Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Halloween Safety Tips for Kids and Parents

Courtesy of Amanda Mushro

Happy Halloween Friends,

Before the fun begins, here are a few ways to keep your trick-or-treaters safe.

Kids love Halloween because this spooky holiday is all about fun, candy, costumes and more candy. From parties and parades to trick-or-treating, kids of all ages will be out and celebrating this season. However, while Halloween is meant for fun, it is also important to stay vigilant. So, here’s a few tips to keep all of your ghosts and goblins safe.

  • Before your kids head out the door to trick-or-treat, give them an extra reason to shine with glow-in-the dark necklaces and bracelets, or a flashlight. These accessories are festive and, more importantly, they are a great way to make road crossing much safer.
  • If your older kids are trick-or-treating without you, be sure they leave with a group of friends. Remind them to avoid houses that don’t have a front porch light on and set a strict curfew or a meeting place to go to if they get lost.
  • Kids are excited to hit up a few houses for candy on Halloween, but remind everyone to stay on the sidewalk, stay off the road and cross the street with an adult.
  • Before the parties and parades begin, make sure your kids’ costumes are ready. Can they see out of their masks—what’s in front of them and side-to-side? Can they walk in their costume without tripping or falling? If they have accessories, like swords or staffs, make sure they are soft and easy to carry. Also, make sure you give all Halloween makeup a test run to avoid allergic reactions on the big night.
  • All trick-or-treaters want a ton of candy, but make sure your kids know that there is no need to go inside a home to get some. Staying on the front porch is the perfect place to collect Halloween goodies.
  • Be sure to snap a lot of pictures of your kiddos all dressed up as monsters, princesses and superheroes, but put the phone down and keep your head up while trick-or-treating to avoid distractions.
  • It can be tempting to eat the candy right away. However, make it a rule that your kids must let you check their stash before they have a few sweet treats. Toss any candy that is unwrapped and double check labels for kids with food allergies.
  • Get your house ready for trick-or-treaters by removing items from your steps or the walkway to your home.
  • If you are driving on Halloween, remember to stay alert and avoid distractions like your phone. Drive slowly and be aware of trick-or-treaters.

Be Safe!

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Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!


Live well,
Yvonne

Friday, September 22, 2023

1st Day of Autumn!


Courtesy of Anna Fletcher

Hi Friends,

Hope everyone enjoyed the hot days of Summer and ready to welcome Autumn with opened arms. We have a lot of great ideas in the coming weeks and look forward to sharing them with all our friends...

Now that the Fall season is almost upon us! The leaves are about to start changing, the days will get shorter, and mornings will grow chillier and crisp as summer fades away. And though we will miss long summer days and warm nights, we have a brand new, exciting season approaching! So why not start thinking about some fun outdoor activities you can do to celebrate the coming of autumn?? Here are a few…

10 Outdoor Activities to Kick Off the Autumn Season!

1. Attend a Barn Dance. Whether it’s contra dancing or square dancing, hoedowns are a great way to spend fall evenings and nights. Have a blast and work up a sweat in the cold, autumn night air while you dance along to foot-tapping bluegrass and fiddle music!

2. Go Mountain Biking. Okay, so you can mountain bike at any time of the year (except maybe the dead of winter…ice and snow are no bueno for your tires). But there’s something about the chilly air and bright orange, red, and yellow leaves all around you that makes biking during the fall so amazing.

3. Take a Scenic Drive. Early to mid-fall is one of the prettiest times of the year, as the trees still have most of their leaves which have turned vibrant with the coming cold. This is the one of the best times to take a drive through the woods, around town, or through the mountains.

4. Go Pumpkin Picking. Fall season means one thing – pumpkin season! Restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, and many other places around town start selling pumpkin foods, drinks, and products to welcome in the season. You will also be able to find whole pumpkins all over town, whether you want to go pick your own at a patch or get one from the store. If you do take a trip to your local pumpkin patch, you can do many fun, free activities that they offer, like hay rides, corn mazes, and petting zoos. Make a jack-o-lantern with your new prized pumpkin and be sure to keep the seeds so you can roast them! Yumm.

5. Host a Bonfire. Shorter days and cooler weather make perfect ingredients for a bonfire. Grill out, have a tub of hot apple cider, and don’t forget s’more fixings!

6. Go Climbing. One of the best times of the year to rock climb is during the fall. As leaves begin to drop and greenery wanes in anticipation for winter, rock faces become more exposed. Cooler weather also means fewer bugs zipping around your face as you make your way up the cliff!

