GPP 2017 - Week One (Planning/Calendar/Budget)

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AuntJamelle

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MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

Did that sound spooky? No? Ok, I promise not to do that again...
:rolleyes:

Welcome to Week One of The Great Pumpkin Plan!

  • Events/Activities To Participate In
    • Hosting a party?
    • Attending parties?
    • Trick or treating? Handing out? In neighborhood? Elsewhere?
    • Community events? Trip to Pumpkin Patch? Corn maze? Haunted House? Other?
    • School events?
    • Trip to local Halloween store for costumes?
    • Sending in classroom treats?
    • Worried about too much sugar? Consider using The Great Pumpkin Candy Swap idea!
      • After your kids collect their haul of candy, they select a small portion to keep and leave the rest out in the house, somewhere of your choosing, on Halloween night. In the night, The Great Pumpkin “comes” and takes the candy, leaving a toy or book behind instead for them to find the next morning.
      • Plan to prepare your kids for the idea (works best for younger ones obviously) and decide on item that will be left in place of the candy
    • Use printed or digital calendar of choice to plug in all dates currently known or ballpark ideas on the rest!!!!
  • Candy Stock-up
    • Purchase at least one bag of candy during normal grocery trips this week - HIDE!
  • Costume Discussion
    • Decide whether or not you or other adults in the household will dress up this year
      • Begin researching possible costume ideas
        • Pinterest
        • Halloween Costume Websites
      • Optional: Plan for Halloween themed attire for desired events - could be as simple as a Halloween themed shirt or a fun headband, face makeup, etc.
    • Discuss costume choices with your kids as well; If at all possible, pin them down on a decision so that planning can begin!
  • Make a Basic Budget
    • Based on all of the above, sketch out a rough idea of what you want to spend in the following categories:
      • Costumes
      • Candy
      • Food (if hosting party or pot-lucking or for any seasonal treats)
      • Classroom Treats/Gifts (if applicable)
      • Tickets to chosen community events
      • New Decor
      • Any additional misc. expenses specific to your needs
 
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HouseElf

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We love Halloween here! We do candy and non-candy treats (teal pumpkin).
For new decor I am looking to purchase a couple skeletons for our display - but they need to be 'fun' and not 'scary'.

I picked up my treat bags yesterday for the candy treats, and we have settled on costumes.

Picked a couple attractions to visit this year, Fort Fright and Fright Fest, and a trip to the farm to pick up the pumpkins. The boys are too old for trick or treating but enjoy handing out candy and watching movies with snacks at home.

I take the day off work, make caramel apples and a holiday themed meal.
 
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AuntJamelle

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Events To Participate In:

[N/A] Parties to Host - Not doing
[X] Parties to Attend - Invited to one big party on 10/21. It includes a trunk or treat which we've signed up for.
[X] Trick Or Treating - We will do this both at the party and at the campground the Saturday before Halloween
[X] Community Events - We have a trip planned to local place called Thistleberry Farms on Oct 7th. Scheduled to go to Stover's Orchard for picking out our pumpkins on Saturday, Oct 14th!
[X] School Events - There will be a costume parade on Thursday, Oct 26th that we will attend
[X] Classroom Treats - I'll need to send these in on that same Thursday, the 26th; Have them planned and some of the supplies purchased
[X] Updated Google Calendar with all events

Candy Stock Up

[X] Purchase candy - Done! Got a huge bag at Sam's last week and picked up another good size bag from Big Lots yesterday!

Costume Discussion

[X] Decide who is dressing up! - Done; DH will be Charlie Brown and I am dressing up as a witch. I've got DS's shirt and the black felt to make the chevron pattern on it. Need to order black pants and decide on shoes he'll wear. I've purchased the tulle I need to make my costume's skirt an the black elastic for it - just need to get started. A few other things to buy for the hat part of it.

Budget

[/] Costumes - Not sure what I've spent so far. Hoping to only spend $30 or less to complete. $10 for DS's pants (which he can wear to school too so just adding to his wardrobe really) and $20 or less on my hat, tights and any other accessories

[X] Candy - Planning $40 or $10 a bag over next 4 weeks

[/] Food - In progress; I'll need to plan a pot luck item for party on the 21st. Then it get's tricky as we'll be camping weekend before and I have an whole budget for that.

