Halloween is almost here!  Do you have your candy all picked out and stashed away?  What about the costumes?  All set? Just in case you need a last minute Halloween costume on a budget, I’ve got 5 tips and tricks to help you out.

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tip #1

1. Pajamas.  How easy would it be to turn this set of Batman pajamas into a costume?! All you need is a mask, the pajamas come with a cape! And the purple girly version is an option too if your little lady wants to be The Dark Knight for a night. And bonus: your little one can wear these for more than just a single night (or a couple of nights if you’re a bit of a party animal).  Just add a mask and ta-da!

We found a Chewbacca pajama set – similar to this one – that Little J wore last year. The costume was pretty simple and didn’t need much added to it, so we concentrated on face make up instead and it turned out awesome. And Little J still wears those pajamas at least once a week – 1+ years later!! Totally worth it!

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tip #2

2. Sweats. You can turn sweat pants into almost anything. Seriously. Some of our best Halloween costumes EVER have been glorified sweats. And they all turned out incredibly cute. It doesn’t get more comfortable than sweats and they are warm too. Perfect for little ones and trick or treating. If you do it right, they can wear them again or just add them to the dress up stash. Sneak peek of our sweats costumes:

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tip #3

3. Raid the closet. You would be surprised what you have already in your closets. Big J insisted on being a scarecrow when he was 3. Yes, a scarecrow. I didn’t want to have to buy a scarecrow costume… when was that ever going to get used again? After going through his closet, and attaching a few embellishments, he was a pretty darn cute little scarecrow… for FREE!  That same year, Little J was a dinosaur made from a one-piece pajama set he already had in his closet, a bit of felt, hot glue and a couple googly eyes.  If my husband hadn’t re-organized the server and hidden our family photos somewhere, I’d show you… Completely FREE costumes and everything came out of our closets!

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tip #4

4. Only buy accessories.  A full Halloween costume can be pricey!  And, even late in the game, you don’t have to cough over the big bucks or settle for what ever is left to have a great costume.  Use what you have and only buy the extras.  When Big J was two, he was a cowboy for Halloween.  He already had jeans, a button-down shirt, a bandanna and shoes that passed as boots.  We found a costume set for $10 that had a soft hat, chaps, and a vest.  Because his costume only cost us $10 we decided to splurge on a $20 stick horse that made the costume. The hat, vest and chaps are now in our dress up box and the stick horse is still used as a weapon toy at least once a week.

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tip #5

5. Buy things you’ll be able to wear after you use them as a Halloween costume.  This year, Mr. Napping and I needed costumes that matched.  Do you know how hard it is to find matching clothes in men’s and women’s sizes?!  And Mr. Napping is three sizes bigger than me…  We both ended up getting a new pair of pants and a matching men’s shirt, but we can wear the pants after Halloween and Mr Napping says he’ll wear the shirt too.  My shirt will probably get turned into a kid-sized apron after Halloween.  While this is a little more expensive, you’ll get use out of it for more than one or two nights.

And there you have it.  How we keep our Halloween costumes in our budget and make excuses for what expense we do incur. Halloween was never a big holiday in my home while I was growing up. I can count on one hand the number of times I went actual Trick-or-treating. I don’t want my kids to miss out on all the fun of Halloween. We did our first family themed costumes a few years ago – #2 and #5 are the methods I used to put these together…

How do you keep Halloween costumes in your budget?

The post 5 Ways to Get a Great Last Minute Halloween Costume {on a Budget} appeared first on While He Was Napping.

Are you looking for some new October traditions? Does the witching hour seem to hit even harder once the weather starts to chill? Do you want to celebrate this month but don’t know how to squeeze it in? Then this Halloween Countdown Printable Boredom Jar will be a great addition to your October!

WHO IS THE HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN PRINTABLE BOREDOM JAR FOR?

In less than 30 minutes and with just a handful of materials, you’ll have a whole bunch of fun activities to celebrate this month that you can grab when you need it most. Are you:

• looking for some fun new traditions?
• just trying to keep the kids from demolishing the house?
• fighting to keep cool and sane until bedtime?
• making family time a priority this month?

