If you are having a treasure hunt this season at your holiday party, and are looking for clues to use, find some sample clues below that utilize holiday places and goods in your home for you to send them holiday hunting…

• Sometimes I am a powder, sometimes a crystal, no matter, however, I’ll always make your goodies sweeter. (Sugar bowl of canister in your kitchen.)
• I welcome with a green sprig or a jingle, I beckon you in for a holiday giggle. (A wreath hanging on your front door.)
• I am hung with some care to make sure that St. Nicholas will soon be there. (Stockings, of course.)
• I make the presents glisten with care, yet I will be gone with a few simple tears! (Wrapping Paper Station)
• I’m piping hot this time of year, from roasts to cookies, turn me on and watch the temp rise far and beyond. (Oven)
• I’m white, puffy, and smooth and add much fun to your cocoa! (Bowl of Marshmallows.)
• Fresh and crisp, I am tall and green and add a touch of nature to your merriment. (Christmas Tree.)
• With a corncob pipe, and a button nose, and my eyes are made out of… (Perhaps you have some fake snow as a decoration in your home, that would be tricky, or somewhere in the real snow outdoors?)
• Greetings Galore this time of year from family, friends and neighbors both near and far. (Basket of holiday cards.)
• In red and green, blue and silver, I will illuminate your room with no more than a flicker. (Assortment of holiday candles, the kids will have to find the right candle for their next clue, of course.)

As the kids find each clue, have little festive chocolates and candies for them to enjoy along the treasure hunt path.

The final clue can reveal small wrapped prizes for the kids to unwrap or even stickers, always a favorite.

Happy Holiday Hunting!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit: Free Birthday Treats.

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My good friends Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, co-authors of the Mompreneurs(R) series of books and co-founders of MompreneursOnline.com are hosting their first ever Mompreneurs Holiday Virtual Party on Twitter tonight, December 16th from 8-10 p.m. EST.

They’ve enlisted the help of Tori Tait, another good friend and co-founder the FBT Twitter Birthday Bashes with me so it’s sure to be a fun night filled with great conversation and some fabulous giveaways sponsored by AVON and Sam’s Club.

For all the juicy details visit: Thoughtfully Simple or MompreneursOnline!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit: Free Birthday Treats.

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It’s coming on Halloween season again, and it’s the perfect season for a Halloween Treasure Hunt.   Mike, Peppers and Pollywogs’ own poet, has created a great set of clues all around Halloween decorations this year to keep the kids on the hunt for their treats!

Check out the clues:

If you find your next clue, I hope that you’ll grin. It’s under a vegetable that’s lit from within. (Jack o’ Lantern)

Where’s the next clue? I think that I saw … the last one holding it was made out of straw. (Scarecrow)

Some say I’m corny, but I’m also quite sweet …  finding the next clue will sure be a treat! (Candy Corn)

I’ve got spirit, yes I do, but even when I’m cheering, I still say boo! (I’ll try not to scare you when you come for your clue.) (Ghost)

Let’s get to the “point” of your next clue: It’s really quite eerie … when the woman who wears me calls children “Dearie.” (Witch’s Hat)

Hey, I’ve got a “bone” to pick with you …. It’s about time you come get this clue. (Skeleton)

By 8 hairy legs, I have been spun … if you can find me, your clue will be won. (Spider Web)

Boil, boil, toil and trouble. Come get your next clue, on the double! (Cauldron)

With my body of wood and feet made of straw, I’m the strangest flying vehicle that you ever saw! (Broomstick)

My body is black and my legs count 4. Some say it’s bad luck when I cross the floor. (Black Cat)

You’ll be green with envy over the bolts in my neck… I may have your clue, why don’t you come check? (Frankenstein)

Happy Halloween Hunting!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

So, will you have goblins and pumpkins around your home this year, or perhaps Chicken Little? Whatever you decide for your costumes for your Halloween party and trick or treat night, keep a few tips in mind when purchasing and/or making costumes for your trick o’ treaters.

If purchasing costumes, wigs, beards, etc. make sure that they are labeled flame resistant. Although the label does not mean these items will not catch fire, the label does mean it will resist burning and extinguish quickly.

Avoid costumes with baggy arms, billowy sleeves, pontoon pants, and/or made out of flimsy material so that contact with candles will be minimal, You could avoid candles all together with glow sticks or battery operated candles.  These glow sticks will fit in most Jack O’Lanterns and last for a few hours.

If you are going to have costumes with swords, shields, etc. make sure they are soft and flexible.

If using a mask, make sure the eyeholes are large enough for your child to see out clearly with full vision, and that it securely fastens around his head. Because masks can often block vision, you may want to consider using hypoallergenic makeup instead.

Have kids go out in sturdy, comfortable shoes. High heels for the Cinderella costume are not a good idea.

Make sure that costumes are short enough so that the kids will not trip over them.

Make sure kids have flashlights on them for their trick-or-treat adventure.

Glow sticks are also quite popular, and are great for making kids visible, but they don’t replace flashlights in making sure that the kids have enough light to see.