[X] Classroom Treats - I'm guessing $8 to finish buying the Hershey's candy bars I need. I have 9 now. Will need 27 of them total. I'm decorating them as mummies using white crepe and googly eyes, both of which I already had. I will make cute little tags using craft supplies I already have as well.

[X] Community Events - $50 for Thistleberry Farms trip and $30 for Stover's (cost of pumpkins and some apples)

[/] New Decor - I will plan on spending $30 to $40 on Halloween clearance after the holiday. IF I find something that would really add to our outdoor display. Other than that I am good on decor!
 
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AuntJamelle

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Tam - I love your day off work plans! I've always wanted to make caramel apples! Any tips? I've heard that lightly rubbing the apple skins with fine sandpaper makes the caramel adhere better? Where do you buy your sticks? Do you just melt caramels?
 
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luludou

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You got me to thinking... on the 31st supper has to be ready when we get home because we won't have time to make anything with all the Halloween trick or treaters coming by.

I am not planning a Halloween party this year. I do think my friend will invite me over but I'm also pretty sure it'll be a family supper for dniece's bday.

Candy is bought... but could still get more ;)
Costumes have been decided but I have some things to make (felt cookies, ice-cream cones).
Need to bring the Halloween totes down from the attic and decorate
 
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HouseElf

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Tam - I love your day off work plans! I've always wanted to make caramel apples! Any tips? I've heard that lightly rubbing the apple skins with fine sandpaper makes the caramel adhere better? Where do you buy your sticks? Do you just melt caramels?

It depends on the apples - many at the grocery stores may be 'waxed', but we pick ours so know they are just straight from the tree. I put my apples in the fridge, so they are cold when we dip - to firm up the caramel faster. Just rub them to make sure they are dry and dip.
This is the recipe we have used for gluten free caramel

the sticks we purchased from Bulk Barn locally, but have also seen them at Micheal's - as long as they are food grade you are good to go :)
 

housewife2

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i just finished doing my bathroom for halloween. got a new shower curtain and rugs . put halloween pictures on the wall pumpkin accessories on the shelf and counter. my 3 year old grandson loves it.
 

Holiday_Mom

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MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

Did that sound spooky? No? Ok, I promise not to do that again...
:rolleyes:

AJ, you are too funny!!! LOL! So glad that I didn't spit my drink out!

  • Events/Activities To Participate In - We're trying to figure out a time to get to a corn maize or to the apple farm.
  • Candy Stock-up - I'll pick up a bag on Friday. We only have 2 or 3 children visit since most of the children have aged out on our street.
  • Costume Discussion - My youngest dresses up. We will have to sit down to finalize the costume. I heard an idea a few weeks back but I don't know if that changed.
  • Make a Basic Budget - I'm too practical sometimes. This is one of those times. I try to make a costume based on what we already have at home. I won't spend more than $10 on a costume since it's just worn for 90 minutes and then tossed to the side.
 

MrsSoup

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Events/Activities to Participate In:

We don't have anything on the calendar as of right now but i'm sure that will change as the holiday draws closer. I absolutely would love to go to a pumpkin patch but i'm not sure that there are any on the island. We'll see what events come up.

Candy Stock-Up:

I fully intend to purchase a bag of candy this week and for the next several weeks. I would like to have at least 4 big bags total. I'm not sure how many trick or treaters we will get being that there is not a road in front of our house this year and we're on the edge of the neighborhood.

Costume Discussion:

I dress up every year and am usually a witch. I asked DD the other day what she wanted to be and she didn't know so I will have to get on the kids to start thinking about it. DS said he wanted to be a dinosaur but I told him he would have to buy his own costume because those are expensive. Maybe he'll choose something else more affordable.

Decor:

I don't plan on buying much, if anything, in the way of new decorations. I will most likely just use what we have this year and reevaluate for next year. We have to seriously cut down on stuff in the next 4 years before we leave this island so I don't want to start accumulating more stuff now if I don't need to. I will try to use what I have on hand to the best of its ability.
 

luludou

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Holiday Mom I'm the same with costumes. I like when they are homemade with what we have at the house, only buying accessories when necessary. When I met dh he did not like Halloween and didn't want to spend a dime on costumes so I made do and now I prefer the costumes I make.. they are originals! nobody has the exact same one. I don't really like to see all the children dressed exactly the same, I think it's sad.