The Big Winter Holiday is headed in our direction, and whilst the adults are busy with holiday prep, kids are mostly left to work themselves into a lather of anticipation. Here are a couple of fun projects to do with little ones, because there are only so many sugar cookies you can decorate before declaring your kitchen a Superfund site.

Magical Reindeer Food

1/2 C instant oatmeal or birdseed
2 Tbsp sanding sugar or edible glitter (make sure the glitter is edible, for the sake of non-magical creatures that might eat it)

Mix together, place in an empty plastic spice bottle (the kind with the flip-up lid), and label. Sprinkle liberally outside on Christmas Eve.

During the off-season, the same mixture can be used to attract unicorns.

Summoning Snow Fairies

Present the child with a pretty bag containing the items needed for attracting Santa’s Elves, Hannukah Hobs, Solstice Fairies, or whatever magical creature you happen to feel needs a little encouragement.

You will need snow fairy food (blue and white jelly beans), plus whatever “ritual” items you want to include: A little silver plate to hold the food, special gloves to wear whilst preparing the meal, a bell to ring to alert the fairy that it’s dinnertime, pretty note cards to write a greeting to the fairy, and so forth.

Be sure to include instructions for properly performing the “ritual,” along with any background information about the creature in question, for instance, “Solstice Fairies tend to have snow-white hair and blue eyes.” “Elves don’t like to hear whining, complaining, or teasing, but get very excited when they hear ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.'” (A side benefit of having one or two of Santa’s Elves hanging around is the tendency for children to be on their best behavior, lest the elves rat them out to Santa.)

It’s fun to get creative with the labels and packaging, and kids really get caught up in the magic.

Either one of these items would make unique party favors, too. The fairy-summoning bag could even be used as a wedding favor, particularly if you included additional elements like flower seeds (for attracting summer fairies) or votive candles.

Etsy seller piddies specializes in hand-made slippers shaped like various animals, and for Halloween she introduced Vampire Bats and Spiders. Even the soles are decorated–a crescent moon for the bats and spiderwebs for the spiders.

These are just adorable. If I could induce Shadowboy to keep something on his feet for more than thirty seconds, he would totally be wearing vampire bats.

(The seller also offers adult sizes, just in case you’re tired of wearing bunny slippers.)

(via Out of Character)

The Ariadne Knits shop is selling a pattern for Vincent, a little knit vampire with removable shirt, pants and cape (he has underpants for modesty).* He also appears to be wearing sneakers, which one might not expect.

Since his clothes are removable, this would be a great dress-up doll: Make him two or three outfits in different colors and change them as the mood strikes. A sequined cape would be particularly entertaining.

Link

*Do vampires wear boxers or briefs? Now we know!

Now that Halloween is at hand, Funkins and other fake pumpkins should be on clearance at your local craft store. Go get one and turn it into a diorama like this one, from Craftster user Miz.Persnicket. She’s got a whole little graveyard inside, complete with lurking rats and tap-dancing skeletons.

She doesn’t give any directions, but from her supplies list it appears that she cut a hole in the pumpkin using a dremel tool (you could also use a little jigsaw), then painted the inside and the cut edge. The gravestones appear to be the little foam jobs you see as table decorations (they’re also available at Oriental Trading), and the grass is reindeer moss.

There’s all kinds of stuff you could do with a pumpkin as a frame: A Macbeth-type blasted heath with bubbling cauldron, a mad scientist’s laboratory, a cave full of bats, a dubious-looking gingerbread house…you get the idea.

It’d be fun to do a whole series of these, each with a different scene inside, and make a big tabletop display.

Link

Check out this adorable little knitted bat by Barbara Prime.* The pattern is available at Lulu for $3.75, and includes a bonus jack-o’-lantern pattern.

It’s a small project and can be knitted up in a couple of days. This would be a perfect Halloween gift for a child. Or keep it for yourself to snuggle with at night. (I know I would.)

Link (via CRAFT)

*No relation to Optimus. Probably.

Jessica Mills, touring punk musician and columnist for MAXIMUMROCKNROLL, has written a book based on her experiences as a punk parent.

