A Fun & Delicious Halloween With Hershey's #HersheysHalloween #sponsored

My favorite spooky time of year is finally here and our family could not be more excited! I love Halloween and so do my kids. They love everything about the holiday and all the fun activities that come along with it. Each year we do something a little different in October to celebrate Halloween, but there is one thing that is a must-have every single time: Hershey's chocolate. Okay, we have it in our house pretty much year-round, but Halloween gives us an even better excuse to buy more. Plus, they have all kinds of special Halloween-themed candy that is available for a limited time.

What are you doing this year to celebrate Halloween? 

You don't have to spend a bundle to have a good time and, as a family on a budget, we've come up with a fun list of great ways to have some spooky family fun!

1. Pumpkin Carving - Just this weekend we bought a pumpkin carving kit and two pumpkins for the kids. They were so excited to help out and couldn't wait to get their hands on the pumpkin seeds. The boys helped scoop out the "pumpkin brains" and then continued to plant a pumpkin patch while I carved up the pumpkins. My kids are just a little too young to carve, but we found some other ways for them to participate. We got out finger paints and markers so they could create their own masterpiece.

2. Trick-Or-Treating- As we learned this year, when Halloween falls on a weekday, you may find several different places to trick-or-treat in October. Many churches have fall festivals and trunk-or-treat, which are open to the public. My sis-in-law's neighborhood actually celebrated Halloween this past weekend. On Halloween, Publix is having an in-store trick-or-treat and several neighborhoods around the area are, too.

3. Decorating your home - The kids really enjoyed helping decorate. Most of our decorations came from the $1 store and others were leftovers from last year. We have light-up pumpkins, carved pumpkins, Halloween cut-outs, skeletons, ghosts, spider webs and, most importantly, candy!

4. Creating spooky treats & crafts - We checked out the Hershey's website for some Halloween recipe ideas using the candy we our Hershey's products, Reese's Pumpkin Spiders. Little hands may need some help, but this is great fun. Plus, you don't have to follow the recipe to a tee. For example, the recipe uses Reese's Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups, but my husband had already eaten all of ours, so we used York Peppermint Patties, another of our favorite candies! The Reese's Peanut Butter cups are bigger and probably easier for smaller hands, though.

Here's the Hershey's version of the recipe with a little tweeking to make it more kid-friendly:

Ingredients

• REESE’S Peanut Butter Pumpkins (1.2 oz. ea.) OR York Peppermint Pumpkin Patties.
• Large pretzel twists 
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Chips, HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips*
• YORK PIECES Candies (White or colored)
• Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses

Directions

• Line tray or cookie sheet with waxed paper. Remove wrappers and set out your desired amount of Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins (or York Peppermint Pumpkin Patties). For each spider, pull apart the curved sections of pretzels, which will be the legs for your spiders. cut 8 matching curved sections from pretzels which will form the legs. They really don't have to be so exact. Set aside the pretzels pieces.
• Place milk chocolate chips in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 10 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chips are melted and smooth when stirred.
• For each spider, place peanut butter pumpkin on prepared tray. Dip the pretzel legs, one at a time, into the chocolate and attach them to the peanut butter pumpkins. Then, add the candy eyes. We used York Pieces Candies and eatable food coloring markers to paint them red! You can use a dot of melted chocolate to dot the eyes if you want.  Allow chocolate to set before moving spiders.
• Cut Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses in half and add one half to each spider. This is not in the original recipe, but we like this tasty addition. 

We've had such a fun-filled October and we still have more to come on Halloween day! I'll be sad when the month is over, but then we have some other holidays coming, so that means more sweets and treats. We hope you had a great October and will have a Happy Halloween filled with Hershey's candies!!!

Disclosure: This post was written for Hershey's in conjunction with Global Influence. Product was received for the writing of this post along with payment. All opinions written are my own. 

A Halloween Party To Remember With Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread #flatoutpizza

We were so excited to work with The Motherhood and Flatout this October to help introduce the three new Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread! We received all three not only to try out, but to use as part of delicious snacks for a Halloween party.

