Spooktacular Bath Time Fun

If the kids need encouragement to have a bath, which can be quite common, the best way to get them into the tub is by making cleaning fun. Shaped or character sponges, plenty of bubbles and toys can really help but I've recently discovered that the products from Mini-U help too; to the extent that I now struggle to get the kids back out as they enjoy them so much!

Eyeball Cake Pops

31st October is all about the treats and these cake pops will certainly hit the spot. With a soft sponge centre combined with delicious frosting and a white chocolate coating they are frightfully delightful. 

We were sent some of the ingredients and a recipe from Rangemaster for National Chocolate Week but as they arrived a little later we transformed a standard cake pop into something suitable for the next big event on our calendar; Halloween!

Broken Glass Cupcakes

Halloween is just on the horizon and to celebrate there will be plenty of tricks and treats being made and eaten across the country, including a frightening feast of our own. These broken glass cupcakes are quite deceiving as they are completely edible! They are really effective for your buffet table and more importantly they are delicious.

Halloween with Yankee Candle

The gooey toasted marshmallow scent of this Ghostly Treats Halloween candle is incredible; nothing I've smelt has been as authentic as the food itself! The sweet aroma is mild but it smells almost edible and it is so inviting. I actually love it and it has been lit daily over the past few weeks.

What's On for Kids in Manchester

Whether it's making the most of the last few days of the summer holidays, planning for an action packed half term, or squeezing as much fun into a weekend away as you possibly can, Manchester is a great place to visit with the kids. Take a look at a few upcoming child friendly events:

Saturday Playhouse

Head to The Lowry with the kids between 11am and 12.30pm on Saturdays until the end of August and they'll be able to enjoy a morning of arts and crafts. Typical themes include making horse puppets from War Horse, making a carousel with characters, making Cbeebies inspired masks and much more. 

Traditional Family Fun

Join in the fun and games at The Imperial War Museum this summer and you'll be able to enjoy activities that children were enjoying a hundred years ago. You can play hopscotch on a war time street, make scrap books and peg dolls, play with spinning tops and even make your own cardboard theatre. 

Silent Sunday

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The Funny Things Kids Say and Do

BAM! Your child says something completely random and inappropriate leaving you with sweaty palms, blushed cheeks and feeling more than a little awkward. Don't you just love it when that happens, especially when surrounded by other parents in a near silent environment?!...
Me neither!

Queueing up at the entrance to the year 2 classrooms the other morning, patiently waiting for the door to open....



Jamster: Mum, you know those really horny people?
Me: Ermmm I'm not sure what you mean... *eyes wide in horror*
Jamster: You know! Those people that are reallyyyy horny.
Me: I can't say I do, no. Explain what you mean a bit more for me.
Jamster: Those red people that have horns on their head.
Me: Devils?
Jamster: Yes, that's what I meant! Can I be one for Halloween this year?




Phew!! Huge sigh of relief.
Halloween on his mind in July though, he is planning ahead!

What funny things have your little ones said this week?

Watch Bake Create - Insects

 

This week focuses on insects and we have:

Watched Antz
Baked Worm Covered Cupcakes
Created Butterfly Stone Pets
 

 

You can grab the badge and link up any of your own Insect posts at the bottom.

 

Worm Covered Cupcakes

These delicious biscuit and sweet covered cupcakes are really simple to create and are ideal for themed parties and Halloween.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

2 eggs

4oz sugar

4oz self raising flour

4oz butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Decoration
5 1/2oz butter
1lb 2oz icing sugar
45ml milk

Oreo biscuits

Worm sweets

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
• Combine all of the cupcake ingredients (butter, eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla) together in a bowl to create you cake mixture
• Divide the mixture equally between 12 cupcake cases in a cupcake baking tray
• Cook for around 12-15 minutes until risen and golden
• Allow to cool
• Create your icing by mixing together the icing sugar, butter (softened) and milk in a bowl
• Apply to the cakes
• Crumble up the Oreo biscuits and sprinkle over the icing to look like mud
• Add your sweet worms on top
• Scoff!

