Despicable Me Minion Costumes {Tutorial}

Happy Halloween!

My kids have had homemade costumes since they were born. 

This year they wanted to be Minions from Despicable Me.

In one scene of the movie, there is a minion dancing with the little girls and it has a tutu on. The second my daughter saw that, she needed to have a tutu with her costume.

I think these were the easiest costumes I have made to date.

Supplies

Yellow Hooded Sweatshirts

Overalls

Black Shoes

Tutu (optional)

Black Gloves (not pictured above)

Glasses (I got them at our local dollar store)

Black Felt

White Felt (optional)

Black Pipe Cleaners

Black Thread

Needle

Electrical Tape

Fabric Glue (optional)

Adhesive Velcro (optional)

Black Elastic (optional)

Hot Glue (optional)

Hot Glue Gun (optional)

 

Making the Overalls 

1. Cut the "Gru" symbol out of black felt.  (I freehand cut the symbol.) When I placed it on the overalls I thought it wasn't noticeable enough so I added a circle of white felt behind it.

2. Attach "Gru" symbol to the white felt with fabric glue.

3. Attach the symbol to the overalls. I sewed it on with large stitches that just went though the white felt,so I would be able to remove it after Halloween. You could use fabric glue for this as well.

Making the Glasses (optional)

The glasses would not stay on my kids' faces, so I had to make a band for them.

1. Tie black elastic to one the arms of the glasses.

2. Place the glasses on your child and tie the other end of the elastic to the other arm of the glasses.

3. Hot glue the elastic in place, so you won't have to keep tying it on.

4. Optional- Attaching Adhesive Velcro *see next section

Making the Yellow Hooded Sweatshirt

1. Cut pipe cleaners to desired length for hair style.

2. Sew the pipe cleaners to the top of the hood using the black thread. Mine took about 8 stitches for the shorter hair and 15 for the longer hair. You could glue the hair on as well, but I wanted to remove it after Halloween.

3. Place the sweatshirt and glasses on your child. Attach the electrical tape around the hood where the hood meets the glasses.

4. I also attached a small piece of adhesive Velcro at this point; to both the hood and the glasses. This will help keep the hood up. (This was really needed with the longer "haired" hood.)

After all your pieces are made, you are good to go!

And if you sew everything on, after Halloween you child has a new hooded sweatshirt and overalls.

If you have to send your child to school with their costume, you could do something like this to help make sure all the pieces make it back to you.

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Halloween Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Due to Hurricane Sandy I was unable to post yesterday, but we are back online today with no damage!

I have to admit I am sucker for chocolate covered pretzels. There is just something about the salty pretzel and creamy chocolate mixed together that just makes me smile.

 I made these little pretzel treats for my kid's school friends.

Milk Chocolate Pretzels with Sprinkles

1 - 1 pound bag pretzels (I used Snyder's and got about 250 pretzels)

2 - 12oz. bags chocolate melts ( I used Wilton Light Cocoa Melts*)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (optional)
1/2 pound of sprinkles

1. Cover baking sheet with wax paper.
2. Melt one bag of your chocolate melts at a time according to package directions. I melted mine in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals. (You may need to reheat the chocolate throughout the dipping process.)
3. Add 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil per bag of chocolate melts, and stir to combine.
4. Once your chocolate is melted, dip your pretzels into it 1 at a time.
5. Shake off any excess chocolate. I used wooden skewers to hold the pretzels, and tapped them against the bowl, to get the excess chocolate off.
6. Place chocolate covered pretzels on wax paper and sprinkle with sprinkles.
7. Allow to dry completely, and store in an airtight container.


White Chocolate Mummy Pretzels

1 - 1 pound bag pretzels (I used Snyder's and got about 250 pretzels)

2 - 12oz. bags white chocolate melts ( I used Wilton White Candy Melts*)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (optional)
Candy Eyeballs

1. Cover baking sheet with wax paper.
2. Line up your pretzels on the wax paper.
3. Melt half bag of your chocolate melts at a time according to package directions. I melted mine in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals.
4. Add 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil per bag of white chocolate melts, and stir to combine.
5. Once your chocolate is melted, put the chocolate in a squeeze bottle*.
6. Using the squeeze bottle* drizzle the white chocolate over the pretzels on the wax paper.
7. Allow chocolate to dry.
8. Squeeze a little white chocolate where you want to apply the eyes.
9. Add the candy eyeballs.
7. Allow to dry completely, and store in an airtight container.

