All great ideas, kids love to make things. And from my experience they love yard sales,too,a quarter goes a long way on a Saturday morning! I've done the stepping stones with my grandkids, I bought one stepping stone kit because it had the little alphabet stamps and a lot of stained glass.You could buy the alphabet beads,though. Then I used aluminum cake pans I also got at a yard sale, maybe 20 or more, for molds. We sprayed with Pam and let the kids make their own designs. Last year we made concrete mushrooms and let the kids paint them, those would be fun. You could make enough stepping stones and mushrooms from one bag of cement for both homes. I used bowls that I got at the dollar store for the tops, and styrofoam coffee cups for the stems. After all the suggestions here on making them, I'd make the stems first,let them dry, then make the tops and set the finished stems in them. Maybe line the bowls with plastic wrap, those looked good like that.

I had a kiddie Halloween party last yr & will do so again this yr. I keep it fun & it's mostly for younger kids but here are some of the things I did. Coloring pages I printed out 4 different jack-o-lantern coloring pages which I could make copies of & use it when the kids first arrive until everyone gets here & the official activities begin. I bought small boxes of crayons from Oriental Trading. Candy Corn Drop Halloween Party Game · Each child is given 15 pieces of candy corn. · Kids kneel on a chair and drop pieces of candy corn, one at a time, into a glass on the floor. · The person who gets the most corn in the glass wins! Pin the Nose on the Jack-o-Lantern: - I used reusable tape PICTURE FRAMES Take a Polaroid of the guests when they arrive and the photo and frame are a great gift. Oriental Trading as well as Micahels have cute foam frames which they can decorate with Halloween foamies Who's Got the Pumpkin Place everyone is a circle. Start a song (Halloween themed songs like Monster Mash are neat to use!) and toss a mini pumpkin to one person, they throw it to the next, and so on until the music stops. The person who is caught holding the pumpkin has to leave the circle. The last one left is the winner and keeps the pumpkin. Note: this is like hot potato. Of course what'a party without a pinata _ i add junky toys like spider rings & candy of course Pumpkin Bowling: Get a hold of 4-6 plastic pumpkin buckets and a small ball (plastic bowling balls are perfect). Stack the pumpkins in a pyramid on a hard surface and let the kids bowl to their hearts' content! Assign a little helper to assist you with picking up the pumpkins and stacking them. Mr Pumpkin Head (2 cersions) 1 -Get a real pumpkin and supply washable markers, and props such as glasses, paper mustache, hats, scarves, and wigs. Let each child have turn to decorate and dress up pumpkin. When next child's turn - just wash the markers off! 2- Oriental Trading has stickers to decroate balloons with - eye, nses, mouths, etc. & I had each child bring their own medicum sized pumpkin & they got to decroate theirs with a whole asst. fo facial features We set up a little trick or treating area: Of course you can do anything for that but I set up 3 stations: · 1st station: have plastic jack-o-lantern filled with lots of pennies. Then each child can reach up (eye level) and grab as many as they can with one hand. It is surprising how thrilled they are that they are getting a handful of pennies for their trick or treat bags. · 2nd station: Ghosts Pops - Take a small round lollipop. Lay it in the center of a kleenex and wrap around the head of the lollipop. Tie with a piece of yarn, string, or ribbon. Add 2 black dots for eyes and there you have your ghost. · the 3rd station I did min bags of microwaveable popcorn, but if you want to stay away from candy b/c they'll be getting plenty int he pinata you can do the animal crakers or pretzel bags instead Oriental Trading catalog as well as Party City also have other games, like a sand bag toss, Halloween bingo, Halloween twister, velcro Halloween dart board..... They also have great ideas for favors & goodie bags. Michie

How about a story. It takes up a little time and this one makes a "Jack-O-Lantern"right in with your theme. The Little Orange House (One of many versions!) A storytelling Activity Needed: Scissors and a large piece of orange paper Once upon a time a very small witch was walking in the woods. The cold wind was blowing the dry leaves all around her. The little witch was frantically searching for a house for the winter. She could not find one. Suddenly a piece of Orange paper, blown by the wind landed at her feet. She picked it up. The little witch looked closely at the paper and then she said, "I shall make myself a little house from this piece of orange paper." She folded the paper in half. Then she took her scissors (she always carried a pair in her pocket) and cut off the two corners to make a roof. (Cut the construction paper as the story indicates).I round these off. "This will do just fine," she said as she looked at her new house. "But I will need a door." With her scissors she cut a door. Since witches always wear pointed hats,she cut a special door. Cut a triangle shape with one end pointed up(near the bottom right of the paper) this is the door/mouth. The little witch walked through the door into the little orange house. It was very dark inside. She quickly hurried back out. "I will need to make a window to let in the light," said the little witch. She cut a window/eyes. (Cut a square shape in the top middle of the paper opposite end of the paper than the door. Cut through both sides of the paper.) Oh, it was a very fine looking house. Her very own little house with a roof, a door, and windows was all finished. But just as the little witch started to go inside for the winter, she saw a tiny ghost floating down the wind swept path. As the tiny ghost came to a stop near the little house, the little witch saw that she was crying. "Why are you crying?" asked the little witch. The tiny ghost stopped crying and answered, "It is cold and windy. It is getting dark. And I have no place to spend the winter." "You may spend the winter with me in my new house," said the kind little witch. "Oh, thank you, " the happy tiny ghost said as she peeked in through the window. "This is a very nice house." "First," said the witch,"I will need to make you a little door of your very own." She took her scissors again and began to cut. She cut a very tiny door. (Cut a half triangle on the folded edge of the paper between the big door and the window. Make the longer part of the triangle point up towards the window) The two happy new friends went inside. The tiny ghost went in the very little door, and the little witch went through her own special door. All winter long they lived happily together inside the little orange house. If you want to see inside their little orange house,just open your piece of paper and Surprise! The kids really love to see that the house is really a jack o' lantern.

kausd--I guess I can't picture what you are referring to. brian--So to get this straight, the 1/4" or whatever of plywood would be under the stone. And, there wouldn't be a visible gap underneath because the counter overhang would conceal this. Correct? gr8day--So shims might be somewhat similar to what Brian is suggesting. And, it is good to hear that the pencil tile solution looks good in person. Thanks all!