October Week 5 Group Challenge - All Things Halloween Challenge
This week we celebrate the spookiest day of the year…Halloween, on Friday, October 31st. I'm sure all of the kid's schools are having contests and Halloween costume parties, have seen lots of neighborhood displays and at the stores, see people stocking up on candy and various sweets for events later the week, so for us, we're going to celebrate Fall and/or Halloween with a list I found online that celebrates all month long, but I have chosen 7 items and I will ask you to post daily answering the theme for that day. Please, PLEASE include pics of your decorations, kid's or pet's costumes and feel free to share any recipes you make for gatherings this week. Here's the print-out and a list of the 7 themes for this week is below it. Have fun this week (and try to limit your candies this week, if that's one of your food triggers)!
- Sunday, Oct 26th - Fave thing you did this month fall/Halloween based.
- Monday, Oct 27th - Make and share a Halloween themed recipe.
- Tuesday, Oct 28th - What are you real fears?
- Wednesday, Oct 29th - Name your Top 5-10 things that remind you of Halloween/Fall.
- Thursday, Oct 30th - Name your Favorite Halloween song.
- Friday, Oct 31st - Name a costume you want to wear this year (pic please).
- Saturday, Nov 1st - List your top 5-10 Halloween movies/tv shows.
Can't wait to see your posts and pics this week!!
See you in the chat thread starting tomorrow!
Jessica
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Sunday
Fall-I went pinecone hunting. I read that pinecones in the garden helps with keeping the weeds out. So I'm going to give it a try. I need a lot of them.
Halloween-Went had a trick or treat party at work for the kids. And for the adults we had a pumpkin contest.
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Sunday, Oct 26th - Fave thing you did this month fall/Halloween based - favorite thing was Haunted Overload.
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Sunday, Oct 26th - Fave thing you did this month fall/Halloween based - Took a drive around looking at all of the Fall/Halloween decorations. Very creative people in my neighborhood. One new neighbor who just moved in during the past month, of course is working on growing his lawn/landscaping, so his yard has lots of skeletons, mock graves and spiderwebs…with very little grass on the lawn, it looks just like a cemetery with freshly dug graves…great idea, given what he's dealing with. I'm sure the kids will love it Friday night. I have one neighbor who always brings out speakers from his garage and has Thriller and other spooky sounds playing. The kids collecting candy always love that too!
I'm not giving out candy, but will likely be out talking with the neighbors for a bit on Friday night. Might change my mind and pick up a few bags…we'll see how the week goes. By that time, I may be ready to come home and lock myself inside…LOL!
Jessica
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Sunday: fave fall activity - We went apple picking (hubby, kids and I, with another friend and his family) at an orchard earlier this month. Orchard selfie: (aren’t we cute?)
Honorable mention: we went to the park after dark last night with Zoe and her friend (they were scared cause it was dark) and had a lot of fun doing silly things. We made light drawings.
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Sunday, Oct 26th - Fave thing you did this month fall/Halloween based
Fall- Taking walks outside. I enjoy the cooler temperatures and the changes of colors in all the trees.
Halloween- Taking my grandson trunk or treating. He is the cutest little duck. It's been years since I've went trick or treating with my kids. They're in their mid and late 20's now.
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https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BU7VZVDzs/
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Betty was not thrilled with wearing her “mane” and this was the best I could do LOL
Jessica
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Creative neighbor, witch theme this year.
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Sunday
Favorite thing I did for fall this month was taking walks at the park.
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Monday
Halloween themed recipe (well fall). I love baked pumpkin seeds! My favorite part of carving pumpkins. I clean them off, put a small amount of olive oil on them, then toss in seasoned salt. Bake in the oven in thin layer. This is from last year, not carving my pumpkin until tomorrow 🎃
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Halloween-themed recipe: I'm making no-bake pumpkin snack balls for Rich tomorrow. I haven't worked out the recipe yet, but my basic recipe involves dates and cashews (one cup of each), plus the flavorings. It's a question of how much pumpkin puree, and what other seeds and spices I'll be using. I'll post it tomorrow.
-Mica
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Sounds yummy @micaroo4. Can't wait to see the recipe!
I want to try to make some Boo Bark from the Sally's Baking Addiction recipe (see this link - there's lots of other ideas here too)
Though I'll try not to eat too much of it myself, it's mainly for the kids. I have some eyeball sprinkles and other miscellaneous candies to put on top. I'll post a photo if I'm successful.
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Monday
themed recipe
I made apple cider donut holes. They were really tasty. Will be making them again.
I would like to make pumpkin fudge but I don't eat pumpkin so I wouldn't be able to taste it to make sure it was good.
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I'm such a slacker…no cooking for me this week, unless it's leftover heating in the microwave or steaming a vegetable. I've been fighting a craving for mini pumpkin muffins…hoping to avoid that but who knows?!
Wish I had more time…
Jessica
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My Halloween recipe (really just a fall-flavored recipe) is Pumpkin Pie Snack Bites. These are a no-bake snack. I make these snack balls for Rich to take to work. He has diabetes, and these don't cause his blood glucose to spike.
