Miss Pretty says:

"Just leave me some catnip candy corn and go away."

The Bell Tolls for Thee

(Editor's note: the following is a piece I intended to submit to parenting magazines, but never quite got around to, so I thought I'd share it here. RPP editors take note: this is available for your 2008 Halloween issue!)

Calling all moms:

Greet your little monsters with some last-minute tricks and treats

Uh-oh. You thought you were going to be so ahead of the game by buying all your Halloween candy in advance, didn’t you? And now it’s 5 p.m. on October 31 and that big bag of Fun-Size Snickers that was intended for the neighborhood kids turned into your breakfast, lunch and snacks over the past week. It’s only a matter of minutes before tiny ghosts, princesses and aliens ring your doorbell looking for a treat and you’re standing there empty-handed. Never fear! You’re Super Mom, able to find Halloween goodies in a single sweep of the house. Just get out a big bowl and fill it with your stash of extra baby stuff, like:

Candy cigars. We can’t think of a better way to get rid of all those leftover “It’s a Boy!” and “It’s a Girl!” bubblegum and chocolate cigars.

Teething biscuits. Wrap them up in cellophane and you’ve got biscotti for kids.

Travel packs of baby wipes. Hey, they may say that M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hands, but smart moms know otherwise.

Baby food. Tell your little Sponge Bobs and Captain Jack Sparrows that it’s actually special Halloween pudding.

Spare change. Dig deep into your diaper bag or junior’s piggy bank and rid yourself of all those pennies. Bonus for you: a lighter bag!

DYI Candy Corn

Want to make your own candy corn? (That makes one of us.) Check out this article from the Washington Post blog. The photo is interesting: pink and orange candy corn? Hmmm... I just don't know about that.

Holy Candy 2007

It's here! This year's Halloween message from Father John. As you know, last year the pastor at my parents' church made a plea for more trick-or-treaters to show up on his doorstep. With the promise of a full-sized candy bar (none of that "Fun Size" baloney), he was able to meet his goal of 100 kids. This is what he had to say this year:



"Halloween is almost here! My second favorite holiday of all. I could wax poetic for pages on why the 31st of October is so much fun for me, but I never delude myself: for kids, Halloween is all about the candy. With great amusement, I came across an interesting article that delved into the hierarchy of leftover Halloween candy. It delineated a "tier system"-- a kind of Dante's-Inferno-meets-Candyland.

(Here he quotes from "The World's Fair", a science blog. They list the top tier as: Milky Way, Snickers, all M&Ms, Reese's, Junior Mints, Kit Kat, Twix and Milk Chocolate Hershey Bars.)



I know, I know, there's lots of room for debate, but you can save that for Thursday. Right now, I'm more concerned about Wednesday, specifically the number of trick-or-treaters who will visit the rectory on Halloween night. Last year we broke into triple digits! Let's do that again! On my part, I promise to hand out only candy from the top two tiers (and regular size, too--- not those little snack things).

So bring on the lions and tigers and bears and other creative creepy crawlers... Halloween is upon us! Let there be candy!

Right on!

Now that's some advice I'll take!

I just took this Halloween candy quiz. I got five out of ten right. My score said, "Keep trying. You need to eat more candy." Well, okay then!

Get in the chocolate biz

Yesterday in the newspaper there was a tiny ad that caught my attention. Apparently Dove is launching some sort of chocolate-at-home party business (think Tupperware or Pampered Chef). You can become a "chocolatier" and sell things like hot chocolate, chocolate fondue and other such goodies. Very strange. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but here's the link in case you're looking for a side business.

My plans for next week

I just realized that I can't give out candy this year. I know, I know, that's just so wrong. But 1) we live on a way busy street without sidewalks, so I can't imagine anyone will be stopping by and 2) the mysterious outdoor lights that are afixed about a thousand feet up in the air on the second story don't work and so our house is shrouded in darkness, thereby ensuring a lawsuit if some little Thomas the Tank Engine or Princess Barbie tries to climb up our precarious stone stairway.
My plans are to take Henri to "Trick or Treat on Safety Street," the local brouhaha in my parents' town, during the day. That's when every little kid for miles around gather at the gazebo and proceed to trick-or-treat at the local stores. I'm not anticipating much. With the prospect of hundreds of kids, I'm sure the treat du jour is Tootsie Roll midgees and Dum Dums. And then there's the whole question of how I'm going to persuade Henri to keep the candy in his bag and then later fork it all over to me. Then, of course, it will be onto the church to check out what Father John will be doling out this year.

OY!

I was just informed that my email address listed here was wrong, so if you've tried to send me a note and it bounced back, that's why!
Also, be sure to check out the latest Candy Confessional!

"Have a nice box of raisins," said the lady, just before her house got egged

There's a "Fun Fact" in this week's issue of Quick & Simple magazine. It lists kids' least favorite trick-or-treating items. They are:

1) Fruit
2) Salty snacks (chips, pretzels, etc.)
3)Toys
4) Baked goods (cookies, granola bars, etc.)

