February 24th 2016 - Halloween Preparation

YES I know it's MONTHS until Halloween 2016 BUT i'm stating preparation early, infact I started it this time last year with my spell book.

This years theme is going to be HARRY POTTER (HP)!  2/3 of my sons really like HP, me and hubby like it and it's going to be very easy to do.  During half term we went to the Harry Potter Studio tour and I took loads of photos to help with ideas. All of the people who will be invited have been pre-warned of the theme so that they have time to sort out witch/wizard outfits or a character from the HP series if they wish to.  If they want to just dress halloweeny that fine with me.

I have pieces of paper and word docs all over the place that have various ideas on - whether for decorations, outfits, props, food, games etc.  I plan to add them to here so that they are all in 1 place and I can access them (as well as helping others with ideas).  I can't claim that alll ideas are my own, nor can I remember exactly what page/site on google that I found.  IF I am able to add a link to the source I will do, but if not I thank the original person now for sharing their ideas.

I plan to post ALL ideas on here and I wont be saying which ones I am doing - I will confirm some but not all as I want them to be a supprise for my friends at the party. 

I think I will make extra posts linked to the party - 1 of food ideas, 1 of games, 1 of decorations etc, that way they will be easier to add to and easier to find.

My house has an "L" shaped lounge/dinner and part of that is the under stairs cupboard.  YES you've guessed it this is going to be "Harry's bedroom" under the stairs.  It does mean that all my "junk" that gets chucked in there will need to be moved in order to make it work.   BUT it will be sorted by halloween.  This is also going to be accessible for all of the children to go in one at a time and have a photo taken which I will print out for them to take home at end of party.  I am going to print out some book images to fix to the underside of the stairs as well as making a meter box from cardboard.  There will be toy soldiers, an air bed and cover and shoes and not forgetting "Hedwig" the owl in a cage and dustpan and brush on the door.

Hedwig is a soft toy owl that came from £1 shop, however, its more grey than white so I am going to keep looking for a more white one.


My spell book that I started last year is now in it's final stages.  From my original idea of printing the pages and sticking them to pages in an old book didn't work as the printed pages were the same size as pages and made the book too thick to close, so I have used a make your own book website and had the spells professionally printed.  This is going to be fixed (somehow) into the original cover I made.  Watch this space!!!  I also made a second book of Witches food and meals (not that I would want to eat them) but this has been printed as well.

New "toy"

Today my Dremel multi tool has arrived :D

I have had a small play with it on a few small stones, but I need to get some more diamond drill bits to engrave as only 2 came with it.

It's certainly not as easy as I thought it was going to be and my lines are quite bumpy, not sure if its the stones or an unsteady hand or combination of both.

But I am not going to be beaten by it as I have some ideas that I need it to work for!  Watch this space.



UPDATE 8th march

I ordered the flexi drive shaft for it so that I have more control.  I Ordered it on next day delivery and it has arrived.  Had a play and I can do much neater finer lines.  Now to get some more rocks and get on with what I hope to do.

Things to Make and Do with your kids bucket list of 200 things!!! 

(I have spent many hours trawling the net to find things to do with my boys, and had things saved as documents, scraps of paper etc so decided to compile them into 1 list.  Some of the things in list are my own ideas, others are not, HOWEVER all photographs are mine.  Although some of these say "Mum" any adult or older sibling could do them, some may not be relevant to you/your family but hopefully you will be able to make use of some of these.)

1. Make a video which Mum records on her camera.
2. Make nature books - print pages off the net of wordsearches, animal tracks, types of flowers etc, glue into a notebook and take them with you on a trip to the park.
3. Make your own butter.
4. Spend an evening at the beach and come home late.
5. Spill some sticky food on the floor, wait for the ants to come and watch them.
6. Learn to make daisy chains.
7. Spend a day dressed as pirates.
8. Go for a walk in the rain.
9. Collect rocks and paint them - insects, your name etc
10. Spend time playing board games.

