Halloween is tomorrow and I just wanted to share a few safety tips for homeowners, parents, and trick-or-treaters. Please review them with your family:

Homeowners

• Leave your porch light on even if you are not home or are not accepting trick-or-treaters. This helps increase visibility.
• Post a sign on your door to let trick-or-treaters know if they can ring your doorbell. Our neighborhood passes out two sheets of paper to every house in the neighborhood a few days before Halloween (see above). One is green and has a cute picture along with the words “Trick or Treat – Happy Halloween”. The other is red and has a cute picture along with the words “See you next year – please do not disturb”. If you want trick-or-treaters, put the green sign on your door; if you do not want trick-or-treaters, put the red sing on your door. Also, when you run out of candy, you can switch to the red sign for the rest of the night, all the while keeping your porch light on for safety.
• Do not use candles where trick-or-treaters will be walking or standing. Battery powered jack o’lantern candles are preferable to a real flame.
• Do not park cars in the streets, have evening guests park up in the driveway to keep streets and sidewalks clear.
• Keep pets away from the doorway.
• Do not ask children to come inside your doorway to get candy.

Parents

• Children of any age should be accompanied by an adult.
• Everyone should carry a flashlight. Also consider using neon glowsticks and reflectors.
• If you buy a costume, look for one made of flame-retardant material.
• Tell children to bring the candy home to be inspected before consuming anything.

Trick-or-Treaters

• Carry a flashlight.
• Walk, don’t run.
• Stay on sidewalks.
• Stay in familiar neighborhoods.
• Don’t cut across yards or driveways.
• Wear a watch you can read in the dark.
• Make sure costumes don’t drag on the ground.
• Avoid wearing masks while walking from house to house.
• Approach only houses that are lit.
• Stay away from and don’t pet animals you don’t know.

Last year I wrote articles on Halloween Candy Alternatives and Tips for Limiting Halloween Candy Consumption. With all the sickness going around now, it’s especially important to reduce or eliminate candy and other sugars.

-Wendy – ParentingTips365.com

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Also, check out their blog post regarding ways to have an “Eek-O-Friendly” Halloween.

While you are browsing their site, check out the great offer they have for school fundraisers. You can raise money for your school, reduce trash on your campus, and eat lunch in style. All at the same time! And 10-20% of each sale will be given back to the school.

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-Wendy – ParentingTips365.com

Theme Baskets

Instead of traditional Easter baskets, use something else that can hold goodies and build a theme around it:

• Fill a big plastic bucket with fun sand box toys such as sand molds, shovels, and sifters.
• Fill a bucket with swimming items such as new swim suits, water shoes, floaties, pool toys, or goggles.
• Fill a flower pot with packets of seeds, gardening tools, gloves, etc.
• Fill new backpacks with fun things like a flashlight, bug jar, magnifying glass, etc.

Non-Food Ideas

Here are a few non-food goodies and toys, especially for younger kids:

• Bubbles
• Bubble blowers
• Coloring books, crayons, markers
• Books (Happy Easter Little Critter, The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs, Peter Rabbit’s Easter)
• Card games (such as Uno, Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Slap Jack)
• Fun flashlight
• Homemade play dough
• Yo-yos
• Natural finger paint
• Egg & Chick-Shaped Chalk
• Stuffed animals
• Travel games
• Homemade silly putty
• Bug collecting kit
• Flash cards
• Disposable cameras
• Egg shakers

Here are a few ideas for older kids:

• Age appropriate reading books
• Sketchpads and pencils (for older kids)
• Origami paper and instructions
• Cross-stitch kits
• Model car kits
• Movies

Oriental Trading is a great place to find some goodies for their Easter basket.

Healthier Food Ideas

Here are a few ideas for some healthier treats:

• Pretzels
• Granola bars
• Small box of raisins or other dried fruit (my son *loves* dried cranberries so those would indeed be a treat for him!)
• Trail mix (raisins, pineapple, banana chips, almonds, papaya, walnuts, etc)
• Fruit leathers (such as FruitaBu Organic Smooshed Fruit)
• Yogurt-covered pretzels and crunchy sesame snacks (check out the bulk bins at natural food stores)
• YummyEarth Organic Lollipops

I found a place to buy all natural candy, but their Easter deadline has passed. You should check out The Squirrel’s Nest and see what they have!

