Crafts gone awry

There are usually two schools of thought on Halloween candy.

1- let them eat as much as they want the night of and then toss the rest

2 - slowly portion it out over the next several days {or weeks, or months!}

Usually I'm in the first boat. I want it all GONE or I'll end up eating half of it. This year though, Emma was actually old enough to protest to all of her left over candy being tossed in the trash.

So, I had to come up with something else. It had to be a way to divide up the candy over time and in a way that they wouldn't be begging me all day for another piece.

I saw this idea on Martha Stewart years ago and decided to give it a try... I couldn't find any pictures of the original project which turned out much cuter. I am trying to give up perfection in crafts so that my kids can help. In this instance I wanted to make a rainbow but they just wanted all purple...

Sort out the candy {if there are siblings make sure there's enough for each kid!}

cut out tissue paper about the size of the mouth of the cup

i decided if it couldn't be cute it should be educational. It was going to be a calendar... you'll see later why that didn't work out {several reasons why}

glue the tissue paper on top

here's my sideways picture of the finished product.

{yes we are in a constant state of remodel... and we need a light switch cover}

It's not exactly what I was hoping for but I let the kids do it themselves and they loved it.

Since I used this frame it couldn't be a calendar b/c it's only 5 across. And then there's the fact that it's low to the ground and the little one helps herself to a cup of candy anytime my back is turned!

Oh well, at least we had a fun afternoon!

Rewards

Awhile back, it became apparent that our older daughter needed a reward chart of some sort... a way to earn toys or privelidges without always having them handed to her. I cringed at the thought of the poster board full of stickers hanging on the wall - my dear husband will tell you, one of my pet peeves is primary colors - and along came my good friend Kerry, with the shell jar. It's so simple really, Emma earns shells {or sea glass, or starfish}, and when she has enough she gets the pre-determined reward... but the best part is that the jar just looks like a part of the decor!

I'm sure this could work a million different ways with different styles of homes!