Tag Archives: halloween

Enter For Chance To Win An Authentic Hand Crafted Italian Masquerade Mask By VIVO Masks

Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s Parties, Mardi Gras and more, has people searching for quality adult masks. VIVO sells the highest quality, authentic masquerade masks you can find in North America. All of their masks are handmade in Italy, and each month, they source out the very best for storage in their US warehouse, where they can deliver them to you quickly, at an excellent price.

If you want to see the differences in VIVO’s masks, check the images above. Do you want a mask that is hand crafted in Venice, Italy or one that is mass produced in a factory in China? I think the choice is obvious, but what about the price? Since VIVO has warehouses in the USA and sells only online, they cut their costs, and pass them off to you with warehouse pricing. Navigating their website could not be easier. Order your mask, and rest assured, because their 2-day USA  shipping is quick too. Order with complete confidence, thanks to their money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

Giveaway:

VIVO is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will be able to choose the mask of their choice from this selection. Thanks VIVO for the review mask and for sponsoring this amazing giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! Open to the USA and Canada.

 

 

 

 

VIVO Authentic Made In Italy Masquerade Mask Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:

Please enter for your chance to win using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!

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Celebrate Halloween with PJ Masks- Free Activities, Printables and Recipes

Halloween is almost here, and if you are looking for some fun recipes, printables and activities for your PJ Masks fans, I have just the thing. There are so many fun things to do like activity sheets, games, coloring pages, cupcake recipes, even PJ Masks pumpkin carving sheets you can print. Check it all out HERE!

If you head off to Walmart you can pick up these fun PJ Masks items to make it a Hero of a Halloween for your little hero. Halloween Treat buckets in Gekko, Catboy or Owlette shapes are easy to hold and sturdy to carry all those yummy Halloween goodies.

Put a smile on everyone’s face with PJ Masks Halloween Greeters. How much fun are these little heros? He is so adorable, my kids love him.

Of course, we can’t forget the PJ Masks Halloween Costumes.

There are lots of other PJ Masks treats you can pick up like lollipop rings, bandages, swirl pops, stampers, party favors, push pops and more!

Let me know what you think of the activities and printables and all the great PJ Masks merchandise available.


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Filed under Halloween, Home & Garden, kids, PJ Masks

Candy Corn Painted Rocks-DIY Craft Tutorial

It seems that rock painting is all the rage now. I certainly was ahead of my time and ahead of this craze. I love painting rocks, river rocks are my favorite. Gathering them is a fun family adventure we all look forward to.

Sometimes I know exactly what size and shape rocks I want. This is due to the fact, that I have a specific project in mind. Other times, I try to find rocks that inspire me.  You might not think rocks can inspire people, but they can!  I see them as a blank canvas and they speak to me…well, some of them do.

A few rocks I made for my daughter.

I can  clearly visualize the masterpiece they can become. Sometimes it is a fish, ladybug or owl, and other times it is a heart. One of my favorite projects was making rock candy corn.

The one that started it.

It was so much fun to find the shapes I needed. Since I wanted to make a candy corn family that represented ours, when I found the especially tall and thin triangular river rock, I literally squealed with delight. That rock clearly represented my son Michael, it was so easy to see. I asked my youngest sons, who were gathering rocks with me, and they wholeheartedly agreed. It was definitely Michael, no doubt about it.

A Trip to find triangular rocks.

All you need is some acrylic craft paint, paint brushes, paint markers for detail painting and ModPodge sealer. If you want you can paint your rocks white on both sides first. It will take at least 2 coats of paint to get nice coverage.

When the tri color rocks are dry, you can then add personality with the paint markers.

He reminds me of Bozo!

Use ModPodge to seal and protect your creations.

This guy makes me laugh!

Please let me know if you try this project, I would love to hear about your results.

 They needed personality, so I gave them some!!!

 


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Filed under Crafts, DIY, Halloween, Tutorial

My Mom Confession-I Hate Halloween!

There, I said it! I am not one of those moms who obsesses for months over the perfect costume. I don’t look forward to going out trick or treating with my kids. It is not that I don’t enjoy being with my kids, it is just that there is so much I would rather be doing with them. In fact, it is their happiness that keeps me doing it. It is nothing religious or anything like that. As a kid it was fun, but it was not over the top fun. When we were done trick or treating, I was glad it was over and actually liked answering the door for the kids and handing out candy better.

