Boo to You: Year #5

Even though I am slow to get stuff posted here, I am still doing those things that have some of you fooled into believing I am a really, really awesome mom. (Okay, for clarification, I am an awesome mom, just maybe not as awesome as you think. This is really not all that complicated, I promise.) So, here goes: Year 5 of the neighborhood "Boo Bags." (Wait, have I really been blogging for that long? Very nearly! Time flies, as they say.)

{Assorted Goodies for One "Boo Bag"}

This year, I didn't worry at all if the "Boo Bags" (containers) held the same contents or even if the "Boo Bags" themselves looked identical. (See, I'm learning to let go of some of the small stuff!) One was a cute Frankenstein takeout container that I found on clearance and set aside last year, and the other was the first thing I could find on hand at home -- a Scooby Doo Happy Meal bucket from some point when the grandparents babysat last October, apparently.) And it's okay. I finally realized that nobody in the neighborhood is comparing notes, here. So don't stress over that!

Also, don't feel like you need to spend a lot of money. These were for sure under $5 each since I put stuff away after last Halloween, but even if you're going out and getting things right now after reading this, it can be super affordable. This year, I had two Halloween dog bandannas to give away, so naturally we selected houses that I knew had little doggies. That was my only criteria, really.

{One Finished "Boo Bag"}

{Another Finished "Boo Bag"}

Besides the doggie bandannas and assorted goodies (like notepads, orange or black votive candles, non-scary Halloween gel clings -- no food this year), I also enclosed the following:

• We've Been Boo'd Sign (printed on orange construction paper -- although after the fact, I realized that white would have made more sense for the ghost design) -- 3 of these (one for the recipient of our "Boo Bag" and two more for them to pass along.
• Poem/Directions -- again, 3 sets, including 2 to pass along.

Then, Logan and I passed these out while his big sissy was at school. (Thankfully, she didn't take major issue with this.) He was very enthusiastic with his help! This was about two weeks ago, and Mia insists that she has seen one of the neighborhood dogs sporting one of the "Boo Bag" bandannas. I honestly am not sure if this is true since I didn't see it myself, but how fun if that's the case. Have a safe and happy Halloween, everyone!

P.S. If you're interested, here is what we did for our "Boo Bags" in years past:
2013
2012
2011
2010

Boo to You: Year #4

I love Halloween! It is my second-favorite holiday, right after Christmas, and I think it can be so much fun! Okay, I don't love all of the blood and gore that I seem to be seeing more and more of, but that's not the point. Halloween can and should be fun for kids of all ages, which is why our family once again initiated "boo bags" in the neighborhood. This is a simple and inexpensive way to spread a little holiday cheer.

We first started this in 2010, and I don't think it spread beyond the first two houses where we delivered our "boo bags."

Then, we tried again in 2011, and the results were pretty much the same.

Last year, Brett was a little surprised to see me at it again. However, come Halloween, I was pretty darn excited when we actually received our own "boo bag!" This meant that it was possibly catching on, or at least that someone figured out who started it and passed it back to us. Anyway, it was all new stuff -- not what we had included in our "boo bags" -- so this gave me hope that people were ready to join in on the fun!

This year's bags were the simplest (and probably cheapest) yet. Knowing that I would continue this tradition, I found items on clearance after last Halloween and put them aside for this year. The bags themselves were small canvas trick-or-treat totes that I found at Meijer for 14 cents apiece. The insides of the "boo bags" included items I had saved for this occasion and other little things I had on hand such as:

• a small package of animal crackers (left over from soccer snacks)
• some Pixie Stix (left over from the rainbow pinata)
• a few suckers (I am guessing that these were left over from some other birthday party that the kids attended at some point...)
• jack-o'-lantern pencil erasers (I had gotten these a couple years back on clearance at Target.)
• Halloween pencils (Also from that same shopping trip to Target, if I remember correctly.)
• plastic vampire teeth (These came in a 24-pack that I got on clearance at Kroger. I put 3 sets per bag into 2 baggies, and then I placed each baggie into each "boo bag.")
• a set of black and orange paper bag luminaries (These were also on clearance at Meijer - 30 cents for each package of 8.)
• window gel clings that spell out "Boo to You!" (Perfect, right? These I got either at Walmart or Kroger last year, for 50 cents each, and I bought all they had at both stores. I also got some other Halloween gel cling window sets that were not creepy or gory, which is why I can't remember exactly which store they came from. The moral is: just buy things after Halloween and make sure to get them when you see them because they will be gone by the next time you get to that store.)
• 3 copies of the "You have been BOO'ed" poem, explaining the activity -- one for each recipient of our "boo bags" and two more for them to pass along to neighbors.
• 3 copies of the "We've been BOO'ed" sign -- one for each recipient to put in a window, door, or even on the garage door -- and two more to pass along to neighbors.