Don’t miss out on all the fun that October has to offer with this fun project the kids can help put together and then use when you need a little fun and family time or a few minutes with the kids occupied.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN PRINTABLE BOREDOM JAR:

Materials Needed:

• Clean jar or other container to store the activity slips
• FREE download of my KIDS’ HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY JAR
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Tape or glue to adhere the label to the jar

Directions:

• Print out the Halloween Jar Activities.
• Cut out each colored rectangle and the square jar label with the scissors or paper cutter.
• Fold each activity in half or in fourths, whichever you prefer, and put them in the jar.
• Apply the label to the outside of the jar and you’re all set for some Halloween fun!

WANT MORE HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN FUN?

This set includes 10 activities plus the jar label – perfect for a weekend activity or those after school evenings when there’s just a little too much free time, the weather is a little too chilly or you need something to entertain the kiddos for a little bit. If you’d like to download the entire set – which contains 36 activities+a blank template to write in your own traditions and activities. Full set also includes updated labels and full printable instructions – you can get it in my Etsy shop.

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We are no strangers to the sweet tooth in our house. I’ve always had a sweet tooth. which is absolutely the reason I bake more than I cook… but I do try to limit the amount of sugar my kids inhale. And once the holiday season begins, the sweet stuff seems to be everywhere! But these Halloween treats have made apples irresistible and crackers are the new cool snack! Check out these {healthy} Halloween treats from around the web.

10 HALLOWEEN TREATS – THAT AREN’T CANDY!

How insanely adorable are these Silly Apple Monsters found on Fork and Beans?! Protein, fresh fruit and a little sweet treat make these the perfect snack!

These Cracker & Pretzel Spiders via La Jolla Mom are a HUGE hit with the whole family. They are quick, yummy and only 4 ingredients. Can’t beat that!

My kids devour olives like they are life-giving. This Olive Snake via Cute Food for Kids is one of their very favorites. They will even make olive snakes themselves before they eat the olives. These are super fun and delicious with salads.

Cute & Delicious! When I was pregnant with my oldest I craved fresh fruit and veggies. To this day, the kid will still choose broccoli over cookies most of the time. This Veggie Skeleton via Clairey Hewitt would completely make his day. How could you not love eating this?

While my boys aren’t ones that love vegging out on carrot sticks, these Witch Carrot Fingers via Mom on Time Out are just innocently morbid enough that my boys think it’s hilarious to hold the carrots at their knuckle joints and pretend they are eating their (or each other’s…) fingers off. Boys.

My boys struggled a little with these Pumpkin Deviled Eggs via Foodista, simply because they were a little too spicy for their delicate little palates. However, Mr. Napping thought they were just absolutely amazing. He may or may not have eaten half a dozen eggs in one sitting. Whole eggs. Better than a bag of potato chips, though, right?!

This Monster Eye Dip with Monster Apple Mouths via 30 Handmade Days is the ultimate after school snack for my kids. Between the monster eyes, the apple mouths and the fact that they are both delicious it is a no-brainer and a total winner at our house. Yum!

I’m not one that loves hot dogs, but it’s one of those things that is super easy to fix and I know my kids will eat it. Especially if it looks like a bug. This Hot Dog Centipede via Cute Food for Kids is always a favorite quick and easy lunch for my boys. It works wonders when they are going through a phase that makes getting them to eat anything so difficult.

These Clementine Pumpkins & Banana Ghosts via One Little Project are some of my favorite Halloween treats. I don’t love celery, but I don’t even mind it with a tasty clementine. And the chocolate with the banana… mmm, yum! Besides, these are super easy and quick to make and a great way to get my kids to eat a little more fruit.

(as mentioned on One Little Project, I couldn’t track down the original source for this idea.  Almost every pin or google image I looked at was the same photo – not this photo though – but they all linked to different sites.  So, I choose this tutorial since Debbie has such a great set of directions.)