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The weather in upstate New York is so unpredictable. I can remember so many Halloweens where my kids had to go trick or treating in winter coats. You could not even see their costumes. It would be raw and bitter cold and you would go to as many houses as you could before your ears froze off. Of course our neighbors are few and far between as we live in a rural area so that means driving and with little kids that means buckling them in and out of car seats every 2 minutes. Car seats with costumes is not fun, car seats with costumes and winter coats is excruciatingly not fun.frost

On the years when the weather is nice, it is tolerable once we arrive at a quaint neighborhood in town. There we can park and walk from house to house. We meet up with friends and it is enjoyable, for a while.

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Once the chill creeps in and the kids start comparing who got what and bickering over the fact, that one got a Snickers and one got a Kit Kat at the last house.  Soon after that I will make the announcement that we are going to the last 2 houses and calling it a night. Sometime they moan that they want to do more even though their buckets are overflowing with candy and sometimes they are just as glad to be done. As soon as we get to the car, you can see their exhaustion and they are happy to be headed home.

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The worst part is when Halloween falls on a weekday. Of course, this year, it is not only on a weekday but that weekday is Monday! It is getting dark earlier, the kids don’t get off the school bus until 4:10 pm. If we are lucky their teachers will not assign the usual mountain of homework. It will still be an immediate rush to get them dressed and in the car to head out to a Trunk or Treat in town and then to that little neighborhood and hit our neighbors who want so much to see the kids and always have special things for them.

After that it will be a rush home, fighting about who got what and why can’t they eat any more candy. Then it will be showers and bedtime. After that, I will be so grateful we survived and we don’t have to think about this for another year! Oh wait, where was dinner? Where does dinner fit in here? See what I mean? It is crazy! Does any parent really enjoy this?

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Let me not forget to mention, Halloween comes on the heels of a jam-packed weekend of a Halloween Parade we all marched in down to the youth center where there were games, cider, donuts and more. On Sunday, the last soccer game of the season was on despite the torrential rain and chilly weather. Everyone was drenched, freezing and wanting to get home and warm. We all had to wait until the awards and the party was finished.

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So there is my big confession, I don’t like Halloween! There would be no argument from me if it was cancelled. If it cannot be cancelled, I wish we could all agree to celebrate it on the last Saturday of October, so no one needs to juggle all this on a school night.

Oh, one more thing, I am not a huge fan of birthday parties either.

 


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Halloween Costumes Kids Love #PJMasks

Halloween is a week away! If you are still undecided on a costume for your child, I might be able to help. As a PJ Masks Official Blogger, I was sent a Catboy Deluxe Mask and a Gekko Deluxe Costume and they are a hit with my boys and myself. My boys have a treasure trove of costumes because they dress up in costumes all the time, it is one of their favorite things to do. So they were ecstatic when these costumes arrived.

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As a mom, I really like that the costumes have details that glow in the dark. With it getting darker earlier, it is often dark when we go trick-or-treating and this feature makes it easier for kids to be seen. The quality of the costumes is very good and they have nice big eye holes so that kids can see clearly with no obstruction.

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If you do have PJ Masks fans in your home, you can find some great activities, printables, crafts and more HERE! Let me know what you think of the costumes and if you try any of the activities.

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Stinky & Dirty Can Help Teach Kids Problem Solving Skills! #StinkyAndDirty

This post has been sponsored by Amazon Studios.

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I don’t know if you have any little boys in your house but my little guys love trucks, playing outside and best of all getting dirty. Playing with their trucks in the sand, dirt or best of all mud is just the greatest thing. What’s a mom to do besides directing them to the shower and remembering that someone said dirt is good for them? Did someone say dirt is good for them? I hope so because I could swear I heard that and that is what I am going to continue thinking.

