With Halloween coming up shortly, I was looking forward to spending a week-end with my nephew engaging in a ton of spooky activities!
Haunted Gingerbread House
I absolutely LOVE doing a gingerbread house every year at Christmas. This week-end I got impatient waiting for the holidays to get here so we began the day with decorating a haunted house. I bought a Wilton pre-assembled kit that came with some coloured icing and a few candies for decoration, for 55% at Michaels (10$). Then I went to Bulk Barn for some additional candies. Most notably I got candy corn (or course!) and some pumpkins. I have to admit I liked having the frosting ready to go in the kit rather than mixing up some royal icing myself. Yup, I can be pretty lazy sometime. While I tend to be a bit of a control freak, I handed over the reigns to my nephew and let his creativity guide the decorating process. I have to admit I wasn’t sure about his decisions at first lol. In the end I think he did such a great job. He was so diligent in his work, I was impressed with his focus!
Decorating Pause
Since the focus of a child is brief at best, after the haunted house I had him help me put up decorations around the house. I am having a real decoration struggle lol For real though, I want to decorate the outside of the house but I am not sure what to put that isn’t going to get blown away. I personally love the simplicity of just putting out some pumpkins along the stairs in front of the house. However, in the past bratty neighbourhood kids smashed the pumpkins. I also don’t have any trees to hang ghosts. Any suggestions?!?
Halloween Gingerbread Cookies
We had some old frozen gingerbread dough from last year and thought it would be fun to make halloween cookies. My mom had picked up at Bulk Barn for under 2$ three shapes: ghost, black cat, and pumpkin. Eventually my nephew got bored of the shapes and wanted to have a cut out of his hand done. Kids are so funny sometimes, he was so darn proud of that cookie lol
Colorful Mini-Cupcakes
Finally the week-end of fun concluded with decorating some mini-cupcakes he was bringing to a pumpkin carving party. My nephew has been helping us out with baking since he was 1 years old. It’s crazy to see his skill developing over time from just smooshing around cookie dough, to actually piping frosting. Since he is allergic to dairy products the common buttercream frosting is not an option. Most vegan recipes out there just substitute the butter for a non-dairy version like Earth-balance soy butter or coconut based butter. Personally, I can never get on board with them so I keep looking for a great tasting alternative. My current favourite is a crisco based and I swear is a perfect dupe for the Duncan Hines White icing. This is the recipe I use. After my nephew was done icing, my sister decided to get creative and made some more ornately decorated cupcakes.
And yes, we all had matching skeleton PJs that glow in the dark!!!
And that’s it for the week-end! Honestly, it was so much fun to do these things as a family. My nephew is already calling me for when he can come over to decorate the gingerbread cookies. I totally am the best aunt! LOL
Lol yes, you are a much loved aunt!!