Holidays — Page 5

Powdered Sugar Mummy Donuts

This is a super fun Halloween treat for kids – and you can make these Powdered Sugar Mummy Donuts in just a few minutes. They’d be a fun treat any time of the year too – not just at Halloween. Kids love fun foods and silly faces. {I know that sometimes the only way I can get Abby to finish her meals is to make them into creative themes or shapes!} I wanted a last minute surprise treat for the boys yesterday when they got home from school, so I whipped these up with what I had on hand – it takes less than 5 minutes to make a dozen mummy donuts. They’re fun as a gift, and would be great for a party too.

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 30, 2013 Filed Under: Featured Halloween, Holidays, Food | 2 Comments

Halloween Costume Idea for Kids – Little Red Riding Hood

I love the holidays. All of them. Seriously – we even decorate for things like Columbus day. And, I love costumes and dressing up. And I love sweets and candy. So… I bet you’ve guessed it – I love, love, LOVE me some Halloween. I’ve shared some of our build-up to Halloween excitement…. I told you about how Grandma helped us decorate for Halloween, about our “pretty-scary” #HalloweenHangout event, and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen some fun photos of Abby’s Halloween costume from Costume Express. She’s a pretty adorable Little Red Riding Hood, if I do say so myself. {Because my kid is the cutest kid who ever lived in the whole wide world. And so is yours. That’s how motherhood works…}

Kid’s Little Red Riding Hood Halloween Costume

Pretty cute, right? I absolutely adore this costume…. The fabric is good quality, and I love all of those pretty ribbon details. And, I definitely appreciated that it had a really “true” fit, since it can be tricky sometimes ordering things online. And costume sizing is tricky anywhere – a lot of them run super small, or just have odd proportions. But when you order on CostumeExpress.com, they have really great charts to help you figure it all out, and Abby’s costume fit perfect. Seriously perfect.

Kid’s Halloween Costumes for Parties

We had four different Halloween parties to do to this year, over two different weekends – PLUS, you know, the actual Halloween coming up in a few days. So, I knew we’d need a couple of costumes. I did buy her a Merida costume for her earlier events – it was adorable, and will go into our princess dress-up closet for future play. But after getting this pretty Little Red Riding Hood costume, I’m so glad I bought it, because the photos are just priceless. And she had SO much fun in it – twirling in the full skirt, and hiding under her hood. We went shopping with grandma right after this party, and didn’t have time to get her changed. When customers would comment on it, she’d say she was keeping grandma safe from the big bad wolf :)

Do you have a kid who loves to dress up?

We have a big collection of dress-up gear – wigs, accessories, hats, outfits – and today Abby dressed up and told me she was a rock star. She cracks me up. She has so much fun putting on costumes that I’m always watching for fun new props and pieces to add to our collection. Well, Halloween 2013 brings more costume options and accessories than ever before – It’s no secret that some kids might want to be a superhero at breakfast, a pirate at lunch, and a cowboy by dinner – and it’s hard to please a child that changes their mind so often. {And this is not just on Halloween, but everyday, if you have a kiddo like mine….} So, while CostumeExpress.com is a great place to find cool costumes, it also offers peace of mind. Costume Express.com is allowing parents to make as many free exchanges as they need to with its “I Want to Be Guarantee.” Learn more about how it works by seeing other real moms share info using the #IWannaBe tag on social media.

What are your kids going to be this Halloween? Share some fun ideas here, visit my Trick or Treat board on Pinterest for fun Halloween ideas, or – and this is my fave! – come by my Facebook wall and post your favorite Halloween ideas! From blog posts, recipes, costumes, and more – I wanna see ’em all :) Post links or photos… And if you have pets in costumes, oh man. Please share. Those are the best, lol.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 29, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays | No Comments

Halloween Jokes for Kids

Just Joking is a new, totally free app for kids from National Geographic Kids. It’s super fun – it’s filled with fun animal facts, mixed with silly jokes and surprises. It mixes in educational aspects with knock-knock jokes, tongue twisters, riddles and more. The kids love the silliness of it. I love that it keeps them occupied in the car or waiting in lines – and that it’s clean fun. It’s a free app – check it out here: Just Joking Free App. And there are bonus joke packs you can buy later for less than a buck a piece too. So, to give you an idea of how much fun it is, I’ve got a list of Halloween-themed jokes for kids.

Halloween Jokes for Kids

Check out the selection of jokes from the app, tell ’em to the kids today, and tweet your favorites. I’ve always loved silly kids jokes like this – I giggle at the jokes on Popsicle sticks, and laugh out loud at really cheesy jokes on Laffy Taffy wrappers, so this app is right up my alley :) And as an Ambassador for National Geographic Kids this year, I obviously am a big fan of pretty much everything they put out there – always perfectly designed to appeal to the kids in our house. Enjoy!

The kid in me loves this stuff: Q: Why don't mummies go on vacation? A: They're afraid they might unwind. Lol. #HalloweenHumor #NGKinsider

— Meagan Paullin (@SunandSipCups) October 23, 2013

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 23, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays | 1 Comment

It’s Starting to Look a Lot Like…. Halloween!