That's it. I didn't add cute ribbon or do any rubber stamping or anything else to make it more decorative. (The idea is to make it fun, not to spend lots of time making it look perfect.) I didn't make excessive copies of the papers in hopes that this would help it spread throughout the neighborhood, as I had tried in the past. (This didn't work anyway, so save yourself some paper and printer ink!)

I just kept it really, really simple -- and cheap! It cost me a little over a dollar, and certainly no more than $2 per bag. (14 cents for the bag, 50 cents for the gel clings, 30 cents for the luminaries, and add few more cents for things that I have forgotten the cost of. When you break it down per unit, this was very affordable.)

Once we had our "boo bags" assembled, Logan got into our red wagon, I slipped the leash on the dog, and we went for a walk around the neighborhood. (It is always nice when we get perfect weather for these special deliveries!) Once we had selected our candidates (people who were not home, and who had not gotten "boo bags" in the past), we quickly slipped them into their mailboxes, and kept on moving. 

He had a lot of fun delivering our secret packages. In fact, it was hard for him to contain his excitement as we were headed down to the bus stop at the end of the day and he noticed one neighbor retrieving the "boo bag" from her mailbox. "Look! Mrs. T. got our bag!" I reminded him, "Shhh. Remember, it's a secret," and he replied, "Oh, yeah... right!" Not that I was upset, mind you. It's nice to know that someone else is having fun with our "boo bags", and I am just enough of a cock-eyed optimist to believe that eventually more neighbors will participate in the fun...

A Boo-tiful Mind

For the past two years, we have "Boo'd" our neighbors and even though it didn't really spread like I had hoped, I have to keep trying. My husband came home from work yesterday, saw my stuff spread on the counter and said, "Oh, you're doing that again this year?" He laughed when I responded, "Yes, I have this delusion that people will participate if I do it enough!" Really, it has to catch on at some point, right? And if not, then in about 10 more years, I will have given small gifts to everyone in the neighborhood (which is nice, don't you think?)

This year I kept it very simple: brown lunch bags, items from the pantry (fruit snacks, candy left over from the pinata), and a couple items from Dollar Tree (cute candy corn socks, a yellow maple leaf votive holder, and an orange pumpkin scented tea light -- nothing creepy or possibly offensive as far as I could tell; Halloween should be fun for everyone in my opinion.) I put the items in the bag along with the BOO sign, and two more copies of the poem and BOO sign for them to pass along, and just stapled it shut. Then, I affixed the poem to the front of the bag, added a fun stamp and a little medallion that I made on orange card stock using another couple stamps from the same set plus a little bit of jack-o-lantern ribbon. The link for the poem and sign I used last year and the year before didn't seem to work so I searched and found this very cute version, which is in black and white, perfect for saving ink and making it easier for people to share in the fun. Once they were packaged up, I dropped them off in two mailboxes on my way to the dentist. Maybe I am nuts, but I think this is a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to celebrate Halloween and get people in the neighborhood to interact with each other (albeit secretively, but still...), and I am just going to keep doing it in the hopes that other people will join in.

See my previous attempts at spreading joy in our kind of boring, everybody-mind-your-own-business neighborhood:
Year #1 
Year # 2

Boo to You: Year #2

Last year, I decided to try something new in our neighborhood. We delivered Boo boxes to a couple of neighbors. It was fun, but it didn't spread as far as I hoped. So this year, I am starting with a couple of changes. Instead of giving the first neighbors their treats along with the Boo sign (printed on orange construction paper) and note (printed on regular computer paper), I made enough copies to spread throughout the entire neighborhood and put them in two plastic scrapbook page sleeves. One sleeve goes along with the first Boo box recipient and the other goes to the second recipient. My hope is that by making all the copies in advance, people will have less of an excuse to not keep it going. I also re-typed the directions so that two fit per page, and added that a garage door would also be a good location to display the Boo sign. At the bottom of the notes for my first two recipients, I added a hand-written explanation that for all of the copies, and added that they are the first ones so it's up to them to keep the fun going! My fingers are crossed that this will work (assuming that I choose the first neighbors wisely).

