Quick and Easy Christmas Ideas!

Hello All You Festive Folk!

Whether you are throwing a chic shindig or just spending some time with the family this holiday season here are some easy ideas to make things a little more jolly!

No matter your plans you want to create a mood for your home. 

Pine tree like garland intertwined with white Christmas lights is a classy way to turn shabby into chic!

I am a person fan of not using the giant gold ribbon but trim away if it makes you happy!

Now lets be honest...the veggie tray has outstayed its welcome at EVERY function throughout the year.

So add some POP when you can!

In any craft store you can find these foam cones and press your mini trees (broccoli) into the base and work your way up! Once your basic tree is complete, start decorating!  Use slices of red bell peppers for garland, baby carrots slide in easily and add some tiny tomatoes by using tooth picks to secure them! You can even cut a star out of a yellow bell pepper for the top of your Christmas tree!

Everyone loves a Christmas cocktail!

And here's your recipe!

Partridge in a Pear Tree Holiday Cocktail 

1½ oz pear vodka 

½ oz lemon juice 

½ oz simple syrup ( or agave nectar) 

Champagne Rosemary, cut into 1½ inch sprigs

What do you get for that guy on your list 

that is dating so-and-so?

Bam! Ask so-and-so (hopefully she has a better name than this) what her guys favorite beer is and then apply eye stickers, pipe cleaner antlers and a little red puff ball of a nose 

(all available at any craft store) 

and you'll have a happy gent indeed!

Speaking of presents- 

Holiday wrapping paper can be a bit cheesy. Why not go with one of these alternatives to your cartoon type of papers? It all starts with simple brown paper.

Taking an alphabet of stamps you can 

custom any gift and forego labels as well! 

Add a ribbon for special effect or 

I am ALWAYS one for using twine!

Another easy option is to forego names entirely!

Simply smack a photo of your recipient 

on their gift and your down! 

Easy but you'll be the talk around the tree!

Oh, the tree!

If this is your first Christmas with a special someone then make sure you get a memento!

Saw off part of the trunk, before or after the season, your call. And make an ornament for the next year! You can add to your collect year after year if you fancy!

If you are one of those families who makes it a point to leave cookies and milk for Santa make sure you include the rest of his night crew working overtime!

My mom always made sure to leave some bound hay for the reindeer but this one goes even a step further!

Donuts for the elves!

Take a match box and fill it with wheat cheerios, frosted cheerios and if your feeling extra crafty- take some original cheerios, dip a side in chocolate and then sprinkle away! 

LOVE THIS!

Finally, a nice and easy gift for your office 

or treat for your guests!

Dip one end of a candy cane into white chocolate and sprinkle with some white nonpareils.

Effective!

Merry Christmas, kids!

Enjoy it!

Decor That Won't Bore: Affordable Thankgiving

Are you planning a feast? Inviting a plethora of people into your home this Thanksgiving? 

 Here are a couple decor ideas that will make you a proud pilgrim welcoming everyone in!

An eye-catching center piece is that easiest way to make an impression, and gone are the days of cornucopias...

Bring in a bit of nature! One long medium sized branch sawed into several different heights makes quite a visual impact. Especially when paired with pine cones, moss and candles placed inside mason jars. 

Easy and affordable! Just go outside for the bulk of your materials!

You know all those little pumpkins that go on sale right after Halloween? Buy them! If they are colors you don't care for simply paint them! There's so much you can do with the little things!

From center places to games!

Tic-Tac-Toe!

If you are having trouble locating mini gourds- apples are a great alternative!

Pair with tea light candles for a glowing ambiance!

Once you have determined your center piece 

now we can talk place settings!

This is the simplest trick that makes a big impact!

Find flat fallen leaves, or pick your own leaves and keep them between book pages to flatten them for a day or two. To make sure the leaves are clean, gently wipe them with baby wipes. Then take a black sharpie and scribe the name of your guest onto the symbol of autumn's glory. 

It is nearly mandatory to have an opportunity for your guests to reflect and share what they are thankful for. This was one of the easiest ways I have found anywhere. Use your black sharpie marker to script the big question onto brown paper and make sure to use a straight edge for the lines! 

 I have been mildly obsessed with chalk board paint lately so I couldn't help but throw in a few ideas along 

those lines as well. 

Use chalkboard paint (either bought or made) to paint anything from mini plates or small paper plate to go on top of your chargers! These can be used to then scribble either the menu, place settings or even supply a piece of chalk at each and have these as your "what are you thankful for?" presentation.

If you are brave and amazing enough to have a chalk board base to your table you can draw place mats and doodle 

fun messages and silverware!

