9442

Autumn Harvest - 10yr - Scarecrow Slumber Party

September 2004

Melissa in Eureka, CA, USA

Honorable Mention

Autumn Harvest Party

For my daughter's 10th birthday we had a scarecrow/autumn harvest themed slumber party. The party was at my parent's home, which is an old farmhouse situated on 3/4 acre.  My dad has a big garden and a chicken coop, a rabbit hutch, and lots of barn cats.  Exploring the property kept the girls happy and busy for a good portion of the evening. 

INVITATIONS: I bought cream colored blank notecards and envelopes. I used a die cut machine (you can buy die cuts ready-made) and cut out leaf shapes.  We glued these to the front of the card, and then used pumpkin stickers and scarecrow stickers.  Inside we put the party info and also fall leaves sequins/confetti. 

FOOD: For dinner we BBQ’d sausages, and served applesauce and a potato casserole (frozen hash browns, cream of mushroom soup, lots of cheese and sour cream) We made cupcakes that looked like scarecrows.  We frosted them with white frosting, rolled gumdrops and made them into hat shapes, used mini M&M's for eyes, a piece of candy corn for the nose and black gel icing for a stitched-on looking mouth.  Used a few broken Chinese noodles sticking out from under the hat, and at the bottom (where the chin would be) stuck on shredded wheat. The ice cream was maple nut. For breakfast I had instant oatmeal, and pumpkin muffins, milk, apple juice and hot cocoa. 

DECORATIONS: Since October is a nice time of year in Northern California, we were able to put up card tables outside.  I bought orange tablecloths from the Dollar Tree, as well as fall (leaves) paper plates and cups. I had orange napkins.  In the center of each card table was a tin can filled with orange, gold and yellow flowers, plus a small glass bowl filled with potato sticks and a few candy pumpkins. Later, the girls had hot caramel cider.  Take a lollipop stick (available at Michaels or other craft stores) and wrap a 1/2 inch strip of caramel apple wrap on the lollipop stick.  Use as a stirrer in hot apple cider to make caramel apple cider. 

ACTIVITIES: I had a high school girl come and corn row every girl's hair (crowns only, not entire head, which would have taken too long!) While waiting their turns the girls ran around the yard and played with soccer balls and just mingled and had fun.  Later, we decorated mini grapevine wreaths (from Michaels) with mini fall leaf garland (again, $1 Tree) and some pretty orange ribbon.  I bought a ton of tiny ceramic/pottery/greenware (?) scarecrows off eBay which the girls colored with permanent markers and hot glued to the wreaths. 

We also made scarecrow candy necklaces from Family Fun magazine http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/feature/famf0903_hall_candy/. Later we bobbed for apples, and had an after dark scavenger hunt on the property, with glow sticks. The next morning, we piled into 3 cars and drove 2 miles to a corn maze/pumpkin patch.  They all got to go through the corn maze (with their corn rowed hair - get it? My favorite clever idea!!!!) Then pick a tiny Jack Be Little pumpkin to take home. 

GOODY BAGS: We decorated brown paper bags to look like scarecrow faces (see http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10218 Inside them we put candy pumpkins, both mallow type and sour gummy type, candy corn - not candy corn, but candy shaped like corn, a mallow mix available at Walgreens, homemade chocolate suckers in fall shapes (leaves, pumpkins, wheat sheaves etc. molds and supplies at Michaels), an individual bag of microwave popcorn, a bag of teddy grahams available in the fall in individual packages with a fall motif decorating them, a packet of apple cider with a cinnamon stick tied to it, and a bag of candy corn (yes, regular candy corn) and a label I found free on the internet with a poem about drinking the cider and adding the candy to it and stirring it with the cinnamon stick. Plus the girls took home their tiny pumpkin and candy necklace.

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