Sunday, October 30, 2011

Candy Corn Day

Candy Corn Day!

People have been enjoying candy corn for more than 100 years. In the 1880s, candy corn wasinvented by George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderlee Candy Company. The recipe hasn't changed very much since then, although now there are more machines to do the work of creating those festive white, orange and yellow sugary triangles.

To celebrate National Candy Corn Day, here are five fun facts:

1. More than 35 million pounds of candy corn, or roughly 9 billion kernels, will be produced this year, according to the National Confectioners Association.

2. When candy corn was first introduced to the public, it was especially popular among farmersbecause of its agrarian appearance.

3. Curious about how candy corn is made? A behind-the-scenes video can be found here.

4. "Candy corn" is the top searched-for candy term on Google.

5. Want to celebrate National Candy Corn Day? Some Halloween-themed recipes , including peanut butter candy corn truffles, crispy treats featuring candy corn and howling candy corn cookie bark can be found here.

If you're hosting a children's party this Halloween, here are instructions for a Candy Corn Dash Halloween Game that the kids will enjoy.

Candy Corn Decor

Simple Decorative Uses for Candy Corn

Place in decorative jars or potion bottles.
Use extra candy corn to place in gel candle kits.
Hide them around the house or use as trails for party games (make sure you find them all, or you'll have some uninvited creepy guests in a few weeks...)
String to, or glue on garland.
Stick through the top of straight, long wire to use in floral arrangements.
Use as garnish in cocktails, on cupcakes, or cookies.

Candy Corn Wreath

For a Sweet Welcome to Your Door

Items needed:

- Foam wreath
- Bag of candy corn
- glue
- clear glitter
- trimmings

Glue candy corn in a single row on a foam wreath. Lightly glaze candy corn with thin layer of glue, and sprinkle clear glitter on top. Trim with black roses, lace, velvet, plastic spiders, spider webbing, etc. A small skull head always fits well placed on the inside circle of the wreath. :-)

Candy Corn Printables

Print, Color, and Craft

Candy corn craft printables for Halloween. Perfect for festive Halloween decorations or as games for your Halloween party...

Candy Corn Cutout: Pin the face on the Candy Corn.
Candy Corn Coloring Page: 3 simple candy corn cutouts.
Candy Corn and Witch Treat Boxes: Printable treat box templates - candy corn and witch.
Candy Corn Flipbook: Counting candy corn flipbook printable for young children.

Candy Corn Treats

Yellow, Orange, White

Some of these recipes have a hint of real candy corn, but others are only colored to mimic a candy corn appeal. Fun and festive recipes for Halloween. Enjoy!

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

Oreo cookies, pretzels, candy corn, and white chocolate to pull together a cookie bark.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Yellow and orange cupcakes with white frosting, plus a tutorial on how to easily frost cupcakes.

Candy Corn Parfaits Recipe

A Candy Corn Parfaits are made by layering vanilla ice cream with a layer of orange sherbet and a layer of lemon sorbet.

Candy Corn Cookies

Buttery candy corn colored sugar cookies.

Colorful Critters

Ok, so there's only a few candy corn included in this kid-friendly Halloween treat idea. But these little monsters are just way to cute to pass up...

DIY Candy Corn

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup salted butter

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/3 cup powdered milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

red and yellow food coloring

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sifted confectioners' sugar and powdered milk. Set to the side.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce heat to medium and continue stirring for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the vanilla extract and remove from heat.

3. Add the confectioners' sugar and powdered milk mixture to the wet ingredients; stir well until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and smooth.

4. Let the dough cool until it is firm enough to handle, about 30 minutes to an hour (I just let it cool in the saucepan).

5. Divide the dough into three equal parts and set each third into a separate bowl. Add 2 to 3 drops of yellow food coloring to one dish, one drop of red and two drops of yellow to another dish, and leave the remaining dish uncolored. Knead the dough to which you have added food coloring until the color is even (you may want to use gloves to ensure that you don't stain yourself). If the dough is feeling very soft or sticky, you may want to chill the dough for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator before proceeding with the next steps.

6. On top of a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper, use your hands to roll each color of dough into a long, slender rope. You can roll it out to your desired thickness: for larger candies, make each rope thicker; for smaller candies, make each rope thinner.

7. Line the three ropes of dough together: white, orange, and yellow. To ensure that they will stick together, lay a piece of waxed paper on top and give them a very gentle rolling with a rolling pin. You just want to adhere them, not to flatten them.