Butterfly Stone Pets

 

You can read more about our Stone Pets and how to make them just here:

http://www.theminimesandme.com/2013/06/stone-pets.html

 

  

Antz Movie



Ant worker, Z, has his heart set on Princess Bala and after swapping places with his soldier ant friend he finds himself on a wild adventure. He finally comes head to head with General Mandible who wants to liquidate the colony... will he save the day and his love?

 

 

If you have any Insect themed posts (crafts, recipes or activities) you can link them up below.

You can grab the badge code here too if you wish.

 

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Next week the theme will be Owls.
 

 

*** WIN ***

Find Me a Gift have kindly provided some insect themed goodies to giveaway; a Bug Safari Naturalist Kit and some Toy Bugs!

You can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.
The giveaway closes on 23rd July 2013.

Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday Caption #Satcap

I often wonder what happened to those that have eaten my cooking....

Have you got a funny or witty caption for this photo from our trip to Warwick castle ?

I would love to hear it!

Have a great weekend.

You can link up your own picture or view more over with the wonderful Mammasaurus.

Reasons to be happy

My reasons to be happy

It's half term here and we are having a wonderful time!

Tuesday we spent the majority of the day being creative making Halloween crafts and baking. In the evening the Mr and I went to the theatre to see Jimmy Carr live which was a fab! Lots of giggles always makes me happy.

Wednesday was of course Halloween and we had a little buffet, games and went Trick or Treating which the Mini Mes loved. We passed on a big party this year with all of the bugs that have been about and with my chest infection still lurking.

This Saturday we are heading to London to see Ice Age Live and I am so excited! We are all big fans and I really love our family days out. We are also attending a bonfire event so it should be a good weekend.


What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Leaf collecting and a giant lawn spider!

Halloween is here so yesterday we decided to start the preparations by decorating the garden and home ready for some spooky fun!

We headed out to the park nearby and collected a LOT of leaves in various shaped bags...

We tied them up, twisted them, positioned them and pinned them down to create...

...a wonderful spider for the lawn (minus 2 legs) !

What do you think? Do you decorate your garden?

I'm sharing this with The Gallery as the theme is Frightful and with Country Kids for outdoor fun.

Halloween crafts

Halloween is the perfect time to get crafty and create some spooky masterpieces for at home or to use as gifts. We received a lovely bundle from Yellow Moon to explore and we had a great time making a selection of cards, masks and decorations...

Halloween Scratch Art Hanging Decorations

These are ideal for your windows or for hanging from door handles as they look really pretty with very little effort or expense. Each pack comes with 6 decorations, wooden sticks and coloured ribbon to hang them with and the rainbow colours are really eye catching. The Mini Mes thoroughly enjoyed scratching off various words and patterns to make some lovely silhouette art. It's very simple to do so great for toddlers too.

Halloween Colour-In Mini Gift Bags

The Mini Mes and like to sit and colour when the weather is a little colder, which it often is at the moment, so these were a really nice item to receive. Once you have coloured the double sided bags they can be filled with treats for Trick or Treaters, friends and family or as leaving gifts for your party guests. The handles are study and come in lovely Autumn colours and there are 8 bags per pack, 2 of 4 different designs. We filled ours with stickers, sweets and other scary goodies for the Mini Mes friends and they were really appreciated.

Halloween Foam Mask Kits

You can transform your little one into a cat, pumpkin, witch or Frankenstein with these bright and easy to make foam masks. Elastic is already attached to the 4 pre-cut masks which makes them hassle free and as the foam parts are self-adhesive no glue is required either - mess free fun!. There are sheets included with pictures of how the masks should look so you can sit back and let the kids crack on by themselves. No assistance was needed from the Mr or I whatsoever. 

These would be great to make at a party or to use as part of a costume. The foam is soft against your child's skin and they are comfortable too.

Glow In The Dark Creepy Crawlies

We popped a few of these in our mini gift bags and we will use them to light up the path way for Trick or Treaters and to illuminate the themed buffet on Wednesday! These are fun plastic bugs that will entertain little children and the fact they glow up makes them even more spooky.

A4 Orange and Black Card, Halloween Glitter Foam Stickers and Glow in the Dark Paint.

If you want to make your invites personal or create Happy Halloween cards these are your essentials. The foam stickers come in a variety of characters, sizes and colours and the glitter is a nice added effect. The card is great quality and easily bends into shape but great for cutting up too. For an ultra special look the glow int he dark paint is amazing! Like normal paint you just brush it on and as soon as the lights are low it glows in an eerie green. We loved it!!

