Holidays Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Pumpkin Decorating Ideas Based on Children’s Books

October 19, 2020 By Deirdre

These no carve pumpkin decorating ideas feature my collection of printable masks based on a children’s book. In addition to pumpkins wearing a mask your children can too. What fun it will be to decorate a mask and then use it to decorate.

Pumpkin Decorating Ideas – Masks

Ways to Attach a Mask

You will need to select one of the masks below and then attach it to your pumpkin. We mostly attached ribbons the masks. Additionally the following items could be used to attach your mask or masks.

Pipe Cleaners
Rick Rack
Twine
Yarn

We used tape to attach the mask to the items above. Your could punch holes in the right and left side of the mask and tie ribbon or another item to it.

Mask Template

Each of these pumpkin decorating ideas is a PDF template. You will need to have a PDF reader to open them.
Links below are affiliate links.

Jaguar Mask Template

I created a rain forest summer series of activities. This mask was created to go along with that series.

Bear Mask Template

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? first inspired this mask. We love lots of bear books. You will find a list of them on the post with the template.

Mouse Mask Template

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was the book the orginally inspired this mouse mask.

There was an Old Lady Mask Template

There Was An Old Lady Pack Set of 8 Books series of books inspired this mask. We just loved reading them at my house.

Cute Shark Mask

There are several books that this mask could present. We love the book Shark vs. Train.

Cow Mask Template

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type was the book that inspired this mask. I read it every year to my students.

Cat Mask Template

This mask was created to go along with the Pete the Cat series of books. Pete books are so much fun to read out loud.

Raccoon Mask Template

This mask was created to go along with the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This is a great book to the start the school year with.

Pumpkin Decoratin Ideas -Other Supplies

You can decorate the masks using any craft supplies you have on hand. The following supplies were used on our masks:

Crayons
Magic Markers
Paint Fork Painted onto a Mask
Water Colors
Construction Paper

You will need to gather all the supplies you want your children to use, after that they decorate them any way they like for their pumpkin. If it is important to you that the mask matched the book character however, you may want to have picture for them to refer to.

More Children’s Book Related Activities

In addition to the masks, you will find these children’s books available on my blog.

First, your children will enjoy this One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Algorithm Activity .

Second, this STEM Challenge that inspired by Peter Rabbit allow your children build a trampoline.

Third, your children can draw and learn about coding while exploring this set of turkey coloring pages.

Finally, this Duck in a Truck activity uses home slime and a plastic truck.

Christmas Party Ideas- Juice Box Covers And More

December 19, 2014 By Deirdre

I signed up to send in juice boxes for my son’s holiday class party. Rather than just send in the juice boxes as they are I decided to make juice box covers for them. After searching through Pinterest for Christmas party ideas, I decided that most people seem to make Rudolph juice box covers. I decided to try and make Rudolph, a snowman that looks like Olaf, and a Christmas tree. After creating the Christmas Juice Box Covers Juice Box Covers I decided that they could be used in several other ways during the party.

Update: I have updated this set. The pictures are close to the original, but they are not exactly the same.

Christmas Party Ideas With Printables

Juice Box Labels

The Christmas party printables I created were originally designed to go on juice boxes. I made each of the pictures on the printable sheets long and narrow. There are a wide variety of sizes of juice boxes. My thought was that you could print out the pictures at a percentage of the size that would fit the juice boxes you have purchased for your Christmas party. I didn’t want to make them just the right size for the boxes I made. They are super narrow. You may not buy the same brand of juice I did.

Before placing the Christmas labels on a box of juice I placed a narrow band of brown paper from a paper bag around the juice box. I thought it would add another design element to the juice box and cover some of the text. I was able to get about 10 narrow bands from each of the brown paper sacks I cut up. You may decide that you like the Christmas party idea of adding texture and color to juice boxes but want to use something else. I think that ribbon, construction paper, or wrapping paper would be great alternatives.

Gift Tags

A teacher at my school saw a printout of these holiday-themed pictures and thought they would be great gift tags. Many students make a gift to take home to their parents at school. These would be great to use as gift tags for those presents. Many teachers give their student’s a gift at Christmas time. These would make great gift tags for those gifts too.

Concentration game

Another fun Christmas party idea for these printables is to use them in a concentration game. Students can each be given a couple of Rudolphs, a couple of snowmen, and a couple of trees to use to play the game.