HALLOWEEN CAN BE HEALTHY… OR AT LEAST HEALTHIER

While my kids love fruits and veggies, and it’s usually not a fight to get my boys to eat them, they still REALLY like candy too. Despite my best efforts, I’m sure they will still eat their weight in candy this month, and in cookies and goodies in the months to come. But, at least (maybe? hopefully?) I can get a few good Halloween treats in them too with these super cute Halloween treat ideas and a little less fight to satisfy their sweet teeth (sweet teeth?) …  The simplicity of most of these are winners in my book.

The post 10 Halloween Treats That Aren’t Candy appeared first on While He Was Napping.

Everyone is cranky and snappy and whiny. And it’s only 6:11pm.

I’ve found that the best way to deal with this is to distract my kids.  If they are busy doing something, they aren’t fighting.

Usually.

If they aren’t fighting, I can cross a couple things off my to-do list. Like the the dishes or picking up toys or laundry. There’s always laundry.

This play dough has been my go-to lately. It’s fun, it’s easy and it smells amazing. Sure, it dries your hands out a bit, but that’s just the excuse you were looking for to give yourself a little DIY mani after the kids are in bed, right?

PUMPKIN SPICE PLAY DOUGH

 

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough Ingredients

• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• extra flour (I added about another 1/2 cup)
• orange food coloring (I used red and yellow)

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the salt, water, flour, and spice over low medium heat. Stir to combine. Texture should be like glue.
   
2. Turn off the heat and add the food coloring to get the shade you desire. I put in about 15 yellow drops and about 10 red drops. You can adjust the ratio to your liking.
   
3. Mix until well combined and texture is smooth.
4. Add additional flour, approximately 1/4 cup at a time and mix until the paste becomes a dough. It should form a ball and be slightly difficult to stir.
   
5. Remove from heat and let the dough cool a bit. It will be hot.
6. Sprinkle flour generously on counter top and, as soon as the play dough is cool enough to handle, dump the dough on the floured counter top and knead in the flour until it is no longer sticky. Keep adding flour until you reach your desired consistency.
   

Tips & Tricks to get the most out of your Pumpkin Spice Play Dough

The post The Best Pumpkin Spice Play Dough Ever appeared first on While He Was Napping.

Want some fun craft projects for you? These Halloween projects are some of my very favorite projects I’ve ever done. Seriously. I’m glad Halloween is at the end of the month so I get to enjoy them for 31 whole days.

Looking for kid activities to do with the kids this month? We’ve got some fun ones (#9 has been a TOTAL hit this year! I had to make another set so my little ones would stop fighting over it!).

And, of course, there’s some fun snacks to help you celebrate this month.

13 HALLOWEEN PROJECTS

HALLOWEEN PROJECTS FOR YOU

#1. DIY Spell Books with 12 Spells. For several years, I had dreamed of creating some spell books. I want to be able to open up the books and to even have spells in them. I got the project done a couple years ago and it is still one of my favorite Halloween decorations. 

#2. Life-Size Witch’s Broom. You’ve got the spell books, but what about the broom? This project is practically free and you can find all your supplies while you’re out for a walk. The kids can help with this one too!

#3. No-Sew Witch’s Hat. Finish up your witchy collection with this no-sew DIY hat that you can really wear. It’s a great afternoon project that will really kick up your witchy ways this Halloween.

#4. DIY Potion Bottles. Whether you use these with your spell books or because you have a mad scientist, you’re gonna love these potion bottles. The best part is coming up with what to put in each bottle and what to call it. Don’t worry, there’s a list of suggestions if you get stuck.

#5. Directional Halloween Sign. This was a project I did last year and didn’t get to show off nearly as much as I wanted to. I love the color on this sign and all the fun street names. It’s definitely set up camp in my flower bed for the month.

HALLOWEEN PROJECTS FOR THE KIDS

#6. Slime. This is one of my boys’ favorite activitites and they love it when we creep in up just a bit for Halloween. Add plastic spiders, creepy crawers or have a contest to see who can hold the most slime for the longest.

#7. Monster Mash Munchies Mix Printable Snack Labels. A fun way to give our your Halloween goodies this year. Just print, cut and staple to the top of plastic ziptop bags for a hauntingly good treat.