*Note - You could drizzle the white chocolate and apply the eyeballs at the same time, but I noticed that I messed the chocolate up less if I did it in two separate steps.

I made 2 batched of each and got almost 1,000 chocolate covered pretzels.
I placed 5 of each into little bags with candy corns on them, and made labels for the bags using the candy corn label template from Avery. In hindsight I wish I had used clear bags instead so you could see the pretzels better; but I figured a bunch of 3 and 5-year-olds wouldn't care, and I was not about to label all the bags again.

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Kindergarten Lunches Week 9 - Halloween Style

It is hard to believe that Halloween really isn't until next week, because this week has been full of Halloween treats, parties and a parades.

Thanks to all the Halloween activities this week every lunch my daughter had this week had a Halloween theme to it.

MONDAY

I packed her a bat shaped Nutella sandwich with candy eyes, carrots, Halloween pretzels, candy corn sugar cookie bar, and a Capri Sun.

TUESDAY

She had a candy corn bread Nutella sandwich, carrots, applesauce, a candy corn marshmallow, and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

WEDNESDAY

I packed her buttered noodles with carrot eyes, apple slices,  and a Sistema Twist N' Sip* of water.

I soaked the apples in ginger ale for 10 minutes to prevent browning.

THURSDAY

 She had a Halloween shaped mini pancakes and syrup, grapes, carrots, candy corn sugar cookies, and a Capri Sun.

FRIDAY

 I used Americolor food markers* to make a pumpkin themed Nutella sandwich, carrots, candy corn sugar cookies, and a Capri Sun.

The products used in this post are listed below.

The container with green inserts is the Rubbermaid LunchBlox entree with trays*.
The pink container is from Pottery Barn Kids. 

The little container with a green lid is the Rubbermaid LunchBlox sauce container*.

The clear container with 3 sections is an EasyLunchBox*. 

 The spider cup is a silicone baking cup*.
The pumpkin cup is a silicone baking cup*.
The skull and bat rings are from the Target Halloween section.

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Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Hello, my name is Andrea and I am addicted to candy corn themed items.

I really don't know what my issue is this year but everything I am making turns into a candy corn...LOL

Candy Corn Bread

 Candy Corn Marshmallows

 Candy Corn Sugar Cookie Bars

These cookies are super easy to make. You just have to plan ahead a little bit because you do have to chill the dough.

I needed a lot of cookies for several different Halloween parties; so I doubled the below recipe, and used an 11"x7" pan instead of a 9"x5" bread pan. The doubled recipe gave me almost 350 cookies, that are 1 3/4" long.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Slightly adapted from Sugarbelle

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 egg

3 teaspoons Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion by LorAnn Oils* - (you could use vanilla, DIY Vanilla Extract)

1/4 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups all-purpose flour

Orange food dye - I used AmeriColor Orange*

Yellow sanding sugar

1. Line a 9"x5" loaf pan with plastic wrap or wax paper. 

2. Cream together butter and sugar.

3. Add egg, and flavoring, and whip until light and fluffy.

4. Mix in salt, and baking soda.

5. Mix in flour, until combined.

6. Once the dough in mixed, separate into 3 equal sections. 

7. Dye 1 section of the dough orange. Do not dye the other 2 sections of dough.

8. Flatten 1 section of the white dough into the bottom of prepared pan.

9. Press the orange layer on top of the white layer in the pan. I find that this is best accomplished by flattening smaller section of the dough in your hands and piecing it together in the pan.

10. Press the second section of white dough on top of the orange layer.

11. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.

12. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

13. After chilling remove dough from pan and cut into candy corns.

14. Dip the bottoms of the candy corns into the sanding sugar.

15. Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 7-10 minutes.

16. Cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes. Then move to a wire rack to completely cool.

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Candy Corn Bread

Thanks to Pinterest, I came across the idea of bread with images in it when you slice it.
 I love the jack-o-lantern bread from Cake Student, but that seemed a little difficult for my first attempt. I decided to go with the simplest shape I could think of, a candy corn. Well, mine kind of turned out like a reverse candy corn, but you get the idea.

Candy Corn Bread 

Recipe from Cake Student adapted from Allrecipes.com

I didn't change the ingredients, just the directions because I don't have a bread machine, and I had to shape of the dough differently.

1 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cup bread flour (I used all purpose flour)

2 Tablespoon Dark, unsweetened, cocoa powder (I used Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder)

Food Dye (I used AmeriColor Yellow & Orange*)

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, and then stir in yeast.

