Warm Up with These Tasty Treats on Halloween

The weather was beautiful all week, but it is turning chillier this weekend. Just in time for Halloween! I wanted to share with you two recipes to warm you up on Halloween, that I am loving this fall. The first, a Pumpkin Fondue would be a great appetizer to serve pre-trick or treating. Being that Halloween falls on a Sunday this year it is a great opportunity to have some neighbors over before you all head out and hit the candy. When you get home, you can kick back, relax and warm up with a nice Hot Apple Toddy. A nice fall twist on an old favorite. Both couldn’t be easier or more tasty!

If you already have a favorite fondue recipe, go ahead and make that, stuff it in the pumpkin and bake it. If not, I am including one for you.

Recipe: Pumpkin Fondue

• 1 small Pumpkin – about 3 lbs.
• 5 oz. Gruyere Cheese – shredded
• 5 oz. Emmental Cheese – shredded
• 1 tbs All Purpose Flour
• 8 oz. White Wine
• 1 Garlic Clove – minced
• 1 tbs Kirsch (Cherry Brandy)
• Freshly Grated Nutmeg – to taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper – to taste

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut off the top of the pumpkin, scoop out seeds and clean out the stringy bits.
3. Place the pumpkin on an oiled baking sheet and lightly brush the outside with oil.
4. In a saucepan, gently heat the cheeses, flour and wine over medium-low heat until the cheese is melted.
5. Add in the kirsch, garlic and nutmeg. Season with pepper. Stir until the sauce is smooth.
6. Fill fondue in the pumpkin.
7. Place the pumpkin top back on and bake in the oven for one hour to one and a half hours.
8. Serve with cubes of french bread and apples.

Recipe: Hot Apple Toddy

• 2 oz Bourbon
• 1 tbs Honey
• 1 slice of Lemon
• 6 oz Apple Cider
• 1 Cinnamon Stick

1. Gently heat the apple cider in saucepan with the cinnamon stick until it simmers.
2. While the cider is heating, place honey, bourbon and lemon slice in the bottom of a mug.
3. Pour in heated cider and stir to combine.
4. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and serve. This makes one serving.

For more entertaining, cooking, and recipe tips from Zareen, check out her blog called Cooking With Z.

Halloween Fun at SMITH

SMITH will be hosting a day of spooky Halloween Fun for children 10 years of age and younger and their caregivers this Saturday, October 30th from 10 AM to 1:00 PM. The Junior League of Philadelphia will lead children in an eerie eyeball toss, pumpkin and witch’s hat ring toss, pumpkin golf and a hunt for prizes! Creepy crafts will include temporary tattoos and boo-tastic pumpkin decorating. There will also be a Halloween parade at 11:00 AM.

Remember to wear your costume!

Rain or shine, this FREE event, co-sponsored by the Junior League,  promises to be loads of fun and offers plenty of time to enjoy the Playground and Playhouse. http://www.smithkidsplayplace.org

SMITH The Kids’ Play Place in the Park | East Fairmount Park | 33rd and Oxford Street | Philadelphia | PA | 19121

Halloween Spooktacular at Philadelphia Premium Outlets

featuring Trick-or-Treating & Costume Contest

WHEN: Fri, Oct 29 from 5pm-7pm

Children of all ages are invited to Trick-or-Treat at participating stores, and don’t forget to enter our Costume Contest for great prizes. Registration will be held near the Food Court from 5pm-6:30pm with winners announced at 7pm. Prizes provided by Famous Footwear Outlet, Lindt Chocolate, Maidenform, Nike and more.

For more information on upcoming sales and events please visit us online at http://www.premiumoutlets.com/philadelphia.