#8. Halloween Bingo Printable Game. The kids will love this Halloween Bingo game and it’s FREE! Come grab your set and keep the kids entertained while you cook dinner tonight.

#9. Build a Jack-O-Lantern Printable. We love this printable because there are SO many ways to play with it. Play a game of pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, practice numbers, talk about emotions, and see how many different faces you can make. My little especially love this one.

#10. Halloween Countdown Jar Printable. Want to make some memories and maybe a few traditions too. This fun FREE printable countdown jar is super easy to put together. Just print, cut and fold. Put all your October bucket list activities in the jar or use the included ones for fun all month long.

#11. 5 Ways to Get a Great Last Minute Halloween Costume {on a Budget}. Creating costumes with the kids is the way to go! These are some of my favorite go-to ways to create costumes that don’t break the bank, whether it’s last minute or not. Way #1 is especially my favorite, I love that they can wear them for more than one night!

HALLOWEEN PROJECTS YOU CAN EAT

#12. Make Halloween Cookies. Here is a collection of 10 cookies that anyone can make. No amazing crafty, super baker skills needed. These are perfect to do with the kids… or without. They are all pretty quick and easy too!

#13. Halloween Treats That Aren’t Candy. Maybe you’re on sugar overload (or the kids are!) and you just need something that isn’t dripping with sickly sweetness. Try one of these great treats. Fun Halloween eats without the sugar rush? Yes please.

BONUS HALLOWEEN PROJECTS TO EAT:

Thirteen was too perfect a number to stop at, but these nachos are still some of my favorite Halloween food we’ve enjoyed. In fact, they are tradition in our family on Halloween night.

Spiderweb Nachos

Happy Halloween! Now, go do some celebrating!

The post 13 Spooky Fun Halloween Projects {for you and the kids!} appeared first on While He Was Napping.

LET THE HALLOWEEN PLANNER HELP YOU AVOID MY MISTAKE

Don’t let the holidays get the best of you. Put in a little bit of planning and a little bit of time and you’ll have the best Halloween ever. You won’t double book yourself, you won’t miss any costume details, you won’t forget to do any of your fun Halloween traditions. This Halloween Planner will help keep your October organized.

HOW WILL THE HALLOWEEN PLANNER KEEP YOU ORGANIZED? 

• Use the Event Tracker and calendar to keep all your commitments and events within a glance. No double bookings!
• Plan all the costume details for the whole family so everyone looks their very best.
• Make a bucket list together so you don’t forget any traditions or so you can make some new ones.
• Plan the perfect Halloween party! With 5 pages of party planning organizers, it’ll be so easy to keep track of all the details.

GET YOUR OWN HALLOWEEN PLANNER AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HOLIDAY.

Happy Halloween!

Don’t forget to add your favorite Halloween activities to your plans. Get more ideas with this Halloween Bucket List! Or check out this one to find some fun activities the kids will love to do!

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Growing up, my family didn’t celebrate Halloween much.  I remember trick-or-treating maybe a handful of times and we attended a few carnivals and Halloween parties.  But, my mom doesn’t like Halloween.  And I get that.  Well, I kinda get that.  The gore and guts, no thanks.  No thanks at all.  I like the cutesy, fun part of Halloween.  And decorating with the cutesy, fun side of Halloween makes me happy.  It’s the kick off to the holiday season!  So I put together a fun Halloween project that turned out fabulously, thanks to BEHR® MARQUEE® Interior Paint & Primer!

