Halloween has become a massive event in the UK over the last few years, and the shops have been packed for weeks with all sorts of accessories, dressing up gear and decorations. This is all very well, but if you want to celebrate Halloween with your children, once you’ve dressed up, what can you actually DO? Some prefer not to trick or treat, and some may be too young, so what are the alternatives? I have hosted a few parties so here are some ideas to help you along with some Halloween fun with just your own or a room full of children……

1.  Pumpkin Carving – the most traditional of Halloween customs. There is such a variety of pumpkins available you could have a variety competition with different members of the family. I recommend an ice cream scoop as the best way to carve out (save the inners – see idea 4).  An alternative for younger children is to draw faces or use stickers on big tomatoes – equally scary & fun! Or paint paper plates orange and add or cut out features – can double as masks.

2. Spooky Play Dough – young children in particular love play dough and it’s easy to make. Just add black, orange, purple or green food colouring, some glitter and hey presto – you have lots of spooky fun! Homemade play dough is very cheap and simple and keeps for ages if sealed properly.

3. Pin the nose on the Witch – this is easy to make – get the kids to help draw and colour and your witch, then cut out a cardboard nose or use nose stickers and find a blindfold.

4. Feely Boxes– these are great fun – just keep a few cereal or shoe boxes, cut a hole in and fill with something. This can either be yucky and slimy (like the insides of the pumpkin) with objects in which must be retrieved or could be a selection of things that have to felt & guessed. With older children you can have a second hole cut in the back of one of the boxes and then grab the hand that is doing the feeling – a guaranteed screamer!!!

5. Alternative Apple Bobbing – I remember bobbing for apples, not only was it difficult it is also potentially dangerous with younger children, so I have an alternative. Core holes through some apples and thread through a string tied between two chairs – children have to go underneath and try to bite pieces out without using hands – good harmless fun and a sneaky way to get them eating apples – when I played this at my party we got through 10 apples!

6. Treasure Hunts –children love treasure hunts so draw/buy/print out pumpkins, skeletons and other Halloween items and hide them for the children to find. You can give each child a different set to find or make it harder by finding one of each.

7. Skeleton Races – -cut out basic skeleton shapes, skull, arms, legs, ribs etc – then have race to see who can put it together the fastest.

8. Ghoulish Grub – no party is complete without party food so try these:

• Witches eyeballs – marshmallows with a smarty on top
• Spider biscuits – split Oreo biscuits in half, drape liquorice laces across as legs then stick the top back on
• Use a cutter to cut out sandwiches in ghost shapes
• Make bat or pumpkin cookies
• Make a jelly and put rubber eyeballs or jelly worms in

Halloween can be fun and inexpensive, and doesn’t have to involve knocking on doors in the dark. If you have any other suggestions the please let us know.

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Now my children are at school we have entered the realm of friends coming to play after school, and usually for tea as well.  So what do you feed them?  You want them to be happy, and to eat, and generally the obvious staple is fish fingers  or chicken nuggets , chips and beans . However I have been trying some alternatives which provide something a little more varied and balanced and will still please my own children who are very fussy eaters.

Here are a couple of quick, easy and tasty ideas:

1.  Traffic light pasta – make plain pasta (and this can have a cheese or tomato sauce with it) but have carrots, sweet corn and peas in it – easy, simple and healthy. Another variation on this is to make treasure hunt pasta – but a variety of veg/meat/cheese etc in bottom of the dish and pile with cooked pasta – get children to ‘dig’ for treasure and see what they can find.

2.  Spaghetti bolognese or carbonara, favourites with most children, are good filling dishes, easy to make and messy and fun to eat!

3.  Naan bread pizzas – I discovered these a couple of years ago – and even better the kids can make their own and they are ready in minutes! Buy some mini naan breads and get the children to spread them with a tomato based sauce and then add whatever they would like – so ham, cheese, chicken, sausage and half cherry tomatoes – simply grill for a couple of minutes and serve.

4.  Wraps or tortillas - I came up with this to try and encourage my own children to join in when we had chilli. Simply cut tortillas into thirds and give to children to stuff their own. Have bowls with chicken, ham, sausage, cheese, tomatoes, cream cheese, grated carrots, sliced peppers, guacamole etc, giving them a great chance to experiment – also messy fun whilst eating as can all be done with fingers

5.  Stuffed pasta - you can now easily buy large pasta shells which if you pre-cook can be stuffed by the children with a selection of the fillings suggested above, or you can make a selection for them to choose from.

