Preparing for a Tightwad Halloween

So Halloween is right around the corner and if you have made a visit to a "Halloween Store" the thought of dropping $40-$100 on a costume can really scare you to death. My daughter and I just visited one such store because she wanted to dress as a character from Batman. They didn't have the costume she wanted and a Batgirl costume was $60. No way. As we were leaving the store we saw this really cool machine blowing out white bubbles that when you touched them they turned to smoke. I saw someone pick up the bubble blowing machine and a bottle of bubbles and found out the machine itself was...$70. $70--talk about frightening. Retailers are trying to make Halloween a holiday that is Christmas in October for them. Think about all the things we buy, make and decorate today and what was done 30 to 40 years ago. It is not even close. I can remember having a lot of "put together" costumes. The gypsy, the pirate, the kitty cat, the clown, the hobo, the little old lady (ala Tweety Bird): all of these costumes my mom put together for us out of the combined closets of our home.
Try putting together items for these costume ideas:
Teletubbie-colored sweats with a square sewed on the shirt
Pirate-Too short pants, a white shirt, a bandana and a clip on earring
Snowman-White sweats, Hat, scarf, pinned on felt circles for buttons
Ninja-Black sweats, black ski mask, sash
Princess-an old adult dress with a belt in the middle, a paper cone hat with material flowing out of it.
Prince-a construction paper crown, black pants, boots, a white dress shirt, a sash placed across the front (think diplomat sash-purple is nice)
Woody from Toy Story-Brown shirt, vest, jeans, boots, cowboy hat
Box Costume-Paint a box to look like a tv, salt and pepper, a die, a cereal box, an x-box or anything else you can think that is square
A Ghost-cut holes in an old sheet
A Vampire-black sweats and a black jacket with a collar. Turn the collar up and put on white makeup and add vampire teeth.
Rich lady-old coat with fur on it, lots of jewelry, big clip on earrings, an old hat

Most of all have fun with it. This is a great time to share being creative with your kids.

Free Halloween Matching Game
Free Halloween Bookmarks

Frugal Christmas: Gift Bows For Free

Make gift bows from magazines? Sounds crazy, but follow this simple tutorial and you will find yourself making some pretty cool looking bows for nothing. Making these bows is easy with only a few simple steps involving cutting your magazine pages into strips and then folding them into a bow. This would also be especially helpful when it is snowing out and you don't feel like running to the store for yet another bag of bows. It's frugal and it's free. (and a little bit green, ho, ho, ho). Click here to see this great tutorial over at Craftser.org

More Uses for Tin Foil

If you just hate to throw away that hunk of tin foil here are some ways to keep on using it.
Take your used tin foil and wash any food residue off of it. You can now reuse it in the kitchen to wrap a piece of cheese, cover a dinner plate, bake a casserole, etc. If you have a great abundance of tin foil here are some other ideas.
1. Make a picture frame for a child's craft. You can then glue some glitter around it to make it sparkle.
2. Use it as gift wrap
3. In some areas you can recycle tin foil with aluminum cans.
4. Make a solar powered stove out of an umbrella and tin foil. Click here for instructions at Planet Green.
5. Cut out old egg cartons and cover them with foil to make "silver bells" for the Christmas tree.
6. Double wrap meat for the freezer.
7. Use it to wrap up sandwiches when you run out of sandwich bags.
8. Line your burners (make sure there is NO grease on the used tin foil)
9. Put it on an old cereal box to a reflecting panel for photographing items.
10. Make a pointy hat to keep out aliens.

Free Scrapbook Pages

I have slowly been moving items from my other site Printable Family to Tightwad Tess. Finally, I have started moving my printable scrapbook pages. After shopping for scrapbook stationery at my local hobby store, I decided I could make them on my computer and only pay for the printing. Some of my graphics are more in the spirit of cartooning but they worked for me. I eventually got into digital scrapping and making scrapbook albums using Windows Movie Maker. Using this program I can make a scrapbook and then make copies for my family. You can also combine home movies and music with this program so I love it. But...here is a beginning to the printable scrapbook pages I created. So here is my first-- check out my starfish stationery. It is a part of a summer set I created and is housed at Printable Family as well as Tightwad Tess.


For a printable version of this go to this link.

Old Time Radio

The Inner Sanctum, Who's on First? Fibber McGee and Molly, Academy Award Theater, Dragnet--you might or might not know these names but if you don't they are titles of old radio shows ranging from the 30's all the way up to the early 70's. With the advent of the internet these shows have found a rebirth with new audiences who now listen to them on their ipods. It is amazing to me, after so many decades, that these programs are so entertaining. I am a big fan of the mystery and horror shows like The Inner Sanctum (think Twilight Zone--as a matter a fact some of the stories seem awfully similar) but you can pretty well pick your genre and find some sort of shows listed. Westerns,detective stories, comedies, radio versions of old films, big band music and here is the best part--it's FREE. Also the stars you will hear are amazing. This last week I listened to fantastic acting by Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Dick Powell, it goes on and on. I hate housework, but with my ipod in it goes a lot faster.
So here's how you can find these shows. Go to itunes and put in the search box "Old Time Radio". It should come up with a list of different series. I listen to "Horror" and "Suspense" and "Boxcars711". Most of them update as often as you update your ipod. You can also subscribe to Boxcars 711 through their site.
If you don't have an ipod you can go to this site, one of many I'm sure, and listen to the shows on your computer. These shows are fun to listen to and your kids can hear them too. Some of the the horror shows get a little scary. I had to turn one off about a dentist office the other day. Eeeeek.

Make a Toy From an Old Sweater

Free Elliot Moose Pattern


Over at Burda Style there is a free pattern for Elliot Moose. The creator of this pattern made a toy for her child out of an old holey sweater she felted. It is so cute and an easy way to make a toy out something you already own. If you have never been to Burda Style it is an open source pattern site so many of the patterns are free. You have to join to download the patterns. Membership is free.

Bulk Cooking for GFCF: French Toast Sticks

We continue on our path cooking gluten free for our son with Down Syndrome. Getting up early in the morning (his bus picks him up at 6:15) and cooking him pancakes or muffins can be pretty hard some days. I just saw this recipe from Recipe Zaar posted on Tip Nut and thought hmmmmm....I could make this recipe gluten free! So here it is with a few changes to make it work for our kids.

Make Ahead GF French Toast Sticks
2 eggs
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk substitute of your choice(we use almond)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 slices gluten free bread, each cut into 4 strips
3 tablespoons cf margarine

In a shallow dish, beat together the eggs, sugar, milk, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a fork until well blended.Dip each bread strip into the egg mixture, coating completely.In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon CF margarine over medium heat.Cook the bread strips a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden, adding more margarine as needed.Serve immediately or cool completely, flash freeze on cookie sheet, then store in a labeled freezer bag.


To serve: reheat in the oven, toaster oven, or microwave until heated through.

Are convenience foods really convenient if you have to make a batch yourself? Not sure, but at 5:30 in the morning anything I can pop in the microwave works for me. I am not an expert at gluten free cooking so if you see anything amiss let me know!