Dress Up the Pictures

There are two ways you can dress up the pictures. You can have the students decorate them at a party station as a craft. You can decorate them yourself prior to adding them to juice boxes or using them for one of the other Christmas party ideas. We added foam circles created with a hole punch to add Christmas balls with texture to the trees. We added wiggly eyes to the snowmen. Finally, we added red pom-poms to the Rudolphs. You could put a wide variety of materials and see what each of the children came up with.

I bet you can come up with even more Christmas party ideas that use these fun printables. If you do please let me know by placing a comment below or leaving me a comment on my Facebook page.

Halloween Tips : Trick or Treating Etiquette

October 10, 2012 By Deirdre

As Halloween draws closer and closer I thought it would be a good time to think about they kind of etiquette we would like our children to display while they are trick or treating. Trick or treating around our neighborhoods gives us a wonderful opportunity to interact with neighbors and share our attempts to help our children learn to display good manners.

We still have long way to go in displaying all the great manners that I would like JDaniel to display. There are areas that I have gotten lazy about enforcing. Developing this list of etiquette rules is as much for he and I as it is for you and your family. We are going to rehearse some of them at my house before we trick or treat and others will be just talk about.

Here is my Ultimate Guide to Halloween Tips for Great Etiquette:

Please and Thank You

At some houses you visit they may offer your child a type of treat that they absolutely do not like. Some children will be tempted to say to you or the person offering the treat that they don’t like that candy or they do not want it ever.
There are two ways to handle this dilemma. Your child can tell the neighbor “ No thank you! Can I have a different candy in the bowl instead.” The alternative is to accept all the candy offered and pull it out of their candy haul when you get home. Just because it has been accepted doesn’t mean that you have to eat it. The unliked candy can be given to someone else. (More on that later.)
It may be hard to say thank you for a coconut and almond candy bar that you really don’t like, but it is really important to say thank for candy offered. I think it is good practice for all the thanks you may have to give for presents you don’t love. (Example: A rhinestone Thanksgiving sweater for your birthday. Yes, I got one last year and I thanked the gift giver for it.) Giving thanks for the thoughtfulness of being given a gift is an important lesson to learn.

Crossing Neighbors Yards

In my neighborhood there are no sidewalks. There is a real temptation to run across neighbors yards to get from house to house rather than back down each home’s driveway and then along the curb to the next house.
There are a number reasons for not running across neighbor’s yards. The first is that they may not want you walking across lawns. Some shoes can tear up lawns. If there has been rain, you could even leave dents in their lawn.
There are also safety concerns for you and your family. There may be sprinkler heads that don’t recede into the grass the way they should and neighbors with children may not pick up all the toys that have played with that day. It is very possible that your child could trip and fall.

Introduce Yourself

We haven’t had a lot of neighbors move in or out of the neighborhood this year. In some neighborhoods, there have been a lot of neighbor changes. Trick or treating is an opportunity to introduce yourself to neighbors you have never met.

We have met a number of neighbors while treat or treating in the past few years. We don’t see many of them in the course of a day, week or even during the rest of the year. If we do, it is nice to be able to call them by their names.
If you don’t know the neighbors or the people you are visiting while trick or treating and you don’t feel comfortable sharing your name, I think that is fine too. We live in interesting times and you might not want to share your child’s name with some on you don’t know.

Butting in the Candy Line

We go trick or treating with our next door neighbors. That means there are three boys rushing to get from door to door. I really don’t want JDaniel pushing to the front of the line to be first. The truth is the neighbors are probably going to give the same candy and in the same amount to each of the children. Being first isn’t really going to benefit JDaniel and will just make him seem pushy. This is one of those Halloween tips that will make your neighbors smile.

Going to the Door, But Not in the House

As I mentioned we have met many of our neighbors, but I can’t say I really know each of them well. We will be going to their doors and if we get asked to come in we might. If someone asked JDaniel to come into see how their house was decorated or to see their cute pet on his own, I will be having him say “No”. There are just too many things that are happening to children these days.Each family will need to decide how to handle this. I tend to be a helicopter mom and watch my son closely.

Candy at Home

This is one of those Halloween tips you will want to do before heading out. I think it is really important to discuss that will be happening to the candy after it gets home. Once you have checked over each piece and made sure that the packaging isn’t torn or preopened, there are four w’s to be discussed at my house before we even head out to trick or treat.