7. Do Some Photography. Bright multi-colored leaves, teaming autumn wildlife, colorful pumpkins and gourds, and clear, sunny days make for great photo ops. See what amazing autumn things you can capture on your camera!

8. Go Camping. Cooler, dryer weather means fewer bugs and fewer people, so fall is one of the best times to go camping. Just remember your cold weather hammocking gear, and you’ll be toasty and comfy in the chilly autumn air!

9. Visit an Orchard. ’Tis the season for apple picking! The prime months for ripe apples is September and October, and most local orchards open their doors to the public during this time to do some picking. Just think of all the pies, apple butter, cider, and applesauce you can make! And even if you’re not a big apple-eater, just strolling through the trees in the cool fall weather is a great way to spend the day!

10. Play Some Pick-Up Football. Labor Day weekend officially kicked off football season, so what better way to celebrate that than to play some football yourself? Grab family and friends and head out to the park or backyard for some down-set-hike!

Check back for more great ideas and recipes from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!





Live well,
Yvonne

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Fun Halloween Party Games for Kids and Adults

Courtesy of Kamron Sanders and Chelsea Faulkner
Photo by: Michael Hall

Happy Halloween Friends,

From cakewalks to can tosses, pumpkin-carving contests to piƱatas, our list of DIY Halloween party games is guaranteed to make your ghoulish get-together as freaky-fun as possible.

Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe
Photo by: Cassidy Garcia, Styling by: Jill Tennant Design

Move the festivities outside to play this oversized version of tic-tac-toe that uses orange and white petite pumpkins in the place of x's and o's. To recreate at home, use decorative duct tape to create a grid on a flat area, like a driveway or patio, then place pumpkins in a basket or stack them up beside the gameboard.

GET THE HOW-TO: 3 DIY Pumpkin-Themed Yard Games for Fall Fun

Pick-a-Pumpkin Party Game
This kids' party game is easy to make and fun to play. You can make it simple by allowing kids to pick a prize depending on which pumpkin they choose, or more difficult by making the goal to match two items behind the pumpkin flaps.

GET THE HOW-TO: Halloween Party Game: Pumpkin Pickin'

Candy Bucket Pong
Photo by: Cassidy Garcia, Styling by: Jill Tennant Design

This oversized version of the classic college party game is reimagined for family fun. To play, set up 10 plastic candy buckets in a pyramid shape on the lawn and fill each bucket with rocks or sand. Standing about 6 feet from the first bucket, players take turns trying to toss a Ping-Pong ball into the buckets, removing a bucket each time they score. The player with the most buckets at the end wins.

GET THE HOW-TO: 3 DIY Pumpkin-Themed Yard Games for Fall Fun

Indoor Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Photo by: Celsea Faulkner, Printable Designed by: Maggie Miller

Spiders, mummies and ghosts — oh my! Our free, printable Halloween treasure hunt sends kids on a harrowing journey around the house to gather clues and find hidden treats. Follow the link below to find the instructions and download the free printable cards that guarantee hours of fun this Halloween.

GET THE HOW-TO: Free, Printable Halloween Scavenger Hunts

Cookie Stacking Tournament
Courtesy of Kim Stoegbauer

Games with prizes, especially food prizes, tend to keep kids entertained. Using sandwich cookies, see who can stack the most cookies in one minute without the stack falling over. Reward the winner with candy or a small Halloween trinket. Hosting a lot of kids? Try putting together a cookie-stacking tournament!

Jack-o'-Lantern Can Toss
Photo by: Cassidy Garcia, Styling by: Jill Tennant Design

Take a page from the book of classic carnival games to fashion this fun, almost-free can toss. Clean out 10 metal soup cans, cover them in sparkly orange cardstock and add fun jack-o'-lantern faces with a marker or black cardstock. Stack the cans in a pyramid shape on top of some hay bales and let the bean bag tossing begin! The player to knock down the most cans in five rounds wins.

GET THE HOW-TO: 3 DIY Pumpkin-Themed Yard Games for Fall Fun

Marshmallow Toss Game
Courtesy of Kim Stoegbauer

Get a little help from the kiddos to craft this easy party game. They'll enjoy helping to create the game as much as they will playing it. As a reward for their skills, let them eat whichever marshmallows they can get in the cups.

GET THE HOW-TO: Halloween Party Game: Marshmallow Toss

Haunting Hopscotch
Put some pep in the trick-or-treaters’ steps with a festive pumpkin hopscotch game. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to make this sweet and simple DIY to highlight the path to candy on Halloween night. Not spooky enough for your taste? Use the same hopscotch base but swap the pumpkins for inky spiders, screeching bats or bloody footprints.