6.  Presentation – it’s slightly gimmicky but fun to make ‘normal’ dishes more appealing by presentation. I have just done mashed potato volcanos with beans spilling out and halved sausages up the sides. You could also try  jacket potato pirate boats – scoop out the potato and mash with cheese and re-fill – make a ‘mast’ with slices of bacon or sausage ‘oars’ on cocktail sticks and a ‘sea’ of  gravy with some vegetable islands.

And let’s not forget puddings!

7.  Pancakes – easy to make and again very versatile with fillings – fruit, ice cream and yoghurt are always big favourites….and if you are feeling very creative make your own fruit sauces

8.  Chocolate dip – provide a selection of fruit – strawberries, grapes and bananas are ideal, or shortbread and marshmallows with cocktail sticks for dipping.

9.  Fruit kebabs or fruit salad – allow children to make own and help with the chopping as well – most fruits are easy enough with blunt/plastic knives.

10. Ice-cream – make an old favouite  more exciting with sprinkles, sweets, sauces, grated chocolate, chopped nuts, or some fruit if you’re feeling virtuous!

If you have any ideas for fun food for kids then please leave a comment – the more the merrier!

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When the weather is good, getting out in the garden is one of summers pleasures. I am sure that most of you, like me, have a garden littered with an array of brightly coloured plastic toys, balls, bats, bikes, scooters, slides etc. However children often tire of their toys and are quick to announce “I’m bored……..”.  So to make the most of the good days we have in the garden here are some other ideas to amuse those bored with their toys!

1.  Water painting – an absolute favourite as it’s cheap and quick to get ready and has no lasting effects! Simply get an empty container of water and an old paint brush and set them off painting patterns, writing names or even a whole picture.

2.  Open Air Art gallery – works in a very similar way but using chalks. Allocate the children some paving slabs each do draw their works of art on then they can give you a guided tour. Washes away easily with water or the next rainy day.

3.  Be pirates – hide ‘treasure’ in a sand pit or patch of soil that is free for digging. The treasure can be anything from pegs to silver foil or sweets to real 1p coins. Award prizes for the pirate with most treasure.

4.  Go on a bug hunt – this activity is great for walking slowly and quietly round the garden. See how many creepy crawlies you can find hiding under leaves and stones. A variation on this is to go into the garden straight after some rain and see how many worms you can find!

5.  Fill it up – this is a game I remember playing at Brownies many years ago! Give each child a small container (a washed out yoghurt pot or similar) and see who can collect the most different things that fit in it within 5/10/20 minutes. A good game for older children to play in teams with younger children.

6.  Play camping – set up a ‘tent’ using an old blanket or sheet draped over a clothes airier, chairs or some canes.  A great place to have a picnic as well. Collect sticks for a pretend campfire.

7.  A big box – most children have fantastic imaginations and just need some help to get it started. Have a look in the garage or loft to see if you have a spare box, otherwise you may manage to find one at your local shop (supermarkets tend to flatten everything these days), and the bigger the better. It can become anything – a boat, a car, a space rocket, a shop, a castle – the variations are endless!

8.  Sports day – this can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Start with some simple running races, and then you can try a sack race (a decent bin bag will suffice), an obstacle course, skipping or even an egg (hard boiled) and spoon race.

9.  Target – again a nice simple one. Simply draw a series of targets or shapes on a wall away from windows and get children to aim at them with a ball. If you are feeling adventurous you could let them use a wet sponge or water balloon.

10.  Natural art – allow the children to collect leaves, grass, twigs, pebbles, feathers  and anything else they can find and then use to create a collage picture, pattern or sculpture – can be done individually or all together. Take a photo as a reminder of their hard work.

Once they have been introduced to something, children will often play it over and over again, so these ideas should ensure a busy and happy summer in the garden! And if you have ideas of your own please leave a comment and share the fun!

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So, it’s School Holiday time again which means a change of routine, less hours available in the day to work and energetic children to entertain. This is no mean feat for any work at home mum and a situation made all the more tricky when the weather is bad. Living in Britain we should have got used to the fact by now that it wouldn’t really be summer without some rain! However when faced with a wet day and bored children,  it is very easy for tensions to rise. But wet days don’t have to mean boring days…..try some of our ideas for inside fun.