Sometimes beauty is really in the details. 

Use a split walnut shell to cradle the 

salt and pepper for your table. 

Place pairs throughout the table. 

Sometimes different meal or drink items can be striking and can be doubled for visual appeal!

One 3-liter bottle of Sprite 2 cans of cranberry juice concentrate extras to make it fun and festive: I used real cranberries and star-shaped ice cubes

For the non-alcoholic version, add 1 bottle Sparkling Cider; For the alcoholic version, 1 bottle sparkling wine {pick your fave}

Make sure it is a lovely vessel for that extra little something!

Happy Thanksgiving All! Make sure to get that Wishbone!

The ONLY candy for Halloween

What are you passing out for the trick or treaters this year?

Candy? Chocolates?

Slavery?

Children's Dignity?

Lost Educations?

Beatings?

Deaths?

What are you telling children is okay to accept in the world?

On a night where little children play dress up and make believe, pretending that frights and horrors are real... there is something truly scary being handed out door to door. 

"Young children. Children who should be attending school and having a childhood. And they are working for most of the mainstream chocolate providers in the USA.    A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions.  Some of them have been taken from their families, or sold as servants.  U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't own them.  This includes Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and the US division of Cadbury . . . who collectively represent pretty much every snack-size candy bar that will be available in stores this Halloween." 1

   

Carrying Coco pods.

Using machetes in a field instead of pencils in s classroom.

A days worth of work, not to mention beatings or sexual abuse that is often reported on coco plantations.

This is the actual cost of chocolates and many candies as there are similar report of slavery used in harvesting sugar cane. 

If you would like to watch the full documentary of The Draker Side of Chocolate it is below

Green America gave a list of ways 

YOU can make a difference in this outrage:

1. Use the new "Get Child Labor Out of Your Chocolates Scorecard" athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/pdf/2010ChocolateScorecard.PDF to shop online.  Among the "A" ranked alternatives to Hershey chocolate are Alter Eco, Coco-Zen, Divine, Equal Exchange, Shama, Sjaak's, Sweet Earth Organic and Theo Chocolate, all of which are Fair Trade. All of Hershey's competitors have some form of labor certification for their chocolate, leaving Hershey as the only company on the list without one.  Confused by what all of those certification symbols mean?  The Scorecard includes a short overview of the most widely used labels and explains what they mean.
2. Shop for Fair Trade chocolate locally.  You can find dozens of locations around the U.S. athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/products/wheretobuy.cfm#chocolate.  
3. Fair Trade Your Halloween.  You can hand out bite-sized Fair Trade chocolates and let parents of Trick-or-Treaters know why Fair Trade matters.  In addition, thousands of families across the U.S. are taking part in local "reverse trick-or-treating" to educate other families about the abuse of children in the cocoa production.  
4. Help raise awareness by holding a screening in your home of "The Dark Side of Chocolate." Filmmakers Miki Mistrati and U. Robin Romano traveled to cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire and what they found was dark.  Few improvements have been made on the ground and egregious labor rights abuses continue, years after major chocolate companies committed to ending this exploitation.  Get more information about how to get involved athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/MovieScreening.cfm.
5. Take Green America's new action targeting Hershey.   Don't just avoid Hershey chocolates; let this company know what you think.  Go to http://www.greenamerica.org/takeaction/hershey/ to send your message to a Hershey's executive now.
6. Take action on Facebook.   You can start by "liking" Green America's latest posts athttp://www.facebook.com/Greenamerica about Hershey, so your friends can see them.  You can also go to Hershey's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HERSHEYS and leave your own comments for them and their customers to see.  Every few days, Hershey posts a new question designed to keep up the chatter on their page, constantly exposing their brand to more eyeballs.  That's where you can add your comments about expecting Hershey to be more responsible.
7. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.   You'll find all the background information that you need for your letter to the editor by downloading the "Time to Raise the Bar" report here.  http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/whatyoucando/2010Hershey.cfm.

For more information of Green America please visit

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/is-there-child-slave-labor-in-your-childs-halloween-candy-105256258.html

What are you going to do? Today? Halloween? Everyday?

Will you make a difference?

Because together... we can. 

Look for fair trade symbols on your groceries. Coffee, sugar, rice and especially your chocolate. 

1. http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2013/10/the-inconvenient-truth-about-halloween.html#idc-container

Halloween Tricks and TREATS

It's that time of year again where we can all play with our food and be applauded for the creativity!

If you are attending or hosting an All Hollows Haunting you'll want to breeze through here for some great ideas of treats...with just a couple tricks to learn from. 

A feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds!

