Monthly Archives: October 2017

Is Your House a “Trick” or *Treat*?

 

Post by: MyFairLady

OH, yes! Halloween! It’s that time of the year again, when you wake up to crisp cold mornings, oversized sweaters, pumpkin spiced lattes and well… outdoor decorations. There are essentially two types of Halloween decorations you see on the streets these days: the aspiring haunted house and the autumnal beauty, quite literally “Trick or Treat”.

Here are a few tips and ideas on how you can dress up your residence for the season.

BETTING ON A TRICK

Keeping It Simple

When on a small budget, the best thing to do is stick to one kind of scare feature! Sometimes subtlety is what makes the scare POP! Just pick what you think to be the scariest feature (skeletons, spiders, ghosts, ghouls, or even creepy pumpkins) and place it all over and around your residence. The effect is quite incredible.

 

Jump Scares

Sometimes the best scare is the one that comes at you unexpectedly and ends up giving you a mini heart attack! The genius behind this idea is making sure the scare is optimally hidden just long enough to allow for a jump scare. You can use human sized props and dress them to look like someone is standing by the door, or you can darken the front step and project screams and yells out of the front windows, or you can simply flicker the front porch lights when trick-o-treaters come by the house. Use the dark to your advantage.

Halloween Overload

This last idea is for those of us who like a bit of everything.  These are the homes where you will see a carnival of scares! Usually you don’t need a particular idea for this. All it involves is…well…EVERYTHING! From spider webs, to witches, flickering lights to skeletons, scarecrows and black cats, it basically looks like a Halloween ghoul party in your front lawn!

BETTING ON A TREAT

Warm colors

Beauty is the theme here, choosing fall flowers and colors to accent and highlight the season all over your front lawn can make the home feel rustic, and beautiful. Warm colors like maroons, oranges, yellows, reds, and dark greens all mix well to present a beautiful autumnal scene on your front lawn. You can even incorporate a cute scarecrow or corn stalks and pumpkins to add a little personality to the decoration.

 

MyFairLady is the latest addition to the Belles & Books writing team, so of course she’s an avid reader  ^_^ .  She’s a surgeon with a quirky side.  An ‘artsy fartsy’ mommy-to-be, she’ll be writing about design, decor, and DIY.  In her free time she indulges in new food finds around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Halloween: Last Minute Costumes for Babies

Blog post written by: OhDaisyBi

Halloween is around the corner and it’s time to find a costume.  For those of us with babies or toddlers, it can be hard to find the time to buy a costume. Making a costume at home can be a memorable experience, and it can save you a pretty penny too.  Babies are hardest to dress up because they are fidgety and don’t keep their costume on. Here are 6 homemade costumes ideas for your child:

1. The French Man

french man

What you need:

  • striped shirt (color of your choice),
  • black pants
  • a beret,
  • eyeliner,
  • handkerchief,
  • baguette

Tie the handkerchief around his neck and draw a small mustache with the eyeliner.  Voila! Baby Monsieur is ready to trick or treat!

2. A Fairy Princess

Fairy Princess

What you need:

  • A cute dress or tutu,
  • a shirt if you opt for the tutu,
  • glitter,
  • flower headband,
  • straw,
  • construction paper,
  • glue or glue gun,
  • cardboard box,
  • elastic band

To make a wand, first cut two stars out of construction paper and decorate it with glitter.  Then glue the stars onto the straw.  If you don’t have a flower headband already, take some flowers and glue them onto an old headband you already have.  Let the wand and headband dry.

To make the wings, take the cardboard box and cut out the wings.  Glue the construction paper onto the cardboard box and decorate it with glitter.  Take two pieces of elastic band and glue it to your wings.  Let them sit and dry.  If you don’t want to make the wings, you can also buy them.

Just like magic your fairy princess is ready!

3. Kitten or Puppy

Face Paint

What you need:

  • a headband
  • construction paper or felt, and
  • black eye liner,
  • black shirt,
  • black pants or tights

To make your cute little puppy or kitten, glue some construction paper (for upright ears) or felt (for floppy ears) onto a headband.   Use extra construction paper to make spots or distinctive strips on the clothes.  You can put white clothes and black spots for an adorable dalmatian, or all black clothes for a curious kitty cat.  Make the whiskers, freckles, and button nose with black eyeliner.

4. Bunch of Grapes (Toddler Only)

Bunch of Grapes

What you need:

  • green pants or tights,
  • purple shirt (or onesie for a baby),
  • 5 inch purple balloons,
  • string.

To make your yummy grapes, blow up all the balloons and tie them to a string.  Place the balloons 2-3 inches apart.  Wrap the string around your child’s tummy and shoulders. Pop the balloons around the bum so they can sit, and avoid wrapping around the neck.  Your scrumptious bunch of grapes are ready!

5. Clark Kent

clark kent

What you need:

  • A white button down shirts,
  • pants,
  • superman t-shirt,
  • fake glasses.

This one is easy! Put the white shirt on top of the superman shirt, and unbutton the top few buttons to reveal the “S.”  Its a bird, its a plane, its SUPER BABY!

6. Little Bo Peep. 

Little Bo Peep

What you need:

  • Full sleeve black shirt,
  • black pants or tights,
  • glue gun,
  • lots of cotton balls,
  • black eye liner.

Glue the cotton balls all over the shirt.  Draw the button nose and whiskers with black eyeliner.  Put it all together and you have your Little Bo Peep!

Photo sources: Pinterest

About the Author

OhDaisyBi is the newest edition to the Belles & Books blog. Lawyer by day, Mother of two by night, she will be posting about all things kid. She’s also passionate about answering the internet’s burning questions on the “Women Can Do It All” lifestyle– time management, budgeting and finance, and boss-woman things. In her “free” time she’s usually attempting Pinterest cooking ideas and working out. Join her on here every month for a new post!

Halloween Movie Review: IT

Every since American Horror Story started up, for me, Halloween has stopped being about trick or treating and taken on a new shape–one of true horror. This year’s remake release of Stephen King’s IT is exactly the kind of movie to put you in the Halloween mood.

Confront your worst nightmares this month with IT, as a young group of 7 often-bullied high school teens make it their mission to find out why so many kids are disappearing in their small town of Derry. There’s blood, there’s jump scares, and best of all, there is a ton of screaming, Stranger Things edition–Finn Wolfhard from the cast of Stranger Things does another fantastic job in an 80’s throwback movie, screaming for his life. (Speaking of, who’s ready for today’s premiere of Stranger Things 2?! This girl, right here.)

A terrifying clown haunts our screen and the back of our eyelids as it takes on the shape of each person’s worst fears, be they rational or irrational. And because IT transformed from one person’s to another’s so frighteningly accurately, I couldn’t help wondering what mine would be.

I especially enjoyed the dialogue in this movie. It was witty, sarcastic, and on point. Each character was distinct but when the group of outcasts banded together, they didn’t seem awkward with each other. In fact, there were many LOL moments in the movie alongside the jump scares and the more terrifying shots of a dark thing approaching at great speed. A perfect blend, I’d say.

All in all, if you’re looking for a great movie to get you down to Halloweentown, I’d recommend this movie–alongside the more classic throwback Disney hit Halloweentown.