DIRECTIONAL HALLOWEEN SIGN

MATERIALS

– 8 ft long 1″x6″ pine board
– 6 ft long 1″x4″ pine board
– Pencil
– Square box or other square to use as a template to make your arrows
– Tape measure
– Jig saw and saw blades
– Belt Sander and/or Sandpaper
– BEHR MARQUEE paint samples in:

• Torch Red
• Birthstone
• Green Dynasty
• Lamplit
• Teal Motif
  

– BEHR PREMIUM PLUS ULTRA® Interior Paint & Primer In One in Black (I would’ve gotten this in MARQUEE as well, but the hardware store couldn’t mix the color I needed with MARQUEE.  The PREMIUM PLUS ULTRA was a great paint too.)
– Paint brushes or foam rollers (I used rollers and foam brushes)
– Newspaper or other covering to protect your work surface
– 1 1/4″ screws
– 3/32″ drill bit
– drill and screwdriver
– black vinyl
– craft cutter or craft knife
– masking tape or transfer tape
– blunt object to press down vinyl
– Polyurethane to seal boards

DIRECTIONS

MARKING THE BOARDS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– Use the square box or other square to create arrows on the board.  Line up the point of your box in the middle of the board.  Mark the point of the box to create the point of the arrow.

– Decide how long you want your arrows to be.  I made mine all different lengths: 12 inches, 16 inches, 18 inches, 20 inches, and 24 inches.  There was a little left over at the end of my board.  Measure and mark all your arrows with the box and the pencil.

CUTTING THE BOARDS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– Use the jig saw to cut the boards apart.  I let Mr. Napping do this part for me, as I hadn’t ever used the jig saw before and we were on a time limit; he was leaving on a work trip.  I didn’t want to end up missing fingers because of a lack of experience and familiarity.  Be sure to brace the board while you cut.

– After you have all your arrows cut out, sand the wood until it’s smooth.  We used a belt sander for the majority of the sanding and then I did some touch up with sandpaper before I put on a coat of paint.  Don’t skip the sanding, your paint will turn out so much better if you take the time to prep your boards.

PAINTING THE BOARDS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– Paint each board one of the five colors of the MARQUEE colors.  That’s right, no primer! The MARQUEE collection of paint has a One-Coat coverage guarantee over previously coated surfaces when tinted to any of the 372 colors in the MARQUEE Interior One-Coat Color Collection and applied to previously painted surfaces.  I was very impressed with the coverage even though the boards were not previously coated.  And not having to wait for a primer to dry was fabulous. My least favorite part about painting projects is all the waiting time between coats of paint.  The MARQUEE paint covered my project well and dried fast, which made me a happy momma because it meant I didn’t have a paint project on my kitchen counter for a week before it was completed.  There is also exterior paint available in the MARQUEE line which has some great weather-resistant properties.  If you’re new to painting, Behr has some great directions on how to correctly choose supplies, prepare and prime before you paint.

– Let the paint dry for a minimum of two hours.  Sand lightly with fine grit sand paper.  This mostly just removes any weird brush strokes or paint puddles that may have gathered and dried during that first coat so your next coat doesn’t just add to the weirdness.

– Paint another coat of paint on each board.  Let dry a minimum of two hours.
– Paint the 6-foot pine board with the black paint.  Let dry and set aside for now.

APPLYING THE VINYL FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– Cut out of black vinyl any text and graphics you want to use on your signs with a craft cutter or a craft knife.  I used my craft cutter for my signs.  You can find the links to the jpg files I used to cut from here: TEXT and GRAPHICS.  The files are formatted to 12×12 inches, as that is what fit my cutter.  You can alter the images as you need to fit the dimensions you have available.

– Weed out all the negative space from your vinyl and discard it.  I prefer to use masking tape to transfer vinyl, rather than transfer tape.  To do so, place a layer of tape over the image either from top to bottom or bottom to top until it’s covered with tape.  I find it easier to get the vinyl to stick when I’m only pulling off a small layer of tape at a time – and masking tape is usually less sticky than transfer tape, so there’s never any gooey residue left behind.  Use whatever you prefer to transfer vinyl for this part.
– Place the vinyl on the board you choose and begin removing the masking tape a layer at a time.  If the vinyl pulls back up, replace the tape and rub firmly with a blunt object (the handle of a butter knife or scissor handles work well).  Then, pull the tape up again.  It works best if you pull the tape back at a 180-degree angle.
– When the tape is removed from the vinyl, rub the vinyl down firmly with the blunt object.
– Repeat the vinyl transfer process with each board.

