How has Pumpkin Carving changed so much since I was a kid.  My 7 yr old daughter came home from school with the simple statement that they were having the a Pumpkin Carving contest in her class and of course the statement we all melt with – “MOM I really want to win” 

Well Thank goodness for the internet and a creative mind we came up with the below  Pumpkin  Burger.  It turned out so good I was surprised but in all truth, the coolest part of our Pumpkin Carving this year was the great time we had trying something different. 

Trendy Tip Life Lesson Learned – Sometimes doing something different from the old traditions can make a new Trendy Tradition all your own.  Needless to say, I am not sure that Halloween and Pumpkin Carving will ever be the same at my house. 

Please share your pumpkin carving creative ideas.  link below and blog with other Trendy Tip moms like you.

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Halloween Parties Made Easy Traditional Trick or Treating door to door is only one way to enjoy Halloween.  How about a Spooktacular neighborhood Halloween party?  

 Frightful Fingers

This fun finger food is the perfect bit size snack. Just for fun serve them on a platter with a bowl of BLOOD (Katchup) 

Mini Hot Dogs or 1 package of Franks cut into 4ths

1 package crescent dinner rolls 8 rolls

1 small package of Almond Slivers

Hide the Hot dogs into the crescent rolls (kind of like a pig in a blanket) press a fork on the top to create the illusion of finger wrinkles. Take 2 almond slivers and poke them into the end as if creating the look of the nail of a finger.  Bake in the over 375 and Bake for 12 minutes.

Tombstone Cookies

These ghoulish goodies make great party tray decorations. For a fun presentation, stick them in a “graveyard” of chocolate frosting or pudding and invite the kids to scoop to their hearts’ content.

2 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. powdered sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 large egg, beaten
1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Mix flour and sugar together well. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Divide dough into two sections and wrap well in plastic wrap or put in zipper-lock plastic bag. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

Put the kids to work making cookie cutters out of cardboard, or find the cutters at your local party store.

When the dough is chilled, roll each section to about 1/8-inch thickness and let the kids go to work with their cookie cutters. Older kids can even use plastic knives or pastry cutters to cut their shapes from the dough. If desired, use cookie stamps to put things like “RIP” on the tombstones. (You can make a cookie stamp out of a potato. Just cut in the desired stamp design.)

Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 350° F for 10-12 minutes. Cool on racks.

Worms And Dirt Cupcakes

This one is great fun for even the youngest kids. You can even make the decoration one of the party events!

Bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes, either homemade or from a boxed mix.

Frost them with chocolate frosting, then top with a generous sprinkle of crushed chocolate cookies (Oreos work really well).

Cut the Gummi worms in half, and stick them into the tops of the cupcakes so they look like they’re crawling out or burrowing in.

The kids can do as much of the decorating as their age and patience will allow, from the frosting through the worms.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party Music Playlist

Lil’ Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs

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Halloween Fun – Making a difference! 

Like many of you we have spent the last few weeks searching for the perfect Halloween costume. For my daughter and I this also is a time of excitements as we get ready for our 3^trd annual Trick or Treat for Canned Goods Food Drive.  3 years ago my daughter and I found ourselves throwing away much of the candy she had collected while out Trick or Treating. What a waste I thought. It got me thinking; I knew I had read articles about other kids taking Halloween as an opportunity to collection donations for other organizations.  Scared that my then 5 yr old daughter would think I was crazy, I threw out the idea of “Trick or Treating for Canned Goods” instead of candy.  To my surprise she bit, in fact she was so excited that she couldn’t wait for the following Halloween to get started.  

Now let me explain –I know it isn’t normal for a 5 yr old to take so easily to an idea like this, but as a self proclaimed Volunteer Addict I had already exposed my daughter to volunteering through helping out at the local food shelters and just toting her around when ever I was out doing community work. To my surprise it took and she couldn’t wait to help out the people from the shelter.  For others this might be a great idea for kids that are 3 – 5^th grade that still enjoy dressing up but don’t need all the candy and junk to go along with it.   

• Our plan is simple and the results were amazing.  Each year we have increased our donations collected and each year my daughter gets more and more excited to beat the year before.  The first year we received an overwhelmingly positive response from the 2 neighborhoods that we included in our Trick Or Treat Food Drive.  In all we collected over 800 lbs of food to donate to our local Food Pantry.  That is right 800 lbs from around 100 houses collected from.  The second year, people were looking out for our donation bags and eager to help again.  In the second year we were able to increase our donations to 985 lbs .  WOW we had no idea what a success this idea would turn out to be.               Our Scary Simple Plan to Make a Difference!

1. Select a fun Halloween Costume
2. Create a Spooky flyer
   1. Update everyone on your goals and what you are doing
   2. Detail the times you will be picking up donations on Halloween night
   3. Detail a wish list of donation items
   4. Information on where the items will be donated – a great way to tell people about other opportunities to volunteer with their family
   5. List a phone number to contact if they have questions
3. Get Paper Grocery Bags from a local Grocery Store (our local Family Fare – Spartan Store) was happy to help
4. Staple the flyers to the exterior of the bags
5. Deliver the bags to the houses you have selected to visit on Halloween night. (you can either hang them on the doors or put them nicely into mailboxes)
6. LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST – Head out for a fun night of Trick or Treating and collect all the donations.

• Make it a family event – Parents this is where you will be a big help but make this a family event.  My daughter now 7 helps with all the preparation from making the flyer to delivering them to the houses (about a week ahead of Halloween) The day we deliver is a great day out walking around the neighborhood and dropping off the bags house by house, it really adds to her excitement in anticipation for Halloween night. On Halloween night you will need a vehicle ideally a Van, SUV or Truck.  My hubby has taken on the role of driver while my daughter and I travel house to house Trick or Treating for Canned Goods and quickly gathering them into the back of our SUV.   Every year we find more and more people asking about what we are doing and we hope that in years to come we will see more kids out hitting the streets and helping their community through a TRICK OR TREAT for Canned Goods Food drive of their own.

We hope that we have inspired each of you to think outside of yourselves on an every day basis and take time to help those around you.  Please remember that there are so many people less fortunate then us and that you can make a difference.

Have a Spooktacular time!

Halloween really is a great opportunity to help your kids use there imagination and creativity, but it can also be a great opportunity for your kids to do something GREAT to help others.

For great Costume ideas or more ways to make your Halloween fun visit our page http://trendytip.com/category/hip-home-maker/ or click below:

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