So while we wait for celebrities to reveal their elaborate costumes tonight, check below for  some memorable celebrity costumes over the years.  And then stick your witch hat on from Target and be grateful you don’t need to be painted into your costume.

Gwen Stefani as Jesse from Toy Story

I like it.  We love Toy Story, and she’s a celebrity going to a Halloween party with her clothes on.  A big fist bump explosion to her.

Amanda Seyfried as a dog

Even more the bomb than going to a costume party with your clothes on is being a celebrity going to a costume party with a humungous dog costume on.  Bold.  And cozy.

Paris Hilton as Cinderella

We all know that Cinderella’s skirt is full length.  Not a fan, and somewhere Walt Disney is cringing.  And groaning.

Lauren Conrad as Minnie Mouse

I think even Minnie might be proud of this one.  She has all of her clothes on, and how cute is that dress?  Love this girl!

Michelle Obama as a leopard

I can totally get behind this costume because basically she put on a sweater she already owned and added ears.  And boom, it’s Halloween.  Bonus points for the sweater most likely being from J. Crew.

Heidi Klum and Seal as Forbidden Fruit

This costume is a little too intense for me.  I’m scared.  Also, she’s hiding an eight month baby bump in that apple outfit.

Nicole Richie and friends as Troop Beverly Hills

I squealed when I saw this.  BEST MOVIE EVER.  ”We’re the troop from Beverly Hills, shopping is our greatest skill!”  Dying just thinking about it.

Kim Kardashian as a mermaid

Ariel is not impressed.  And neither is Flounder.

Happy Halloween!

Celebs!

Kourtney Kardashian Pulls Out Own Baby 

Jennie Garth and Luke Perry are TOGETHER?

 Ryan Gosling Coloring Book

The post Celebrity Halloween Costumes appeared first on TodaysMama.

Yeah right.  Those Twix bars are calling my name, and I’m going to answer!  I just can’t make myself buy candy that I don’t like.  When that doorbell stops ringing, I’m going to plop down and have my own little Halloween treat.

For something to call my name, it has to be chocolate.  You all can keep your Tootsie Roll pops.

Here’s my breakdown…

1.  Twix

2.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

3.  Kit Kat Bars

4.  M&M’s (always a classic)

So how do I stack up to the rest of the country?

1.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Boom. You can’t go wrong.)

2.  Hershey’s Chocolate Bars (I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it.)

3.  Milky Way (Meh.)

4.  Kit Kat (Delish, should be higher up.)

5. Snickers (Alright. I suppose a classic.)

What’s your order?  Do you actually have the strong, strong strength to buy candy you don’t like?  Time to hit those Halloween aisles!

Halloween!

13 Great Family Halloween Ideas

Pumpkin for Breakfast

Halloween Paper Treat Cones

The post Most Popular Halloween Candy appeared first on TodaysMama.

Chatting with Patricia Heaton felt  just like being at my favorite book club as she reaffirmed that we all need to give ourselves a break.

An Emmy-winning actress, Patricia Heaton is currently starring as Frankie Heck in the family sitcom, The Middle.  Forget the perfect husband and wife couple, the lovely kids and the manicured lawn.  The Middle lets us laugh at the real struggles that families go through every day.  Frankie is the middle-aged, working mom in Middle America, using her sense of humor and wry wit to get her quirky family through the day.  She’s not a high-powered career woman, but she’s a super-hero mom who will go to any length for her family.

Read more from our phone call together-

On Acting as a Career

So my life has always pretty much reflected the characters I play on TV, and, you know, I’ve just been fortunate enough that I get paid to act out all those scenarios for the rest of the country, so it’s a pretty great job to have.

What’s Your Typical Day Like?

Probably like you, I’ve got my laptop in front of me. I have my list of to do things. I’ve been writing while we were starting the call.  I think like all the bloggers actually, we’re working from home and trying to get kids to school.  And I was in the middle of radio interviews this morning and in between interviews, my son’s getting ready for school and vomited. So I put the phone down, run over, make sure he’s okay, pick the phone back up, make some calls to the school.

Do you think that The Middle gets it right?  If so,  how?

I had a mom stop me to chat.  Like Frankie Heck, I was at a fast food Mexican restaurant picking up dinner for my kids after work, and a mom was there doing the same thing, and she said, “Oh, I love your show, and you are me and I’m totally on board with your style of parenting. There’s only so much I can do.  I get it. You guys do it so well.”

I think the show touches a lot of people. We read a lot of magazines. We see a lot of talk shows about what our homes should look like, what we should look like, you know, fitting in the parties and doing the healthy snacks, and using recycled lunch boxes, and bringing your just, you know, your reusable bags to the grocery store. Does anybody remember to do that by the way?  I even have some in my trunk and I go to the grocery store and I forget to  bring them in with me.

The main character, Frankie Heck, loses her job this season.  What lies ahead for her?

One of my first questions to the writers when I was considering first taking on the role of Frankie was , ‘Did she go to college?’ or ‘Was her goal to be a mom or what?’

We had many discussions about where she was.  Growing up I pretty much knew I was always acting in a sense that I was doing community theaters and school plays and singing and things like that. But by the middle of my junior year in college, I made the commitment to pursue acting. And so I had to kind of get my mind around someone like Frankie who sort of didn’t have quite have a passion and then got married, start having children, and became a full-time mom until she started working at the dealership.

So this is actually kind of fun for me to kind of go on that journey with Frankie because it’s the journey I was asking about that character from the beginning of the show and now we really get to see like what  she’ll do with this forced opportunity. So I find it pretty exciting.