You can imagine their delight when they watched the new Amazon Original Series, The Stinky & Dirty Show. Stinky is a garbage truck and well, the name certainly fits. Dirty is a backhoe loader that is constantly working with dirt and so his name fits equally well. The two are the best of friends and this strange duo are even what you might call heroes. They are quite creative and love challenges. They constantly ask themselves “What If” when trying to tackle issues or when obstacles are in their way. The series is based on the books by Jim and Kate McMullan and was written and developed by Guy Toube. You can stream the episodes free on Amazon if you have Prime. If you don’t you can still watch 1 episode for free.

stinky & Dirty Show

My kids loved the series from the get go and I enjoyed it as well because it teaches kids good problem solving skills. Problem solving skills are something everyone needs because things rarely go as planned and obstacles, challenges and road blocks are something we all face. In order to achieve our goals we must find ways to tackle those obstacles, overcome the challenges and remove the road blocks. Stinky & Dirty show kids that when things get tough the tough find solutions.

Kids can get frustrated when something does not go as they hoped. This series can help them see they need to think and talk about other ways to figure out the solution. They will learn the importance of negotiation and brainstorming with others. In the end they will see that when they keep going instead of giving up, they can reach their goals.  As a mom, I feel this is such an important life lesson. I come across many adults who do not have problem solving skills. If a hurdle comes across their path, they fall instead of learning what they need to do to jump that hurdle. The earlier kids are introduced and learn problem solving skills, the better off they will be.

In the Jump at the Dump episode Stinky & Dirty face many challenges creating a stunt course for Jumpy the stunt cycle who needs a new venue to perform her show. They have to figure out how to make mud that has just the right amount of “sploosh” for Jumpy. Their first challenge is to find a way to direct the water from a spigot to the dirt. When their first idea does not work, they come up with another and when that does not work, they brainstorm another way until they find the perfect solution. The way Jumpy and Stinky talk to each other and ask each other “What If” helps them find the solutions they need to complete their tasks.

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In an episode titled  The Art of Trash, Stinky & Dirty clean up a vacant lot full of trash to make a park, but when they can’t remove some large items, they turn the items into a trash sculpture instead! This is similar to turning trash into treasure or finding ways to recycle and re-purpose things that might normally end up in a landfill. My kids and I just made some Frankenstein Monsters for Halloween decorating using some old scrap cut off boards that were in our basement.

With some green craft paint, we painted the boards and then added some foam embellishments to create hair, eyebrows and a tooth. We used a permanent black marker to draw the mouth and a paint marker for the nose. Then to really make it authentic we screwed two bolts into either side.

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You can have a lot of fun with this and there are other monsters and Halloween critters you can create in this fashion. You can create a mummy if you wrap the board in gauze and add two googly eyes. Make a Jack O’ Lantern by painting the wood orange and using black paint or foam to create eyes and a mouth, add a green bow or green block to the top to serve as the stem.

Whatever you make, your kids will have a great time and learn all about re-purposing and recycling, another great life skill that will improve their world. Let me know if you have watched The Stinky & Dirty Show and what you think. I would love to see your thoughts in the comments.

 


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Filed under Crafts, Creative Activities, Entertainment, kids, Review, Tutorial

Pick up Some Spook-Tastic Halloween Fun From PBS Kids on DVD!

Halloween is just around the corner and there is still time to pick up some Halloween Thrills you can share with your kids on DVD from PBS Kids!

THREE NEW PBS KIDS DVDS OFFER SPOOK-TASTIC HALLOWEEN FUN  

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Each of these DVDs features a PBS KIDS series – CAILLOUPEG + CAT, and WORDWORLD. From carving a jack-o’-lantern with Caillou to going on a trick-or-treating adventure with Peg and Cat, these DVDs include fun-filled laugh-out-loud stories full of Halloween excitement.

 

 

CAILLOU: CAILLOU’S HALLOWEEN

Calillou Halloween Dvd

CAILLOU’S HALLOWEEN” features 13 stories including “Caillou Loves Halloween,” “Pumpkin Patch Kid,” and “Caillou’s Halloween Costume.” In “Caillou’s Halloween Costume,” Caillou and Rosie are trying to pick out costumes as Halloween quickly approaches – but Caillou can’t decide what he wants to be. With help from Mommy and Daddy, a furry blue monster costume is created for Caillou so he can join Leo, a cowboy, and Clementine, a bumblebee, for trick-or-treating!