We received the Heritage Wheat Flatout Flatbread, Spicy Italian Flatout Flatbread and the Rustic White Flatout Flatbread!

Why try Flatout?
The great thing about Flatout Flatbread is that making a pizza dinner is easier than ever! You can make a delicious pizza in about 6 minutes. I love thin crust pizza already, so knowing it is easy to prep just adds to the appeal! Plus, you can grill or bake it. We decided to put Flatout to the test and make our own pizza just the way the kids like it AND invite the extended family to come over for all the Halloween and pizza fun!

Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread is a great source of fiber, is only 120 calories per piece and contains 7 grams of protein. Plus, you can purchase the bags, which are shelf-stable for 14 days, at Walmart for only $2.98! So, you can make an easy dinner for a great price. Josiah and Liam love to keep things simple, so all I needed to buy was some pizza sauce and cheese! Easy-peasy! Each of the flatbread packages contained 6 long pieces of flatbread, so we had plenty for a great dinner.

How easy was it?
First I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. Then, I put the flatbread on a cookie sheet and toasted for 2 minutes. I took it out, slapped on some pizza sauce and cheese. Then I placed it back in the oven for about 4 more minutes and, voila', it was finished and smelling great!

One of the delicious pizzas we made!

The favorite among all the adults was the Spicy Italian Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread because it is already perfectly seasoned and goes along perfectly with the pizza ingredients. It has a little spice, but isn't too spicy (in my opinion). The kids seemed to prefer the Rustic White flatbread and my husband always eats wheat bread, so he was excited to eat the Heritage Wheat pizza we made.

This was the easiest meal I have made in quite a while and it really was a hit! For the party we got several decorations and I decided to put them up on our mantle to display. Several of the pumpkins light up and others make noises, which you can't tell from the picture, but they looked awesome!

 I really can't ask for anything more when making dinner and especially when throwing a party. No more elaborate dishes for me. Keeping it simple with Flatout Flatbread is the way to go! It's delicious, easy and everyone is sure to love it. I know all of our guests asked for more information and couldn't wait to give it a try, too! After I told them it only took 6 minutes to make they wanted to give it a try even more.

An awesome witch plate with a piece of pizza!

You should put Flatout to the test, too. Then come back and let me know what you think. I bet you will have nothing but amazing things to say about it. Be sure to check back this week for our Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread Giveaway! You do NOT want to miss it, believe me!

Disclosure: This post was written for Flatout in conjunction with The Motherhood. I was compensated to conduct this review and party, though all opinions are 100% mine and only mine. 

Get UnJunked this #Halloween with UNREAL Candy #getunreal

 Here at Children Teaching Mama, we strive to eat healthy foods and keep away from junk foods. However, chocolate is one of those delicious treats that is almost impossible to ignore! Just recently I was given the opportunity to throw an UNREAL party at our house and we got to eat all the chocolate we wanted. You heard me right, an all chocolate party!

You know all of those chocolate bars that sit, tempting you at the checkout counter? Those are filled with all kinds of gross, unnatural and unhealthy ingredients that no one should ingest. In comes UNREAL and now we have a delicious alternative to this unhealthy junk food other companies try to peddle. UNREAL candy is all-natural, contains no preservatives, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and  artificial colors/flavors. In addition, the milk comes from pasture-raised cows that have not been given antibiotics and hormones. Sounds expensive, right? Nope! The creators of the worked out a formula so that UNREAL candy costs about the same as other candies!

Why would you eat junk when you can have UNREAL?

Party Time
We had a fun party with family members to try out all five of the UNREAL candies. My husband (the sneak) got into the candy before the party and gave himself away when remarking just how delicious the candy is. That is definitely a complement coming from him because he is a picky candy eater! He said the UNREAL 77 Peanut Butter Cups were better than any others he had ever tried. I couldn't wait to see what the rest of the family had to say!

UNREAL provided some amazing gift bags for the party guests, filled with full-sized samples! The bags looked great before the party and I couldn't wait to hand them out.