Make costumes that are light and bright and can easily reflect light. Make sure that they are clearly visible to motorists as well.  Consider adding reflective tape or striping to costumes and treat bags for greater visibility.  The above-mentioned glow sticks are great for that!

Secure emergency ID on your kid, especially if you will not be going with him.

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

We all know this age-old rhyme as Halloween approaches:

Trick or treat, you’re so neat.
 Give me something good to eat.
 Nuts and candy, fruit and gum. 
I’ll go away if you give me some.

Trick or treat, smell my feet.
 I know you’ll give us lots of treats.
 Not too big, not too small,
maybe the size of Montreal.

Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat,
 Give me something nice to eat.
 If you don’t, we don’t care,
 we’ll put money in your underwear!

Cute, huh?

Halloween Eve will be a time for your children and their friends to get together, don their costumes, and head out into the crisp night air with their torches to light the way. Here are some ideas for the festivities to help you celebrate the fun this year.

Invite the kids to your home to get into their costumes. A lot of the early part of the evening will be taken with getting ready. Make sure to play some creepy music to get everyone in the mood. Afterwards, snapping photos, ooohing and aaaahing over each other, lighting the pumpkins, and making sure everyone has their flashlights, glow sticks, and loot bags will also be important next steps.

OK, the main part of the night will be the actual trick or treat! Make sure to hit all of the “good” houses in the neighborhoods, i.e. the ones known for giving out mini loot bags or people who deck out their homes and act out a scary scene when they thrust open the doors. Adult supervision will be necessary, and make sure to keep the group together. It’s an awesome 90 minutes or so … enjoy!

Upon return, the kids will be very interested in a treat (perhaps something to cut all that sugar) beside their treats. Use orange and black Halloween party supplies to keep everyone in the mood.

You can have snacks ready made with punch. Bloody knuckles would be fun, as would chicken tenders served with BBQ sauce, black tortilla chips, deep purple grapes, etc. This will also be a time when they will be dumping out their loot bag, looking for their favorites, and trading one goody for another…it’s a sugary time, to be sure!

After all of this fun, the kids will be off and into the night as their parents pick them up and take them home. Gathering together to celebrate this special tradition together will mark the evening as truly memorable.

Happy Spooks!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

To Zombie-fy your party invitation, purchase eyeball gumballs and black heavy card stock. Cut the card stock into squares and write your zombie party details on the card with white chalk.  Attach your gum eyeball for added festivity.  Have them dress as a zombie and have their faces look pasty too!

For your party decorations:

Hang Intestinal streamers.

Place gruesome plastic body parts near your front door or around your house to give your guests a little fright!

Place glow in the dark spiders and other creepy crawlies around your party room.

Dim the lights.

Play Zombie movies for the background party noise.

Hang spider webs.

Simply make it look dark, dank, and creepy with whatever you have on hand for Halloween decorations.

For your Zombie Activities:

When the kids arrive, have them make up their faces to look like Zombies, to match their costumes.  You will have fun zombifying yourselves.  Make sure to take pictures!

Play Outbreak Zombie.  Whoever is the designated Zombie must try to bite as many people as possible without getting caught.  Once they are caught, the first person who is bitten is the next Zombie.

Watch Zombie Movies.

Create a creepy coffin.  Using a large appliance box, have your zombies create a creepy coffin and use straw and old clothes to create a dead person to stuff into the coffin.  Afterwards, have your zombies parade through your neighborhood creeping everyone out as the Parade of the Undead.

Play Pin the Liver on the Zombie.  Print out a huge zombie picture and a picture of a liver.  See who can pin it on the Zombie best.

For your Zombie menu:

Serve pickled veggies and garlic, gelatin filled with gummy critters, spaghetti noodles filled with eyeballs (i.e. hard-boiled eggs).  The ideas are endless.

Serve a gelatin brain mold in a creepy color, i.e. purple gray.

For your Zombie Party Favors:

Send the kids home with rubber intestines and other creepy crawly items for Halloween fun!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

As the weeks wind toward Halloween, perhaps your family would like to make its own spooky house this holiday season. This spooky house could beckon the trick or treaters to take a tour before they receive their treats (or tricks?) or to spook up some holiday fun the weekend before the big night in the neighborhood. Whatever your motivation, here are a few tips to bring the haunts alive:

• Decide on the space you want to use. This could be your yard, your home or just one area of your house, like the basement.
• Plan your entrance and exit and think through what types of spooks and scares you want to include in your plan.
• Get help — to not only transform the Haunted House, but to participate in spooking it as well.
• Don’t forget to add eerie lighting, scary sounds, and darkness. Throw dark sheets or black garbage bags over the windows so no light will be able to get through.
• Replace your outside bulbs with orange bulbs. Also, you could have a black light bulb for your porch light if you have some glow-in-the-dark decorations hung close-by.
• If you have some leftover Tiki torches from your summer parties, use those to light the path to the front door of your haunted house.
• Alternatively, string clear or orange Christmas lights, or if you are going for cuter, rather scary, try these fun spider lights.
• Hang spider web netting all throughout that your guests will get entangled in!
• Hang a “dead guy” in the front entrance: stuff a pair of jeans and a shirt with newspaper, and use an old bleach container cut out into a face.
• Top with an old hat.
• Decorate your doors to look like coffins, using butcher paper and paint
• Using large appliance boxes, you can make coffins, fake walls, crypt chambers, etc.
• Set up a spooky dinner table, have a silver tray with a Jell-O brain mold atop, finger food or a severed hand or head. Set a Monster dummy or a real person at the table about to eat the feast. Creepy!
• Hang wet yarn from the ceiling for your guests to walk through.
• Have bloody hands lying around.  As a DYI, fill surgical gloves with sand and tie them off with a rubber band. Add the effect of blood with red paint on the fingers. Creepy!
• Spritz cold water on the guests as they enter the Haunted House.
• Use dry ice to make a boiling cauldron or for a foggy effect, but be very careful to not let the dry ice touch anyone! A better option would be a fog machine … it is a bit pricey, but you may be able to rent it out to others throughout the year!

Some helpful tips:

• Small children may be afraid or may not be able to handle going through the scary house. You can always alert your actors to be “gentle” and take off their masks and hand out treats to make the spooky house a friendlier one. You can also set an age limit for entrance. Although it will be dark, make sure you have enough light for people to see their way through. Again, clear Christmas lights placed strategically will work well if you are on a budget.
• Don’t let the dry ice touch anyone! It can cause serious injury! Do not use candles or other flames — too much of a safety hazard. Try battery operated candles or glow sticks instead.
• Make sure that the actors don’t touch anyone as they make their way through the haunted house … just play their acting role, i.e. looking creepy, playing dead, etc.
• Make sure your space has adequate ventilation.
• Make sure you have enough help!

Happy Haunting!

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

This is a great party to do either at your home or at an outside venue, such as a local farm. So, take a look around and see if there are any local farms in your area that allow for parties. If you hold your party at such a location, the hayride and picking of apples and pumpkins will be great activities.

Invitations: Cut out leaf shapes or autumn harvest shapes and place them on card stock and include all of the information on the inside of your card.

Decorations:

Orange, brown, and yellow are great colors for this theme. Purchase party and table ware in these colors.  Alternatively, you can use leaf patterns.

Use mini pumpkins for your table centerpiece.

Tall corn husks and bales of hay would add another decorative touch to the party.

Crafts:

Paint/Decorate mini-pumpkins and have the kids can take these home.

Make Scarecrow Candy Necklaces.  Using straw, have the kids string round candies with holes in the center to make their necklaces.

Sponge paint place mats with leaf shapes.

Games/Activities:

Bob for apples.

Have a Pumpkin Roll Contest. Divide the kids into two teams and provide a pumpkin to each team. Have the kids roll it to one end and back and pass it along to the next person.

Throw a Hula Hoop around a large pumpkin.

If you have bales of hay, have the kids jump over the bales of hay as an obstacle relay race.

String up donuts and tie the kids’ arms behind their backs. Have them eat the donuts off of the line without using their hands.

Hold a scavenger hunt outdoors. If at night, hand out glow sticks for the kids to search for the loot.

Fill a large cardboard box with leaves and place toys in the leaves. Have the kids put their hands inside the box and pick out a toy.

Play Hot Pumpkin, like Hot Potato.

Menu:

BBQ is always good for this type of a party; spice it up with spare ribs.

Chili is also an excellent option. Have all of the fixn’s so that people can enjoy topping it off.

Serve corn bread muffins.

Make Rice Krispie Treats and add orange food coloring to them. Stick them on a Popsicle stick for a treat.

Serve Apple Cider. As an added treat, place caramels on fancy sticks and have the kids stir it into their apple cider for Hot Caramelized Apple Cider.

Make caramel apples.

Make sugar cookies cut out into autumn shapes. Have the kids decorate the cookies with frosting and candies.

Make a batch of cupcakes and ice them with orange frosting and little black, orange, and white sprinkles. The kids can always do the decorating.

Goody Bags:

Purchase little plastic pumpkins, which are so popular as trick or treat bags this time of year. Fill it with all things “fall” – caramel apple cider packets with a cinnamon stick, little themed notebooks, pencils, erasers, pumpkin candy, and candy corn packets.

By Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

Another Halloween is upon us and this year I thought for sure my teenage daughter would forgo the activities, but she is gracing us with another year of carving pumpkins, donning a costume and trick-or-treating. In fact, the whole family is dressing up this year, which has my son totally excited that this is going to be the “best Halloween ever!” Since Halloween only falls on a Friday once every 7 years, it is turning out to be a big party night at my BIL’s house.

Are you dressing up this year? If so, as what? That being said, I still need to figure out what I’m doing for my costume. Time for me to venture out of my office cave and get creative.

I hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween and be safe!

To find local businesses offering birthday discounts & freebies for adults, kids and pets, visit my website, Free Birthday Treats.

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