It's All Just A Bunch of Hocus Pocus

 It's October, witches! And you know what that means. Hallo-freakin-ween season has officially begun. Can I get a whoop! whoop!? So, last year we did an east coast road trip, traveling from New York up to Massachusetts. I said it before, I was not excited about doing New York in the least, but I told Jason that since we were going to be in MA, I was fully expecting a stop in Salem. And since we were going to be in Salem, bet your ass I was going to swing by the Hocus Pocus house. 

For any fans of the movie, you simply can't go to Salem and NOT visit Max and Dani's house! It's a part of movie history that is going to live on for generations to come.

This is now a private residence so visitors need to be respectful and stay off the property. I didn't even feel right walking across the street to stand on the sidewalk for a photo opp, so I stayed well over on the other side of the road. There was an older lady lounging on the porch when we pulled up who was wearily eyeing me down the few minutes we were there. Honestly, I don't blame her one bit. I'm sure she gets tired of having strangers stop and photo her house every day. I bet the tourist crowds are even bigger in October than they are in July when I was there.

 

I didn't stay long, maybe 5 minutes tops, but for me, it was the highlight of our east coast adventures. 

 

There's supposed to be a Hocus Pocus 2 in the works, due to air sometime next spring on Disney+, and I simply cannot wait!

Hocus Pocus movie... love it or leave it? What's your favorite Halloween movie?

Chicago's Navy Pier Pumpkin Lights

We had plans to drive to Chicago over the weekend to visit 13th Floor Haunted House, but I didn't want to make the drive into the city just for a quick haunted house trip. I remembered that Facebook kept putting up event suggestions for Navy Pier's Pumpkin Lights display and thought we'd kill a little time by checking that out first.

Unfortunately, we were pitted against the weather gods on Saturday and lost big time. It was cold, windy and raining, making it very unpleasant to be out and about walking around town. To top it off, Facebook isn't great at giving much information about these events they like to shove on your timeline, so we were going into this event blind, just hoping it was going to justify Chicago's exorbitant parking fees and walking around in crappy weather. While this pop-up event may be the bee's knees for some, for me it was a huge let down. Navy Pier's events are usually pretty fantastic, so I had visions of the pier littered with all kinds of cool pumpkins. We walked the entire length and really only found the display that's pictured above, then another slightly larger display in front of the ferris wheel in the little carnival section of the pier.

I did a pano with my phone so you can see the entire display of pumpkin lights:

There were no pumpkin displays inside of the shopping plaza, nor along the water walkways. This was pretty much it. Maybe you can see why I was a bit taken aback that this event kept getting pushed onto my Facebook timeline, but it really didn't make sense to plan a trip to the pier just for the pumpkin lights. However, I was impressed with what was on display because as I've mentioned before, I'm no Edward Scissorhands when it comes to carving up pumpkins. More like Freddy Kruger. Here are a few close ups of the carved pumpkins you'll see on display here:

Poor Allison about blew right off the pier LOL:

Navy Pier Pumpkin Lights is a free pop-up event, so it wasn't a complete loss (unless you count our parking fees). If you're already planning to be in the area, pop over and check it out. If not, I would not plan a trip to the pier just for this event though. It will run through 11/2, so there's still a few more days to catch it if you were wanting to.

Did you carve pumpkins this year?

Nightmare Before Christmas Bark

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. 


I've been on the hunt for silicone molds with shapes from The Nightmare Before Christmas for years. I haven't had any luck finding them yet (seriously Disney, you're missing out on a huge money making opportunity there. get with it!) but I did come across these plastic molds of Jack and Oogie on Etsy.

I've been wanting to make some Nightmare Before Christmas bark for Halloween this year, so I thought I'd give these molds a try. I much prefer working with silicone because I've never had great luck with plastic, but figured what the heck. Let's melt some chocolate and see what happens. If you follow me on my Instagram Stories, you got a sneak peek over the weekend.

I'm going to be honest here and say that working with these hard molds was a complete pain in the ass. While they are super cute and would probably work better using them as a bath bomb or working with polymer clay, melting chocolate in them was no easy task.

Jack was a little easier because the mold isn't so detailed, but I did the 4 Oogies pictured here and called it quits. The Oogie Boogie mold is very detailed and getting the chocolate to settle into the cracks was a tedious job. I had to keep slapping the mold onto the counter to get the candy to settle and to get the air bubbles out.

Removing the candy after it had set was a whole other challenge. I kept snapping the tips off of Oogies head, then had to take a lighter to the candy to melt it down to reset the pieces back together. I was beyond frustrated after making just 4.

