Search Results for: blog ten ways to use your leftover pumpkins

Fun Ways to Work Up Your Appetite

Thanksgiving is less than a week away. For some home cooks, Turkey Day meal preps are already underway. Given how much blood, sweat and tears are shed in order to create a sumptuous holiday spread for the entire clan, it would be nice to see it completely consumed. If you are worried that your hard work in the kitchen will go unappreciated and that you’ll be stuck with enough Turkey Day leftovers to feed an army, consider getting the clan to partake in the following activities that are sure to work up their Thanksgiving appetite: Pumpkin Sweep: Give each person … Continue reading →

Simplify Halloween

And by “simplify” I mean “keep it cheap.” Fortunately, cheap doesn’t have to translate into ugly. Goodness knows my 8-year-old would just “diiiiiiiie!!” if I suggested we scale back on Halloween costumes and decor. However, like many families the world over; we live on a budget. A tight budget, that doesn’t allow us to go bat wild celebrating pagan holidays. Still, I don’t want her missing out on all of the candy-coated fun, so instead of canceling Halloween, I find frugal ways we can participate without going into debt. Here are some of the inexpensive ways we keep the holiday … Continue reading →

Get Your Turkey Day Game On

Forget about playing Pilgrims and Indians. When you can host a Pumpkin Roll or a Turkey Hunt, dressing up is not nearly as fun. With Thanksgiving just a few days away, now is the time to pluck your brain for ways to keep your pint-sized guests entertained during the holiday. Some amusing ideas to keep the fun going long after the last piece of pumpkin pie has been devoured include: Turkey Hunt: Place turkey stickers on about 20 index cards and hide them around the house. Then, send children on a hunt to find the turkey cards. Award the player … Continue reading →

Non Scary Alternatives to Halloween Candy

Candy is makes the top three of what kids think of when they think Halloween. Who doesn’t remember nights of eating so much Halloween candy it made you sick? What about all the Halloween candy that sticks around until Christmas? Even after the trick or treating ends the treating one to sweets does not. While we can overlook our kids eating a bit more candy one night a year, we cannot overlook indulgence which can be unhealthy or that lasts until the New Year. So we need to limit the candy without limiting the fun. Alternatives to Giving Candy: I … Continue reading →

Corn Crafts with Preschoolers

Fall – the season of corn, pumpkins, and leaves. It’s also a season resplendent with orange, red, yellow, and black crafts – handprint turkeys, anyone? One of my very favorite parts of early fall is the corn. I love eating it, I love the look of the yellow kernels, and I love corn silk, especially after it’s been dried. What kinds of crafts can you do with corn? Decorative corn is great for crafting, both for centerpieces and for play. With the husks and the silk of everyday eating corn, you can also make some fantastic creations. Here are some … Continue reading →

Frugal Month in Review: October 2008

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” – George Eliot October has come and gone, but we can still enjoy fall and the celebration of Thanksgiving and all of the great joys of the season. Take a look back at all of the ways to save money that were featured last month. October 1st Frugal Halloween Costumes It is fall and Halloween is approaching fast, are you ready? What do the kids want to be? You can make some great homemade costumes … Continue reading →

Pumpkin Carving Templates

Now that Halloween is this week, I may break down and let the kids carve their pumpkins. We have three small pumpkins for the kids to decorate individually, as well as one larger one for the family to do together. The kids have been begging us to turn them into jack-o-lanterns. For the smaller ones, we have a bucket of plastic pieces that can be pushed into the pumpkins to make creatures. This is a take on the Mr. Potato Head toy. But they still would like to actually carve. Since neither my husband nor myself are very artistically talented … Continue reading →

Halloween Costume Tips

When fall comes, it is time to start thinking about those costumes. Maybe you just want a costume for photos at the pumpkin patch, to attend a party or to introduce your little one to trick or treating. Babies, toddlers and preschoolers can look so cute all dressed up. Here is some advice and ideas for easy Halloween costumes for babies. If you are buying your costume, and your baby cooperates, try it on in the store over your baby’s clothing. Sizes in costumes can vary widely. The Disney Store costumes tend to run big, for example, and you may … Continue reading →

Pumpkin Pots

Okay, Okay, I know it is not yet September, but everywhere I go I see the fall season. The weather has gotten cooler all of a sudden, with temperatures in the low seventies and comfortable, instead of the high eighties and nineties with humidity. Halloween and fall decorations are already in the stores, and our local orchard is advertising pick-your-own apples. All of this has put me in the mood for a pumpkin-theme craft for the home. While I’ve made this craft in past years, I recently saw a version of this idea in a free magazine put out by … Continue reading →

Free Pumpkins

Now is the time to stock up on free pumpkins. You’ll find a lot of them available right now, if you know where to look. Right now, retailers are trying to get rid of their pumpkins. This is because it was a good crop this year, and the supply outpaced the demand for pumpkins in October. You can take advantage of this fact to snag lots of free pumpkins. Why would you want all of these free pumpkins? Well, just think of them as pounds and pounds of free food that can be made into everything from soups to pies. … Continue reading →