What to Put In Plastic Eggs

Here are a few small things that you can put in plastic eggs:

• Small cars
• Stickers
• Small toys
• Money
• Coupons (for things like an hour of TV time or video games, stay up an hour later, etc)
• Puzzle pieces (regular for older and wooden ones for younger kids)

For the puzzle piece idea, assign each child (if you have more than one) one egg color. Buy a small puzzle for each child and place a few puzzle pieces inside their plastic eggs. Instruct them to only pick up that color egg. Once they find all their eggs, they open them up and start putting their puzzle together (with the help of the puzzle box).

I hope I’ve given you a few ideas for alternatives to candy in Easter baskets. What are you putting in your kids’ baskets this year?

Finger Paint on a Canvas

This is my favorite one and it’s the only one we’ve done so far. Each year on the child’s birthday, give them a few finger paints and a canvas and let them paint a picture. You can hang them in their play room or bed room. After a few years, you will have a nice art museum and see their art skills as they change throughout the years. To add a little extra to this tradition, you can give your child a theme, and they need to paint according to that theme every year. For example, our theme is “paint what you love”. So not only will we get to see his art skills, we will get to see how what he loves changes. And yes, I realize that my 15 month old probably didn’t understand how to follow the theme this year, but I just wanted to keep it on the “up and up”. (Yes, I am being honest. I didn’t get around to doing this until he was 15 months old; so sue me. Life is busy!) Here are a few pictures:

The Finished Product

Birthday Letter

Another special memory item is a birthday letter that each parent writes to the child. You can write one every year and give him the letters when he is 18. You can write whatever you want to; maybe wishes for their future, something special that happened recently, or your own private thoughts about the past year as a parent. Write what you love about them, what makes you proud, or maybe the challenges you faced as a parent this past year.

Time Capsule

Make a time capsule or journal about what he likes to do now. Write down favorite toys, sayings, foods, etc. This can take the form as a container with “stuff” in it, although that might take up some room after a few years. Or it can take the form of a scrapbook page or something similar.

Take Pictures

There are several unique photo opportunities for fun birthday memories:

• Each year, take a photo of the child at the exact time they were born! This is fun for most times of birth, except maybe 2:30am and the like. I like this idea and I think I will start it next year. Thankfully my son was born at 8:36pm! Although he’s in bed by then so they might be sleeping pictures for awhile. But I digress.
• Take a photo standing by mom and one by dad – or one by both of them. Over the years, you can really see their growth!
• Get professional portraits taken!

Yearly Personal Profile

Once he’s five years old, or old enough to write, have him write a few things about himself on paper. Help him if he needs it. Include information like the following, or anything else you want to add:

My name is ______
I am __ yrs old
When I grow up I want to be a ____
My favorite color is ____
My favorite TV show is _____
My favorite activity is ______
My friends are _________

You can start a special scrapbook with these included or just put them into a notebook in plastic sleeves. It will be neat to see the changes in his handwriting, changes in his favorites, in what he wants to be when he grows up, etc. The baby book my mom had for me had something similar to this in it and I loved it. (We laugh when we see that at age 5 I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader!)

Voice or Video Recording

If you have a digital voice recorder or a video camera, you can have him talk a little on the tape about himself; maybe some things similar to the yearly personal profile. Or ask him to talk about his birthday, what it means to be ____ years old, what he got for gifts, what he likes about his birthday, etc. It will be neat to hear his voice change over the years as well as his vocabulary.

Signed Mat for Picture Frame

Have guests at the party sign a mat for a picture frame. Take a group photo of all the party guests to put in that frame. Do this every year and you will have a wonderful set pf birthday photos!

Birthday Tablecloth

Using a tablecloth made of material suitable for painting, you can make a “birthday tablecloth”. Each year paint the child’s hand and/or footprints on it with the year and maybe a special decoration to symbolize the year.

Gift for Mom

I may be biased but I like this one, and I understand it more now that I am a mom. On the child’s birthday, help them get a small gift for mom. Since I am not into material things, I personally would prefer some sort of homemade item or card or thoughtful words, etc. Maybe a taped video message expressing their love of mom, or something equally cheesy. It is a big day for mom, too, as it is her “birth” day. The day of my son’s birth is so very important and special to me and I love remembering it!