The First W is Who

Who will have access to the candy is the first W? Do mom and dad get a cut of the candy or is it all the child’s? The candy bag at my house is a universal bag. We can all take candy from it. If you have more than one child, you may want a universal bag or bowl or each child could have their own bowl.

The Second W is What

What will happen to the load of candy the child has brought home? Will some of it be donated to a charity that will send it to the troop overseas or another charity? Will some be left out to eat and some be put away later.

The Third W is Where

Where will the candy be stored? Is it going to be left out in a bowl on the kitchen table to take from at a approved time? ( It would be dipped into often that way at my house by all of us.) Will the candy be placed in a container in the pantry or on top of the fridge to be doled out when they parents think it is the right time.

The Final W is When

When will the candy be given out? Will it be a piece or two after dinner? Can they take a couple piece in their lunch? Deciding when to give the candy out is up to each family. Some families may decide it is two pieces a day when the child chooses to have it.

Unwanted Candy

If you end up with candy you don’t want, you can give it to a charity or take it to work to place near the community coffee pot. In homes with more than one child you can have them trade candy. I decided when JDaniel was little to put together treat bags to give to neighbors as we trick or treat.

Giving Back Halloween Tips

Halloween can be a time of getting and I really want JDaniel to know how to give to others. I simply place a few pieces for candy into a plastic bag with note saying “ Have a Blessed Halloween! From the Smith’s”.

More Halloween Tips

Halloween Candy Corn Match Game

Halloween Frisbee Game

Halloween Trick or Treating Safety Rules

The History of Halloween at Our House

October 27, 2011 By Deirdre

Mama Kat lists several topics to write about in her Writer’s Workshop each week. One of the ideas for this week was 22 things you have done.

My list of things we have done is going to focus on things we have done for Halloween at our house or the history of Halloween at our house. I am going to tell you a few things have done each year since JDaniel was born.

First Year

Dressed my 7 month old son in a pumpkin costume.

Had my husband and I dress like farmers.

Left my mom at my house to pass out candy while we wheeled JDaniel in his stroller around the neighborhood.

Read the book Redeeming Halloween by Kim Wier and Pam McCune to start thinking about how we wanted to celebrate the holiday.

Decided to pass out baked goods and/or candy to neighbors whose homes we trick or treated to as a way to reach out to neighbors. We passed out cookies with the a message wishing them a blessed Halloween attached to the bag.

Second Year

Had two cute costumes and had JDaniel wear both to different events.

Took JDaniel to a nursing home to attend a Halloween party for seniors and toddlers dressed as a lion’

Started the tradition of carving JDaniel’s pumpkins the day before Halloween.

Learned that he doesn’t like to touch pumpkin pulp.

Dressed him as a dinosaur for a library event and for trick or treating.

Bought a reusable Halloween bag with Frankenstein on it to use as a trick or treat bag.

Started trick or treating with the family next door

Ran from the front of our subdivision with a wet dinosaur when it started pouring.

Third Year

Had JDaniel decide that he didn’t want to wear the costume I bought at a consignment sale.

Decided that his choice of a Dalmatian costume was a great choice.

Coveted the ability one of my friends had to make super cute Halloween cupcakes.

Took JDaniel to Nevin’s farm to go on a hay ride and select a pumpkin.

Discovered my husband could eat as much of JDaniel’s Halloween candy as I could. If I was going to sneak Snickers, I was going to have to do it when we came home from trick or treating.

Fourth Year

Let JDaniel pick out his own robot costume.

Paid full price for a Halloween costume.

Had a robot running around the house in early October when the costume came in.

Tried to make pumpkin soup my family would eat twice.

I hope you enjoyed our family history of Halloween.

What are some of you traditions?

This post is linked to my Halloween Traditions linkup, Mrs. Matlock, and Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

Fortune Cookie Predictions and Groundhog Dreams

February 1, 2011 By Deirdre

If you were a groundhog would you want to have to wake up from a long winter’s nap to check out your shadow?

While Phil has loved to wake up and take part in the spectacle in Punxsutaney, PA for many years. Last summer he started making plans to do something different this year. It took him a little bit of soul searching before ultimately made his decision. He really struggled with whether it would be letting down the people of Punxsutaney if he didn’t show up. He was also concerned about the effect his plan might have on the local economy. Would people return to Punxsutaney if they weren’t sure he would make an appearance?