SEALING THE BOARDS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– Apply a thin layer of Polyurethane to each board.  I intend to use this sign indoors and only applied a single coat to the face of the board.  I didn’t seal the edges or the back.  Let dry thoroughly, overnight if possible.  Polyurethane can be a great sealant and protector once it’s dry, but it can bubble if it gets too hot, is applied too quickly or if items are placed on it before it completely dries.  So, let it dry really well.

ASSEMBLING THE SIGN FOR THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– On the BACK of the black board , lay out the arrows and arrange them however you like.  Mark the placement with your pencil.

– Turn the black board over and drill pilot holes with the drill bit.  You can drill all the way through the black board.  I decided to do two screws in each board so that the boards won’t twist or spin.

– Once you have the pilot holes drilled, you can position the boards underneath the black board and sink the screws through the black board into the arrow boards.  By working from the back of the sign, your screws will be hidden.  The boards are also thick enough you won’t need to worry about the screws poking through the front of the arrows.

DISPLAYING THE HALLOWEEN SIGN

– This sign will be used at a Halloween party and I’m simply going to set the sign up against a wall in an infrequently trafficked area.  It’s large enough to see, but hopefully it won’t get played with too much.  Because all I really need to complete my day would be my three boys running around with pointy sticks screwed to a really long stick.  It’s like the ultimate sword.  Call the Emergency Room and alert them now.  My younger sister has also asked to borrow the ultimate sword, I mean sign, for decor for a Halloween party she is co-chairing for the all the college kids at church.

So, there you have it.  A fun and cutesy Halloween sign.  No guts or gore here.  Skeleton Street is about as close as I’ll get to that.  This seems like a lot of steps, but it’s actually a really easy paint project.  Definitely something you could do in a day or two, tops.

What are you dying to do with BEHR paints?

This post is brought to you by BEHR. Color that’s True to Hue. If you feel it, you can find it. Visit True to Hue. Behr sponsored this blog post. The opinions, photos and text are all mine, honest.

The post Directional Halloween Sign with BEHR® Marquee Paint appeared first on While He Was Napping.

I’ve mentioned before that when I was growing up, we didn’t do much celebrating of Halloween. My mom doesn’t particularly like the holiday and so it was minimally recognized. One thing we did get to do, though, was BOO’ing our friends. I have three siblings and each of us would get to choose a family to BOO. Some years, we would go all out and make fun Halloween cookies and treats to share and some years it was a little more simple. But, it wasn’t really about what was in the goody baskets, it was putting them together as a family. And, of course, delivering them was the best part!

This is a tradition I wanted to share with my family now. We made three kits to share with some friends. I wanted something simple and easy. Life is busy and I just didn’t have hours to spend baking Halloween goodies. Lucky for me, MARS/Wrigley has an amazing BOO it Forward campaign going on and putting together our BOO kits was super simple.

SUPER SIMPLE PRINTABLE GAME NIGHT BOO KIT

Materials:
– BOO It Forward Printable Card for each kit
– MARS Mixed Minis Chocolate Candy Assortment (52 oz)
– MARS Chocolate Mix Fun Size Candy Assortment
– Sunkist® 8oz cans in 6pk
– Pin the Face on the Jack-O-Lantern Printable Game for each kit
– Halloween Bingo Printable Game for each kit
– Bowl or other container for each kit

PUT TOGETHER YOUR BOO IT FORWARD KITS

Directions:
– We grabbed some of our favorite goodies at Walmart: some Sunkist® soda and an assortment of delicious MARS chocolates. I also grabbed a couple of big bowls that were on clearance to stash all our loot in.

– I decided we should probably put in something else and it was Big J who thought of including the Halloween games we’ve been playing around here the last couple weeks. So, I made up a few more of the Pin the Face on the Jack-O-Lantern game and some more of the Halloween Bingo game I shared yesterday. We put them in ziptop baggies to keep them together.

– I put the minis on the bottom of the bowl.

– Then, I tucked the games at the back, just under the mini candy bars.

– Next, I stuck in two of the soda cans on each side of the bowl.