8. Using a very sharp knife, cut the dough into triangles. Keep a damp cloth nearby so that you can wipe off the knife if it begins to get a candy residue. This method will result in half a batch of traditionally colored candy corn and half a batch with yellow tips (it's OK—they taste the same). Let the finished kernels sit for an hour or two (do not stack them on top of one another as they will stick together!) to become firm.

Halloween Crafts

Here are some Halloween Crafts we found ....

Yarn Spider Web Balls

Find out how to make these spooky yarn
spider web balls at Craftberry Bush.

Cereal Box Haunted House

FunLab shows you how to make a haunted house
from a cereal box and even provides a free template
if you don't want to design your own.

Paper Spider Webs Tutorial

Omiyage has a tutorial that shows you how to fold
and cut spider webs from paper - if you can make a
paper snowflake you can make these colorful
paper spider webs!

Mummy Treat Jars

These mummy treat jars or candle holders are
so easy to make for such fantastic results!
Get the instructions at Craft-O-Maniac.

Paper Plate Halloween Silhouette

The Chinet site has some great Halloween craft
ideas that use Chinet paper plates. My favorite is
this haunted house silhouette (there's a free template)
but check out the other ideas too.

Jack pops with free printable

mini witch broomsticks
Natural Suburbia

toilet paper roll mummy
Busy Bee Kids Crafts

Just Something I Made haunted house templates

haunted house printable lantern
Just Something I Made

Pickup Some Creativity paper plate skeleton

paper plate skeleton
Pickup Some Creativity

bone garland
Urban Comfort

Halloween Window Clings

by Home and Garden Editor

Pretty cool stuff here. You’ll use privacy control window film to create your clings. The kids can help too by drawing images, then you cut them out and attach to the window! Looks great with the light shining through. Thanks to Kim of D.I.Y. Louisville for sending me this link — Halloween Window Clings Tutorial.

Halloween Pillow Covers

Claire Joyce-Johnson shares a tutorial on Craftzine.com for creating appliqued Halloween pillow covers. Use these removable shams to spice up your decor for the holiday, then tuck them away for next year. Brilliant! Now I want a set of shams for each season and holiday! Go to the blog post for the tute and the link to the PDF patterns.

http://www.multiplesandmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Halloween-painted-rock-collection.jpg

Friday, October 28, 2011

Halloween Free Printables!

Here are some FREE Halloween printables that we found over the internet....we are sorry we are just now posting them but they can always be used next year :) You can also check out all of our blog posts from last year for more freebies and inspiration by clicking on HERE

FREE Halloween Party Kits available to download, print and party with ease!

Krysten at Clickable Party “spooky faces” Halloween printables collection that is both cute and scary!
The collection includes everything you’d need for your Halloween party: invitations, a “Happy Halloween” banner, an 8×10 “welcome” sign, party circles, cupcake wrappers, water bottle labels, favor boxes, tented cards, mini cards, favor bag tags, and bookmarks.

click here to DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILE FOR PRINTING HERE

How “wicked” would this new FREE collection of Halloween party printables from Zoila at Squared Party Printables look at your upcoming Halloween party! I love all the modern accents mixed with traditional Halloween fair!

The collection includes: invitations, party circles, favor tags, treat boxes, and a “trick or treat” banner. So cute!

Click Here to DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILE FOR PRINTING

Kelli Britt from the Paper Dolls Shoppe is generously making her entire Halloween printables collection free! She’s giving away an invitation, party circles, labels, sign, and banner — the whole kit and kaboodle!
Here is a peak…(not all shown) Click here to Download the FREE high quality files for printing.

There are cupcake toppers/party labels, water bottle labels, cupcake wrappers, and a large cobweb “welcome” sign! Now there’s no excuse not to throw a Halloween party.

Boo Party Collection:
The collection includes: invitations, party circles, drink flags, tented cards, a “Happy Halloween” banner, party labels, napkin rings, water bottle labels, party labels, and favor tags.

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING

free-halloween-party-printables-invitations

Gothic Collection:

The collection includes invitations, party circles, drink flags, tented cards, party cones, cupcake wrappers, a “Happy Halloween” banner, and a word scramble game for the kids.

click here to DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING

free-gothic-halloween-party-printables-banner

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING:

Here are some photos of the collection in action…

free-halloween-party-printables-party-circles

Catherine at Serendipity Soiree.
The collection includes: an invitation, two types of labels, and party circles.
DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING