Despite my crazy whirlwind of catching almost every contagious illness out there over the past month, our candy lovers and dress-up aficionados have been getting ready for the big day at the end of the month – Halloween. (I am talking about Gavin and Grace – not me. Or Kenny. Although, Kenny does love candy. But not dressing up. And I know I didn’t catch every contagious illness out there, but it really felt like it! Haha.)
They love decorating for the holidays, and it’s a great activity to keep them busy on weekend mornings. It’s fun to watch their excitement as they tear through the Rubbermaid boxes that carefully store our holiday treasures until we need them next. (Ok, the fact that I just referenced my Halloween decorations as treasures is hilarious. They are totally not treasures. But you know what I mean. I apparently have a lot of pent up flowery language since I haven’t blogged in a few weeks.)
They also love making decorations. This is another great activity to keep them busy on weekend mornings or rainy afternoons at home. It’s especially awesome because it makes them so proud to see their creations adorning the walls, helping create some holiday spirit. And bonus – if the kids are making decorations, you don’t have to store more decorations to get an extra holiday vibe boost. It’s totally recyclable (Portlanders, stop reading this sentence here) or trash-able once the season ends.
Sometimes, I stress myself out about seasonal kids crafts and feel like I have to get all those foam kits, etc. from Michael’s or Target or wherever. This year, thanks to the plague, I just handed them a pack of construction paper that I got during back-to-school clearance sales and told them to have at it. And have at it they did! They raided their art supplies and made a ton of fun stuff – spooky houses, a paper pumpkin patch, foam bats, cats, ghosts, and so on. We even let them tape everything to the walls however they wanted. (Hmmmm. I am beginning to think that I can keep crafts simple – they did a GREAT job using their imaginations and stuff we already had on hand! Woo hoo! So glad I caught on to this six years in. Typical. :))
I tried a number of different things with the mantel this year. I was determined to use a burlap garland of some sort – I think it is so Fall. I tried making one, but it was SO heavy, I had no idea how I’d secure it to the mantle short of nailing it in. So, I made up my own drapey thing. And I think it works.
Luckily, I made a special trip to the Paper Source in early September (before I started getting sick) and scooped up a Happy Halloween banner. I added some ribbon to add additional interest. It still looked a little plain, so I added some burlap accents this weekend.
I think we’re done with Halloween decorating. Gavin doesn’t. He told me this week that our house looks pretty good, but it’s not spooky enough from the outside. So he wants to make some ghosts for his bedroom window. Good for him. And us – another Sunday morning with happily busy kids ahead! 🙂