 

PEG + CAT: A TOTALLY AWESOME HALLOWEEN

Peg Hallowween dvd

Combine Halloween excitement with mathematical fun and you’ve got “PEG + CAT: A TOTALLY AWESOME HALLOWEEN.” This DVD features four adventures, two of which are Halloween themed – “The Parade Problem” and “The Halloween Problem.” In “The Parade Problem,” kids will learn about sorting and estimating as they watch Peg and Cat clean up a park to ensure the nursery school’s Halloween parade takes place. After watching Peg and Cat solve this problem, kids can join Peg, who dresses up as a mailbox, and Cat, who decides to be a fire hydrant, on a trick-or-treating adventure that features the duo using their math skills to divide up Halloween treats so that everyone gets a fair share.

The PEG + CAT series is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education through the Ready To Learn Initiative, a program that supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted at preschool and early elementary school children and their families, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

 

WORDWORLD: HALLOWEEN FUN

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In the frightfully fun DVD “WORDWORLD: HALLOWEEN FUN,” join the WordFriends on adventures that demonstrate the connections between letters, sounds, words, and meaning. This DVD features five stories including “A Kooky Spooky Halloween” and “Sheep’s Halloween Costume.” In “A Kooky Spooky Halloween,” Pig is so worried about finishing his Halloween bags, because he’s missing the letter B, that he ends up sleepwalking. As he sleepwalks, collecting Bs along the way, everyone thinks he’s a ghost!

 

 

 

 

About PBS KIDS

PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital platforms and community-based programs.  Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including digital games and streaming video. PBS KIDS also offers mobile apps to help support young children’s learning. The PBS KIDS Video App is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One and Chromecast. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

 


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Make Halloween A Day Full of #Treats4All

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Treats4All #CollectiveBias

Treats 4 All

 

 

With our busy lives some days can feel like we are running in circles, scrambling to get things done. When we have extra things to do, it can make doing the everyday things even harder. With Halloween approaching you may be stressed about how to coordinate dinner, trick or treating, answering your own door etc. I am here to help and offer some suggestions. Make it easy on yourself this year! Use paper products for dinner so you have one less thing to worry about and take a few short cuts that won’t be short on taste for your family.

I was in Walmart the other day and picked up some STOUFFER’S® Family Size Entrées. There is a nice assortment to choose from including vegetarian dishes, chicken dishes, pasta and more. I chose Italiano Lasagna and Stuffed Peppers.

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TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Cookie Dough  lets us get to the best part of making cookies even faster-eating them! This refrigerated cookie dough is all ready to go right onto a cookie sheet straight out of the package. Now you can easily bake hot, fresh cookies in minutes with no mess! These cookies are great for dessert, class parties and more. You can find Halloween Chocolate Chip or Harvest Apple varieties out now! Of course I could not forget the candy.

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The NESTLE® Jumbo Assorted Fun Size Candy was a great price for a lot of candy. Plenty to have on hand for all the little ghosts and goblins that will be heading to your door.

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You can use paper products and the STOUFFER’S® Family Size Entrées can be cooked and served right in their own container so that saves lots of time. Add a salad and some garlic bread and you have a dinner your whole family will love!

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Cookies are easy with TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Cookie Dough and the Halloween Chocolate Chip are festive and fun! Right out of the package just put on your cookie sheet and bake.

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Perfect to pack in boxes to send to school class parties or give as gifts!

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We can’t forget the candy treats. NESTLE® Jumbo Assorted Fun Size Candy has you covered so you don’t run out of treats this Halloween!

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Eye can see you looking at that candy. Looks good doesn’t it?

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Don’t get stuck this year feeling stuck with the Tricks, make your Halloween easy and fun. Let NESTLE® and STOUFFER’S®  help you have a day that is filled with Treats For All of you! Do you have any great time saving tricks to make Halloween a treat? If you do, please share them in the comments.#Treats4All, Halloween-Stouffers-Nestle-Mommy Ramblings

 


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Save $10 At Lovable Labels 3 Day Spooktacular Weekend Sale September 19th-21st!!!