Everyone had a great time at the party and enjoyed trying the delicious treats. I think it was pretty much unanimous that the UNREAL Peanut Butter Cups were the most delicious, even more so than competitors. Everyone said they would be purchasing more in the future, so I think my work is done for now!
Enjoy your Halloween this year without the junk! Try UNREAL candy and taste the difference.

Get UNREAL
UNREAL is available at many retailers around the US, including Target, Kroger, CVS, BJs and more! 
Be sure to follow UNREAL on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all the latest news. 
 


I received complimentary products to facilitate this in-home party for UNREAL Candy via Global Influence. All opinions expressed are 100% mine. I was compensated, but this did not influence review, which was based on my opinions and the party guests.

Halloween Express Review & $75 Gift Card Giveaway

Halloween is, by far, my favorite holiday of the year and I love sharing all the fun with my kids. We get dressed up every year and we also decorate our house! This year our house is all decked out. Since we live in the middle of nowhere, it is really just for us, but it is still fun and the kids have a blast doing it. Each year I really enjoy looking up costume ideas with the kids because they get so excited! This year we had a great time looking at all the cute costumes at Halloween Express! 

Last year Liam picked at a duck costume, which was adorable, but I have to admit it was itchy and not well-made. This year I wanted something of better quality and Halloween Express has a huge variety of items, so I knew we could find more than enough to satisfy my kiddos. I've always heard how cute the Tom Arma costumes are and Halloween Express has them! To my delight they had not only infant sizes, but toddler sizes as well. We ended up getting the Tom Arma Monkey costume for both my son and my nephew and they cannot wait until Halloween to wear them.

Yes, this is a stock photo, but this is such an adorable costume, I didn't want my kids getting it messy before Halloween! Isn't it cute? The costume is so soft and warm, so I am hoping for a chilly Halloween for him. The monkey stuffed animal also comes with the costume, another reason I have tried to hide the costume from him because he would not let it out of sight if he saw it. I love everything about this costume. Since Liam has NF, his head is slightly too big for the pullover hat, but we are getting it enlarged just for him!

Josiah, my oldest, is now out of the "cute" stage and has moved on to zombie games and ninja cartoons. When he saw the Zombie Ninja costume it just had to be his! As soon as it arrived, he put it on.

As you can see, he loves this costume. In the past, I've bought him costumes only for him to declare war on it Halloween day because it itches or hurts. Not this time! He did not want to take the costume off at all. The costume really has a great deal of extra pieces to make it special and at only $36.99, it is also affordable. Although it did not come with a ninja sword, they have plenty to choose from at Halloween Express that fit perfectly.

Halloween is slowly coming upon us and it is apparent by all the houses we pass going into town! I love all of the great decorations people have, especially one yard that is decorated from top to bottom. Have you decorated your house yet? Do you have your costume? Well, it isn't too late for you!

Time For A Giveaway!

Thanks to Halloween Express, we are giving away a $75 Gift Card To Halloween Express!

Halloween Party For Your Children

So the saying goes, “trick or treat, penny or a sweet, give me something nice to eat”. Sound familiar? Halloween is on its way and you want your children and their friends to have a safe yet memorable day.

 If you’re feeling the pressure of hosting the party, fear not your survival guide is here!

Costume

Party masks are a great way for children to have some control over who they want to be for the night. It will also reduce conflict of who has spent the most money on their costume. Paper plates, felt tips and elastic bands should be enough for a DIY Halloween costume. 

Decorating

Make ghosts out of tissue paper and draw on eyes with black felt tip. Wrap string around the ghost’s head and hang it up on the curtain poles or wherever seems appropriate. 

Party Bags

• Children love treats and let’s face it so do adults so there’s only one thing for it, party bags.
• Depending on how many people have been invited you can decorate normal plastic bags.
• Cut out pieces of black card and shape them as bats if you want to save money on party bags. 
  
