Halloween Tricks For Your Treats

Isn't Halloween so much fun? I just love it!

I wanted to share with you some simple ideas on how to dress up Halloween candy. These ideas are good if you are planning a party, going to a party, or just want to give someone a nice Halloween gift without breaking the bank.

I like to start with simple items and dress them up. Here are 3 examples of easy ways to get fancy for Halloween.

1 - Candy Corn

A classic Halloween favorite (NOT one of mine...eeek!)

Let's say you have a friend or a client that you know absolutely LOVES candy corn and you thought it would be a nice gesture to send it to them for Halloween. How nice of you! Most candy corn can be found in any grocery store usually like this...

How boring is that?

With some simple changes - a clear cello bag and some coordinating ribbon, your boring grocery store item now looks like this...

Big difference, right?!? Now you have a real gift!

2 - Party Favor

This next idea can work in so many different scenarios. Party favors, place settings at a Halloween dinner party, or even little gifts for your employees. Little gestures go a long way!

You can find inexpensive Halloween containers at any dollar store right now. I found these small plastic cauldrons.

I think they came in a pack of 6 for $1. Great deal!!

You can fill them up with whatever you like. I used Hershey's mini chocolate bars that I wrapped with a personalized wrapper, filled the cauldron and tied a polka dot ribbon on one end.

So cute and it was so simple!

3 - For my next "trick", I'll show you how to dress up this plain black gable box.

I like keeping a bunch of these boxes on hand because they are perfect for so many types of gifts. I try to stay with the solid colors because I can use them for so many different occasions. No sense in getting stuck with a ton of pumpkin themed boxes that you'd have to wait till next Halloween to use again. See, always thinking!

When I was at Costco this weekend I saw that they had their holiday ribbon out. They have amazing deals on ribbon at this time of year. You should definitely check it out. I saw one that was white and had a black velvet design on it. I knew I could use it in an elegant Halloween design as well as for other future events.

I made a double bow with the decorative ribbon and then used an orange satin ribbon to give it a pop of color.

Can you imagine if you were invited to a Halloween party and showed up with a gift wrapped in this elegant design? You know you'll be invited to next year's party for sure!

The funny thing is, as I looked at this ribbon even closer,

I started to see skulls!

Do you see it also?

Am I crazy? Now I can't STOP seeing it!

Here's the recap of the before and after:

Do you give gifts on Halloween? Do you do anything special to celebrate?

Simple Things Make A Big Difference

This week is a crazy week! Yesterday was the first day of school here in NYC. Yesterday was also the LAST day of school for the week. Crazy, right? Yesterday was also my daughter's 7th birthday AND the first night of Rosh Hashana. (the reason why school is closed today and tomorrow)

Normally we celebrate Rosh Hashana by having a big holiday dinner. We're not religious here in my house but do celebrate all the holidays - usually involving food. Since the birthday and holiday fell out on the same day, the birthday won out! You only turn 7 once, right?

So, my sister and her family ended up going to other relatives to celebrate the holiday and tonight we'll be doing our family dinner together. Since my sister was going to be a guest at some one's house, she wanted to bring something. She really likes to bake so she baked up a slew of treats yesterday.

Now that the baking was done, she needed help with the packaging to make it even more special. This is where I come in - the packaging queen! We didn't have much time so I came up with a quick solution.

She went to a local bakery and asked if she could buy some plain bakery boxes from them. Definitely a good tip to remember!!

It needed some sprucing up. I created a label for each of the items she baked and we decided on a yellow and brown color scheme. I added some brown ribbon and the label and this is how it turned out.

She told me today that they were really impressed! Here's another shot of the before and after:

See how just a simple label and some ribbon completely transforms this plain white box? Something you can try at home and it only takes a few minutes.

As I was saying previously, it was also my daughter's birthday which means she gets to choose her birthday dinner. I call her my "vegetable girl". She can eat veggies all day. Amazing, right?!? So she requested eggplant, zucchini and escarole - 3 of her favorites. I rounded it out with pasta, meatballs, sauce and garlic bread. I was in the kitchen all day yesterday!!

Fortunately when it came down to the dessert, I had it pretty easy. I was expecting to make some elaborate cake but all she requested was rice krispie treats. How easy is that?!? Woo Hoo!! She's saving the big time treats for her party this Sunday.

So, I whipped up a batch of the rice krispie treats in just a few minutes but when it was time to serve, I wanted to make it more special. I got out a heart shaped cookie cutter and popped out the hearts. So, it went from ordinary rice krispie treats to something way more memorable!

This would work really well for Valentine's Day also! I'll remind you again as it gets closer.

Pop in some candles and you have an instant birthday treat!

She really enjoyed it!

So, as you can see, even simple enhancements can make a big difference!

I hope I've inspired you to "spruce it up" a bit.

Hugs & Kisses

It's a couple of days before Valentine's Day so I thought I'd give you some tips in case you need a last minute gift for someone. Don't worry - you don't even need to spend a lot of money. It's all in the packaging!!

How about some Hugs & Kisses?? Chocolate ones, that is.

No, I'm not here to give you a Hershey's sales pitch. I'm using these little guys just as reference. You can substitute whatever other candy you like. I just want to give you some insight into what the gift professionals use. (that would be me) Remember in my past life I had a gift basket business? Packaging is still in my blood and I use it for my other things - just not baskets. I can't even look at another basket!

You can try some of these ideas at home.

First off, if you're going to get someone these little chocolate morsels, you can't present them in their original packaging. Unless of course you're going for that "oh crap I forgot it's Valentine's Day and stopped at the local drug store" look. In that case, you're perfectly fine. For the rest of you, it's just not gifty enough. You may not be spending the big bucks but you will need to take an extra couple of minutes to spruce it up a bit.

Idea Number 1 - Bag It!

Get a clear or printed cello bag from a local craft store (usually sold in the baking department) and fill it with the chocolates. Take 2 pieces of ribbon in different colors (you may even have some left over from XMAS) and tie a bow around the neck of the bag. You're done! See, wasn't that easy??

Idea Number 2 - Do Me A Favor

If you're having a party at work, home or school, it's always nice to have a little party favor. Everyone likes to leave with a little something to remind them of the (hopefully) fun time they had at the party.

These little pillow boxes work great and they can be customized in many different ways.

Fold the sides of the box in to form a pillow. Fill it with the chocolates,

tie a small ribbon around and embellish with stickers. That's one fabulous party favor!

Idea Number 3 - Box It Up

The last idea I want to show you is how to dress up an ordinary white box.

Take a colorful piece of tissue paper and line the bottom of the box with enough left over to stick up a bit. You want it to look a little fluffy.

Next fill the boxes with the chocolates, fold the tissue paper down and put the lid on. Now you can decorate it however you'd like. Here I used the same 2 ribbons I used for the first idea.

I also created a little gift tag with a stamp I got at Michael's.

I think the stamp may have cost me a dollar!! I just love a bargain.

I hope I've inspired you to go the extra mile when giving someone a gift. The reaction you get will make it all worth it.

And it will give me the pleasure of saying "told ya so!"