– I took the BOO It Forward printable card, folded it in half and taped it together with some fun Halloween washi tape. This will let your friends know how they can pass on the fun Halloween cheer. Cut the directions off the We’ve Been BOO’d poster and put that in with the card. Your friends can then hang the poster in their window so others will know that they have already been BOO’d once.

– Then, I put in the last can of soda and filled in the spaces with the fun size candy.

We loaded the kiddos up in the car and delivered our three baskets. Mr. Napping and the two oldest boys left the goody baskets on the doorsteps while Baby N and I stayed in the car. And just like their momma, they thought the best part was the delivery! Who could you BOO to share the Halloween spirit? Check out more awesome BOO kit ideas and get out there and share some goodies!

You can save $1.00 on TWO (2) 2L or 6pk 8oz cans of any flavor Sunkist® Soda, 7UP®, Canada Dry®, A&W®, Squirt®, or Sun Drop® by using this coupon when you purchase items for your BOO Kits! And how would you like a $1000 eGift Card to Walmart? Well, here’s your chance! Check out the widget below:
#booitforwardsweepstakes

The post BOO It Forward with the Game Night BOO Kit appeared first on While He Was Napping.

HALLOWEEN BINGO PRINTABLE GAME

HALLOWEEN BINGO MATERIALS:

– Halloween Bingo Boards Click HERE to Download
– Board Markers – I let my kids use candy pieces a couple times and they were in heaven!
– Scissors
– Laminator and laminating pouches – optional
– Halloween-themed scrapbook paper – optional
– Glue stick – optional

HALLOWEEN BINGO DIRECTIONS:

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE GAME BOARDS

1. Print the Halloween bingo game boards from the link above. It’s a single PDF file, so there’s only one file to download. Save it to your computer then open the file. There are five different game board layouts. You will need one extra board than you have players, as you’ll use one board to create the draw pile pieces. Print off the number of game boards you need, plus one extra.

CREATING THE DRAW PILE PIECES

2. If you are going to use scrapbook paper to line the back of your Halloween Bingo draw pile pieces, use the glue stick to glue the extra game board and the scrapbook paper together. Place the papers back to back and glue.

3. Cut apart the squares on the extra board you printed. If you’re not going to laminate your boards, you are now ready to play. I chose to laminate the boards for one reason: so my kids could use dry erase markers to mark off their boards and I didn’t have to supply candy or other markers every time they wanted to play. It’s a bonus that the boards are a little more protected too.

LAMINATE FOR DURABILITY

4. Turn on your laminator and let it warm up (I use and love an older version of this laminator). Place each board inside a laminating pouch, centering it in the pouch. Place the draw pile pieces, one at a time and not touching, inside a laminating pouch. Be sure there is enough space between each piece for the pouch to seal and stay sealed once you cut the pieces apart.

5. Run the pages through the laminator, one at a time. Let cool to the touch.

6. Cut the draw pile pieces apart.

READY, SET, PLAY THE HALLOWEEN BINGO WAY!

That’s it! You’re now ready to play Halloween Bingo! It’s the perfect activity for a Halloween party, in the class room or just a fun game for a laid back afternoon with the kids.

My 18 month old had a great time drawing a card and matching it to the boards. Of course, he liked the version with candy better, but I can’t blame the boy there? He definitely got my sweet tooth.

The post Halloween Bingo Printable Game appeared first on While He Was Napping.

Hey there! I’m thrilled you’re here today! Are up to your eyeballs in Halloween spirit yet?

Today, I have a fun Jack-O-Lantern printable for you. I have been trying to take more teaching moments with Little J. He doesn’t have nearly the itching desire to learn like Big J seems to and it’s been harder to take educational moments with him and it’s been frustrating.  Not to mention, I have an 18-month old who’s daily mission seems to search-and-destroy. I think he’s succeeding. Ah, well, we need to get rid of stuff before Christmas gets here anyway, right?

BUILD A JACK-O-LANTERN PRINTABLE

The post Build a Jack-O-Lantern Printable appeared first on While He Was Napping.