  

Tricks

• Avoid that sugar rush and make healthy snacks – for example you can use vegetables to make a skeleton.
• Rearrange the vegetables so that the head is a round plastic container filled with a dip (of your choice) then place lettuce leaves around it.  Put in two sliced olives for eyes and use celery and cucumbers as the body, baby carrots as arms and so on.
• Strawberries can make great monsters and all you have to do is decorate them with icing.
• Slice apples in half and put two together so they are shaped as mouths.
• Then with a knife cut the remaining parts of the apple into small pieces so they look like teeth.
• Oranges can be cut into mini pumpkins or if you want just draw on the orange peel.
• Cut out chunks of carrot and add cream cheese on the top, then for the final touch place half a black olive on top.

Treats

• Red and orange jelly.
• Place them in clear plastic disposable containers which will save you on washing up and the risk of broken plates.
• Decorate cupcakes using black and orange icing, the easiest design to decorate them with would be spiders.   
  
  

Games

Children can be difficult to keep entertained, as much as we would love for them to sit quietly reading a book and educating themselves. So what can you provide for them at a Halloween party? 

Monster Moves

Play some Michael Jackson thriller or whatever music you think will get the children moving and make them freeze with their favourite monster move. The scariest monster wins, it’s simple. 

Hide and Seek

It’s free, it fits and everyone knows how to play. Just make sure you store your most prized possessions somewhere safe and out of the way.  If there are enough children, how about putting them into groups so they can learn team building skills. 

Bursting Balloons

Depending on the colour scheme you choose, you could put treats into balloons and stick them on the wall. A great idea would be to have a number of orange balloons stuck to your wall.  Arrange the balloons so they are shaped as a pumpkin, and let the games begin!

Celebrate Halloween With Chasing Fireflies Costumes & $100 GC Giveaway

 I absolutely love Halloween and am always looking for cute outfits to celebrate the month of October. Around this time last year I stumble upon Chasing Fireflies and fell in love with their selection of clothing for babies and children. They even have clothes for adults, too!This Halloween season Chasing Fireflies has you covered with their Wishcraft catalog filled with hundreds of unique costume ideas!

About Chasing Fireflies (from website)

We created chasing fireflies to yes, celebrate childhood but also to celebrate parenthood. Do you remember the first time you ever rode a bike? Swam across the pool? Chased fireflies? It’s even more special the second time around when you share your child’s firsts. We’ve taken great care in selecting magical children’s products that, we hope, will charm, surprise and delight. We love each and every one and sincerely hope you will, too.

My Thoughts
I am very picky about the costumes I pick out for the kids. I want something fun, unique and comfortable for them each year, which is why I love the costumes at Chasing Fireflies! particularly love the personalized outfits from Chasing Fireflies and have actually purchased some for the kids last holiday season. For Halloween, they have some adorable personalized costumes, too! Liam especially loves the Personalize Jr. Doctor Scrubs costume since he loves his doctors so much. Josiah, on the other hand, is a fan of the Colossal T. Rex costume since he loves everything about dinosaurs.

Besides the great costumes for my boys, Chasing Fireflies offers pages and pages of costumes for babies and girls, too. The list of adorable costumes is really endless and I love going through them. My niece loves the Witchie Poo Costume (remember H.R. Pufnstuf?) and all the accessories that go with it. I have to admit, I love this costume, too, along with the hat and black magic boots. Everything you need to complete the costume is at Chasing Fireflies!

As for the baby costumes, when I saw the What a Hoot costume, I wished immediately that Liam was small enough to fit into it. Alas, my babies are growing up much too quickly. Otherwise, he would definitely be an owl this Halloween!

We are so excited to be working with Chasing Fireflies this Halloween season to bring you an awesome giveaway!

One Lucky Reader Will Win a $100 Gift Card To Use At Chasing Fireflies! 