1.  Turn a job into a fun and have a bedroom tidying competition. The winner could choose a DVD  to watch in the afternoon, or have an extra story at bedtime.

2.  Cooking is always a favourite with children.  Pizzas are simple to make and tasty for lunch. For younger children just decorating a cake or biscuit is messy and fun. 

3.  Try a treasure hunt. This can be a simple list of items to collect or a full trail from clue to clue with some ‘treasure’ waiting at the end.  With young children who can’t read use pictures of familiar objects to direct them. With older children you can make the clues more cryptic. When we play at home I always ensure there is lots of running between upstairs and downstairs!

4.  Puppet shows are great way to pass some indoor fun and develop the imagination. Making puppets is simple and can be done in so many ways.  Draw, cut and fold paper plates,  add buttons or stickers to socks or simply print out  some pictures from the web and attach to straws. Set up behind the sofa or cut out a hole in a large box and you are guaranteed lots of laughter!

5.  Picnics are not just for outdoors, so have an indoor picnic. You are going to having lunch anyway so get the kids to make sandwiches, pack up a bag with all the food, lay down a rug, and pretend you are in a park or a sunny beach!

Mums are very resourceful, so if you have a good idea for a rainy day – let us know – and you could help save someone else from the rainy day blues!

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When you first have a baby you long for the day they can talk. Then, as soon as they can you realise a) they never stop and b) there is now a very strong possibility they will embarass you in public by saying something toe-curlingly un-PC about someone’s size, gender, appearance or smell!

But the flipside of this ever present danger, is that every now and then they come out with nuggets of pure brilliance – little sayings that stop you in your tracks, make you marvel at the way their minds work and maybe even force you to look at the world in a new way. And sometimes they just say something that is SO random that all it does is make you laugh and laugh and laugh….

Take my 3 year old, for example. A week or so ago I was compelled to Tweet about something she had just said to me. She was running round and round the garden and suddenly shouted “Mummy, mummy, I’m faster than a PEANUT!” Excited as she was at the revelation, I couldn’t quite bring myself to burst her bubble and tell her that, in fact, MOST things are!

So, as it’s Monday, it’s muggy and we could all do with a giggle, please leave a comment and share any of your children’s finest moments – from the profound to the obscure, we’d love to hear your children’s classic quotes!

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When I became a mum I never realised how much I would miss silence. From the moment my eldest came kicking and screaming into this world my eardrums have never been the same.

As any parent knows, the sound of a baby crying is like a siren and it does something to you – it forces you to react, respond and rectify whatever is wrong, whatever the time of day or night. At first the list of possibilities is fairly limited – hungry, tired, poorly or a dirty nappy. But as your baby grows so the complexity of their demands increases, along with their volume button!

Don’t get me wrong – I love my kiddies to bits – but they are bloomin’ noisy – and they don’t have an OFF button!! Children’s TV has become like Chinese water torture to me, along with my other pet hate – Electronic Toys! The constant repetition of phrases and songs worms its way deep into my subconscious until I find myself humming along hours after the children are in bed.

Then, as they grow older the noise pollution takes other forms – the continual chatter of the ‘new talker’, that incessant “mummy, mummy, mummy…” when they actually have nothing to say to you, the constant whining as you get closer and closer to bedtime, the arguing with siblings and that most dreaded of all words (when uttered at any volume) – “No!”.

And finally there is that one sound that makes any parents blood run cold – the high pitched scream that accompanies a public tantrum. All that rage and defiance bundled up into one spectacular hissy fit, designed purely to make YOU look like the worst parent that ever lived! 

I used to love listening to music, either on the radio or one of my numerous CDs, but now, on the rare occasion I find myself alone in the house I don’t play music or watch the TV. After a day of having my senses assaulted I wallow in silence. I give myself over to the pure, unadulterated pleasure that is noiselessness, because for me now, as Christina Rossetti wrote in the 19^th Century, “Silence is more musical than any song.”

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My 3 year old daughter is now cutting out the middle man (i.e. me!) and has started putting her own works of art on display on the fridge. I no longer get a say in what gets to be displayed or ‘filed’ in the recycling. She finishes a picture and takes it straight to the kitchen, attaching it the fridge with our vast array of magnets.

How fantastic to have that amount of confidence in your abilities, to not need someone’s opinion or approval. To just know that what you have done is as good as it can be and that is enough.

We could all learn from this – as business owners and as parents.

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