to a fun diecut shape from the Artistry Collection. The cute shapes were easy to assemble and fit perfectly in the cute pumpkin jar I bought last year.

Halloween Tree

The plan is that my daughter will choose either an activity (Trick?) or a candy Treat each of the first 30 days of October. If she chooses an activity, then we will take the diecut (which sort of looks like an ornament) and hang it on our old Thanksgiving Tree. Which, I guess, is now a Halloween Tree. Kind of a two-for-one decorating scheme. If you'd like more information about it, the Thanksgiving Tree post from several years ago is here.

In the next post (Part 2) I will give all of the cuts and sizes along with a quick video showing the assembled cuts.

Glass pumpkin candy dish can be found on Amazon.

Thanks for stopping by!
Beverly