Make a Special Birthday T-Shirt

Create a special birthday t-shirt for the child’s birthday. You can use iron on transfers or for an easier option, use Cafepress to have them printed (about $15 with shipping, and the Cafepress shirt will last a lot longer than the iron on transfer ones). You can use a photo on them or a few photos, maybe with a phrase or quote.

Save the Newspaper

Save the newspaper of the exact day of the child’s birthday. He may enjoy going back and looking at what was going on in each year of his life.

Stepping Stone

Make a stepping stone with the child’s handprints or footprints in it each year and put those out in your yard.

Video Montage

Take a few seconds of video at each birthday, maybe sitting in the same chair or something. When they turn 18 (or whenever) you can put the video together and show them growing up!

Wendy - Parenting Tips 365

Small Book

We love books! And I think books are a wonderful party favor; they are educational and something the child will use. Board books are great for younger children; chapter books are great for older children. If you look around you might be able to find some deals on small books. For example, as I write this article, both Borders and Barnes and Noble have a special on Dr. Seuss board books – buy two get one free. At $5 each, you would spend $10 and get three books. Not too bad. And for a special touch, you could even have the birthday child write a thank you on the inside of the book!

Items from Dollar Store

I ask you to use caution with this idea; please don’t buy a bunch of cheapy plastic toys that will just end up in the trash, and ultimately the landfill. You can find many decent options for party favors at dollar stores or the Target Dollar Spot.

• Hackey sack
• Mylar balloons
• Books
• Chinese yo-yo
• Small box of crayons and coloring book

Handmade Gifts

Here are a few great options you can make yourself (or maybe someone can make for you).

• Homemade play dough is a colorful, easy, and cheap idea! For a fabulous presentation idea of this party favor, and a recipe, check out this post at Under the High Chair.
• Molded crayons are easier for little hands to hold and fun to use for bigger kids. Check out these instructions for crayon nibbles, hearts, and similar instructions for recycled color crayons.
• I Spy Bags! When I first saw these I had to have one! The party favor set is a great deal, or you can buy individual ones in many colors.

Etsy is filled with wonderful handmade items, many of which could be good party favors! Check it out!

Edible Favors

Although I really didn’t want to include this category since I am not too keen on getting food as favors, (it’s usually not healthy food), I do know it’s another option. Here are some ideas for edible favors:

• McDonald’s Gift Certificate
• Decorated cookies, maybe in the theme of the party or with each child’s name on them
• Pack of gum that says “thanks for sticking around for my birthday”

Make and Take Favors

If you want to combine the party activity with the party favor, make and takes are great – especially for older kids. In addition to your local craft store, don’t forget Oriental Trading; they have many items you can use for make and take projects (and many ideas).

• Decorate picture frames
• Design and decorate t-shirts
• Paint unfinished wooden toys (check out this cool photo wood block or these maracas!)
• Paint wooden letters (i.e. first letter of each child’s name) and add decorative accessories
• Mosaic crafts
• Homemade soap (using soap blocks and soap making molds from craft store, and maybe putting a small prize inside the soap as they make it!)

Other

Here are a few other ideas:

• If the party is at a place that uses tokens, put some tokens in a cute bag hand them out as the party favors.
• Small puzzle (great for younger ages)
• Stick-on tattoos
• Stickers

I hope I’ve given you some ideas you can use. Let me know what you choose!

Wendy - Parenting Tips 365

Our son last Halloween as Yoda

Halloween is getting closer and although our son is too young to go trick-or-treating, I am still preparing and learning and planning ahead for that day. Why? Because we are pretty health-conscious in our house and we do not eat much junk food at all. Even though I understand the draw of this day, I do have a hard time handing out candy when I know what ingredients they contain.

While searching the internet, I came across a great article on Crunchy Domestic Goddess about Halloween candy alternatives. The author has many of the same feelings about candy as I do and shares a wonderful list of non-food and healthier food options for Halloween treats. Some of my favorites from her list are:

• Temporary tattoos
• Stickers
• Playdoh
• Pretzels
• Raisins

To help you think of some non-candy alternatives, check out the many options Oriental Trading has available. For example, I like these Halloween puzzle books. At $5.97 for 72 pieces, it’s a pretty good price and a great alternative to candy!

