Tricks to Embrace the Trick-or-Treat Season as a Christian Parent

Just like Santa at Christmas, I know Halloween is a very touchy subject in the Christian Parent community. 

As Christians we are always so quick to turn away from Halloween. We think of it in a negative somewhat scary way, yet little do we realize it’s just another day. To me Halloween has always been a time where little children get to dress up and be something they would love to be for just a day. Its joyous seeing the imagination little ones have, and just how into character they can get. I also view it as a day where we as Christians can take a fun approach to witnessing to others especially children. I am not talking about giving that cute little princess or robot a pamphlet that says in a long lengthy way follow Christ or you’re going to hell. Most children will just throw it away and most likely the older children will egg your house. Halloween doesn’t have to always be scary and hellish it can be fun,Christ centered, and a great way to reach out to your community as well!

Check out some of these awesome tips, tricks and ideas to make the Trick - or - Treat season not so tricky.

CANDY CORN TREAT IDEAS:

Bag up some Candy Corn and tack on this super cute treat bag topper from childrensministry.com! Such a cute and easy way to remind kids that "Jesus is our best treat!"

This is my favorite! So many options with this! Add it to a bag of Candy Corn, have the kids color a coloring page, purchase a bookmark to give out as treats, the possibilities are absolutely endless!!

Here is a coloring page from twistynoodle.com

You can purchase a bookmark Here from orientaltrading.com

(speaking of Oriental Trading Company, they have some absolutely great Halloween treat alternatives. Check more out HERE)

Take this adorable idea from realhousemoms.com and add the 1^st candy corn saying and you’ve got a masterpiece! 

Much like this one which I cannot seem to find where originated from!

I also cannot seem to get over how absolutely thoughtful this poem is from owlthingsfirst.blogspot. A unique twist on the poems above. Such a colorful way to exude Jesus during the trick-or-treat season! Teaching our kids to burst with faith and shine with joy and love, I mean what can get better than that?!

This super cute candy corn folder craft from churchhousecollection.blogspot.com is just so corny and I love it. Not only is this folder such a cute idea to share the love of Jesus but there are so many great fall festival, Sunday School Lesson Plans, and craft ideas on the blog!  

MORE from Church House Collection

Jack-O-Lanterns & Jesus:

Is this not the best analogy ever? I mean it completely makes since. Much like the jack-o-lantern, God picks us to one day enter His home, Heaven. He washes off all the dirt on the outside takes out all the yucky stuff on the inside and removes our sins. He gives us joy, happiness, and hope, much like the smile carved on the Jack-o-lanterns face and He puts His light inside of us for all to see. 

Here are some great lessons I found to go along with this analogy. Im sure there are many more great ones out there as well.

http://www.christiancrafters.com/craft_pumpkin.html

http://www.dltk-bible.com/how_a_christian_is_like_a_pumpki.htm

Here is another great pumpkin comparison/prayer from positivelysplendid.com

Not So Spooky Ideas:

Halloween doesn’t always have to be centered on spooky demons and frightful things. Halloween can be fun and kid/family/Christian friendly.Check out the below links from athomewithnatalie.com & ww.baby.co.uk.

 athomewithnatalie.com

baby.co.uk

Also check out these links for some great views on Christianity and Halloween.

http://wholeheartedhome.com/halloween-about-jesus/

http://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/2014/10/11/christian-parents-guide-halloween-activities-events/#_a5y_p=2619623

http://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/2013/10/27/redeeming-halloween/#_a5y_p=2600885

Most importantly… always remember to HAVE FUN! After all this is America, the candy company has pretty much taken over the entire holiday anyway! There are great ways to celebrate with friends and family without making everything spooky and demonic. There are ways to use Halloween to reach out to others in the community and share the Word of God. I think its time a lot of us parents in the Christian community should "lighten up" ( not being negative towards any one see pumpkin below) when it comes to Halloween.

Just for fun here are a few free printable I have made:

FREE PRINTABLES:

Free Candy Corn Holy Trinity Printable

Free Pumpkins are like Christians Printable

Germs are Scary Printable (fits most hand sanitizer sleeves made for Purell bottle)

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24

UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR 2015 CHECK BACK SOON!

Sorry Y'all! With the craziness of trying to move at the moment the blog is currently on temporary hold. Once things have settled down I will hopefully get back to blogging. Check back soon!

Update

Well I finally finished updating my Pinterest. Being that I am a full time working mom,wife and mother, it took a little longer than expected. I am still trying to find that balance between work, family and crafting. I feel as though I have all of this fun projects I am wanting to tackle, but there is just no time or I guess the better way of putting it is I am to tired and drained when there is time that I keep pushing things I used to love to do off. Well I would say my New Years resolution is to start crafting and blogging more but I said that last year and look how that turned out. Hopefully with the move to our new house this month our lives will get a little less cluttered and a little more organized so I will actually have the drive to craft and blog more...but we shall see.

Here is a picture of my fully organized and updated Pinterest:

Hello, my name is Kat and I am addicted to pinning!

Wow 2 blog posts in a span of 2 days...I am on a roll!!