Exton Square Mall’s Malloween

Exton Square Mall’s Malloween
Thursday, October 28, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Exton Square Mall opens its doors to the spookiest, most terrifying and heartwarmingly adorable costumes kids can dream up, as the mall hosts its annual Malloween, a Halloween celebration. Children are invited to put on their costumes and walk with their parents from store-to-store rather than door-to-door and trick-or-treat on Thursday, October 28 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Mall merchants displaying pumpkin cutouts on their store fronts will be positioned at their store fronts ready to pass out delicious treats. In addition, Exton Square Mall will be giving away Halloween bags and candy to children on the Lower Level, near Customer Service. All goodies are available while supplies last. To complete the spooktacular festivities, there will be roaming Halloween characters including Frankenstein, a Vampire and a Scarecrow! For more information visit http://www.extonsquare.com.

Host a Pumpkin Party

With Halloween just around the corner and autumn in the air, it’s the perfect time to host a backyard pumpkin carving party. What a great excuse to get families together and have some fun. I love this time of year for outdoor autumnal events. And a pumpkin party can be carried out beautifully without too much work or expense. Here are my ideas for a picture perfect pumpkin party.

Party Details: When I throw this party I like to do it in the late morning, really it can be held at anytime of day, but daylight hours work best. Make it BYOP (bring your own pumpkin). Ask each guest to bring a pumpkin for carving.

What You Will Need For Carving:

• Carving Knives -You can buy carving kits and knives at most craft stores.
  
• A large knife or two to cut off the pumpkin tops.
• Large spoons to scrape out the pumpkin insides.
• A few large bowls to collect seeds for roasting. Let the kids help separate the seeds from the pumpkin.
• Some folding tables to carve on dressed with paper or plastic throw away table cloths.
• Trash bags

Setting the Party Scene: Decorate with some painted mini pumpkins. You can paint them with simple thick silver and black stripes some with silver and black polka dots or however you wish. And/or you can just buy a bunch of mini gourds to decorate with. Add some hay stacks, a scarecrow, corn stalks and some larger pumpkins for decoration. Carve some of the pumpkins ahead of time to set the scene. Get creative, go beyond a Jack-A-Lantern face, and consider carving a black cat, a ghost, your last name (if it is short enough) or the first initial of your last name. Draw it out in bubble letters and carve away or use a stencil. Use coordinating orange, black and silver table clothes, plates, napkins and cups. Target and Party City both have some great Halloween serving ware. Bring out your speakers and create an IPod Halloween Mix.

Planning the Menu: Keep it simple. There are so many great foods whose flavors and scents exude fall. You can make it even easier by mixing a few homemade goodies with store bought ones. Here are some ideas.

If it is in the AM: Orange & Black M&Ms, Candy Corn, Cider Donuts, Apple Cider (hot, cold or both), Coffee, Pumpkin Muffins, Tray of Pretzel Nuggets, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

If it is in the afternoon: Consider replacing the coffee with Pumpkin Ale, the Pumpkin Muffins with Pumpkin Bars and adding Spiced Rum to the Apple Cider and topping it off with Whipped Cream.

Extra Ideas:
May the Best Pumpkin Win: Make it a pumpkin carving contest. Line up the finished pumpkins on a table and number them. Hollow out little pumpkins (to use as bowls) and label them with categories. Let people cast votes for the most creative, the most beautiful, the scariest, the most intricate, whatever you come up with. The winner for each category can receive a wrapped caramel apple on a stick (super easy to make) or a small bag of Halloween candy wrapped with black, orange and silver ribbon.

The “Pumpkin Patch”: Create a fake “pumpkin patch” scatter mini pumpkins throughout the yard and let the kids each “pick” one. Lay out a big blanket(s) on the ground with markers and stickers that they can use to decorate the pumpkins.

Some recipes to get you started:
Spiced Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Spiked Mulled Apple Cider

Looking for FREE Halloween Crafts, Recipes, Party Ideas and more…Check out the Boo Bash?

Our brilliant and crafty friend Nicole is hosting a “Halloween Boo Bash” on her website – Little Boo & Co.

There are recipes, craft ideas, giveaways FREE printables and more… click here to hop on over to her site.