I love the holidays. I love celebrating. I love parties. I love decorating and crafting and cooking and baking and fun. And Halloween gets me extra excited. Not because it’s my favorite holiday – but because it’s like, the kick off to the best part of the year for me. I mean – Halloween comes with loads of cool stuff anyway, like costumes and pumpkins and treats. But it’s like the door opening to a non-stop extravaganza of holiday fun for the whole rest of the year.

We decorated the house weeks ago. Grandma {my mom} lives with me part of the time, and always helps us put up decorations. I remember helping her when I was a kid {and we still have so many of the same decorations we had back then – I love it.} So it makes my mom-heart happy to watch Abby get so much enjoyment following along with grandma and putting up fun stuff for each holiday too. Priceless. We’ve got a spooky graveyard outside, lights in the bushes and trees, and lots of ghosts and goblins inside the house too. So, while I have lots of awesome pieces to decorate the house {and am trying to cut down on buying more. *Trying*} – you do always need a few new things for a holiday like Halloween. I’m talking costumes, baking supplies, and of course – CANDY.

Abby and I decided to take a little shopping trip to Target yesterday, to pick up a few fun festive additions. I’d already ordered one Halloween costume {Little Red Riding Hood} – but since we have four different Halloween parties to go to over the course of two weeks, I figured it’d be a good idea to have two costumes. I mean, you know how messy a 3 year-old gets with her treats, right? And I am so so so so so so sosososososooso SO in love with her in this Merida costume. {You’ve seen Brave, right?} We love anything with Disney Princesses, but Merida does have a special spot in my heart… She’s a very feisty, independent, fearless girl. Just like Abby. [Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 18, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays | 2 Comments

How to Host a “Pretty” Spooky Halloween Party

This post is sponsored by Personal Creations. Opinions are my own.

“Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with “scary,” “spooky,” “haunted,” or “forbidden” in the title.” – From Scooby-Doo… I totally relate to this quote! I do not like scary movies, creepy decor, haunted houses {unless they’re the non-scary type for little kids} or anything else like that. But I do love me some Halloween fun!! I just like to keep it on the fun side – slightly spooky, but still… you know, happy. Which is why I am SO excited to share some tips for you to host your own “Pretty-Spooky” Halloween Hangout – we had a blast this past weekend decorating, eating sweet treats, and watching classic Halloween movies. Check it out – and share your fave Halloween party ideas with me in the comments at the end. I love hearing from you ladies.

How to have a “Pretty Spooky” Halloween Hangout Party

You know I love to put on parties, right? For awhile I felt like I was working too much – and even though technically I was spending all day at home with Abby, I wasn’t spending enough real time with her, you know? So we now try to take an hour or two every afternoon for some type of themed activity – like our Little Mermaid Crafty Day, or Monsters U Lunch Date – so this past weekend we decided a fun theme would be to host a Halloween Hangout, since we’d have Abby’s cousins for the day. We were super lucky to have gotten an awesome package of products earlier in the week – Treats from Shari’s Berries, beautiful floral decor from ProFlowers, and some super duper fun personalized Halloween pieces from Personal Creations. I usually like to do a lot of DIY when entertaining, but sometimes it’s actually really nice to be able to order some amazing stuff that’s all ready to go. And everything was so gorgeous – and a lot of it WAS made by hand. Check out the awesomeness….

“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.” – Robert Brault

We already have the front yard decorated for Halloween – including lots of twinkling orange lights, a pretend graveyard in the garden filled with tombstones, and some spooky black cats perched atop the fence. This absolutely beautiful fall wreath from ProFlowers is the perfect addition – and is such a pretty way to welcome party-goers to our house all season long. I may weave a strand of tiny solar lights in it for Halloween, to greet trick or treaters. And – it’s hard to tell because it looks so fresh, but this is actually made from dried flowers, so it can be used year after year. LOVE. [Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 9, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays, Featured Halloween | 4 Comments

Cheap and Unusual Ways to Celebrate Father’s Day

Not sure what to get dad for Father’s Day? Well, you could make him these amazing Peanut Butter Bacon Beer Brownies I found yesterday. You could go with the Oscar Mayer Bacon Gift Sets {the video is TOO funny.} Go with the traditional tools, ties, or t-shirt with a “You’re the best, Dad” logo. But why not go with something fun and adventurous? Check out this great infographic below to spark some creative ideas… And leave me some comments below telling me what your family has planned for Father’s Day this weekend! {We’re doing a HUGE BBQ here at my house. Good times.}

Courtesy of: CashNetUSA: It’s Economic

Posted by Meagan Paullin on June 11, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays | No Comments

This Father’s Day, When Words Aren’t Enough – Say It With Bacon

Give the world’s most tasteful gift this Father’s Day…. There are a lot of gifts that are traditionally given to men on Father’s Day – ties, soap on a rope, tools, cologne. But don’t we all know that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? And isn’t there one thing that is pretty much universally loved by all men? Yes, ladies, I’m talking about bacon. Sweet, savory, on a sandwich or burger, topping a salad or as a main dish at breakfast – bacon means love. And when you want to show your mister you love him, you want to give him the best….