2. Mix the salt and vegetable oil into the yeast.

3. Mix in the flour one cup at a time. 

4. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, or use the dough hook of your stand mixer. 

5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn the dough to coat it. Cover with damp cloth, and set in a warm place. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7. Spray a 9"x5" bread pan with cooking spray.

8. Separate dough into 4 balls of increasing size.

9. Leave the smallest ball white. Dye the next size up orange. Dye the second largest ball yellow. Mix the largest ball of dough with cocoa powder, until well combined (I needed to use my stand mixer to accomplish this).

10. Shape your bread. I placed the dough on a floured surface and rolled the white, yellow, and orange into logs 9" in length. Then placed the logs on top of each other in candy corn order. (Yellow-bottom, Orange-middle, White-top)

11. Roll the cocoa dough out, like a pie crust, on a lightly floured surface. 

12. Wrap the candy corn shaped dough in the cocoa dough.

13. Place the dough log in the prepared pan.

14. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

15. Allow bread to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.

The top of my loaf popped open, and for some reason the white dough rose more while baking than the others (I assume it is because I didn't have to work dye into it). So my loaf doesn't look like a true candy corn, but my kids knew it looked like a candy corn without me telling them, and that is good enough for me.

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Painted Halloween Luminaries

I am always looking for fun ways to decorate the outside of our home for Halloween. Last year I came across some Halloween luminaries by Crafts by Amanda. She used some canning jars she had purchased, but my motto is, why buy what I already have. So I have spent a year saving jars and getting jars from people to paint.

Supplies

Jars

Acrylic paints in the colors of your choosing

Paintbrushes of varying sizes

Clear Acrylic Sealer

 The jars I used for the green, white, and purple luminaries are from Great Value salsa.

The orange jars are from Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauce.

1. I wash the jars and removed the labels from them. (I used GooGone to remove the goop left behind and washed the jars again to remove any film left behind from the GooGone.)

2. Once the jars were dry, I painted 1 coat of the acrylic paint on them.

3. After the paint has dried, paint your faces on the jars. You could draw your faces on with a Sharpie and paint them in, but I just free handed my faces with black paint and a paintbrush. 

4. Once your paint is dry, spray the jars with the clear acrylic sealer. This will prevent the paint from chipping easily. I used tomato sticks and placed the jars on them and then sprayed them with the clear acrylic and left them there to dry.

Ta-da you are done!

You can use any candles you want, but I used tea lights.

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Homemade Candy Corn Marshmallows & S'Mores

This past weekend was a great weekend. There were birthday parties, friends, family, and a cookout over the fire pit; it was just an over all fun, relaxing weekend. And what good is time spent around the fire pit if there aren't any s'mores? Right?

These candy corn marshmallows taste just like a regular marshmallow, but make Halloween s'mores a little more fun!

Friday, I decided to make my first attempt at making homemade marshmallows in preparation for the weekend. I figured why try plain white marshmallows when I could make them look like candy corn. Well, attempt number one ended in tears, and marshmallow in the garbage. By the time I was attempting to spread the 3rd layer of marshmallow it had already set up and would not spread at all. After altering Haniela's process a little bit attempt number two was a success!!!

I'm not sure if it was because it was my second attempt, or if it was because I laid out a very strategic plan; but attempt number two was sooooooooo much easier. I know the recipe looks really long but it is not very complicated. Basically you are doing the same thing three times. I just wanted to spell it all out step by step so marshmallow rookies (like myself) might have an easier time with it. Plus, next year when I make these again and look back at the recipe I'll know what I did.

Candy Corn Marshmallows

Recipe adapted from Haniela's

White Layer

3 1/2 envelopes Knox unflavored Gelatin (you get 4 envelopes in a 1oz. Knox gelatin box) 

1 cup cold water, divided (1/2 cup & 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg white, OR 2 level teaspoons powdered egg whites/meringue powder & 2 Tablespoons of warm water (I used Meringue powder)

1 Tablespoon vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)

1. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9"x13" baking pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the parchment paper lightly with cooking spray. The pan I used was a Bakers Secret 9"13" metal pan and all three layers came right to the top.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Swirl and let stand to allow the gelatin to soften.

3. In a 3-quart saucepan heat 1/2 cup cold water, salt, sugar, and corn syrup over medium-low heat. Stir it with a wooden spoon until all the sugar is dissolved. If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water.

4. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil the mixture, until a candy thermometer reached 250 degrees. (Keep an eye on the sugar mixture, because you don't want to have to deal with cleaning up burnt sugar.) If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water. 

5. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture over the the gelatin. (Keep in mind the sugar mixture is extremely hot, so please place a hot pad under your bowl and handle with extreme caution. Your bowl will get hot!!!)

6. Stir until combined.

7. In a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) beat on high speed until the mixture is white, thick, and almost tripled in volume. The mixture begins to look like marshmallow fluff.

8. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites (or meringue powder and water) until you get stiff peaks. 

9. Add the egg whites and vanilla to the sugar mixture and beat until just combined.

10. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and set aside.

Orange Layer

3 1/2 envelopes Knox unflavored Gelatin (you get 4 envelopes in a 1oz. Knox gelatin box) 

1 cup cold water, divided (1/2 cup & 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg white, OR 2 level teaspoons powdered egg whites/meringue powder & 2 Tablespoons of warm water (I used Meringue powder)

1 Tablespoon vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)

Orange Food Dye (I used AmeriColor Orange*)

1. In the bowl of a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Swirl and let stand to allow the gelatin to soften.

2. In a 3-quart saucepan heat 1/2 cup cold water, salt, sugar, and corn syrup over medium-low heat. Stir it with a wooden spoon until all the sugar is dissolved. If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water.

3. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil the mixture, until a candy thermometer reached 250 degrees. (Keep an eye on the sugar mixture, because you don't want to have to deal with cleaning up burnt sugar.) If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water. 

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture over the the gelatin. (Keep in mind the sugar mixture is extremely hot, so please place a hot pad under your bowl and handle with extreme caution. Your bowl will get hot!!!)

5. Stir until combined.

6. In a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) beat on high speed until the mixture is white, thick, and almost tripled in volume. The mixture begins to look like marshmallow fluff.

7. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites (or meringue powder and water) until you get stiff peaks. 

8. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and orange food coloring to the sugar mixture and beat until just combined.

9. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan over the white layer, and set aside.

Yellow Layer

3 1/2 envelopes Knox unflavored Gelatin (you get 4 envelopes in a 1oz. Knox gelatin box) 

1 cup cold water, divided (1/2 cup & 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg white, OR 2 level teaspoons powdered egg whites/meringue powder & 2 Tablespoons of warm water (I used Meringue powder)

1 Tablespoon vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)

Yellow Food Dye (I used AmeriColor Yellow*)

1. In the bowl of a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Swirl and let stand to allow the gelatin to soften.

2. In a 3-quart saucepan heat 1/2 cup cold water, salt, sugar, and corn syrup over medium-low heat. Stir it with a wooden spoon until all the sugar is dissolved. If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water.

3. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil the mixture, until a candy thermometer reached 250 degrees. (Keep an eye on the sugar mixture, because you don't want to have to deal with cleaning up burnt sugar.) If necessary use a pastry brush to brush the sides of the pan with water. 

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture over the the gelatin. (Keep in mind the sugar mixture is extremely hot, so please place a hot pad under your bowl and handle with extreme caution. Your bowl will get hot!!!)

5. Stir until combined.

6. In a standing mixture (You could use a hand mixer, but when working with hot sugar I prefer a standing mixer.) beat on high speed until the mixture is white, thick, and almost tripled in volume. The mixture begins to look like marshmallow fluff.

7. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites (or meringue powder and water) until you get stiff peaks. 

8. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and yellow food coloring to the sugar mixture and beat until just combined.

9. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan over the orange layer.

10. Chill uncovered in refrigerator until firm, at least 3 hours. (I left mine chill overnight.)  

Dusting For Marshmallows

A 1:1 ratio of powdered sugar and corn starch

1. Cover a cutting board with parchment paper, lightly spray with cooking spray.

2. To unmold your marshmallows, run a knife (sprayed with cooking spray) around the edges of the pan.

3. Invert the pan onto the parchment covered cutting board. The marshmallow comes out pretty easily.

4. Peel off the parchment paper that came out of the pan.

5. Cut the marshmallow into desired shape with a cooking spray coated knife, pizza cutter, or cookie cutter. You could do cubes, triangles, or whatever shape your cookie cutter is. If you do triangles some of your corn will be white-orange-yellow and some will be yellow-orange-white.

6. In a medium large bowl mix the powdered sugar and cornstarch.

7. Coat each marshmallow completely. Then place the coated marshmallow in a metal sieve and shake off the excess.

8. The marshmallow can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

The marshmallows were great in the S'mores. The kids were really excited to see the different colors in their s'mores and the taste is absolutely delicious!

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