31 Days of Halloween: Day 8 - Fall Decor Tour

I feel like I am so late this year getting my Fall decorations out. Usually they are up soon after Labor Day but it just didn't happen. I was excited to get everything out to see what Ethan's reaction would be to everything. Ethan was only 5 months last year so I know he didn't remember anything. He loved looking at everything. His favorite things are the Halloween tree, the light up owl and peanut butter m&m's in the candy dish! He even helped me put ornaments on the Halloween tree. It was good practice for Christmas! 

Here's a look at our house all decked out for Fall!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 7 - Not so itsy bitsy spider

I found this spider decoration on Pinterest and it was so cute and it looked really easy to make. All you need to make the spider and his web are large popsicle sticks, a foam disk, large chenille pipe cleaners, black ribbon, googly eyes and glue. The website has a great step by step tutorial and it came together really easily. I made my spider's web a little smaller than the inspiration because I was putting him on a mirror and not my front door. 

He looks so cute in our entryway welcoming people when they come in!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 6 - Halloween Books for Kids

Yesterday I showed you the Spooky Book Cauldron I made for Ethan. Today I thought I would share with you some of Ethan's favorite Halloween books. 

Spooky Bus

Ethan loves this book because one of the tires on the bus plays scary music. It's a short book but very cute.

The Haunted House

This book is a 3d house and is so cute. I bought one of these for Ethan last Christmas and he loved it so I had to get him the Halloween version. 

Halloween Bugs

This is probably Ethan's favorite. It has flaps to open and little 3d Halloween bugs come out. He laughs every time!

One, Two...Boo!

Another one of Ethan's favorites. It has flaps which he loves and you count to 10 throughout the book.

Haunted House: A Touch and Feel Spooky Tour

This is a new one I got for Ethan this year. He is obsessed with all books that have touch and feel elements and this one was no different. 

What are your family's favorite Halloween books?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 5 - Spooky Book Cauldron

I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew I had to make it for Ethan. He is obsessed with books and I thought this was a cute way to display his Halloween and Fall themed books. I had bought a few books for Ethan last year and then added to his collection some more this year too. All you need is a large black cauldron or black tub and some white vinyl. I downloaded the Ghoulish Halloween font and used my Silhouette to cut out the wording and little bats. I think it came out really cute. Ethan loves to dig in the cauldron and take the books out. I want to make something like this now for the 25 books of Christmas we do with Ethan every year.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing some of our favorite Halloween books that are in this cauldron!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 4 - Sponge Painted Jack O'Lantern

I had so much fun doing a weekly craft with Ethan in September for Fall Craft Friday that I thought I would continue the weekly crafting in October too! Ethan really enjoys painting so I found this craft on Pinterest but instead of finger painting, I gave him one of the sponge brushes he used for the tree painting he made. I gave him a 12 x 12 sheet of white paper, orange paint, a brush and let him go to town.

He had a lot of fun as you can see, HA!

 After he was done painting, I let it dry, cut out a pumpkin shape and then added a jack o'lantern face, stem, and leaf to finish it off.

The finished jack o'lantern!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 3 - Fall Checklist

All throughout the year I like to make checklists of family activities for us to do to celebrate the current season. There are so many wonderful things to do for Fall, our list fills up fast! I found a template for our checklist here. I used Photoshop to customize the list for our activities. I printed our list and framed it on our mantle. What are you planning on doing this Fall?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 2 - Felt Pumpkin Playset

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest. I knew it would be something fun to make for Ethan to play with. I thought this came out so cute I even added it to my Etsy store and they have been selling really well. But in case you want to be crafty and make one yourself, here's how I did it, it's really easy!

In the original pin she did some sewing to make the pumpkin a little thicker but I used just a single felt sheet and it worked great and it made it a lot easier. All you need is a large orange felt sheet. I used an 11 x 17 stiffened felt sheet from Hobby Lobby so the pumpkin would hold it's shape. For the stem, leaf and face pieces I used just regular soft felt. I drew all of the shapes onto the felt with chalk and then cut them out. I made eyes, eyebrows, noses, and mouths.

The possibilities are endless with all the different faces you can make. Kids of all ages will have fun playing with this.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 1 - Halloween Countdown

Welcome to 31 Days of Halloween! I'm excited to share lots of Fall and Halloween fun over the next month. To kick off our Halloween countdown, what better than a Halloween countdown calendar?

I put together this countdown calendar with just 3 sheets of paper and some stickers. I used the frame that I had bought for Ethan's birthday to display his monthly pictures and found out it was actually an advent calendar kit. You can still find them on eBay here. I cut out 2 different banner shapes with my Silhouette cutter using 3 12 x 12 sheets of Halloween paper. Then I just numbered the banners from 1-31 with some stickers I had. If you don't have a frame like this, you could use a bulletin board or hang the banners from a string.

On the back of each of the banners I wrote a fun Halloween activity to do each day. Things like, "Read a Halloween Book," "Make a Halloween Craft," or "Bake a Halloween Treat." It will be fun to do something Halloween themed with Ethan throughout the month.