11. Read some books.

12. Make a poster from pictures in old magazines and newspapers.

13. Paint pictures on the path using only water.

14. Climb trees in the park or woods (but don't fall out).

15. Make a junk model from recycled things.

16. Have a picnic.

17. Make pizzas and eat them for tea.

18. Go out on your bikes.

19. Go to a museum.

20. Tidy your bedroom.

21. Have a party, dress up smart, close curtains, turn music up loud and add disco lights if you have any.

22. Have a family sleepover in the lounge - watch a dvd or 2, sleep in sleeping bags on the floor.

23. Have a friend over for a sleepover in the lounge.

24. Take photos everywhere you go and make a collage/scrapbook even if heads and feet are missing from the pics.

25. Have a movie afternoon, close the curtains, have popcorn and watch dvds.

26. Drw pictures from instuctions - draw a square with a triangle on top, draw 2 sqaures inside the big square at the top, add a rectangle at the bottom - makes a house. etc.

27. Go to the park at night.

28. Make gloop! (corn flower and water mixture).

29. Make cakes and ice them.

30. Go to an indoor play area.

31. Make cookies.

32. Make and race paper airplanes.

33. Sience experiment - float or sink.  Get each child to collect 3 or 4 things each, write down what they are and whether they will float or sink, then try them in bowl of water and see who was right.

34. Take the dogs for a walk.

35. Have a day with no tv, dvds, laptops or ds's etc.  It doesn't matter what you do as long as it doesn't involve them or things like them.

36. Make your own bread.

37. Collect bugs and look at them. (Make sure you let them go afterwards.)

38. Have a colour day - wear it, eat it etc.

39. Get things out of an ice block with a spoon.  This needs making the day before - place small things like cars, toy soldiers, small animals into water and freeze.

40. Make and play hopscotch on the path.

41. Have a PJ day!!!

42. Play colour I-spy.

43. Use face paints on each other.

44. Save stale bread and go feed the ducks at the river or lake.

45. Go swimming.

46. Have a space day - make space outfits (see 1 of my photos), make a rocket from boxes, read space stories, play songs with space and stars in them etc.

47. Have a letter day - use the 1st letter of your child's name, see if you can find items beginning with it, cook food that starts with the letter, do crafts for the letter etc.   This can be repeated for different letters.

48. Be postmen!  Keep any junk mail and freepost envelopes that come through your door - place junk mail in the envelopes and put in a post box!

49. Go on a dinosaur hunt - Mum hides 20 or so dinosaurs and you have (??? minutes) to find them all.

50. Make orange juice with proper oranges.

51. Plant some seeds and watch them grow over a few days or weeks.

52. Find out about ghosts in your town and maybe go on an organised ghost hunt (deppending on ages).

53. Buy some marbles and learn how to play.

54. Go out in the rain and jump in puddles.

55. Make and fill a time capsule and bury it in garden or hide it in the roof.

56. Have a country themed day - wear clothes from chosen country, eat food from it, research it on the net.

57. Buy some "funny old clothes" in a charity shop and wear them.

58. Smile at everyone when you go for a walk and see if they smile back.

59. Walk in different ways - giant steps, fairy steps, hop etc.

60. Play on the wii/x-box. 

61. Wash Mum/Dads car.

62. Have a bbq - AN ADULT NEEDS TO DO THIS ONE!!!

63. Make and fly kites.

64. Go 10-pin bowling.

65. Write your name with anything you can find - leaves, twigs, stones etc.

66. Give everyone (in family) £2-3 (all need the same amount).  Go shopping and see who can buy the most with it. (Think charity shops/£1 shop etc).

67. Take photos of everything you do - craft things etc and make a collage/scrapbook.

68. Have a "silly day" wear silly clothes, find things in wrong palces etc.

69. Make paper plate masks and decorate them, add a stick or string.

70. Have a circus day - dress as clowns, face paints, try to juggle, throw beanbags into a bucket, hula hoop etc.

71. Mirror drawing - cut a picture from a magazine and then cut it in half, stick to a piece of paper, get your child to draw the other half of the picture.