Free Printable Candy Wrappers

Lil Boo & Co invites you to the virtual Halloween Boo Bash

For the entire month of October, our crafty gal pal Nicole will be sharing fun, Halloween related goodness on her blog each day. She has fun giveaways, tutorials, craft ideas, decoration & party ideas, free printables, recipes and SO MUCH MORE!

You won’t want to miss it! Click here to hop on over to her website.
Some of the FREE and cool Halloween-y things Nicole is sharing:

FREE October Calendar

Recipe for Candy Corn Pudding Parfaits..um, yum!!

How to instructions on how to make Mini Sticky Note Key Chains

You can also visit Nicole’s Etsy shop to purchase Halloween Party Decorations for just $10!!!!

$10 PRINTABLE HALLOWEEN PARTY COLLECTION INCLUDES:
Happy Halloween Banner – 5″ x 5″ banner medallions with Jack-o-Lantern graphics
Boo! Banner – 5″ x 5″ banner medallions with Ghost graphics
Party Toppers – 2″ cupcake toppers
Thank You Tags – 2″ gift tags
Food Labels with Graphics – blank: tent style and flat card style (can be personalized for additional fee)
Food Labels (no graphics) – blank: tent style and flat card style (can be personalized for additional fee)
Fill in the Blank Invitations – 5″ x 7″ invites, 2 per page (can be personalized for additional fee)
Drink Labels (blank, can be personalized for additional fee) – comes with and without graphics. These would fit nicely on water bottles or glass soda bottles.
4″ Party Circles – can be used as hanging party decor

FREE WITH PURCHASE:
– Mini Candy Bar Wrappers
– Hershey Kiss Labels
– Decorative straw/food tags

PLEASE NOTE: These are ONLY for printable/digital files. Nothing will be shipped to you.

Click here to order your $10 Halloween Party Collection Today!

Costume Swap & Mom’s Night Out!

Are you starting to think about what to dress your little ones up as for Halloween this year? Lacking time (or in my case, I will admit it, the talent!) to make a fabulous home-made costume? Then look no further!

In conjunction with a day being celebrated nationally (a week later, but we are just cooler here in Philly and do things ahead of time!) come on out for the first Costume Swap & Mom’s Night Out, held at the Swarthmore Community Center. The idea behind this event is to reduce waste by re-using costumes, with the thought being that if we buy less costumes, then right there we have less packaging which reduces what is in our landfills!

This event is being planned by our friend Trina from O’Boy! Organic, as well as a few other local mom bloggers:

Shannon from Philly Burb Moms
Andrea from PARENTise
Jessica from Delcopamoms

And moms, did we mention that this is a FREE event? The rules only require that you bring a minimum of 1 costume to trade (though you can bring more!) and if you are so inclined, a bottle of wine to share with your friends (the event is BYOB and we’ll have appetizers).

So head on over to the Facebook page for this event, where you can learn more about the Swap and also RSVP (and be sure to tell your friends, too!)

Pick Your Own Pumpkins and Fall Activities in Chester County

FREE Hayrides to the Pumpkin Patch at Milky Way Farms in Chester Springs – Pick Your Own Pumpkins, Saturdays & Sundays in October. 10:00am-5:00pm. Stop by the creamery for delicious ice cream!

Highland Orchards, Downingtown – FREE Shuttle to the pumpkin patch. Super Yummy Apple Cider do-nuts in the market.

Linvilla Orchards (Delaware County)-Pumpkinland is a Delaware Valley family tradition. During the months of September and October, Pumpkinland takes center stage at Linvilla Orchards. Larger than life figures and scarecrows illustrate the legends and lore of the harvest season, local history and some of the many stories of pumpkins and apples. See piles of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes, over 100 tons on display! Find a huge selection of straw bales, corn shocks, fall decorations of all kinds, masks, costumes and toys. Don’t get lost in the straw bale or cornfield maze! Live music, live entertainment, hayrides, train rides, pony rides, face painting, straw bale and cornfield mazes, pick-your-own apples, candy and caramel apples, Costume Parade, Jack-o-lantern exhibit, the Linvilla Grill, Costume & Halloween Shops.

