Halloween Costumes For Infants & Toddlers {Saturday Stumbles}

Happy October! While looking for costumes for the boys online I ran across tons of really cute ones that I wanted to share. This is a two part Saturday Stumbles post. The second half (being posted this afternoon) has costumes for preschool girls and boys. Click on a picture to be taken to the website the costume was found on.

Peacock Costume

***

Sock Monkey Costume

***

Owl Costume

***

Golf Costume

***

Octopus Costume

***

Spaghetti & Meatballs Costume

***

Strawberry Shortcake Costume

***

What is your baby or toddler going to be for Halloween this year?

Spooktacular Cake Pops

I love to bake but I don’t do it very often. I kept hearing people talk about making cake pops but they always seemed too time consuming and difficult to make. Looking through the September 2011 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal I came upon an article entitled, “Bake Sale Treats”, and it shared a recipe for cake pops that made it seem easier than I had thought it would be. I decided to make them with the help of Sinisa and two little taste testers, Jacob and Lucas.

I headed to Michaels to get the supplies I needed to make cake pops. To see more about my shopping trip to Michaels and all the Fall items I bought click here.

Ingredients to make cake pops:

-Boxed Cake Mix

-Container of Frosting

-Candy Melts

-Sprinkles

Optional: cute basket, styrofoam pieces, and crinkled paper to display the cake pops.

Directions to make the cake pops:

Follow the directions on the cake box mix and make the cake like you normally would (without the frosting)

***

Let the cake cool completely. Once it is cool, crumble it in your hands or using a food processor.

***

Add a container of frosting and mix well until you have a dough like consistency.

***

Roll mixture into 1-inch ball and freeze for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes take them out of the freezer. Dip the lollipop sticks in melted candy melts and stick in the middle of the balls. Stick them back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.

***

After 20 minutes take them out of the freezer and dip them into a bowl of melted candy melts.

***

Dip the cake pops in sprinkles and let the candy coating harden before eating.

I think I did a good job for my first try making these but here are a few tips I learned from the process:

1) Don’t add too much frosting. One container is enough. I promise. I added a little extra from a second container because it didn’t seem like they had enough frosting and discovered that I added too much.

2) Make sure you melt the candy melts properly and make sure the bowl isn’t too shallow. I couldn’t easily dip the cake pop in the bowl and didn’t have the candy melted enough so the outside coating of my cake pops is too thick.

3) Once you dip the cake pops in the candy melts and add the sprinkles try to let the candy melt harden on them while they stand up. If you put it back on your cookie sheet upside down the sprinkles sink into the top and they don’t look right.

********

By the way, Ladies’ Home Journal is hosting a Personal Essay Contest. Here is more information about the contest: “For the first-ever LHJ Personal Essay Contest, we’re looking for first-person narratives of personal growth — a term you can interpret as broadly as you like. Whether you choose to write about a life lesson you learned the hard way or a challenge you managed (or perhaps failed) to meet, no topic is off-limits. And you could win $3,000 and have your essay published in LHJ. Essays will be judged chiefly on their emotional power, their originality, and the quality of their prose.” To learn more you can read about it here.

***

(Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias. All opinions are my own.)

Linked up at: Share Your Sunday Best, Craftomaniac Monday, Made By You Monday, Making The World Cuter Mondays, Homemaker Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Inspire Me Mondays, Too Cute TuesdayTutorial Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Traditions, Tea Party TuesdayMade From Scratch Tuesday, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, Idea Sharing Wed, Show and Tell, What’s Cooking Wed, Show Off Your Stuff, Crafty Soiree, Share Your Awesomeness, Get Your Brag On, Hookin Up With HOH, Let’s Linky, Promote Yourself , Catch a Glimpse, It’s A Keeper Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, I’m Lovin It, Flaunt It Friday, Friday Favorites, Fantabulous Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Fine Finds Friday, Freestyle Friday, Friday Favs Party, Fun For Kids Friday, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Inspiration Board, and Creative Jewish Mom