He continued to wrestle with his decision most of the fall. The other animals in his neighborhood noticed that he was a little distant with them. Phil would walk past them and barely notice they were there. Even when his friends stopped by his burrow to visit he appeared to be distracted.

Phil really wanted to share his plans with his friends. Maybe they could help him work on the clinks in his plan, but if he told anyone what he was thinking of doing would they understand. Some of the traditionalist would say it was important to keep things the same, but they never liked change. A few of his more radical animal pals would cheer him on, but might try to put their two cents in on how the plans should be carried out.

Despite his misgiving in sharing his idea, Phil was dying to tell someone. One afternoon he scurried to his friend porcupine’s house to ask him what he thought about his decision after all it was while flipping through one of porcupine’s old calendars that the he had first noticed that there was a second holiday celebrated during the week on Groundhog’s Day. When he arrived he noticed a small sign hanging from porcupine’s door knob. The sign read Gone to Visit Mom!

Phil took this as sign that he should keep his plans to himself and returned home.

Just before tucking himself in for the winter Phil made the phone call he had been planning to make all fall. He placed his order and let the person on the other end know that he would be placing the money he owed in his mailbox.

When February 2nd arrived, a crowd gathered just outside Phil’s home. Some in the front row closest to the door noticed a note tacked on to the door and a small bag from the local Chinese restaurant.

Dear Groundhog’s Day Followers,

I know that each year you look forward to my telling you whether winter will be ending soon or continuing for a few more weeks. I have decided to enjoy a complete winter’s nap without a break this year.

While I have enjoyed seeing you in the winter year after year, this past summer and fall were extreme exhausting for me. This spring will be super busy too. More rest will be needed so I can gain the strength and stamina I will need to work on all the tasks I will need to complete.

I hope you will find the predictions you seek in the fortune cookies contained in the bag by my door. Happy Groundhog’s Day !

See you next year!
Phil

Thanksgiving Memories from My Childhood

November 25, 2010 By Deirdre

Growing up I was always thankful for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving meant gathering at my grandparents with my mom’s sisters and their families. There was always a long car ride, time playing with cousins, crafts, and a feast of wonderful food.

Over the River and Through the Woods

My Grandmere and Grandpere lived about six hours north of my family in New Jersey. It was always a long trip. My mom did all the driving and most of it was after nightfall. I am not sure if she started having us sing along with her near the end of the trip to keep her awake or to keep my two younger sisters from fussing in the backseat. We sang everything from Broadway show tunes to church songs. Once we got ready to cross from Pennsylvania into New Jersey via a bridge over the Delaware River, the song we always sang was Over the River and Through the Woods.

Have the Kids Decorate the Table So They Will Stay Out of the Kitchen

My mom and both of her sisters were teachers. Each year they would come up with something for my cousins Anne and Jeanne, my sisters, and I to create for the Thanksgiving table. I remember one year we made name tags with turkeys on them. Placemats were another year’s craft. None of us were very crafty so I am not sure the table looked beautifully adorned with our construction paper creations. They did however keep us out the kitchen so that the Thanksgiving feast could be prepared without five little girls “helping”.

Every year we were also tasked with creating slips of paper with Thanksgiving related words on them that each family member was supposed to act out in a round of charades after dinner. We had the best time deciding who would get the slip of paper that said turkey under their plate each year. The funny part about the slip creating activity is that I think we took longer create the slips and hide them under plates than we actually played charades each year. Usually, my aunts and uncles would act out what was on their slips. By the time it was my four male cousins’ turn they would protest this game was beneath them and ask if they had permission to go outside and play.

The Feast

The feast the ladies in my family prepared was wonderful. There was the turkey with gravy, assorted casseroles, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and Pillsbury crescent rolls. There were mounds of each of these foods piled high on platters and in bowls. The smell coming from the kitchen during the morning would get make your stomach start to growl, but it was nothing compared to the visual display of food placed down the center of the table. Everything always looked wonderful. I am not sure why the mashed potatoes and everything else they made always tasted better after it had been prepared in my Grandmere’s kitchen.

I don’t remember if we had dessert right after dinner or after running outside for awhile. I do remember that the feast was capped off with Grandmere’s apple pie and pumpkins pies. There also assorted cakes put out to enjoy too. It was Grandmere’s apple pie that always a hit. The crust just seemed to melt in your mouth.

