This year Miss G was really torn between making spider web slime and monster slime Halloween favours for her preschool co-op friends, so we decided to both! I think they both turned out absolutely adorably, but I especially love the simple little faces Grae created for these tubs of monster slime.
Slime… It’s probably Miss G’s favourite thing to give to her friends when Halloween rolls around each year. I don’t blame her – it’s stretchy and gooey and just plain fun. In the past we’ve done mini mason jars of pink sparkly slime for her ballerina friends and little Franken-SLIME containers for the kiddos that live in our building, and this year we’ve decided on two new types of slime giveaways for her buddies – the first of which is these spider web slime halloween favours.
With Halloween just a couple of weeks away, Miss G and I have been talking a lot about what kinds of treats she wants to handout to her friends this year… Of course since she’s a sugar-free kid, we stick to sugar-free treats, which means we have to be a little more creative. This week, we’ve been having fun coming up with all sorts of cute non-candy Halloween treats and we figure that these five snacks would be perfect to share with classmates or friends. They’re all simple to make, they’re all healthy {or at least relatively healthy}, and in the words of Grae, they’re all ‘SOOO CUTE!’
Turning jars, juice boxes, and chocolate bars into mummies for Halloween is certainly nothing new, but I think it’s an adorable idea. So in my quest to pull together fun and sugar-free Halloween treats for Miss G, I decided to make some mummy string cheese to add into the mix. String cheese itself is a huge treat in our house because we never buy it, but I think these little mummies will be even more fun for Grae.
After yesterday, I decided that Miss G and I needed a very low-key day around the house today. We spent our morning making these cute little Franken-SLIME Halloween favours, and we both just love the way they turned out.
With Gracen being a sugar-free kid, I try my very best to make sure that she doesn’t miss out or feel resentful about the fact that we don’t let her eat junk. So in addition to making sure she has yummy {healthier} treats for the Halloween parties we’re attending, I wanted to make sure we had something fun and sugar-free that she could hand out to her friends and fellow trick-or-treaters. Now while we’ve done sparkly slime treats for Halloween and Valen-SLIME treats for Valentine’s Day, slime is so much fun that we couldn’t resist doing it again. Only this time we switched things up a little and turned the favours into little Frankestein heads!
I created this silly little jack-o-lantern on a whim this afternoon and paired it a few crackers and a bunch of apple slices as an afternoon snack for Miss G. Being that it was the first time I’d ever served her a jack-o-lantern made of cheese, I knew she’d really get a kick out of it, but she honestly thought it was the funniest, BEST thing EVER. Who knew a simple cheese snack could make someone’s day?
Though we were hopeful, the rain didn’t let up in the least for Gracen’s very first time trick-or-treating… In fact, come dark, it was pouring down so hard that the rain was hitting the asphalt and then bouncing back up at us. While not ideal for trick-or-treating, what are you going to do? We layered up our little fox, grabbed our umbrellas, and headed out with the goal of visiting at least a handful of houses.
After stopping by Uncle Brett’s house for a quick visit, we made our way down his street. Grae was so excited, and within a couple of houses, she had the knock, “trick-or-treat”, and “thank you!” down pat.
After carefully making her way down the steps, she’d squeal, “Different house! Different house! Yook for yights… Yook for punkins!!!”
Then she’d quickly find another and shout, “Go to dis house!” The girl was into it.
After looping around, visiting the houses on the other side of the street, and making our way back to our car, we headed back to our neighbourhood. By then, the rain had lightened up quite a lot, so we headed into the backyard to light some sparklers.
I’m not sure where I originally saw it, but I remember seeing someone using a plastic cup as a sparkler shield during 4th of July festivities with their kiddos. Brilliant, really. Before heading out I had cut a tiny ‘x’ on the bottom of an extra party cup we had from Gracen’s birthday party, so all we had to do was poke our extra long sparklers through just a bit, and light them.
It worked like a charm.
And since I only poked them through a little bit, the part Gracen was hanging onto didn’t get hot at all.
Gracen happily held on until the sparklers were about half way down, then she’d pass them to one of us, and ask for a new one.
Before heading in, we quickly snapped a couple of shots of Gracen and I, because although we always have a ton of photos of Grae and Bradley together, pictures of Mama and Grae are few and far between. (Sadly, by this point I was soaking wet falling apart mess, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.)
Inside, Gracen dumped out all of the treats she’d collected. Can you tell we had infused them with an equal amount of healthier “treats”? Haha! Who says people don’t hand out stamps, stickers, pretzels, seeds, crackers, organic fruit leather, and organic yogurt-covered raisins (a HUGE treat in our house)? ☺
Grae then sorted the piles into a “Gracen pile” and a “Mama/Papa pile”, giving us all of the delicious, but terrible for you chocolate and candy, and happily giving herself all of the ‘Mama approved’ treats (that’s our girl!)
Have you ever seen a child so excited for freeze-dried strawberries when there’s a plethora of chocolate bars, chips, and cheezies in front of her?
The night ended with a treat feast, a glow-in-the-dark bubble bath, and a tired little lady falling asleep to the sound of fireworks filling our neighbourhood.
♥
Bright and early this morning {while still in pajamas}, Gracen and I put together some little Halloween treats for her “yittle dance class fends”. While a little non-traditional, I wanted to make something Gracen-friendly (she hasn’t had refined sugar / junk yet) and call me a downer, but between sweets from family members, school, and trick-or-treating, I think most kids get more than enough junk on Halloween as it is. Our alternative? Mini mason jars filled with sparkly slime. ☺
First off, Miss G helped me collect a few ingredients from around the house… Warm water, Borax, food colouring, glitter, and white glue.
To get us started, she emptied a generous amount of white glue into a large mixing bowl…
Then added some warm water…
A single drop of gel food colouring (she chose pink which isn’t particularly Halloween-ish, but I figure it’s perfect for a group of teeny tiny ballerinas)…
And a liberal amount of glitter.
Then we stirred everything up really well until the mixture was smooth and all of the glue globs had disappeared.
After setting our glue / water mixture aside, we added some Borax to the remaining warm water…
And stirred it well.
Then it was time for the magic! While Gracen gently stirred the glue / water mixture, I slowly began pouring the water / Borax mixture in.
In just seconds, we could see the liquid starting to thicken up and come together in a large mass.
Once everything had been well mixed, I poured out what little excess water was left and Grae began kneading the slime. Before long, the slime was firmer, less sticky, and ready to be packaged.
But not before sneaking in a little play time first though. ☺
Afterwards, we separated our pink sparkly concoction into 12 mini mason jars, which we already had on hand from the individual mason jar cheesecakes we had at Gracen’s recent 2nd birthday party.
With our slime divided into containers, it was off to the computer next. Gracen chose some fluorescent pink paper and the pumpkin clipart, I chose the fonts, and together we came up with these super simple labels.
A little orange marker and a dash of sparkle, and here’s the finished product.
Sparkly Slime (adapted from this recipe)
Combine the first set of ingredients until the mixture is smooth and free of glue blobs.
In a separate measuring cup / bowl, combine the second set of ingredients until the Borax is dissolved into the water.
Slowly pour the Borax mixture into the glue mixture, stirring as you pour. When the slime comes together in a large mass, pour off the excess water and kneed the slime for a few minutes.
Package in pretty little mason jars and gift to your friends on Halloween.
* One thing to keep in mind is that while clear Elmer’s glue will work just fine for this recipe, the ‘environmentally friendly’ version will not. Trust me. We tried it. TWICE. *
* Also, if you’re wondering about the safety of Borax, this post is extremely helpful. *
♥
For more fun, join Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook here.