Another store to keep in mind is Costco. They may have some items appropriate to use for Halloween treats; and with bulk pricing it might be a feasible option.

And of course, don’t forget to shop the dollar stores! You might be surprised at what you can find!

Don’t forget to read my article on limiting Halloween candy comsumption!

Wendy – Parenting Tips 365

Halloween Fairy or Pumpkin Fairy

My good friend has done this with her kids for many years with great success. She allows them to go through their candy on Halloween night and choose several pieces they want to keep. The rest of the candy is put outside their bedroom door for the Halloween Fairy, who takes all the candy and leaves a small gift. And if you are creative, the gift could even be a book that relates to their Halloween costume!

And if this idea sounds familiar, you are correct! Remember my earlier post on getting rid of the pacifier? It seems as though ‘fairies’ can come in handy in many situations!

Buy it From Them

The Halloween or Pumpkin Fairy idea might work for younger kids, but when they get older you might need to have another way to reduce the amount of Halloween candy they eat. A great idea I came across is to buy the candy from them! It recognizes that the candy belongs to the child yet provides them a treat in the form of a little money.

You can set a price for different types of candy and your child can practice sorting and adding. You can either give actual money or tokens that are good for TV time or some other desired activity.

A spin on this idea is to haggle for each and every piece of candy. Make it fun by placing a huge pile of change on the table and bargaining for every piece of candy. Offer five cents for a Tootsie Roll or 15 cents for a bigger bar, like a Hersheys or Snickers. Before you know it, the candy will be gone and your kids will be happy! It’s a win-win situation!

And yet another spin on this idea is to buy it from them by weight; for example, a dollar a pound!

Donate to Soldiers

Here is another idea that might work better for older children. After you let them select a few pieces of candy to keep, have them help you package the remaining candy to send to soldiers serving overseas. Include a handwritten note from the child. Remember, chocolate might not travel well to warm climates!

Three Day Rule

If you are a little more lenient about the amount of Halloween candy your child eats, here is a method that might work well for you. Have the child pick out their favorite pieces of candy, maybe a bit more than in the methods mentioned above. They are allowed to eat this candy when they want (still within your normal guidelines, of course) but no candy is allowed to be eaten after three days. Some dentists recommend this option as it reduces the amount of time that bacteria grows in your child’s mouth (when sugar is present).

So now that you’ve gotten all that candy away from your kids, what do you do with it? Besides eating it yourself, here are some other ways to get it out of your house:

• Share it with the neighbors, although they may have enough of their own candy.
• Take it to work and leave it in the break room. That’s a guaranteed way to make it disappear – fast!
• Take it to a local food pantry, if they will accept it.
• Take it to a local nursing home.
• Save it for goody bags at a party.
• Use it for art projects like sculptures or mosaics.
• Use it as rewards for good behavior or for homework.

Wendy – Parenting Tips 365

Who to Invite

Many people choose to have first birthday parties be family-only events. Since we don’t have any family living nearby, we invited a few friends. (We lucked out as my husband’s family came down for their annual visit on the day of G’s party, so they got to be here for it!)

If your child has a little friend, invite him or her! To keep it from being too overwhelming, a good rule is that the number of kids at the party should be the same as the child’s age. At our son’s party, we did have one other little one there and it was perfect.

If your child has many little friends from playgroups, another idea is to have the party be a little playdate!

Location

Have the party at your house if it works for the number of guests you have attending. Since we just had a few guests attending, and his birthday was in March, we held our son’s party inside our house.

If the weather is nice, you can even have a picnic or barbecue in the back yard or even at a park. If the party is at a park, that would also help entertain any older kids that might be attending.

You can also rent a room at a local children’s play center or recreation center. If you have a lot of guests attending, this might be a good option. The children’s play center would have toys to use and you would have to provide food and beverages. Some places even have party options available. If you rent a simple room at a recreation center, you can bring a bunch of toys for the kids to play with. These options are great because you don’t have to clean your house before or after and they may accommodate more people.

Time of Day

At one year old, most little ones are still taking two naps a day so it’s best to plan the party around their nap schedules (that is, if you want a higher chance of a happy birthday boy/girl!). If you plan to serve a meal, having a party from 11am-1pm might be a good idea. And if you aren’t serving a meal, a party after lunch would work well. Our son’s party was from 1:30-3:00pm. I thought two hours might be pushing it for him, so I chose to have the party be just 1.5 hours in length. It worked out really well!