Run and Play

My grandparents lived on a small farm with huge lawn to play on and a pond to canoe on. After our feast, there always something going on outside. There was a collection of bats, balls, and other outdoor toys kept the barn to keep us entertained for hours.

That is how I remember Thanksgiving growing up. What memories stand out to you?

Halloween Day Fun (Celebrated on Saturday)

October 31, 2010 By Deirdre

The development we live in decided to celebrate Halloween on Saturday instead of Sunday. I decided that we would do all kinds of Halloween things on Saturday.

We roasted pumpkin seeds and most of them survived. Some were burnt and set off the smoke detector. JDaniel created a Halloween picture of he and his friends dressed in costumes.

We made cookies to hand out when we visited neighbors during trick or treating. This is a tradition we started when JDaniel was a baby. I thought it would be nice to have him give something as well as get something for Halloween. This post was written as an entry for a contest to win a Canon Rebel T2i camera. Hop on over to SITS for great blogging tips and more awesome Halloween crafts

Me and My Shadow- We are Sick Together

February 3, 2010 By Deirdre

JDaniel and I have both been sick since Friday. (My husband joined in the fun over the weekend.) We skipped the mom’s group at church on Tuesday and playgroup on Monday. I guess you could say we have had a lot of alone time. We do separate when he walks off to “read a book” because he is not interested in what I am doing. For past five days JDaniel has been my shadow.

What do you do with all that time?

*Read a Dr. Seuss anthology many times a day. (Along with countless other books.)

*Cleaned and did laundry together. (We cleaned towels, sheets, and clothes trying to get rid of the germs.)

*We have done crafts and colored.

*Building with train tracks and Megablocks has been popular.

*Getting ready for two consignment sales has been adventure, but we are ready.

*Playing with trucks and dancing to Ross King’s CD has filled a lot of time.

*Playing with cookie cutters has been fun.

*On Monday we did go to the grocery store to stock up on cough drops and a few other things.

*On Tuesday we did go the consigner’s open house at Angel’s Attic to shop. (Yes, we could have infected people. No, I wasn’t willing skip getting to shop before the general public gets in to sale today. We didn’t stay long. I was worried he would miss behave. He stuck close by with the promise of checking out the toy area after the clothes. It only cost me a $3 vacuum cleaner to keep him nearby.)

Bumpy Start to Christmas with a Great Ending

December 27, 2009 By Deirdre

It really looked like it was going to be rough Christmas. My dad called to say that he had driven down from Virginia, but was spending the night before Christmas in a hotel. He had been sick all day and was worried he would keep up us. I wondered on Christmas Day would he still be sick. (I said a prayer for his health.) My husband was a little late in going to pick up my mom for Christmas dinner because one of the toilets was plugged up. (I prayed the plumbing won’t back up again.)I called my mom to tell her we were a little behind in coming together and she told me she was exhausted due to not sleeping all night. (I prayed she would enjoy her time with us.)When she got here I let the kitchen towel my mom had used to cover her corn casserole get to close to a burner and it got burnt. Thankfully the exhaust fan was already on and no one smelled the smoke. I was able to put out the small flame by running it under water. (I prayed I won’t burn anything else.)

Christmas lunch was supposed to be at 11:30. It had to be moved to 12:00. By then everything was on the table and ready to go. My family was in good spirits. Everyone got seconds of the things they liked best. It was a great ending to an interesting morning.

Stocking Swap- My Treasure Trove of Gifts

December 22, 2009 By Deirdre

I participated in the MommyMandy & Rockin’ Mama’s Stocking Swap 2009. My Secret Stocking box arrived on Friday filled with a treasure trove of Christmas related items from One Frustrated Mama . She sent cookie cutters that I can use of Muffin Tin Muffin ( JDaniel took out each cookie cutter and wanted to know what each one was. We spent twenty minutes looking at the cookie cutters). There was also a snowman hand towel (It is now hanging in my guest bathroom.), miniature tree ornaments (I don’t know how she knew we were going to use a miniature tree this year.), two wooden ornaments JDaniel can decorate, a holiday notepad and note cards, a stocking, a nutcracker ornament, hand lotion and a giant Hershey bar (My husband has his eyes on the chocolate bar.) She has an awesome site. Please stop by it and take a look. She could also use your prayers her husband has had health problems lately.

I sent treats to Kimberly Bacak of Oh My Baby. I had a lot of fun selecting treasures to send to her.