Let the Fun Begin!

When the dining room table is full on the day before any holiday weekend at Nana's, it usually means I am ready for the fun to start. As I have posted, this year will be a bit abbreviated because of football but I think I have more than enough to keep us all busy and having a good time. I will say, that as the kids get older - not to mention that two of them are pre and teenaged boys - finding crafts and games that they actually want to participate in gets a bit more challenging,

We used to do a shirt every year...back when they would wear whatever we made. Now, we have definite tastes and school uniforms to contend with so foot prints on shirts will no longer "cut it". But, I hear that tie dye is coming back. Since we don't really have time for the long process of tie dying, I latched on to an idea I saw on Hallmark's Home and Family show the other day. The instructions on-air and from their website weren't great so I did a little research and then I made a sample just to check timing, color change, etc.

This method is reverse tie dye using bleach. On the show the shirts went from black to black and orange quite quickly but I saw online where they could go to a murky mud color just as quickly so I knew I needed to give it a try before I actually started doing it with the kids. So, here is our sample-that I will happily use as a p.j. top between now and the big day. And, better yet, I think the kids will do the same.

The few hints I learned were to dampen the shirt before starting, lay it flat and pinch it in the middle (at least for this design...and we will not have time to mess with rubber bands so this works for us ), carefully start twisting until it looks like a cinnamon bun, secure with wide painter's tape around the outside to keep it from opening and then using a squirt bottle filled with bleach, go back and forth across the surface in an X pattern a number of times before flipping it over and doing the same on the back. Then, I just waited a few minutes until it looked like orange to me then quickly ripped off the tape, opened it up and dunked it into a waiting bucket of water. I rinsed it until the water stayed mostly clear and then brought it into the bathroom sink full of water and vinegar and let it soak awhile. I learned that trick many years ago when we did tie dying with G.S. It helps set the color so when the item goes into the wash, the colors don't bleed...I hope.

I must say, it was really easy and a lot of fun. We will need to be careful not to get the bleach anywhere other than where it should be but, we will do it outside and near a water source, so we should be good. I really think the kids will like them...and, quite honestly, even if they never wear them again (after the obligatory pictures of course), it is fine as we will have made some memories just in the making of them.

The kids have made mugs for several other occasions and they seem to enjoy doing that, so this was a no brainer when I found the orange and black mugs at Dollar Tree. I bought enough so they can make sets for their whole family.

Ever since I found the "Holiday Minute to Win It" games, we have been playing them for all of the weekends at Nana's. I found Halloween Scattergories and a Halloween A-Z game this year as well, so we have lots to keep us busy if we find we have time on our hands. I like to have lots of options just in case the kids are looking for something to do.

I've got everything we need for the tie dye as well as all of the Halloween movies that I have.

I always lay out the non-perishable food items as well...just to be sure I'm not forgetting any of the details. This year the kids decided on Halloween pasta with eyeballs, meatball mummies, salad with ghost and pumpkin cheese, spooky trees and mummy garlic bread. Presley is going to make a spider web cake. I am really not a fan of boxed cakes but it just works better for our timing so I found some add-ins you can use to make it taste like a from scratch cake. I will let you know how it works. But, I totally put my foot down on the canned icing so she will be making a buttercream from scratch while the cake bakes. She is actually really good in the kitchen ( as are her brothers ), so she will probably be doing most of this on her own.

The next morning we are doing Halloween pancakes with black syrup and whipped cream ghosts. This too is a new recipe so will see if it makes the cut.

I hope I remember to take lots of pictures. If I do, I will be back to share soon. And, I have lots more of this year's decor to share. Have a wonderful weekend and stay tuned.