Easter & Halloween

4 April 2014, my entry for today, it's a heads up on the coming Easter celebration this 20 April 2014. Just to share what I did the previous Easter. 

What I did was rather unorthodox, I made it a joint festival, Easter Egg's come Halloween celebration. Kill 2 birds with one stone and loads of fun. I purchased the Halloween mask at Toys r US (Empire Shopping Center) at RM9.90 (i think). Used an old white bed sheet and sprinkled it liberally with red food coloring. My advise do not use a paint brush as it would spoil the blood effect. Used about 3 bottles, each costing RM2.90. My kids were terrified at first altogether they subsequent realized it was me but no less terrified.

I did a map of the house and hid in various locations x marking the spot and quantity, Easter eggs and Candies. Their task together with Mom was to locate the goodies.

I began first by boiling many eggs, 2 dozen to be exact. Ensure that the eggs are properly boiled to ensure that the shell peels of easily when cracked. You want perfectly round eggs and not deformed looking ones.

Then I allowed my kids to paint the eggs using any colors they liked and their creativity. Only use food coloring the reason being the paint will absorb trough the shell. The problem with food coloring is that it would stay on the palm and fingers of your kids for a few days no matter how you wash them. 

The end product. After the eggs dried, they were hidden based on the map provided above.

The picture of how the eggs looked like after the shells were removed. Reminder use food coloring for painting the egg shell and not other type of coloring. You do not want to poison your kids.

Like I said as this was a dual purposed function, Halloween would not be complete without a scary pumpkin. Choose a decent size pumpkin. Don't choose a too small one as it would be difficult to shape.  

 Start first by using a marker pen to outline the eyes, nose, mouth and top of the head.

Carefully carve out the outlined area. When using a knife, always take your time and no not rush. Remember the last thing you want to do is damage the pumpkin and also cut yourself.

Use a smaller knife to chisel out sharper and deeper features for the eyes, nose and mouth area. 

You will notice there's lots of filling and seeds inside the pumpkin. You will need to use your hands and also various sizes of spoon to remove the fillings.

Before and after photos of the fillings being removed.

 I cannot stress enough that you must ensure that the cuts for the eyes, nose and mouth is deep and wide. 

Place candles inside the pumpkin.

 This is how it will look after dark. Now you know why the cuts for the facial features should be deep enough. Its for the light to shine clearly through. If wrapped in a newspaper and stored properly in a fridge, the pumpkin would last a few days and can be reused.

Dinner as you can guess was pumpkin soup.