OK, so I have noticed I have a lot of extra time on my hands, and I do mean A LOT.  So after the day is done, the little one is in bed, and the house is clean I literally find myself twiddling my thumbs until time to go to bed. I am so used to go go going all day long that I have realized it is impossible for me to just sit down and relax. Considering I apparently develop a sever case of A.D.D. when I am alone, I have taken up this wonderful hobby (if you can consider it a hobby) called pinning. Pinning is the act of spending hours on an amazing website called Pinterest ; a place where everything you could ever dream of cooking, crafting, wearing, decorating and planning is all bundled up into one glorious page that you then choose the items that interest you and that you plan on using or doing in the future (which 90 percent of the time does not happen) and you pin them to your own boards that you have created on you page for your future reference. Yep, I LOVE pinning! When the whole Pinterest phase started it was mainly a site where domesticated women spent hours pinning helpful information, tips and tricks, but now Pinterest is so much bigger then that. Men and women from all walks of life are pinning, even businesses are using Pinterest as a way to market and connect . Pinterest has become one of the top social media websites all over the world! Well back at what I was getting at.. I read an article the other day about how the way you organize your Pinterest boards is a big part of how people connect to or not connect to your site. Well after taking a long hard look at my Pinterest (all 3,582 pins) I noticed my boards are a mess! There are too many pins in one board and my whole page is just unorganized and frankly boring. Well I have decided to give my Pinterest a total make over! By no means am I starting from scratch, but my Pinterest is in need of a serious face lift and a new hair do. I realized this task is going to be a large one and with the work week starting tomorrow and such it might take a few days but what the hey, why not right! So wish me luck on my Pinning adventure and to all you fellow pinners out there...HAPPY PINNING! 

What am I?

I am not a blogger, I am terrible at grammar, always have been. I am not great at making stories sound interesting, i do not have a giant vocabulary. I am not rich, I do not live in a fancy house. I am not big at social media, I do not have a ton of friends unless you count my family and mother. My hair and appearance is not always put together. I am not perfect. I am however, human. I AM A DAUGHTER, to an amazing single mother who is my mom and my best friend. I AM A CRAFTER, and even though my husband, daughter, and i live in a 1 bedroom, 900 sq ft apartment and struggle to pay bills I try and make it and everything in it beautiful. I AM A WIFE, we have our fair share of fights and issues, but we always get through together. I AM A CHRISTIAN, i may not be the best christian, i may miss church occasionally, but i love my Lord Jesus Christ and i know he loves me. Last but not least, I AM A MOM. I am new mom, but i strive to be a good one. I am a diaper-changing, laundry-washing, dinner-making, bath-giving, big-time-loving momma bee. I am working every second of everyday and striving to make sure my daughter is happy, healthy and well raised and loved. I may not always have time for a shower and my socks and outfits may not perfectly match, the house isn't always spotless, but i wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I wouldn't trade the early morning Walmart runs, the poopy diapers, the late sleepless nights, the spit-up stained silk blouses or the no me time, because the second I look into that little girls giant sparkly blue-green eyes I know with out a doubt, this is who i am meant to and want to be. I am a busy buzzing momma bee. 

lazy mom confession

Watching TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive, I have come to the conclusion that i might be a slight hoarder, or at least one in the works. Is my home unlivable? No. Is my life completely overwhelmed with stuff? No. Am I somewhat disorganized and do i tend to hold on to things of no value or need? Yes. I have realized in my last 2 hours of vegging out on the couch, watching this eye opening and somewhat disgusting show, that it is time for a major lifestyle change! Staring at the clean, unfolded laundry near the washer and dryer...glancing at the unorganized, overwhelming kitchen pantry and cabinets...being baffled by the explosion of what is supposed to be a closet...I realize this all needs to change before it becomes something worse, much worse. I am not a dirty person by any means, dirt is icky and bugs freak me out! I am however a little lazy at times and a bit, OK a BIG procrastinator. Ever since I was little i would put off things and projects til the last minute, of course i would ace them, but none the less i guess i would get some kind of adrenaline rush of some sort. I felt as though i produced my best work when i would be in a crunch. Well procrastination is all fine and dandy some times, but when it comes to simple tasks such as putting up the laundry, procrastination can turn into something bigger, pretty much in Lehman's terms laziness. Yes, I use the excuse "Zovia was fussy all day! I didn't have time, now it's bed time and i am tired, I'll do it in the morning." I'm sure many people use the excuse as Scarlett  O'Hara says "fiddle dee dee, I'll think about it tomorrow!" Well what about the other wise words by Thomas Jefferson "don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today"? Well I think it's time i started listening to Mr. Jefferson more then Miss Scarlett! Even though I am more like Scarlett in the Southern-Belle-Diva aspect, I think Mr. Jefferson's words were a little more correct in the grand scheme of things, at least when it comes to this. If i don't change my everyday lifestyle now, who knows where it could be in a few years. I want my little daughter to be like i was when i was little; crying if i had a stitch out of place in my clothes, upset when people would come over and mess with my things. Looks like I am going to have to buck up and get organized and set up a plan to keep it that way daily!Well time for me to get off my butt and start organizing!  Thanks Hoarding: Buried Alive for kicking my tired lazy mom butt into gear!  http://www.facebook.com/hoarding

SPLISH SPLASH!

Well i have learned recently mommy's intuition is the only thing to go by! People will tell you the dos and don'ts, but you only need to go by your gut. Its nice to get others opinions sometimes but not all of them are right (no matter how much they think they are) anyways my point is, i took my daughter ZOVIA swimming for her first time this weekend (even though many said not to being shes only 4 months) but needless to say she absolutely loved it!!! She was a little apprehensive at first but warmed up to it right away.

 To think i almost let others opinions ruin this amazing day!