I think it very reflective of what people are going through either for economic reasons in their lives where they’re having to refashion themselves and find a new way to identify themselves in the workplace because of circumstances.  For some people, it’s just they feel like they need a change in their lives and so they step out and take a risk and try something new. As an actor, I was kind of excited to take Frankie into a new place.

On Parenthood and Technology

There’s too much on our plate, and part of the wonderfulness of telecommunications and having everything on your phone and having everything within reach is you can get a lot done and you can be in touch with your kids, and if plans change,  it’s right at your fingertips and you can make it all work. But the down side of that is now we feel like we are supposed to be doing all these things. Our workload has probably tripled, and I don’t think the human brain was really constructed –This is my excuse for – it’s really just menopause that I’m blaming it on technology — that I can’t keep everything in my head because there’s too much of it.  Like I said, I’m sitting here, I have to keep lists. I’m actually handwriting them like I might as well be using a quill pen for how ancient that seemingly is.

What’s your advice for moms?

Slow down and let go of some of the activities. Simplify things.  Give yourself a break, that’s what you need to do. You need to just relax and still try to enjoy life as opposed to kind of getting through it.

What do you think Frankie can teach viewers about parenting?

Well, I think there has to be a certain amount of trust, and I think she just throws it out to the universe a lot. She makes her miserable attempts but then it usually goes wrong. The end of the shows usually wrap up with the sense of, ‘We’re going to be okay even though this didn’t work out all right.”   It’s okay not to be perfect.

The show is also a celebration of the Midwest and of lives that aren’t about material things and striving to be famous or powerful or wealthy in the world; it’s an ode to simpler times in Midwestern living.

What can you tell us about the Halloween episode on Oct. 24th?

Well, Sue’s received her learner’s permit and Frankie gets the joy of teaching her how to drive.  Axl is excited about voting in his first election and then, Brick undergoes an unexpected transformation when he eats too much Halloween candy.  You’ll have to watch the rest. I don’t want to spoil it.

I loved talking with Patricia! She really is as nice and funny as she is on television.

Don’t forget to tune in on the 24th for The Middle Halloween episode.  You can also join the fun with  One2One Network’s #TheMiddle live Twitter Viewing Party on October 24th, beginning at 5:45 MT.

RSVP  Here and have a chance to win Amazon gift cards while you chat about your Halloween candy rules, or share your favorite treat to sneak from your kids’ candy stash.

More Posts to Enjoy

Interesting Facts Halloween Infographic

13 Great Halloween Family Ideas

Printable Halloween Mobile

Note: The campaign and call were sponsored by One2One Network, but the opinions I shared are my own.

The post The Middle – An Interview with Patricia Heaton appeared first on TodaysMama.

Full View Infographic

More on TodaysMama:

Halloween Archive

Printable Halloween Mobile

Halloween Ideas Round Up

More Infographics

The post Interesting Facts Halloween Infographic appeared first on TodaysMama.

Freeze bananas and make them into ghosts!

Help your kids throw a Potions Party (great for you Muggles)

Make green popcorn zombie boogers!

A no-sew ghost banner for your ghouls

Stir up some blueberry eyeball punch

Fight breast cancer and celebrate Halloween with a Pink-o-Ween party

Bust out these dead-simple pumpkin muffins recipe using ingredients you already have

Easy paper plate ghost craft for little hands

Encourage your mad scientists with their own party

Help keep your goblins fueled with this three bean chili

Delight your toddlers with Halloween quesadillas

Print out a bat mobile for your window

Cutting spiderwebs is a darling twist on snowflakes

Now off with you! Engage in Halloween delights!

The post 13 Great Family Halloween Ideas appeared first on TodaysMama.

If you want to delight your little ghoul with a festive lunch, try this cute idea for jack-o-lantern quesadillas from Monster Mama.  Get out your sharpest knife!

Image from Monster Mama

Spooky!

DIY Dog Halloween Costumes

DIY Halloween Costumes

Halloween Snack Mix

The post Halloween Quesadillas appeared first on TodaysMama.

ghost-pretzels

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Ghost pretzels for Halloween class treats.

1. Halloween Candy Coated Pretzel Ghosts

2. Halloween Paper Treat Cones

3. Halloween Potato Stamp Treat Bags

4. Tootsie Roll Halloween Ghosts

5. Non-Food!  Halloween Foam Photo Frames

 What are your favorite Halloween class treats?

The post Five Halloween Class Treats appeared first on TodaysMama.

Supplies:

No offense, but if you can’t figure out the how-to from looking at the finished photo, you should probably just put store-bought cookies in a ziplock bag and call it a day.

The post Tootsie Roll Halloween Ghost Treats appeared first on TodaysMama.

I’ll take five, please.

Thanks, PBS Parents!

More…

Five Halloween Class Treats

The post Candy Coated Pretzel Ghosts appeared first on TodaysMama.

1 minute later in parent time; 5 minutes in kid time…and you’ve got…

Then I got all fancy and glued a fridge magnet to the back.

I’ll put the finished Halloween foam photo frames in little cello bags to give out to the classmates.  The green glitter pumpkin won’t be affixed so the kids’ parents can add a picture before sticking that final pumpkin onto the frame.

Easy?  Yep.  That’s how we celebrate holiday fun with 30 roughneck kids who won’t remember who gave them what anyway.  Just kidding.  Their parents will know who gave them that useful frame.  Congratulations, you’re now the thoughtful parent who didn’t contribute to cavities and national obesity.  Wow, Halloween just got political.

More…

Five Halloween Class Treats

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