Halloween is just a few days away which means you more than likely have the kiddos costumes squared away and the parties planned if you are having one. I know some of you might be thinking “A party during a pandemic?” but it is totally doable especially if you just invite over cousins and other family members. Your home is the place where you want to make memories and love on your family, so anytime you can think of a reason to get everyone there to have some fun and make lasting memories – do it! Here in the Wise Family holiday parties, big or small, are the standard and just last weekend my 10-month-old son got to experience his very first Cousin Pumpkin Carving Party, complete with tasty treats and lots of laughs. We also had all the kiddos wear their Halloween costumes that way they could wear them more than once and it made for some really cute pictures.

So, what do you need to complete your pumpkin carving party? Well, pumpkins of course! But the rest is up to you, in my personal opinion it is all about the little details and not a ton of big things. A great way to decorate while being practical is to serve your little finger foods on a treat board and make it the center piece of the kitchen. On the treat board from this past weekend I simply dipped pre-made rice crispy treats in melted almond bark and garnished with sprinkles, dipped Oreos in orange dyed almond bark and garnished with sprinkles, pretzel sticks dipped in almond bark and garnished with sprinkles, a variety of fruits, homemade peanutbutter fudge, caramel apple chunks, and some spooky cheese sticks with a ghost face drawn on the packaging. Of course, we had other treats like traditional Halloween chili, “mummy” dogs aka beef hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, a spooky veggie tray, and pizza. No matter what you choose there are a lot of simple ways to make your food items themed to add to the party and make it feel extra special.

After lunch we moved straight into the fun party activities for the little boys – finger painting, pumpkin carving, and mini pinata opening. Jackson attends daycare and the older kiddos made sweet little pumpkin patch pictures out of their hands, so I wanted to recreate this myself and I thought it would be a great way to let all of the boys have fun. This particular craft only needed a few supplies: small 8X10 white canvases, non-toxic washable finger paint, and a sharpie. Before the party I went ahead and wrote each boys name followed by pumpkin patch 2020 on the canvas with the sharpie that way all they had to do was paint, with a little assistance. I think they turned out so sweet and I know us mommas had a great time helping as well.

Once everyone got cleaned up, we gave them each a mini mummy pinata to open and find some sweet treats inside. These were pretty easy to make but much more time inclusive than I was expecting, so I would not recommend making a ton of these on short notice. I saved up some toilet paper rolls, bought one package of white streamers, and a package of self-adhesive googly eyes. To assemble I shoved my candy inside and used double sided tape to hold on my streamer wrapping and once I thought it looked good, I stuck my eyes on. The boys really enjoyed opening these, especially my 10-month-old who thought it was so fun being allowed to unroll something – I did go ahead and take the eyes off before I handed it to him though.

Finally, we finished the afternoon off with some good old-fashioned pumpkin carving. The grownups did all the cutting and then we let the kids stick their hands in and have some fun cleaning out he pumpkin guts. Really, a lot of the work was done by us, but they had the best time helping and being creative. There was not a ton of decorations but there was so much fun and so many memories made on my Grandad’s old farm last weekend and that is what really makes your home, a home. I hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween and do something to make this one a little bit more special.