Monster Mash Musical Chairs
Photo by: Michael Hall

Halloween musical chairs is just like ordinary musical chairs, only played to a Halloween soundtrack and full of fun Halloween decor. As ordinary musical chairs goes, it is a blast for all ages and brings out just enough of everyone’s competitive spirit. Set up chairs around a fun tree decorated for Halloween, as designer Jennifer Perkins did here.

Kooky Cornhole
This bean-bag toss game is fun and easy for the whole family and building a set is a fairly easy woodworking project that you can tackle in a day. Feeling extra festive? Paint the board in graphic Halloween colors like black and orange and buy bean bags to match.

GET THE HOW-TO: How to Build Regulation Cornhole Boards

Have fun...

Check back for more great ideas from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!


Live well,
Yvonne

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

FREE Printable Pumpkin-Carving Templates


Compliments of Sam Henderson

Hi Friends,

From printable party invites to cute cupcake, gift bag and party favor embellishments plus pumpkin-carving templates and props for a photo booth, we'll help you get your spook on this Halloween over the days leading to October 31st.

Halloween's almost here and it's time to get carving! We have 34 HGTV-exclusive pumpkin-carving patterns designed specifically for beginning pumpkin carvers.

Click the individual listings below to be redirected the FREE printable template:

Print the Friendly Robot pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Cute Owl pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Rocket pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candy + Arrow pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Haunted House pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candy Corn Duo pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Magic Wand pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Bats pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candy pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Graveyard Ghosts pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Wolf + Full Moon pumpkin-carving template.

Print the EEK! pumpkin-carving template.

Print the BOO pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candy Corn pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Scaredy Cat pumpkin-carving template.

Print the SPOOKY pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Boo Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candlestick pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Frankenstein pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Witch pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Cat and Moon pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Vampire pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Sinister Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Happy Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Grinning Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Snaggletooth Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Man in the Moon pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Spider pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Candelabra pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Dotted Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Pumpkin Nightlight pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Flowers pumpkin-carving template.

Print the Pumpkin pumpkin-carving template.

What a treat to share on trick-or-treat...

Happy Halloween!

Check back for more great Halloween ideas from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!





Live well,
Yvonne

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

FREE Printable Halloween Templates


Courtesy of Kim Stoegbauer
FREE Printable Templates Compliments of TomKat Studio

Hi Friends,

Enjoy the FREE Halloween printable templates, compliments of TomKat Studio. TomKat Studio is one of the largest resources for printable templates and party planning ideas in the industry.


Download printable Beware of Monsters Sign template.


Download printable Candy Sign template.
Download printable Points for Marshmallow Toss Game template.


Download printable 4x6 Photo Frame template.
Download printable Sweet Treats Label template.
Download printable Black Stripe Candy Bar Wrapper template.


Download printable Trick-or-Treat Tote Bag template.
Download printable Happy Halloween Flag template.
Download printable Bottle Wrapper template.


Download printable Treat Bag template.
Download printable Party Favor Striped Flag template.
Download printable Party Favor Treat Flag template.


Download printable Striped Treat Cone template.
Download printable Party Favor Thank You Tag template.
Download printable Small Eek! Boo! template.


Download printable Party Black-and-White Invite template.
Download printable Large Bat template.


Download printable Party Graphic Invite template.
Download printable Party Trick-or-Treat Station Snack Label template.


Download printable Haunted House Invite template.
Download printable Boo! Eek! Labels template.


Download printable Halloween Cupcake Party Invite template.
Download printable Striped Spider and Bats Label template.


Download printable Fancy Cupcake Label template.


Download printable Multi-Color Tag template.


Download printable Large Party Circles template.
Download printable Monster Mash Invite template.


Download printable Black-and-White Striped Paper template.

Join us in a special thank you to TomKat Studio for sharing their printable templates at no cost. Thank you, TomKat Studio!

Continued success to TomKat Studio from you fans at Interior Design...

Happy Halloween Printing!

Check back for more great Halloween ideas.

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!





Live well,
Yvonne

Monday, September 4, 2023

Happy Labor Day!

Hi Friends,

Summer's behind us with Autumn just ahead, the perfect opportunity to thank you for visiting us during the hot days with our hopes it will continue through the chilly ones. You know, it doesn't matter if you are white collar, blue collar or no collar; working with your mind, hands or heart; taking the time, devoting the energy or making it happen, we appreciate all of you.

Have a restful and enjoyable Labor Day from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!





Live well,
Yvonne