Overall, this year's Boo boxes are cuter than last year's. I again found take-out style containers. They are black paper with cobwebs and bats on them, and I think they came from Michael's or Jo-Ann, but I don't remember which exactly. It was after Halloween last year. I also bought two pumpkin shaped kitchen scrub sponges and two sets of cute wooden candy corn paper clips from Michael's on clearance after Halloween last year. I included some jack-o'-lantern erasers that I got on clearance at Target last year and a small package of peanut butter filled cheese sandwich crackers. Ours are from Sam's Club, but you can get them at any grocery store. There is no candy in this year's Boo boxes because I didn't have any in the house. I cut out the directions using crimping scissors, rolled them up, and tied them with a ribbon. Then I closed up the containers and tied lots of different ribbons onto the handle. They are all "Halloween colors" -- orange, black, green, purple. I am really happy with the results.

Neighborhood Cookie Swap

I'm pretty happy with how my invitations turned out.

Just over a month ago, I tried to start something fun in my neighborhood. We left goodies for two neighbors and the note saying "You Have Been Boo'd." I had hoped that the fun would spread to at least a few more houses in the neighborhood, but as far as I can tell, that is where it stopped. I was slightly disappointed. However, I realize that most people work during the day, so they probably couldn't secretly deliver goodies to people. That's why I came up with a new plan for interacting with the neighbors this holiday season: a neighborhood cookie exchange. Everyone in our subdivision is invited to meet at my house one evening in early December. They are asked to bring two dozen cookies, divided into groups of six for exchanging with other people from the neighborhood. I suggested that people could include their recipe, but only if they wanted to. I am really trying to make this something that is easy for people to do.

I hand-made the invitations, 27 in all, to look like aprons with the party details printed on a small card that can be slipped in and out of the apron's "pocket." I thought they turned out cute, but I am probably nuts for spending the time to make them myself. I did this because a) I thought that little extra personal touch might entice people to participate and b) I like making things myself. Then the kids and I all bundled up in our coats, hats, and mittens (yeah, it's suddenly cold enough for all that!) and went for a walk through our subdivision two days ago, stopping at each mailbox to drop off an invitation. So far, I have heard back from only one person. The good news is that she said she was coming to the cookie exchange! The bad news is that she asked which house was mine. I recognized her name when she called, though, because she is my next door neighbor! We have lived next to each other for over four years, and she doesn't even know my name. Do you see why I want need to get to know people in our neighborhood better?

In case you are curious, I came up with my idea for the cards after seeing this kit. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend, so I created something similar with materials I had on hand.

Boo to You!

I'm trying to start something fun in the neighborhood. The kids and I are "Booing" the neighbors. I filled cute little take-out style containers with goodies and then we delivered them. The containers are green and say "Trick or Treat" all over them, and I found them at the Dollar Store awhile back. In each box, I included some tea lights, candy, a small hand lotions from Bath and Body Works, and a little apple shaped photo frame magnet. It was quick and inexpensive to do since I already had all of this stuff on hand. Next, I printed off signs and poems that I found online and included them in the goodie boxes. I figured there was no point in reinventing the wheel. Here's the link:

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/halloweengames/a/youvebeenbooed.htm

I printed the BOO signs on orange construction paper and the poem on plain computer paper.
Attached to the handle of each take-out goodie box are the following instructions (printed on orange construction paper): 

You have been “Boo’d”!  Please keep it going by following these directions: 

1.    Enjoy your treat! 

2.    Place the BOO sign on your front door or so it’s visible in a window. 

3.    Within 2 days, make 2 treats, 2 copies of this note, and 2 BOO signs. 

4.    Secretly deliver to 2 neighbors without a BOO. 

5.    Keep an eye on nearby front doors to see how far and fast it spreads by Halloween!

I cut these out with crimping shears, affixed an eyelet and a little candy embellishment to each, and then tied them to the handles using raffia (which I had saved from some packaging). Lastly, I clipped on a short length of "Trick or Treat" ribbon with a small black clip. Now, we wait and see who plays along.

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