We're busy getting ready for Halloween here, since it's one of my absolute favorite holidays! As soon as my birthday was over, the kids and I set to work decorating the house, buying Halloween candy and planning some Halloween crafts.
Even better, we were offered the chance to come up with a Halloween treat, craft or project involving Smarties candies for Halloween. Now this is my kind of project. And what's cool about Smarties is that they are gluten free, vegan, low calorie and free of top allergens, which makes them a great treat for everyone. After some serious debating between cookies or cupcakes, Faith and I headed off to the store for ingredients when we passed a display for gingerbread haunted houses. And we knew. That was our project.
We purchased a pre-made gingerbread house form. I've made them before. They are fun, but they are hard to put together and involve a lot of work in terms of icing types and more hands than I have, so premade it is. On the flip side of that, I dislike the icing that comes with the standard gingerbread houses, so we bought chocolate icing in a tub to switch out the black icing, as well as orange and white canned icing with decorator tips. We also used a variety of Smarties for decorating, including Original Smarties, Tropical Smarties, X-Treme Sour Smarties, Smarties in a Pouch, and Smarties Candy Money. (Smarties are available at Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar and other stores; we got ours at the supermarket.)
One of my favorite things to do with project like this is to let the kids do as much as they can, in their own way. I could create a perfect gingerbread house, but it's not as much fun as letting them decorate it their way. We divided the house down the middle, one side for Faith and one for Ben and got to work.
I opted to use regular chocolate icing for the roof (in lieu of black) and we did each section individually, working towards the center from the outsides. The kids used various Smarties to decorate this section.
After that, I piped orange icing onto the peaks of the roof, which they decorated again (along with some debate about how to decorate the center peak.
This was mostly the Original, Tropical, and X-treme Sour Smarties because the kids wanted them to stand up.
We used more orange icing to to the trim around the back and front of the house, then I added windows to the back and doors and windows to the front with some black decorator gel. The kids planned the look, I just drew to their specifications.
They also decided to add decorations to the yard. Ben built triangular bushes in the backyard using the Smarties Candy Money (the biggest size ones we had) with some white icing piped in to make them stick together, while Faith used the middle sized Smarties in a Pouch to make a front border and walkway.
We tried to use Smarties Pops to fashion trees, but couldn't figure out a way to make them stand up without glue, so we opted for a few cupcake picks to liven up the yard. F&B ate the lollipops instead.
Smarties is also letting me giveaway a prize pack featuring:
I'd also suggest following Smarties on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for more awesome Halloween ideas! Don't forget to check out the hashtag #IAmaSmartie for more Smarties fun!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. #CBias #SocialFabric
Even better, we were offered the chance to come up with a Halloween treat, craft or project involving Smarties candies for Halloween. Now this is my kind of project. And what's cool about Smarties is that they are gluten free, vegan, low calorie and free of top allergens, which makes them a great treat for everyone. After some serious debating between cookies or cupcakes, Faith and I headed off to the store for ingredients when we passed a display for gingerbread haunted houses. And we knew. That was our project.
We purchased a pre-made gingerbread house form. I've made them before. They are fun, but they are hard to put together and involve a lot of work in terms of icing types and more hands than I have, so premade it is. On the flip side of that, I dislike the icing that comes with the standard gingerbread houses, so we bought chocolate icing in a tub to switch out the black icing, as well as orange and white canned icing with decorator tips. We also used a variety of Smarties for decorating, including Original Smarties, Tropical Smarties, X-Treme Sour Smarties, Smarties in a Pouch, and Smarties Candy Money. (Smarties are available at Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar and other stores; we got ours at the supermarket.)
One of my favorite things to do with project like this is to let the kids do as much as they can, in their own way. I could create a perfect gingerbread house, but it's not as much fun as letting them decorate it their way. We divided the house down the middle, one side for Faith and one for Ben and got to work.
I opted to use regular chocolate icing for the roof (in lieu of black) and we did each section individually, working towards the center from the outsides. The kids used various Smarties to decorate this section.
After that, I piped orange icing onto the peaks of the roof, which they decorated again (along with some debate about how to decorate the center peak.
This was mostly the Original, Tropical, and X-treme Sour Smarties because the kids wanted them to stand up.