The first step is picking your menu- And if you are going for gore or glam? NO matter your taste these treats will have both you and your guests Ooo-ing and AHHHH!!-ing

It's amazing that Sprite with a syringe full of grenadine (cherry juice) can make SUCH a visual impact! 

To make this elixir  adult friendly fill the syringe mostly with cherry vodka and about 1/4 grenadine. 

No matter which poison you pick for your attendees plan ahead with these great cubes of frozen horrors.

Freeze toy spiders or other insects in your ice trays and you'll have shrieks and shrills all night!

Not serving individual portions of potion?

NO PROBLEM!

Fill a none powdered surgical glove with water and freeze!Insert in any punch bowl for extra cool points.  

Make sure to make a couple, you made need an extra hand or to 

as the nights goes on. 

If you will be participating in the traditional house party game of beer pong, make sure you get the proper Halloween ping pongs and ORANGE cups!

Now that you have been the proper host and distributed liquid vivations to all, bit's time to bring out that yearly fruit bowl of boringness!

Psh... please.

Carves and gut your melon to resemble Chopper (Mario geeks will understand) or Jaws for the rest of you. Fill half way with your favorite fruit mixture. Insert Malibu Stacey with some red marker for bloody effect and finish filling with fruit. For an extra laugh make sure she's in her bikini! I personally like to have my water melon sitting in a pan of blue jello!

If you prefer berries, you must try BOO BERRIES!

Miss Candiquik gives excellent instruction on how to create these spectacular spirits! Just click the link below!

http://blog.candiquik.com/strawberry-ghosts/?crlt.pid=camp.OLQdzUCzGT01

MAIN COURSE!

You could easily do soup, chili, pot pie or shepherd's pie in a ramekin and add your puff pastry or rolled out pizza dough into a tentacle shape and add some olives for eyes. I like to do spiders and get creative with added puff pastry fangs!

But everyone knows Halloween is about two things: 

Dressing up and SUGAR!

So we'll start off with pure sugar :)

Get some cotton candy and add one of those wee plastic spiders to create a massive spidey egg sack!

Speaking of spiders...

This is so easy its scary!
Bake you chocolate chip cookies as normal. 
When you take them out of the oven, before they cool, take a toothpick and spread one of the gooey chips to have "legs"! If none of your chocolate chips are positioned well for this- simply pop one on and wait for that warm cookie to melt it slightly. 

We're on a roll!
More eight legged creepy crawlies!

If you are even slightly talented at pipping all you have to do is back chocolate cupcakes, serve them on over sized plates and pipe chocolate frosting to the shape of a spider head and eight long legs! 

If pipping isn't really your talent by trade, here's the simplest Halloween cupcake idea I have ever seen!

Bake and ice your cupcakes and when all is completed take a straw, toothpick or other such handy item and make two penetrations for fang marks. Complete with a tiny bit or red food coloring or icing running out of the bite marks. 

As simply chic as that is- I have a slightly more complex one that takes the cake for my all time favorite!

I would love to see these at EVERY Fright Festival I go to so I have included the instructions for your convenience at the bottom of this post!

Easy to eat Caramel Apple Slices!

Cut and apple in half and scrape out some of the insides to make from for the caramel and put in the refrigerator until the caramel has stiffened! Then slice away!

Enjoy you Grub and Happy Hauntings!

Broken Glass Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 Can white frosting

1 Box Red Velvet Cake Mix

Sugar Glass:

2 cups water

1 cup light corn syrup

3 1/2 cups white sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Edible Blood:

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup water, or more as needed

15 drops red food coloring

3 drops blue food coloring

Directions

Prepare Red Velvet Cake Mix According to box, line cupcake tins

with paper cupcake liners.

Divide cake batter between lined cupcake tins.

Bake according to box instructions. Let cool and frost cupcakes

with white frosting.

Make the sugar glass. Mix 2 cups water, 1 cup corn syrup, white 

sugar, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. 

Use a candy thermometer and boil sugar syrup until temperature 

reaches 300 degrees (hard ball), stirring constantly. The

mixture will thicken as water evaporates. When sugar reaches 300 

degrees, quickly pour onto a metal baking pan. Cool until 

completely hardened. Break into “shards” using a meat mallet.

Make the edible blood. Mix together 1/2 cup corn syrup and 

cornstarch in a large bowl. Slowly stir in the 1/4 cup of water, 

adding more if necessary, until the corn syrup mixture has 

thickened to the consistency of blood. Stir in the red and blue

food coloring.

Stab each frosted cupcake with a few shards of broken sugar 

glass. Drizzle on drops of “blood” to complete the effect.