Halloween: 14 Month Old Toddler Edition!

Let me begin by saying I am just not a fan of Halloween. I don't like the creepy, the gore, the dressing up... Nope, not my thing. BUT, with a kiddo, I feel a responsibility to make every occasion a little bit extra-special. Nothing crazy - we're not into the extravagant, over-the-top stuff. We're not doing $100 Boo-Baskets, gifts, or anything of that sort. Instead, I'm fully embracing the chance to incorporate a little Halloween fun into our everyday things - foods, activities, etc.

Here's what we spent our Halloween weekend doing with a non-walking 14-month old!

Food Fun

We started off with some Mummy breakfast sausages. Pillsbury Crescent rolls are so easy to use and the perfect mummy wrapping for these pork breakfast sausages. Bubs loved them!

I also made some pumpkin-spice puffins (pancake-muffins) in these fun Halloween shapes. It was just a cheap silicone mold from the DollarTree. I eyeballed some pancake mix, pumpkin-spice vegan protein, a mashed banana, an egg, a little olive oil, and water to get a thick muffin-batter consistency. Popped it in a 350 degree oven, and I'm pretty content with how they turned out!

In the same silicone molds that I made the puffins in, I mixed up some sugar-free Jello (remember, half the water for shapes! I made that mistake, haha) and made some fun jiggly creatures for Bubs to enjoy!

For lunch we had Jack-o-Lantern quesadilla! So easy to do and some awesome festive-fun! It wasn't until I pulled this one out of the bag that my husband said to me, "Wow, you're really being *that* mom, hey". And you know what?! I took it as a compliment! Yes, I absolutely am being that mom. Fun, embracing the magic of the season, making memories... I wouldn't want to be any other way!

On the menu for Halloween day: Spaghetti and Eyeballs (meatballs)!

Play Time

Of course, as a 14 month old, Bubs isn't too coordinated, and he isn't walking yet, so we're a little bit limited on what we can do with him. Here is what we attempted over the Halloween weekend, haha!

First, our sensory bins. One of rice, and one with died spaghetti! I'm pretty sure they were more fun for me than Bubs - he really just liked chasing around the eyeball ping-pong balls. I included the instructions for the dyed rice sensory bin in a previous post.

To make the spaghetti sensory bin, I simply boiled some spaghetti in water with food colouring in it. When it was done cooking, I didn't love the pale colour, so I added some more dye to the finished pasta. It ended up giving it a bit of a tie-dye effect which I loved! I also doused the pasta in olive oil. The top of my bottle came off as I was pouring, so I ended up with more than I was planning, but I'm happy I put more oil on as it made it a more fun texture, and there was no chance that spaghetti was sticking together! It definitely gave off worm vibes! Keep baby wipes close though or you'll have greasy hand-prints all over the place! Bonus: wonderfully moisturized hands!

We pulled out some good ol' stickers. Some ended up on the page, some on the floor, and others in his mouth. Oh well!

Pumpkin painting was a serious no-go... I don't think it helped that Bubs put the paint in his mouth immediately. Maybe doing this project in the same seat he eats was a little confusing, haha. He didn't even love his bath afterwards - he was just not into it at all!

We attended a friend's Halloween party over the weekend too. Bubs went as the most adorable pumpkin, and hated the hood the whole time haha.

We took a super simple spider spinach dip to the party too. I found these candy eyeballs at the DollarTree!

Give me all the fall vibes, but Halloween decorations only go up for Halloween. So we went outside to put up our lawn signs. Can you even with this cutie-patootie?!

We're also going to be attempting some pumpkin carving... send prayers haha.

Halloween Day

Because Halloween is a Monday this year, Bubs will be at daycare. I'm sending his Halloween shaped puffins for breakfast, he'll dress in his skeleton jumpsuit, and take Halloween treats for his daycare friends. We'll go trick-or-treating to our neighbours and close friends, come home to hand out candy, and have spaghetti and eyeballs for supper.

Like I said, none of this is extravagant or over-the-top by any means, but just ways to add a little Halloween magic to our everyday!

I'd love to hear the ways you incorporate the holiday or season into your everyday activities!

Happy Halloween!

xo.Meg