Lovable Labels Logo

Lovable Labels is having a Spooktacular Weekend Sale from September 19th thru September 21st.  Save $10 on any order of $25 or more when you use the promo code SPOOKY2014.  It’s not too late to label all that school stuff and take a look at their new Halloween products that are only available for a limited time.  So head on over to Lovable Labels now and take advantage of this great sale because it will be over before you can say BOO!!!

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Pantry Labels

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Canning Labels


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Filed under Baby, Baby Gear, Bakery Treats, Baking, Exclusive, Kitchen, Lovable Labels, Main Page Post, Mommy Ramblings, Sale, Shopping, Special Offers

Candlewick Press, Halloween Triple Treat Book Review & Giveaway!!!

Candlewick Press

If you read my blog, it’s not hard to see that we love books.  I especially love children’s books.  We read a lot in our home and bedtime stories are a favorite time.  Recently I was sent a spectacular set of three Halloween themed books from Candlewick Press.  Vampire Baby, Ghost In The House and Filbert, The Good Little Fiend.

Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett is the story of a little boy who thinks his baby sister just might be a vampire.  He comes to this conclusion because unlike most babies who sprout their first teeth on the bottom, his little sister sports two sharp canines as her first pearly whites.  The other thing he notices  that might mean baby sister is a vampire, is that she’s up at night when everyone else is sleeping and isn’t that what vampires do?  She even has a nasty little habit of chomping down with those canines on her brother drawing blood.  It gets so that he starts wearing garlic around his neck and one day while shopping with mom he decides to take his vampire sister and give her away. He  puts a sign on her and wheels her around the store where he finds a “vampire family” in the Halloween costume aisle.  He is ready to hand her over and she bites the other little boy who has a big reaction and it finally brings about true big brother protection.  He then understands that she is his vampire sister and like it or not he loves her and she knows she’s right where she belongs.

Ghost In The House by Ammi-Joan Paquette is a cute book of the creatures that go bump in the night.  It adds one more creature with each page turn and then a surprise ending.

Filbert, The Good Little Fiend by Hiawyn Oram  is another great book that shows a family learning to accept a son that is not such a scary fiend but loving him anyway.

 

Vampire Baby #Halloween #CandlwickPress

It happens overnight: “little sister Tootie goes from cuddly, ga-ga-goo-goo, I-want-my-ba-ba baby to…vampire baby.” Now she’s sinking her pointy fangs into everything — furniture, toys, and especially her big brother (“Youch, Tootie! No bite!”). Mom insists that it’s just a phase, but Tootie’s brother knows better. Just look at her hairline! Or the fact that all her favorite foods are blood red! With perfect comic timing, Kelly Bennett and Paul Meisel give a fresh slant to the new-baby story, proving that even monstrous little arrivals have a funny way of staking their siblings’ affections.

When Tootie gets her first teeth, it’s clear to her big brother that she’s no ordinary baby. But how to convince Mom and Dad?

 

 

Ghost In The  House #candlewickpress

When a little ghost goes slip-sliding down the hallway, he suddenly hears…a groan! Turns out it’s only a friendly mummy, who shuffles along with the ghost, until they encounter…a monster! As the cautious explorers continue, they find a surprise at every turn — and add another adorably ghoulish friend to the count. But you’ll never guess who is the scariest creature in the house!

Boo! Watch out for this rollicking, cumulative counting book for a Halloween treat that’s more playful than scary.

Filbert, The Good Little Fiend #candlewick

Daddy and Mommy Fiend want their little Filbert to be gruesome and ghastly, but he won’t trample or terrify, roar or holler. He’d much rather help an old lady with her bags or go bird-watching. What are they to do with him? When Filbert starts school, he quickly learns that good behavior isn’t tolerated in class, and he is banished outside until he can act like a proper little fiend. Suddenly a little angel appears, flying fast and furious until…bump! Could this naughty Angel-School dropout be just the friend Filbert needs? Could they find a way together to make everyone accept them as they are?

A little fiend who’s too good for his own good befriends an angel who is too naughty — and together they concoct a clever plan.
Candlewick Press is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings.  One lucky blog reader will win all three books.  Thank you Candlewick Press for the review books and for sponsoring this Spook-tacular giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!!  Open to US residents.
 Halloween Triple Treat Book Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:
Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below.  Good Luck!!!

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