Weaver’s Orchard, Inc. – pumpkin patch-pick in the field, pumpkin patch- already gathered from the field, Fall festival, child-sized haybale maze, tractor-pulled hay rides, Fresh eggs, Cider mill (fresh apple cider made on the premises), snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, face painting, Bouncy castle or moon bounce, pony rides, farm animals, birthday parties, school tours. 40 Fruit Lane, Morgantown, PA 19543.

Farmer’s Daughter Farm Market – pumpkin patch-pick in the field, pumpkin patch- already gathered from the field, corn maze, haunted corn maze, tractor-pulled hay rides, wagon rides, prepicked produce, gift shop, snacks and refreshment stand, face painting, birthday parties, school tours. 3190 Schuylkill Road, Spring City, PA 19475. Phone: 610-495-4555

Hurricane Hill Farm – pumpkins, pumpkin patch-pick in the field, pumpkin patch- already gathered from the field, corn maze, haunted corn maze, straw or hay bale maze, child-sized haybale maze, corn cannon, prepicked produce, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, tractor-pulled hay rides, wagon rides, face painting, petting zoo
704 E. Reeceville Rd., Coatesville, PA 19320. Phone: 610-213-5944.

Stratton’s Wynnorr Farm – Fall Harvest runs from September 15 through October 31st on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 Noon – 6 pm. Come out and enjoy a great Fall Day! Pick Your Own Pumpkins,Apples, Cider, Pies, Pumpkins, Gourds, Mums, Straw Bales, Corn Stalks, Crafts, 100% Wool Yarn ,Hay Rides to the Pumpkin Patch,Hayride & Bonfire – Reserve your Private Group Now. Old fashioned country hayride & bonfire -Includes Cider (Bring your own marshmallows and sticks) 1631 East Street Road Route 926 between Route 3 and Route 352, Westtown, PA 19395.

Marlborough Valley Corn Maze – corn maze, horse-drawn hayrides, pumpkin patch, petting zoo. Wawaset Rd (Rt842), Kennett Square, PA 19348.

Smith’s Produce – 181 Mapleflower Rd., Glenmoore. 610-656-1768. September 17-October 31 (Every Friday, Saturday & Sunday)Noon-Dusk. Corn Mazes, Hay Bale Maze, Pumpkin Patch, Hayrides

If you know of a family friendly pumpkin patch that didn’t make our list, please email us at chestercountymoms(at)gmail.com. We support local famers.. and hope you will too! Learn more about local farmers markets at http://www.eatlocalphilly.com/

RECALL: Halloween Flashlights Sold at Target

Halloween Flashlights Sold Exclusively at Target Recalled Due to Burn Hazard WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: Halloween Flashlights Units: About 610,000 Importer: Target, of Minneapolis, Minn. Manufacturer: DGI LLC, of Warren, N.J. and Tien Hsing, of Wanchai, Hong Kong Hazard: The flashlights can overheat and melt, posing a burn hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received eight reports of flashlights overheating and melting, including one report of burns to the hand. Description: This recall involves two types of Halloween-themed flashlights: the mini flashlights and flashlights sold with stencils. Mini Flashlights – The mini flashlights have a key ring extending from the bottom and were sold in a pack of three colors: orange, green and black. The orange and purple packaging has “Mini Flashlights (3 Pack)” printed on the front and “DGI”, “Made in China” and “DPCI# 234-02-1813” printed on the back. Standard Size Flashlights – Also included in the recall are standard sized flashlights with a black handle and an orange top. The flashlights were sold with six stencils in various colors and images: a pumpkin, ghost, spider, cat, witch and skull & cross-bones. “Flashlight with Stencil” is printed on the front and “Tien Hsing,” “Made in China” and ”234 02 1838” is printed on the back of the packaging. Sold exclusively at: Target stores nationwide from August 2009 through September 2009 for $1 for the mini flashlights and $2.50 for the flashlights with stencils. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumer should immediately stop using the flashlights and return the product to any Target store for a full refund. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Target at (800) 440-0680 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.target.com