72. Host a mini olympics, make your own medals, do events like running, egg and spoon, sack race etc.

73. Make a band with homemade instruments.

74. Write a story.

75. Visit a farm.

76. Sing at Kareoke.

77. Go to the library and borrow some books.

78. Buy a day ticket and tour the town by bus.

79. Make puppets from socks.

80. Learn to x-stitch or sew.

Painting leaves on the lino floor (it cleans off really easily)

81. Make lemonade from real lemons.

82. Find items round the house for each letter of the alphabet.

83. Make placemats and laminate them.

84. Play with bubbles.

85. Buy some nets and go pond dipping.

86. Go ice-skating.

87. Go to the park.

88. Make some cards - birthday, christmas etc.

89. Go on a scavenger hunt with clues (a good programe for this is Riddle me.)

90. Find out where foods come from.

91. Go for a walk down by the river.

92. Make papier mache masks and paint them.

93. Go on a train ride.

94 Paint with potatoes and other vegetables.

95. Play "pooh sticks" - a simple game which may be played on any bridge over running water; each player drops a stick on the upstream side of bridge and the one whose stick first appears downstream is the winner.

96. Make gingerbread.

97. Bob for apples.

98. Collect snails and race them.  (Let them go afterwards).

99. Go to the park and smell flowers.

100. Toast dough on sticks on an open fire.

101. Try and eat a chinese with chopsticks.

102. Change the colour of a carnation by adding food colouring to its water.

103. Make a papier marche pinata, fill it and then break it open.

104. Go on a colour spotting safari at a local park.

105. Go and help out with (aunties) horses.

106. Learn about the different types of clouds and keep a cloud diary.

107. Lay down and see what shapes you can see in the clouds.

108. Ride a donkey.

109. French skipping (buy piece of elastic from craft shop)

110. Make (or buy) and play cats cradle.

111. Go rock pooling at the beach.

112. Go to Nanny's house.

113. Make friendship bracelets.

114. Make paper/plastic cup towers.  Who can build the highest?

115. Have a friend round to play.

116. Go to a friends and play.

117. Build a house from playing cards.

118. View the stars at night.

119. Make jelly.

120. Which item is missing?  Place a few items on a tray, let the children view them for a minute, Mum covers them all and removes one, the children have to guess what it is.

121. Guess whats in the bag.  Have a dark coloured non see through bag, place things in it - pine cone, toy car, a key, a pencil etc and the children put their hand in and feel the items and guess what they are.  You can do this with 1 item per bag only.

122. Paint with feet.

123. Paint leaves and print with them.

124. Make your own crazy golf course with plant pots and things.

125. Paint with hands and fingers.

126. Plan a trip round the world, go to the travel agents and get a few brochers and plan where your going and where your going to stay.

127. Go out with a family member for the day.

128. Make your own list of things to do and mark them off as you do them.

129. Draw a fire with chalk on the path and then "hose it out" with a water gun.

130. Heads or tails with a coin - guess what it will be then do it.  Repeat 10+ times to see if there is a pattern.

131. Be a pop star and sign your favourite song, Mum can record it.

132. Make your own super hero, draw it, name it write about its powers.

133. Have a "hold your breathe contest" who can go the longest without laughing?

134. Take your favourite toy and get photos of it in as many places as you can.

135. Beads and Tweezers - have a pot of beads and a set of tweezers, get your child to sort them into piles of colours using only the tweezers.

136. Have an indoor snowball fight, scrunch up paper into balls, have an equal number per team, a tape line in the middle of the floor and off you go.

137. What's in Mums bag???  Only Mum knows what is in her handbag/baby bag.  No need to add new things as there is usually lot if items!  Kids write them down. 1point for each item that is guessed.

138. Plan the picnic (number  16 ), work out what you need and go shopping for it.

139. Make an outdoor fire and cook on it.

140. Pretend your someone famous, wear a hat and sunglasses everywhere you go for 1 day.

141. Write a list of everything you can think of that is (?????) in colour.
142. Have a spelling test including hard words.
143. Draw a picture and write about it.
144. Make a list of things you can only do in winter. 
145. The year is 201., can you write down this many words! None can be the same.
146. Write a story about your pet (or an animal if you don't have a pet.)
147. Try and jump on each others shadows.
148. Measure things in your house using only your hands, write them down & make a chart showing results.
149. Write 10 sentences, BUT they must all contain a colour.
150. Make a reading list, and try and read them all by the end of the holidays, mark them off.
151. Draw a dot grid on paper see what monsters you can make by joining the dots.
152. Cut shapes from card, cover in tin foil, add pipe cleaners as arms/legs, eyes and nose for strange creatures.