Amid stories of bringing kids (and grandparents) to women’s rights demonstrations, taking baby on tour with her band, and organizing cooperative childcare, Jessica gives detailed nuts-and-bolts information about weaning, cloth vs. disposable diapers, the psychological effects of co-sleeping, and even how to get free infant gear. This book provides a clever, hip, and entertaining mix of advice, anecdotes, political analysis, and factual sidebars that will help parents as they navigate the first years of their child’s life.

Some of her advice wouldn’t work for everyone–her goals included raising her child without “gender-coding,” punishment, or authoritarianism, and at least two of those goals made me roll my eyes–but her experiences as an alternative-lifestyle parent might be comforting to punk or goth parents who meet with disapproval of our lifestyle choices.

(The trick is to embrace the opprobrium. I used to love dressing Shadowboy in a onesie that said “Spawn of Freaks” and taking him to the grocery store. Little old ladies would come up to coo at him, read his shirt, give me a horrified look, and take off like a shot. Good times.)

Link (via BoingBoing)

Just in time for back-to-school shopping, the Skelanimals line of toys is offering backpacks.

At 12″ high they’re closer to oversize purses than functional backpacks, but you have to admit they’re mighty appealing. The packs are available as skeletal rabbits, cats, or bats.

I wish they’d had these when I was in grade school. I wouldn’t have had to work as hard to make my teachers vaguely nervous.

Link

(hat tip to Herding Kittens)

Self-proclaimed “plush-a-holic” Leeanna Butcher was recently asked to interpret Ghee Happy’s Kali art into a plush doll. The results are just adorable. I love the little skulls and all the severed limbs on her belt.

This would be an appealing project to emulate because although there’s a lot of work involved, it can be broken down into simpler sub-tasks. Even better, it doesn’t require special equipment or a skillset beyond the level of a competent home seamstress. Maybe if we ask nicely she’ll offer a pattern on Etsy.

Who wouldn’t want to cuddle a goddess of death? I’m tempted to make up a bunch of the little skulls and stack them in a basket on my desk.

Link (via BoingBoing)

I ran across this poem by Louisa May Alcott the other day, and it occurred to me that the first stanza would be perfect for a gothy baby announcement.

Oft, in the silence of the night,
   When the lonely moon rides high,
When wintry winds are whistling,
   And we hear the owl’s shrill cry,
In the quiet, dusky chamber,
   By the flickering firelight,
Rising up between two sleepers,
   Comes a spirit all in white

I like this verse because it sounds a bit spooky but is tame enough not to upset your more mainstream relatives. You could put it inside some pretty stationery from someplace like Lilac Twist or Purple Fairy to create unique personalized announcements.

There’s an article on the HGTV site about making handmade announcements if you need some inspiration, although the procedure itself is obviously pretty straightforward.

If your tastes run toward the morbid, there’s no reason why you have to resign yourself to icky-sweet lambs and duckies on your birth announcements. Just take care with the card design and you can include darker elements without offending Aunt Bessie from Shreveport.

Someone on the Halloween-L Listserv recently wrote that his ten-year-old daughter wanted to start watching “scary movies” and asked the list for age-appropriate recommendations. I thought some of the suggestions were worth a mention.

I’ve divided these into three rough groups, based on how likely you are to have company in your bed after a screening. Nothing in the first group should be too scary for a ten-year-old, and several of them are probably appropriate for younger kids. The second group has some spookier stuff, and the third group is spookier yet; if you haven’t seen them, you may want to pre-screen them for their Nightmare Quotient.

I erred on the side of caution in grouping these, and obviously your mileage will vary depending upon your particular child. One lady on the listserv said her five-year-old’s favorite movie is The Ring. I think I’d be afraid to take my eyes off that kid.

If you have other suggestions, please share them in the comments.

• The Watcher in the Woods


• Corpse Bride


• The Monster Squad


• The Witches


• The Worst Witch


• The Nightmare Before Christmas


• Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein


• Halloweentown


• When Good Ghouls Go Bad


• Hocus Pocus


• Plus all the old black and white classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man

• Gremlins


• Something Wicked This Way Comes


• The Lady in White


• The Frighteners


• House and House II


• Invasion of the Body Snatchers


• The Thing (not the John Carpenter version)


• Vincent Price movies such as House of Wax, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, House on Haunted Hill, and about a zillion others.

• The Body Snatcher


• The Haunting


• Wait Until Dark


• Sleepy Hollow


• The Brothers Grimm


• The Legend of Hell House