I talked about this in-depth last year with my Halloween Hierarchy. Maybe this year I'll do an official poll whenever I run into kids of trick-or-treating age. What's your favorite Halloween goodie?
(As an aside, the magazine also has an article on what to do with leftover Halloween candy. Let me just tell you-- there's nothing more aggravating to a writer than to see an idea that she had a LONG time ago written up in a magazine by someone else. Freelance writing is such a crap-shoot; if you pitch your piece to the wrong magazine, it may never see the light of day. Let this serve as a lesson to me. )

Countdown to Halloween!

HOORAY! Only one week until Halloween! So I'm going to tie up some loose ends so we can get on with full-tilt Halloween coverage. First of all, here's a picture of my glorious birthday cake that June made. Oh, it's loooooong gone, of course.

Next, we have a picture of my Wombat Day present from Sue, MKAFFGGF. Note the empty Kit Kat wrapper. This was a British "Fine Dark" Kit Kat. Now I've had the U.S. dark Kit Kats before and really liked them, but this, THIS! Holy cow. Sue made a bold proclamation: "Dark Kit Kats are my new favorite candy bar." Frankly, I may have to agree with her. The other goodies (which I haven't tried yet) are: Moro (milk chocolate with caramel and biscuit); Twirl (milk chocolate fingers); and Dairy Milk Turkish. Oh, and be sure to check out the comments under the Wombat Day entry. An official Wombat left me a message!


One last thing. I think an intervention needs to take place. I've gone off on a Jujy Fruits bender. I can't stop eating the damn things. I love them! I think the red are my favorite, followed by black, and then the orange, green and yellow are tied for third place. I'm not buying any more once this package is gone.

Spooky Spiders!

These snack cake spiders way cool, and the best part is, the legs are made out of Pocky! Check out the one in the back on the right-- those creepy crawly legs are made with chocolate coconut Pocky! YUM!
I wish I could say these were my idea, but they're not. They're from Not Martha.

Wombat Day 2007

I really, really wanted to have an all-out Wombat Day bash, but I knew that it would just stress me out and would negate the whole purpose of this festive day. So instead we had a very last minute celebration with Sue (MKAFFGGF) and her husband Neil. My original intention was to bake chocolate wombat cupcakes, so I used one of those new-fangled silicone pans that are all the rage even though they totally freak me out. I just don't believe that you can cook in a rubber pan and not get cancer or grow horns and a tail. So I made a batch of cupcakes and all but four stuck to the bottom of the pan. The rest of the batter was made into a cake. I used Smarties as eyes, Junior Caramels as noses and flattened vanilla Tootsie Rolls for the whiskers and teeth.

Because it was so last minute, I was extremely disappointed when I went to the store and found that they had cleared out all of their imported English goods, namely all of the Wine Gums! What's Wombat Day without Wine Gums? I bought some Jujy Fruits as a substitute.

Luckily, MKAFFGGF came through. In honor of Wombat Day, she bought me a goodie bag filled with delicious treats including-- thank God!-- a bag of Maynard's Wine Gums. Wombat Day was saved!

We had a festive time exchanging wombat stories and doing the secret wombat dance. Due to my overindulgence in wombat juice, however, I totally forgot to bring out the sparklers at the end of the evening. Probably a good thing, though, as Wombat

Day almost ended in disaster. As the evening was drawing to a close, we heard a crack. We turned to see one of the Halloween candles on the table exploding into flames as if it was powered by sterno. Even though she was off-duty, Sue bravely grabbed the flaming witch hat and extinguished it using her refined skills. Once again, Wombat Day had been saved! Huzzah!

Happy Wombat Day!!

I guess I'm not sure if Wombat Day really exists or not, but thanks to Wombania.com for the graphic and the information. Here's a description of this most festive holiday:

Wombat Day is typically celebrated with lots of chocolate and Wine Gums. For those unfortunate individuals who live in areas where Wine Gums are difficult to obtain, ju-jubes can be substituted. Often a chocolate cake in the shape of a wombat is the centerpiece of an evening party in which wombat songs are sung, and wombat stories and folk tales are told. In some areas, the secret wombat dance is also performed. Afterwards, the wombat cake is divided among the guests, and large quantities of Wine Gums are consumed. Sparklers and fireworks usually end the celebration.

Stay tuned for a full report on how I celebrated Wombat Day 2007!

Just FYI

Jared over at A Calorie Counter.com has put together a nutritional comparison of candy just in time for Halloween. It's really thorough and it was interesting to see which candy bars contain transfats. I was also very surprised at the calorie count in Skittles; for some reason, I thought they were less than the average candy bar. Oops! Anyhow, check it out, but don't let it keep you away from candy. Remember, everything in moderation.

Let Them Eat Cake!

This was a short diversion from my candy paintings. Let me assure you, doing a painting of a cake just isn't the same as eating a piece of cake. But it was still fun.