Yellow Moon has a huge selection of craft items for Halloween, Christmas and beyond. With next day delivery there is still time to get stocked up for your party or to have some fun with the kids!

I am a regular customer with Yellow Moon and I intend to buy from them again in the future. The range is huge and the products are great quality and value for money.

*We received some Halloween crafts for the purpose of this review. The views are honest and our own.*

Halloween games

We were lucky enough to win a competition last year to spend a day with Jeff Brazier at Liverpool's Ghoul School (Speke Hall) and a huge sack packed with Halloween gifts and games. But what games will you be playing at your party this year? Here are some of our recommendations!

Pin the smile on the Skeleton.
Similar to pin the tail on the donkey this game involves lots of giggles as the little ones are blindfolded and spun before placing their sticker on the hanging figure.










Pumpkin carving competition
Pick up a few small, cheap pumpkins and some cutters and let the kids decorate them. You can make hats and add glitter to them too!

Pinata
Take it in turns to pull the string and see what sweet treats you can reveal! Adding packs of raisins and small toys reduces the E number intake!

Apple bobbing
A traditional game that is always a lot of fun even if you get a bit damp in the process. You fill a bowl with water (have a towel handy too) and get the guests to pick an apple out with only their mouth.

Pass the parcel
This classic game can be made perfect for Halloween by having scary sweets between the paper layers and a Halloween toy in the centre as a prize.

Colouring and cake decorating competition
You can find and print off some spooky pictures and get everyone to colour one in or provide some cupcakes and have fun decorating them before scoffing!

Halloween Bingo
A great value game (or free if you print them from online) that will keep everyone entertained from toddlers up. Each player is provided with a board and at random cards are drawn. If you cover all of your board first you win - simple but a great success.

What games do you play at your party?

Meal Planning Monday

The weekend goes too quickly boo! But there is only this week to go at work and school before half term arrives, which is definitely something to be pleased about.
The planner this week was selected by the entire family again with each of us picking atleast one meal each...

Pasta bake

Toad in the hole with mash, veg and gray

Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans or chilli

Kievs, potatoes and veg

Fajitas

We are child free next weekend and we have some of my family over for a takeaway on the Saturday before heading to town for Halloween drinks, in costume. The Sunday will be something light and quick, as no doubt we will be slightly hungover!

What's on your menu this week?

I'm linking this over with At Home With Mrs M.

Spider cupcakes

These are really quick and easy to make and great for the little ones to decorate, transforming them into spooky spider delights with purple bursting insides!

Ingredients
Cupcakes
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz self-raising flour
2 eggs
Handful of blueberries to add to the cakes (optional)

Decorating
6oz icing sugar
A few drops of water
A few drops of food colouring of your choice
Fizzy laces and sweets


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Combine your sugar, eggs, flour and butter in a bowl until smooth. Add the blueberries and stir through.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 12 cake case and pop in the oven for around 15 minutes (until lightly brown and risen).
• Allow to cool before decorating.
• To make the icing combine the icing sugar, water and food colouring in a bowl.
• Spoon onto the cakes and using sweets and fizzy laces` make eyes and legs for the spider.
• Scoff!

Fancy Dress Ball - Halloween clothing

Fancy Dress Ball have a HUGE range of wonderful costumes for every occasion and with Halloween on the horizon now is the time to pick up your perfect fancy dress outfit.

They have a great mixture of seriously scary and gruesome dress up to super cute and fun items that suit every taste and budget.

We picked out two costumes to review; Minxy selected a Gothic Vampiress set and I selected a spooky Living Dead Dolls Hollywood costume.

The costumes arrived quickly and I was pleasantly surprised with the feel and quality of the items.

The vampiress set includes a dress and collar and it comes in a soft, velvet-like material. The sleeves are long and the tie up detailing is a nice added touch to the front of the dress. It was easy to put on and it fitted well. Minxy is quite petite for an 8 year old (we received an 8-10 years costume) but the length was ideal for her with room to use again for next year too. At only £8.99 I feel that this is superb value! She is already looking forward to wearing it properly at Halloween.