We used more orange icing to to the trim around the back and front of the house, then I added windows to the back and doors and windows to the front with some black decorator gel. The kids planned the look, I just drew to their specifications.
They also decided to add decorations to the yard. Ben built triangular bushes in the backyard using the Smarties Candy Money (the biggest size ones we had) with some white icing piped in to make them stick together, while Faith used the middle sized Smarties in a Pouch to make a front border and walkway.
We tried to use Smarties Pops to fashion trees, but couldn't figure out a way to make them stand up without glue, so we opted for a few cupcake picks to liven up the yard. F&B ate the lollipops instead.
Smarties is also letting me giveaway a prize pack featuring:
- 1 Theater box Smarties
- 1 small bag Original Smarties
- 1 small bag Tropical Smarties
- 1 small bag X-Treme Sour Smarties
- 1 small bag Smarties in a Pouch
- 1 small bag Seasonal Smarties
I'd also suggest following Smarties on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for more awesome Halloween ideas! Don't forget to check out the hashtag #IAmaSmartie for more Smarties fun!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. #CBias #SocialFabric
Favorite part of Halloween - gotta say the candy! I would love to win Smarties because I use them as "incentives" during family photo sessions.
ReplyDeleteMy FAVORITE part of Halloween is my Molly! Halloween is my oldest daughters birthday! The day I became a Mom! She is turning 12 this year!!! Makes me cry just thinking about it!
ReplyDelete(also, I enjoy stealing my kids candy,,, but mostly its the birth of my daughter!)
Dressing up and seeing the excitement on my daughter's face! Even though she can't enjoy most of the candy she receives, she loves Trick or Treating and sharing those candies with Daddy to take to work ;)
ReplyDeleteCan Little Miss eat Smarties? I thought of you & Sarah when I first saw the allergy free, gluten free, vegan thing.
DeleteCreepy food is my favorite part - and how excited my kids are...they both love handing out candy so they can see everyone's costumes and their reactions to our scary yard!
ReplyDeleteSeeing all the kids happy and smiling is my favorite part of halloween.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE seeing all the creative costumes! Trick or Treating is seriously the best!
ReplyDeleteGreat haunted house! My favorite part of Halloween is handing out the candy for trick or treat... love seeing all the kids come to the door in their awesome costumes!
ReplyDeleteI love making Halloween bentos because I'm a bento dork. :)
ReplyDeleteCandy....of course!
ReplyDeleteWe love costumes! :)
ReplyDeleteALL OF IT! Love the smell, colors and coziness of fall. Love the girls getting SO excited about dressing up and trick or treating. Love makin' their costumes and love the candy! :)
ReplyDeleteI love everything about Halloween! The costumes, pumpkins, decorating!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Halloween is definitely dressing up. It's the one time anyone can wear silly costumes! :D
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute craft idea. I keep saying I'm going to make a gingerbread house but it's the one thing I've never done... :)
ReplyDeleteso adorable! my fav part of halloween is definitely decorating the house and crafting! New follower from the blog hop :)
ReplyDeleteI've always loved dressing up in costume, and now that I'm a "grown up" I love to hand out the candy and see the kids in their costumes.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite has always been seeing the little kids in cute costumes. Unfortunately, I live a block away from a college and our once family neighborhood has turned into almost all college students, so we haven't had a single trick or treater stop in at least 7 years. :( The rest of the neighborhood is black and the block south of us (opposite the college) is a highway... not a prime location for kids to be.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Halloween is dressing up! We only have one child and K makes my husband and I dress with her every year and it is themed except for last year. We have been Minnies and Mickey and crayons. This year K is going to be a cat, I will be a witch and my husband a wizard. :)
ReplyDeleteHanding out candy to the kids and see what they are dressedup
ReplyDeletein
thanks
aunteegem@yahoo.com
I love sneaking candy out of my kids Halloween loot! Shhh!
ReplyDeletearifamily at comcast.net
My favorite part is the Halloween crafts and dressing up my daughter!
ReplyDeletejjawny1@yahoo.com
My favorite part of the season is getting to attend the harvest festivals around our area. There are always tons of things for the kids to do and we get to spend time together creating memories.
ReplyDeleteDressing the kids up and walking around!
ReplyDeleteLove it!!! Your kids are too cute!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Halloween is all the costumes! I always loved dressing up!