If this looks like a candy craft you'd like to try, I'd suggest just sticking with the Jack mold. While a bit difficult to remove from the plastic, it went a lot better than the Oogie candies did.

However, even with all of the effort I put into the chocolate molds, I did like the final candy bark results. For Jack Skellington, since he's The Pumpkin King, I cut some jelly pumpkins in half to add to the bark, then dusted it with purple sprinkles.

For the Oogie Boogie candy bark, I used sour gummy worms and purple and green jimmies.

I do think this is a fun candy for your Halloween party or to gift to any Nightmare Before Christmas fan. If you don't mind the work, these molds are a suitable filler until Disney gets with the program and starts to make NBC silicone molds for us foodie and crafting fans.

If you liked this recipe, be sure to Pin It on Pinterest!

Here is a list of the products that I used to make this candy bark. These are affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to shop through, but if you do, I make a small commission to help continue running this blog.

Wilton Black Candy Melts
Wilton White Candy Melts
Sour Orange Pumpkin Jellies
Halloween Colored Jimmies
Trolli Sour Gummy Worms 

Do you watch Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloween-time? 

 

Oogie Boogie Pudding Cups

Last year I wanted to make some Oogie Boogie treat cups out of chocolate. You know the little chocolate bowls that you can make using a balloon dipped in candy melts? Yeah, well that didn't go so well. Apparently I didn't let the candy cool enough because the balloon popped, spraying melted candy all over my kitchen. Even a year later I am still finding dots of chocolate in the weirdest places. Second attempt only worked a little better. The balloons held up, but the chocolate went on too thin and dried all cracked and ugly looking. At that point I said to hell with it and moved on to making those Halloween shaped peanut butter buckeyes that were such a hit last year.

For me, it just isn't Halloween until we incorporate a new Nightmare Before Christmas craft into the mix, and while I did the glowing Jack pumpkin last year, this year I wanted to try my hand again at an edible that wasn't going to make a mess or cause frustration. Instead of messing with chocolates and molds, I decided to pull out my crafting vinyl and cut out Oogie Boogie's face. I then stuck the cutouts onto some glasses and filled them with green pistachio pudding and called it a success.

If pistachio pudding isn't your thing, you could always tint vanilla with some green coloring. And, if you prefer Jack Skellington over mean old Oogie, you could fill the cups with vanilla pudding and plaster on Jack's face instead. Or, do them both for a fun party mix.

Since Oogie is filled with all kinds of nasty critters, you could even mix in some gummy candy worms and bugs for an extra fun treat!

Using my Silhouette Cameo, this was a 5 minute craft. You certainly don't need a cutting machine though since there is very little detail, you could cut these by hand fairly quickly. I picked up my vinyl sheets at Michael's for under $2 each.

Also, if you are planning a Halloween party, you could pass out some homemade burlap Jack Skellington treat bags.

I made these about 2 years ago using some black burlap sacks that I found in Target's $1 spot. I cut out Jack's face with some silver glitter heat transfer, ironed it on, then boom. Another craft done in under 5 minutes.

If you have a Gordman's close to you, they usually have Nightmare Before Christmas socks for under $2 a pair that make great treat bag fillers and 5 Below usually has NBC pencils, nail polish and stickers that are great party favors too. Your guests will be delighted and probably start singing "What's this? What's this? I can't believe my eyes! Oh, I want it, oh I want it, oh I want it for my own"... Happy Halloween!

*Affiliate links. These do not cost you extra to shop through, but if you make a purchase through one of the links it does help support this blog :)

Have you ever failed at a Pinterest or Facebook inspired craft or recipe?

Jack-O-Lantern Doughnut Holes

I was pretty disappointed with the Halloween baking selection in the stores this year, so I had to rack my brain on something fun that I could make with Allison that didn't involve any holiday bake ware. As I was buying my usual Sunday doughnut after my grocery run, I looked over and saw a container of doughnut holes and thought they would make the cutest little breakfast treats if we turned them into pumpkins. I figured if we coated them in a bit of orange candy melts and added a face with black decorator icing, they'd be super easy to whip up together and would make for a fun Halloween treat.

So, I bought that container, brought it home, and we had a grand time that afternoon making our doughnut hole jack-o-lanterns.

The decorator icing ended up being a terrible idea because it was too thin and ran down the candy melt coating. So, I tinted plain cake frosting black and we drew the faces on with food grade paintbrushes. To finish them off, we put a little stem in the top by using broken pretzel pieces.

Adding to the holiday fun, I bought the seasonal Orange Scream Flavored Milk and poured it into some juice glasses that we decorated with black vinyl to look like pumpkins. You could also use orange juice, but Allison does love the milk that tastes like a dreamsicle, so we went with that instead.