Food

Since our party was after lunch, we provided a few snacks. I made a spinach artichoke dip, had a fruit salad, and a few other snacks, as well as lemonade and water. I also has some snacks for the little ones, namely Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies! Of course there was cake, too! I purchased a carrot cake from Whole Foods for the adults to eat. I made G a carrot cake using a vegan recipe (which I modified to use eggs) that had no sugar in it, just applesauce. He loved it!

If you are serving a meal, you can cater in to keep things simple on your end. A barbecue or picnic is another idea. And I have been to a birthday party where pizza was ordered for everyone.

If you are having a theme party, your food can revolve around your theme.

Activities For Kids

For the little kids at the party, just having some play time with their toys is fun. Our son enjoyed playing with his little friend that came over, as well as the other adults there. Playing with bubbles is also fun for the one-year-old crowd. Or how about some music? I don’t think anything is cuter than some little ones dancing to some music! Be sure to have your video camera ready!

If there are older kids you need to entertain as well, here are a few ideas:

• If the weather is nice, have some water games outside. Maybe a Slip ‘N Slide or even the classic game of a water balloon toss. That one is even fun for adults!
• Pinatas are always a hit!
• For indoor activities, some coloring books or other similar activities might work well. And if you have a separate room, you can always play a movie if appropriate.
• Classic birthday party games like pin the tail on the donkey might be fun!

Activities for Adults

At our son’s birthday party, we had a game for the adults to play. I gathered 12 pictures of our son (one for each month), put them in frames, and placed them throughout the living room and kitchen. I labeled them with numbers 1-12 (obviously not corresponding to the correct month) and gave everyone a pen and piece of paper. The goal was to guess which photo was which month of his life. Everyone seemed to like that game! I provided a prize for the winner ($5 Starbucks gift card). (I actually purchased two in the event of a tie, but ended up giving the cards to the top two winners.)

The other activity we had at his party was a showing of his one year slide show we made. It was only six minutes long and was a montage of various pictures throughout his first year set to music.

The following picture shows the table where I had his cake and some framed pictures and flowers for decoration. The two pictures on the outside are used in the photo game (they have a small white piece of paper on them with a number).

The next photo shows another area with a few more photos in the photo game, as well as my son checking everything out!

Another idea I came across was to fill a jar with the birthday boy’s/girl’s favorite snack (like Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies or something similar) and have everyone guess how many are in the jar.

Decorations

If you are having a theme party, your decorations can revolve around that. I chose to keep decorations very simple. I used the colors from his invitation (below) as a guide and purchased a few balloons in those colors as well as a tablecloth to match. The cake was decorated (simply) with those colors as well. I purchased some calla lily flowers for the table and I think they were beautiful! The framed pictures from the adult game were also decorations themselves!

Invitations

There are many paper options for birthday invitation, but an easy (and cheap) way to send initiation is electronically, either by using an electronic invitation service like evite.com, by a simple email with the party information, or by creating a photo invite and emailing that.

Loving photos as much as I do, I chose to create my own photo invite and have them printed and mailed. I used a photo editing software (Photoshop Elements 6) to create this 5×7 invitation (personal information blurred):

I searched the internet high and low to find wording for the invite. To save you time from searching yourself, here are my favorites:

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He’s cute and sweet and so much fun…
Our little boy is turning one!

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{Name} is turning one!
Join us for lots of fun!

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Come too my party, celebrate a bit
See my first cake, I’ll be wearing it!

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It’s as simple as A-B-C
A birthday’s more fun
if you share it with me!

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This year has been so much FUN!
We can’t believe {Name} is turning ONE!

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Come join the fun!
{Name} is turning one!

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Come and celebrate some birthday fun
for a sweet little boy who is turning one!

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One little candle placed on the cake.
One first birthday wish to make!
{Name} turns ONE!

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I hope your little one’s first birthday is a special day for everyone! And I hope it’s not too much stress for you to plan. Remember, a first birthday is really for you and your family and friends. The simplest thing you can do is TAKE PICTURES!!!

Wendy – Parenting Tips 365