Equipment needed: food processor, a cookie scoop (optional) and some plastic ziplock snack bags for storing.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 Tbsp ground seed blend (the blend I use is flax, chia, pumpkin seeds, and quinoa - but you can use just plain chia seeds)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pie spice (mine is allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions: Put all ingredients in the food processor and process until mostly ground up and well blended (maybe 2 minutes on high). Dump the contents on a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper, and scoop them into individual balls (about 2 Tbsp each). Roll in your hands to form nicely shaped balls. I rolled them in a combination of a milder pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom) and ceylon cinnamon, and small amount of powdered sugar. I brushed off most of the spice/sugar so they are only very lightly coated. I put them in snack bags and put them in the freezer. Rich will take one bag out for work each day. This recipe made 15 balls. I put 2 in each snack bag for Rich, and the 15th odd ball is for the cook to test her recipe! It was good.
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Tuesday, Oct 28th - What are your real fears?
I worry about my brother as he's getting up in years and will pass on eventually…then it will be JUST me. That's a little daunting. Secondly, I worry I haven't made enough of an impact in the world, but that pushes me to be kinder, take care of people who need a little help here and there and to be the best me I can be. I'm using it as a motivator and not something to depress or cripple me.
Jessica
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Tuesday
I am afraid of a lot of things according to my husband 😂But in no particular order:
- Lightning/thunder (ever since I was a kid) ⛈️
- The dark 🙈
- Spiders 🕷️
I have a lot of other worries as I tend to be an anxious person-but I wouldn't call those fears per se.
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Tuesday
My fear is falling. I guess that's a sign of my age. When I was young, falling was no big deal. Now, I'm terrified of slipping on ice or tripping over something and falling. The ground has gotten a lot harder as I've gotten older.
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Wednesday top 5-10 things that remind me of Halloween/Fall
- Decorating for Halloween/Fall
- Pumpkin patch
- Hay rides
- Pumpkin carving contest
- costume contest
- trick or treating with the kids
- Halloween movies
- hot cocoa and popcorn balls
- hikes in the woods to gather pinecones
- making pinecone feeders for birds
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Tuesday - Real fears: I'm afraid of heights! 😱 I don't want to be and I still would like to break the phobia some day, but every time I climb ladders or something I tremble and my heart pounds, and I can't help it. I think it's a fear of falling more than heights and it's partly that I don't have full confidence in myself and my ability to not fall off things, lol.
Aside from that I have a real fear of people I love getting hurt somehow, and so I'm the cautious one whenever my kids (or hubby) do foolish things and I always make them wear their safety gear. And I'm the one who nurses the wounds lol.
Wednesday - things that remind me of fall: I love fall, it's my favourite season. I love the changing colours of the leaves, apple picking, pumpkin/pumpkin spice flavoured things, Halloween decorations, and Thanksgiving dinner with my family. (In October - you can tell I'm Canadian by this whole sentence, eh?) Also the back to school season and getting new school supplies were a favourite part of the year for me.
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Top things that remind me of Fall
- Football (American)
- Foliage
- Pumpkins
- Apples
- Acorns
Top things that remind me of Halloween
- Decorations (skeletons, witches, cats, spiders, tombstones)
- Horror movies
- Costumes
- Candy Corn
- Jack-O-Lanterns
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Came back to share that I did make the boo bark today. The white chocolate didn’t turn out right so it’s all dark chocolate. But the kids liked it.
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Wednesday
Top things that remind me of fall/halloween:
- Cooler temps
- Colorful leaves
- Pumpkins
- Trick-or-treaters
- Candy
- Festivals
- Hayrides
- Corn Mazes
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Wednesday, Oct 29th - Top 5-10 Things That Remind Me of Fall/Halloween
- Beautiful changing of the leaves
- Excitement of kids about picking their costumes
- Pumpkin Everything
- Hallmark Movies for Fall (and early Holiday ones)
- Decorated Yards
- Soup and Chili time of year
- Decorating my kitchen with fall colors and my Fall Gnomes
- Indian Summer (Fake Fall) weather
- Spooky stories
- Ordering new calendars for next year (my Mom always ordered our next year's calendars in the Fall and I've kept that tradition.
Jessica 🎃
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Thursday - Favorite Halloween Song
Thriller
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Thursday, Oct 30th - Favorite Halloween Song
How about Monster Mash? Heard it playing this morning on the radio…also, what about some of those move themes…
Friday the 13th…Nightmare on Elm Street…as soon as I hear them, I'm right back in high school at the Drive In checking behind the seat and not wanting to walk up to the snack bar because I'd have to get out in the dark! LOL
Jessica
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Thursday:
My favorite song is "This Is Halloween" from the nightmare before christmas!
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Thursday Halloween song
well I have two
The Nightmares Before Christmas song and the Monster Mash
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It's not a Halloween song, but definitely a Fall song: Moondance by Van Morrison. I love that song.
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Friday. I don't dress up for Halloween. If someone asks me about my Halloween costume, I usually say that I'm a Pedestrian.
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