Overall, we thought it was a fun way to craft together and share in a tasty Halloween treat.

*affiliate links* 

Did you make any Halloween themed treats this year?

 

Tast of Fall: Entenmann’s® Little Bites® Pumpkin Muffins #LoveLittleBites

*Disclosure: I received coupons and a gift card so I could try the product and share my thoughts. All opinions stated are my own and do not represent the thoughts of Entenmann's® Little Bites®. 


We all know that fall and pumpkin just go hand in hand. What's not to love about indulging in a little pumpkin flavor when the temperature takes a dip? I admit, I've been slacking on my fall pumpkin baking this year, but I was pretty excited to find out that Entenmann's® just put out their limited edition Little Bites® Pumpkin Muffins so I could get my fix in without having to sacrifice any time baking or mess up my clean kitchen.

Entenmann's® Little Bites® Pumpkin Muffins are baked up soft and moist by using real pumpkins. They never contain high fructose corn syrup or trans-fat, and at only 180 calories per pouch, I don't mind it if Allison requests it for her after-school snack option.

She's been on a kick lately, trying to pin down her Halloween look, practicing different makeup ideas each day to find a suitable circus ringleader design to go with the rest of her costume. Of course, tomorrow she'll have a whole new look, but all of that makeup application sure does work up a girl's appetite. She needs to refuel and I can't think of a tastier way than with a pouch of Little Bites®. Don't you just love her dinner guests, too? It looks like they are trying to sweet talk her into sharing, but it's a no-go since she's quite stingy when it comes to her snacks.

Speaking of Halloween, I think Entenmann's® Little Bites® Pumpkin Muffins would be an awesome treat to pass out to the trick-or-treaters instead of the usual chocolate bar. Be the house that stands out with the treats this year!

Remember, Entenmann's® Little Bites® Pumpkin Muffins are only out for a limited time, so they won't be on the shelves year round. Be sure to pick some up on your next shopping outing so you don't miss out on this seasonal favorite.

If you would like to learn more, be sure to visit Entenmann's® website.

WIN IT!

One lucky Theresa's Mixed Nuts reader is going to win 3 Coupons for $5 off any Entenmann's® Little Bites® plus a $25 Visa digital gift card to purchase more Entenmann's® Little Bites®. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents and ends 10/18/17. No P.O. Boxes will be accepted. Please enter on the giveaway widget below.

 

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Happy Howl-O-Ween!

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


Happy Halloween Month! For me, it's the most wonderful time of the year. I pulled out my holiday decor and got all set up over the weekend, then dug out the dog's Halloween costumes and let them have a little superhero fun in the backyard for a bit.

These two crime fighters are always trying to sniff out the bad guy. They have no problem chasing a kitty (squirrel) up a tree, keep a watchful eye on the neighbors, or chase each other all over the yard on a slow day. Nothing keeps you on your toes like a little backyard brawl with your sibling, right? Even though superheros don't get paid cash money, just like the rest of us, they do appreciate a tasty reward for their valiant deeds. What better way to say thanks than with Wellness®?

  
Halloween is all about tasty treats, and while we do tend to splurge on a few unhealthy snacks this time of the year, I make sure my dogs get nothing but the best. Wellness® takes a holistic approach to their pet food and treats, focusing on real ingredients that offer real benefits for pets. CORE® RawRev High-Protein Kibble pieces are crafted using freeze-dried pieces of 100% lean meat. You won't find any carbs or fillers here. 

As tasty as the food is, nothing motivates the boxers like a yummy "cookie". They live for dog treats! And with Halloween almost upon us, wouldn't we also like to spoil our four-legged babies with a few pumpkin flavored snacks too?

Wellness® Crunchy Pumpkin Flavored WellBars® are made with natural ingredients and come in bite-sized pieces for dogs of all sizes. These treats are oven-baked, grain-free, antioxidant rich, and bursting with flavor since they are made with real pumpkin. They are super cute too, coming in fun shapes for Halloween such as pumpkins, skulls, bats, and ghosts.

Old Mother Hubbard® Baking Co. also offers a wide variety of naturally delicious treats for pets. Made with all-natural ingredients, any dog would be thrilled to get a few of these snacks in their Halloween buckets this year.

Now that we are all in the Halloween spirit, be sure to look for Wellness® and Old Mother Hubbard® Baking Co. treats at most large pet food suppliers nationwide so your pups don't miss out on the trick-or-treating fun this Howl-O-Ween! 

Do your pets like to dress up for Halloween too?