Witchy Lawn Inflatable Giveaway Event

Halloween is quickly approaching! Decorating yards can be a tedious task, but not with a lawn inflatable. Simply plug it in and let it inflate for an instantly spooky yard! The Three Witches & Cauldron Lawn Inflatable measures approximately 6' high x 50" wide. Made of weather-resistant vinyl that can be used indoors or outside! The power cord is 52" long, so you have plenty of room to reach an outside outlet.
The Witchy Lawn Inflatable inflates when plugged in and deflates when unplugged. Made of Nylon, Plastic and Metal. You also get 8 stakes, 4 tethers, 1 Spare Bulb and 1 Spare Fuse to keep your Witchy Lawn Inflatable looking awesome for the years to come! Mom Powered Media wants to help one lucky reader decorate their yard this year! Please make sure you read the Giveaway Rules before you enter! Giveaway is open to US and Canada! Ends on 10/14 at 11:59pm! Good Luck!

Carter's Halloween Boo-tique Outfits & $50 Gift Card Giveaway

My boys are very active and know how to make the most out of every day. Even as babies, they were always on the go. For this reason, I have to be very picky about the clothes I buy them. I want clothes that are long-lasting, made for play, confortable and don't cost me a bundle. This is exactly why I love Carter's! I always find great prices and fashionable clothes for babies and children, which why this is also my go-to brand for baby shower presents and gifts. I have actually saved all of Josiah's Carter's baby clothes for Liam and, after all these years, they still have so much wear left in them, we'll be using them for the next baby, too.

It just so happens that one of my favorite holidays, Halloween, is coming up very soon and Carter's has the most adorable Halloween clothing.The weather is always a bit chilly during the fall season and Carter's clothes are not only soft and durable, but cozy and warm, too! This is the perfect combination for your little one this fall.

Whether online or in-stores, make a statement that’s sweeter than candy with cute and cozy costumes and trick-or-treat tees for your baby’s first Halloween. Costumes choices include a lion, ladybug, pumpkin and more!

Liam wants to be a lion this year, so when we were looking at the Halloween costumes on Carters.com, he picked out this adorable costume. You can just tell from the picture it is super-soft, too.

 Want an adorable costume for your little sweet pea? Look at this adorable Flower Costume from Carter's.

This is such a cute little costume! Wish I had a little girl to dress up in this one.

 Carter’s offers a variety of spooky styles pj’s featuring 2 and 3 piece sets featuring skeletons, spiders, pumpkins and more.  Carter’s ensures warmer and cozier bedtimes this fall. Don’t miss out on 50% off of Carter’s pj shop!

I have several Carter's pj's, including a few Halloween sets, that both boys have worn over the years.The one below has to be my favorite and it has been worn by both kiddos over the years!

Baby Josiah in his Carter's Boo Pj's!

Carter's also has a variety of tees and outfits for boys and girls to celebrate this Halloween! I love polka dots, so this Polka Dot Pumpkin Dress immediately caught my eye!

Isn't this one so cute?

Complete the look with accessories, all those sweet little extras at prices to make you smile!

 

Josiah thinks spiders are the perfect decoration for Halloween, so when I saw this shirt, I knew he would love it!

 Josiah has a variety of Carter's outfits and I just happened to find a picture of him in a Carter's Halloween shirt from a few years ago that says "Daddy's Little Monster". Shop Carter’s Halloween boo-tique for a spooktacular selection of costumes, tees, and playful pjs for babies and kids.

I know I am biased, but isn't he adorable?

Find a store near you so you can start shopping for Halloween outfits, too!

"Like" Carter's on Facebook and follow Carter’s on Twitter to discover the latest great deals, exclusive events and offers for your little ones!

Now that you've seen some of the clothes Carter's has for your little ones this fall season, are you ready for a giveaway? 

One Lucky Children Teaching Mama Reader Will Win A $50 Gift Card To Carter's!

Anytime Costumes Review & Costume Giveaway

Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween? I love the fall weather, the decorations, the excitement from children as they get ready to go trick-or-treating... and, most of all, I love costumes! On the radio today, I heard that women, on average, spend about 2 months picking out costumes for Halloween. I absolutely believe it! Finding the right costume is difficult, especially for picky little ones. On top of finding on you like, you must find one to fit your budget. That, alone, can be frustrating, with some costumes costing hundreds of dollars. That's why we love shopping at Anytime Costumes each year.