My son glass painting a clown

153. Make/buy a note book with (????) on the cover, cut out words and pictures that relate to the cover and let the kids stick them in to make their own book.
154. Draw 6 "car park spaces" on a piece of paper, take turns to roll dice and park a car in numbered space - 1st to get all 6 wins.
155. Make a paper dice and add these to each side - flap arms like a bird, do 5 star jumps, hop on 1 foot, dance, run from front door to back, spin round.  Roll the dice and do it!
156. Use a small box, cut the top off, cut a small hole in 2 opposite sides (1 top 1 bottom).  In the middle of box glue sticks at angles to make a maze, add marbles to play.
157. Paint pictures using car wheels.
158. Paint pictures with animal feet.
159. Make toilet roll pirates - cut fabric strips to make clothes, paint faces, draw on mouth/nose add googly eyes and wool hair.
160. Make salt dough models.

161. Walk around the block.

162. Build a den in the local park/woods from fallen branches and leaves.

163. Make an a-z of places and see if you can visit them.

164. Take nets to the river and see if you can catch anything.

165. Build with lego - 2minute challenges, highest tower, build using only 1 colour etc.

166. bean bag toss game, write scores 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 on paper plates, spread plates round, throw the beanbags to score.

167. Put a toy inside water balloon fill with water and freeze.

168. Attach string across the garden, add paper to it.  Add food colouring to water and put in water guns, aim water guns at paper and make pictures.

169. Pick a car each, stick a small label on roof so you know whose they are, then race them - whose goes furthest from start line (masking tape).  Can any reach the finish line? (tape)

170. Make bingo cards, with numbers or pictures on, laminate them and a list of all items on cards.  Play bingo. 1st to cover all items wins.

171. Make a 3d picture of your hand - see here: http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/03/optical-illusion-handprint.html

172. Make your own ice lollies in plastic cups and freeze them.

173. Write a list of things you can only do in summer.

174. Bounce on a trampoline.

175. Do raised salt painting -see here: http://www.housingaforest.com/raised-salt-painting/

176. Everyone pick 1 item from the house - clothing, a toy, a book etc.  and then find something for all of you to do using them, take photos.

177. Go stand at the top of the road (safely) and mark down how many cars, bikes, lorrys go past on a chart.

178. Make a doodle wall and add to it over the holidays.  Stick sheets of paper together and stick on a wall etc.  Draw or write on it.

179. Make a family crest/emblem.  Look on the net for information about your family name.

180. Go on an ABC walk around town and take photos of things that look like the letters of the alphabet.

181. Make a water table from a plastic tub, add boats, animals, plastic tubs etc.

182. Make a marshmellow popper - see here: http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/09/mini-marshmallow-shooters-or-pom-pom.html

183. Have a water fun run, fill a plastic cup with water, hold it above your head and run down the garden and back!

184. Play hand tennis using a balloon.

185. Find items and do rubbings - leaves, tree bark, grave stones etc.

186. Go to a local carnival/fair/concert.

187. Write a list of all the animals you can think of.

188. Using black and white tape make a road on the floor (it peels off lino easily!)

189. Make a jelly fish in a bottle - see here: http://bhoomplay.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/diy_jellyfish_eng/

190. Make watermelon smoothies - see here: http://pinterest.com/pin/164803667584586175/

191. Put finger lights on cars and play in the dark.

192. Be an animal - stomp like an elephant, slither like a snake, climb like a monkey.

193. Make a car from a cardboard box big enough for you to sit in.  Paint it.

194. Write a list of things you can only do in winter.

195. Play tennis in the park.

196. Have a day at the beach.

197. Play on laptops etc.

198. Help Mum with jobs so you can do fun things.

199. Have a fancy dress day.

200. HAVE FUN!!!