Minxy: "It's really comfortable and I think it looks good without being too scary for children"

My Living Dead Dolls Hollywood costume has pretty lace detailing to the neckline and bottom of the dress. As it is made from Polyester it's silky smooth to the touch and soft against my skin. Considering I am 6ft it fit really well with the dress ending mid calf. It doesn't cling so it's quite flattering on my curves and it is really comfortable to wear. As part of the set it came with a mask too which has an elasticated strap for a great fit and it has eye and nostril holes so you can still see and breathe! It is flexible and soft so wont rub or scratch while wearing it either.

Both of the costumes came with popper sealing bags and hangers making them easy to store away.

Fancy Dress Ball also stock a variety of accessories to go with your costumes including make-up, weapons, jewellery and more. We were sent a wig to wear with my costume that is adjustable to fit any head. It wasn't itchy and it kept in place well.There weren't any noticeable bald patches and it was really soft with nice waves that stay.

If you wish to buy either of these costumes or take a peek at the rest of the Halloween range you can do so here: http://www.fancydressball.co.uk/halloween-costumes.htm

What are you dressing as this Halloween?

*We received costumes and a wig for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

Halloween Party Food

We like to decorate the house and make it spooky ready for the Trick or Treaters each October and we love to have our own party with a themed buffet too.

Hopefully these ideas from previous years will help to inspire you when creating your own nibbles for the ghosts and ghouls in your haunted house this Halloween!




Coffin Sandwiches

These are really easy to make by trimming the edges into the shape of a coffin with a knife and using icing pens to write RIP







Strawberry ghosts

You can still get the little ones to squeeze in one of their 5 a day by decorating strawberries in white chocolate. We warm the chocolate to melt it, dunk the strawberries in and us an icing pen to add the faces on once they have set in the fridge.

Melon brain

By peeling the outside from a watermelon and slicing out sections carefully with a knife you can create a brain for your dinner table. Another healthy option too!

Pumpkin snacks

By placing carrot sticks and orange coloured crisps into a circle and using dips for the eyes and mouth you can make a pumpkin out of food to enjoy!

Burnt hand pizza

Using a cookie cutter you can make pizza a  little more exciting by having it in the shape of scary hands.

What Halloween food do you have?

You can link up any Halloween posts here and there is a chance to win some Halloween goodies here too!

Party Pieces Halloween Goodies

Halloween is only a few weeks away making now the ideal time to pick up those ghoulish goodies ready to transform your home into a spooky haunted house!

Party Pieces provide a wide selection of party supplies including a huge variety of decorations, treats and games for Halloween. We were kindly sent 3 items from their range to review and we have another set up for grabs to help make your party, perfect.

Moshi Monsters Surprise Pack

This is the ideal treat for your little Moshi fans this Halloween. Our pack contained a puzzle and colouring book, stickers, a multi crayon, sweets, a ball and a badge. They would make a great party bag or prize for the little monsters that came to play or to give out as gifts to those that come knocking. I also think these would be fab for travelling to keep the kids entertained! The Mini Mes really liked it and it is good value too at £3.99.

Boo! Halloween Cake Pop Stand

Store cake, cookie and lolly pops with ease on this spooky spider stand that will look great on your party table. The legs and dishes slot together quickly; it can be assembled within a few minutes, and it can be taken apart and stored for use year after year. Also supplied with the stand are 24 long sticks to place your cakes and bakes on. It's sturdy and a nice way to make your food look even more fab for guests.

Boo! Halloween Centrepiece
This Haunted house centrepiece is made from thick, flexible card which would look amazing in the middle of your buffet or lit up on your windowsill. It can be used as a play house too after Halloween - ideal for Moshi Monsters and Monster High dolls! The instructions provided are well detailed with coloured photos so constructing the house is simple. The battery operated tea light illuminates the house and creates a fun yet spooky setting.

The house comes with 4 card figures, a tree with bats, a fence, tables, wardrobe, cauldron and more.

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a spooky Halloween bundle from Party Pieces containing a Moshi Monster Surprise Pack, a Boo! Halloween Cake Pop Stand and a Boo! Halloween Centrepiece you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The competition closes at the end of 28th October 2012.

Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway