Category: pammcmurtry.com

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More Fun and Games

You can make an easy activity for your Halloween party or carnival by giving guests “specimens” to identify in the Mystery Candy Guessing Game


Visit your garage, thrift shop or a friend or neighbor to gather items you’ll need for Pumpkin Golf 


Halloween Hoops, Ghost and other fun and games use sports equipment you already own and can be found in 



And remember to tune in on Halloween for spooky and true stories about the history of Halloween on BYU Sirius Radio 143 on October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern. Things DID go bump in the night…
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Happy Sukkot!

The families of Israel gathered in autumn to give thanks for the harvest or ingathering and the blessings they enjoyed during their forty years in the wilderness. For this joyous festival called “The Feast of the Tabernacles” or “Sukkot”, they built temporary Sukkah, or booths and dined and lived outdoors to commemorate this great chapter in their history.

Stories about the Shepherds of Israel, feasts, games and family love are part of the celebration as well as special prayers. Here is one website that shares information about Sukkot:
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm


Happy Sukkot!
Learn more about Sukkot and harvest holidays in
A Harvest and Halloween Handbook

http://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Halloween-Handbook-Artisan-ebook/dp/B009PA8ON6/?keywords=pam+mcmurtry&qid=1374845872&ref=sr_1_1&ie=UTF8&sr=8-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-harvest-and-halloween-handbook-pam-mcmurtry/1116031757?ean=2940148379744

To learn more about Sukkot, Halloween and other harvest holidays, please join host Kim Power Stilson and me for a chat on BYU Sirius Radio Talkworthy Show at 3 p.m. Eastern on October 31st.

 Get a free Halloween carnival coloring book to download and print: click the JOIN THIS SITE button below and follow the prompts. Facebook me your email address and I’ll send the 32 page Halloween carnival coloring book to you for your little pumpkins!
https://www.facebook.com/PamelaLaytonMcMurtry

Happy Halloween!

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Fill Fall With Acts of Kindness

Good deeds don’t appear by magic, we have the privilege of creating them. While planning fall festivities, please consider treating relatives, friends or strangers to random acts of kindness. 
(Why wait ’til Christmas?)
Did you know when you do a good deed, your brain releases a neurotransmitter that gives you a feeling of satisfaction? 
It seems we are hard-wired to do good.

Here are a few ideas:

Read a story with children. You might  enjoy dipping apple slices in melted caramel.
 

Bake cookies for Grandma and Grandpa.

Send treats to a missionary, soldier or others far from home.

More ideas for autumn fun may be found in:

Please join Kim Power Stilson and me for a Halloween chat on BYU Sirius Radio 143 at 3 p.m. Eastern on October 31. We’ll discuss the secret history of Halloween and fun topics to make you smile!

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38 Days until Halloween Don Quixote!

Don Quixote was a little black cat who loved to charge at things. There were no windmills in Carlsbad, California at that time, so he made do with strings and Slinkys and whatever we children would dangle, daring him to come flying at us.

He had a great sense of humor.

In A Harvest and Halloween Handbook, there is a children’s party dedicated to the legacy of Don Quixote, Ink and black cats everywhere. I love the iconic black cats of Halloween, and all cats for that matter. And although there is a culturally-assigned association of black cats with witches, I believe black cats can be angels wrapped in fur. I sometimes wonder if so-called witches were women suffering with mental illness. Living in broken-down (haunted?) houses, out of mainstream society, they were kept company by pet cats; who, by the way, kept the rodent count down.

So happy Halloween to Don Quixote and all the fur people whose loyal companionship and entertaining ways make life enjoyable for people of all types. Gracias. 


For complete plans for your own black cat Halloween party, see





Treat yourself to an entertaining discussion about the history of Halloween by joining me for a talk with host Kim Power Stilson on Sirius BYU Radio 143 on October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern.

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32 Free Coloring Pages to Download

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sign up as a follower on this website and I will send you 
32 FREE coloring pages to download and print. 

1. Click the “Join This Site” button at the end of the 
blog and follow the directions. 

2. Send me your email address via a message on my Facebook page and I will send you your free coloring pages.
https://www.facebook.com/PamelaLaytonMcMurtry 

3. Please tell your friends!

4. I thank you with all my heart.

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DIY Easy and Inexpensive Costume Accessories

Stretched across the top is a bracelet made of buttons and bows strung on a mini wired garland or pipe cleaner. To wear it, just wrap it around the wrist and twist the ends.
  
Here are directions for creating a simple shield if your hero needs a shield, (and who doesn’t need a shield these days?) 
 For more costume ideas, including a great cape, visit the 
Magic Closet of Wonders 
in A Harvest and Halloween Handbook:
  




Please join host Kim Power Stilson and me for a chat about the hidden secrets of Halloween on October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern on BYU Sirius Radio 143.

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Fun and Games

Here’s a classic Halloween party/carnival game that’s easy to create and fun to play. Gather containers; you can use ones similar to these or get a few plastic tick-or-treat pumpkins. Have the children toss pennies or cotton balls into the containers to win prizes.
See A Harvest and Halloween Handbook for more fun and games!




Save the date; October 31st at 1 p.m. Mountain I will be chatting with host Kim Power Stilson about Halloween on BYU SIRIUS Radio 143. I hope you can join us!
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Five Little Pumpkins

 
This is a little finger play that every parent and grandparent of a preschooler or kindergartner needs in their 
Halloween literary collection:
FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one says, “Oh my it’s getting late!”
The second one says, 
“There are screeches in the air!”
The third one says, “We don’t care.”
The fourth one says, 
“Let’s run and run and run!”
The fifth one says, “I’m ready for some fun!”

OOOOhhhh went the wind and 
out went the lights,
five little pumpkins rolled out of sight…
For more sweet and adorable autumn fun, see: 

A Harvest and Halloween Handbook




Please join me for a discussion about the harvest and Halloween on BYU Sirius Radio 143 with Kim Power Stilson on October 31st and 1 p.m. Mountain.
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All the World’s a Stage; Act II – Little Women

Dressing up a precious daughter for Halloween is a treat, and these days a challenge. You want to help her emphasize her inner princess and express her individuality while at the same time protecting her chaste nature. It may take some creativity and a few layers of costume, but you’re a supermom and up to the challenge.
You go Girls! 

Here’s a fun craft. String buttons, ribbons  and beads on beading elastic or pipe cleaners for festive bracelets.

You’ll find creative costume ideas and 
the complete craft directions in:

I’ll be discussing the dark history of Halloween and how to create unique alternative celebrations from A Harvest and Halloween Handbook with host Kim Power Stilson on SiriusXM BYU Radio 143 on Halloween at 3 p.m. Eastern. Please join us.

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All the World’s a Stage: Act I – Little Men


For little men who like to explore, enjoy a touch of the dramatic, (and eat candy), Halloween is an adventure waiting to happen. They can be bolder, larger and more powerful as they act out their current fantasy. Perhaps it is preparation for life.
Speaking of boys, An article I contributed to was published today on Parents.com, not exactly my terminology, but the concept is spot on:  http://www.parents.com/parenting/dads/101/ultimate-dad-to-be-checklist/?page=2
Back to Halloween, additional ideas may be found in:
Please tune in to BYU SiriusXM Radio143 for my Halloween interview with Kim Power Stilson on October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern for a discussion about the strange history of Halloween.