About Anytime Costumes

Anytime Costumes is a wonderful online costume retailer. They carry everything from adult costumes to baby costumes and all the accessories to go with them. Wigs, beards, props, and make-up are just some of the great accessories they carry to make your costume complete. Open year-round, Anytime Costumes is your one-stop costume shop. With over 30 years of expertise, you are sure to receive amazing customer service and, if you order by 2p.m., your order will be shipped out the same day!

Anytime Costumes strives to create a website and business different from other online costume retailers by offering quality products and amazingly low prices. Their inventory, at now over 5,000 products, is constantly growing to keep on top of new costumes and to provide customers with exactly what they are looking for.

My Thoughts

We worked with Anytime Costumes last Halloween and were very pleased with the customer service, shipping, and the costume. That's why I couldn't wait to work with them again this year! All of the children's costumes are adorable. This year, Liam (our soon-to-be 2 yr. old) wanted to pick out his own costume. Rather, as soon as he saw his costume, he didn't want me to leave the page. What could it be, you ask? Why, it's the Toddler Duck Costume in Yellow or, as Liam calls it, "Quack, Quack"! The costume comes with the duck tie-on hat, the 1-piece outfit, cute orange booties, and the feet that attach.

Sexy & Cute Costumes For Men & Women Review

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year and I look forward to October nearing! I'm so excited that it's almost here and have already purchased decorations and costumes. I used to get all dressed up every Halloween and go out with friends for costume parties and contests, but, now that I'm a Mama, somehow that got shoved aside for trick-or-treating with the kids and getting their cute costumes. After seeing several parents dressed up last year, I decided I would dress up this year, too! Why not? So, I purchased my costume at Yandy.com and absolutely love it.

About Yandy.com

Yandy.com has grown into one of the leading suppliers of lingerie and costumes on the internet. Now stocking over 6,500 items in a brand new, state of the art facility. New items are added constantly from over 20 top manufacturers, such as DreamGirl and Leg Avenue. 

Yandy prides themselves on not only having the largest and most desirable collection of products, but also the lowest prices and best customer service of any online lingerie boutique. Even though their prices are, on average, 10% lower than those of their competitors, they offer support that rivals any of the top online stores. Their friendly staff is dedicated to answering your questions and will respond to any voice mail or email that is received within the same business day.

My Thoughts

I was very excited to review Yandy.com and actually get a costume for myself for the first time in about 4 years!! For someone who loves Halloween, this was quite a big deal and it took me a while to sort out the choices and narrow it down. Let me just say, this was a tough decision because even after narrowing down to only female costumes in extra-small and small sizes, there were still 977 choices to choose between!!

I eventually decided on the Charming Pirate Captain Costume. I love the bright red color with the black lining and gold buttons! I was torn on what size to get, as the size chart says a small is a dress size 2-4. I'm around a 4-6, but decided to just go for the small. I'm glad I did because it seriously fits like a glove! The costume is velvet with a layered waistcoat. The petticoat featured with the costume on the website was not included, but I was able to find one in black for only $10. I think it definitely adds something to the costume overall.

Cheap Cute Costumes For Your Little Ones

It seems like every year Halloween costumes get more and more expensive. They also tend to be put out at stores much earlier and all the good ones get taken before I even have a chance to browse the aisles. I never buy my costumes in-store anymore because there is a better selection online and I can find them for cheaper prices, too.
Here are two ways for you to get your children Halloween costumes online without breaking the bank this year.

1. BuyCostumes.com- an online store with a huge variety of costumes for babies, kids and adults! What I love about this website is that they have selections separated by price, some of which are under $10! I took a look and there were some great ones for only $9.99 that I've seen priced much higher elsewhere.

2. ThredUp - I absolutely love ThredUp and talk about it all the time. It's a great way to get a huge box of children's clothes for hardly anything. Use my link provided and get your first box free. All you will have to do is pay the shipping, which is $10.99 (I think). It's shipped in a medium sized box priority mail, so it's a huge box completely FULL of items. Right now they are featuring their Halloween costumes. Every box I've ever received from ThredUp has been awesome!