Like so many, I love the holidays.
However, while many love Halloween for it's plethora of creatively gory, and excessively gratuitous sweets I love it more for it's sentimental value. Every year, growing up, the first day of Fall marked the first day of crafting season in my home. It was the marker for all of the harvest festivals and craft shows to come; the day when Momma would begin announcing her creative decoration schematics, and gift-worthy crafts. The day I'd finally learn why on Earth we'd been hoarding walnut shells for 5 months, and what all of those old socks we'd been collecting would be used for.
These days I don't quite have kids of my own yet, (just one giant freakishly adorable baby, apparently), but I still strive to continue my family tradition of bringing the holiday spirit to friends and family through handmade treats and gifts.
Since I've begun watching my sugar intake over the past few years I've come to rely more on the crafting aspect of seasonal gifting, than the homemade sweets. Don't get me wrong, I love whipping up a low sugar Vegan cheesecake as much as the next gal, but not everyone is as enthusiastic, or brave, enough to chow down on a dairy-free dessert with cheese in the name. Thankfully
Walmart has me covered, even in the middle of September, with an entire aisle full of fiendish sun-size treats.
Not that we need an excuse to visit Walmart, we seem to be in there multiple times a week this time of the yea- but it turns our many of my friends and family's favorite Halloween treats are also featured under the Walmart category on ibotta. In fact, the brand new (and elusive in my neck of the woods) Nestle
Butterfinger Skull Cups share a page with an equally fiendish rebate deal for Butterfinger fun size. That's right, for a limited time you can score some cold hard, very much alive, cash-back on your Halloween candy stock ups at Walmart when you use the
ibotta app. We are stalking that seasonal aisle for those Butterfinger Skull Cups like we're zombies hunting for brains ya'll!
Since I had several bags of delicious Butterfinger fun-size treats on hand after our recent Walmart ibotta shopping trip I knew I had to fund a cute way to present them. I'd seen plenty of people on Pinterest already sharing little cauldrons full of candy, and tissue paper pumpkins. Cute. But I wanted to craft something especially wicked, witchy wicked that is- so I gathered these supplies:
Empty Toilet Paper Tubes (Or Paper Towel Rolls, Cut In Thirds)
Large Bag or Bundle of Raffia (Crafting Straw)
Twine Rope And/Or Thin Ribbon
10-12" Sticks (Twigs From The Garden Will Do)
Yellow Tissue Paper
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
Fun-Size Candy
I started by placing my toilet paper/paper towel rolls in the center of 2 layered sheets of tissue paper. I next dropped 3-4 fun size
Butterfinger candies down the center of the tube. Smaller candies will 'pop' more and can be used in addition to your fun-size filler. I chose one of my most gnarly twigs and placed it down the center of the tube, in between the candy, so it just touched the bottom. I then gathered the tissue paper at the top of the tube and twisted it closed. Cut off any excess tissue paper, leaving about a 1.5" 'stem'.
At this point my project was beginning to resemble it's end product. It's important to make any adjustments here, as this is the 'core' of your popper and will not be able to be adjusted once you continue with the decorating process.
Because I have a bunch of spare ribbon laying around at any given time I next tied the top of the tube off, about 1/2" from the very top of the tube. This ribbon only mildly acts to secure the tissue paper, and really serves as a guide to attach the raffia strands.
Carefully I placed a 1" line of hot glue on the ribbon and laid 12" long segments of raffia across in a single layer. I repeated this process until I had gone around the circumference of the tube once. A second layer was appropriate in some places so I repeated this step again.
I then took my twine rope and tied two lengths around the tube, over my hot glue lines, where the ribbon was underneath. This helped hide some of my sloppy work and add that final decorative touch to my broom. Only minor trimming was needed on the top of the broom- I cut at an angle, downward to help shape the bristles at the very top and allow for my stick 'handle' to become more visible.
This simple craft is not only an adorable decoration throughout the Halloween and Fall season, but serves as a functional candy popper for entertaining and gifting. Simply poke the twig handle down through the bottom of the broom and your candy will come pouring out. For now, though, I keep one on my mantel with the other decorations- it's almost passable as an expensive home decor handmade item!
Of course it wouldn't be Halloween without some fiendish ways to enjoy our favorite treats, so I also whipped up a tried and true classic with some of the leftover Butterfinger fun size treats. This layered pudding cup is more than the classic cookie dirt- I used crushed Butterfingers to make a little 'fresh dirt mound' where the grave was 'dug,' and used some cookie icing to write 'RIP' on another Butterfinger fun-size. Add a few sprigs of mint for some overgrown weeds, and a candy pumpkin with a spider ring and you've got one adorable and creepy dessert.
We've still got plenty of time to imagine more fiendish ways to celebrate Halloween this year, but those
ibotta deals at Walmart won't be around forever, so be sure to head into Walmart and stock up on all of your creepy favorites now. And please, do let us know if you spot the Butterfinger Skull Cups on a shelf near you!
Now, tell me, how do you like to dress up candy to pass out for Halloween parties or trick-or-treaters?
