Last year I had started to do a Boo Basket for the kids. You can read more about that HERE and HERE, but It is basically a Halloween bucket that I fill with Halloween treats that I present to the kids. If you look up “boo basket” or “boo bucket” on Pinterest, you will get a slew of creative ideas, but I just stick to what my kids like and what I feel is age appropriate for them. I did add the part of the “boo fairy” myself because my kids are into all things spooooooky and I thought it would be fun for them to think of a boo fairy visiting them at night and dropping off treats. In hindsight as I type this out, I also think that this concept is mildly terrifying, but it is a good thing my kids do not, so we are just going to roll with it for a bit. I did it the night before Halloween last year, but I was reading that a majority of mama’s present these baskets on October 1st so that the kiddos have all month to enjoy them and I thought it was brilliant. Just one hiccup, we were going to Disney World on the 1st for the 50th anniversary which meant that once again I was packing the ol’ decorating bag and taking all the treats with us. The great thing about a big weekender from Vera Bradley is that I packed the baskets the night before pretty much with everything already separated and just dropped them into the bag. I knew it was going to be a late night and that we would be exhausted, so setting up anything was going to be out of the question. This allowed me to be able to quickly take the baskets/buckets out, set them up and wait for them to wake up and enjoy. This ended up working out beautifully as I woke up at my usual time of 7:30 (which is normally the Commodore’s time too) I quickly set up the buckets and went back to lie down until they woke up.
As a reminder of some of the items that we got them:
With the exception of the bat/cat headband (Marshalls) and the Mickey Halloween book (Dollar Tree), everything else came from Target.
We stay at the B Resort a lot and honestly for lack of better terms, it was kind of a shit show this go around. The “upgrade” they gave us was awful, they had to switch our rooms (Ross from valet is the real MVP), there was no hot water (I knew that Orlando was undergoing a shortage of hot water, but I really think if this was still transpiring that something should have been said at the front desk especially since we had kids with us) and there was all these limitation with housekeeping that I felt should also have been noted. Otherwise, the room was quite nice (once we got there) and they handled all situations swiftly and efficiently which is why we will always go back, they are just so nice about any issues and try to accomodate the situation as best as possible.
We ended up in a what I believe they refer to as a posh suite so there is a living room and the bedroom is in another room separated by french doors. The living room has a pull out couch and all the living room type amenities (refrigerator, coffee machine, etc.). The bathroom is also in this area which has a drum roll please…walk-in shower and was/is my favorite feature. The shower is huge and I love that there is a large vanity perfect for two people getting ready (or at least two people and a couple of toddlers amused by the size of the bathroom) Oh, and as a bonus, the lighting is divine!
The space below the tv is where I (::cough cought I mean the boo fairy) ended up putting the boo baskets.
Lets take a gander at the amazing bathroom….it is perfection, right?! Is it wrong solely to stay at a hotel for this bathroom?! There is something about having wide doors that open up into a bathroom that set my “the more space the better” heart afluttering.
Point of all this being that I put the boo baskets in our room so that they could discover them together rather than the Commodore waking up first and being anxious to open everything without EV. Plus, they didn’t hear my rustling around so, it just made perfect sense all the way around.
The pull out bed is the perfect size for two toddlers and I like that it is low enough to the ground that they cannot hurt themselves (Commodore has a bumper on his bed) since they were technically in this room by themselves.
We had Halloween buckets from last year that we could have used, but for only $1 I thought these were really cute and the kids love anything they can put stuff into. As mentioned, we (the boo fairy) gets the kids one ‘big’ gift and with both EV and Commodore loving the new Amazing Spiderman cartoon the costumes were a perfect choice. Way to go Boo Fairy! They wanted to put them on immediately which I knew was going to happen, but luckily not too much of an arguement was put up for the ‘later’ since we were going into Epcot.
The what do you mean there was a fairy in our hotel dropping off boo baskets look.
The always loving Spiderman face!
Since we packed all these things for the hotel, I tried to include things that they could safely open and play with, so some of the stuff I had intended to bring, I didn’t. Spiderman travel cups, silly straws, bubbles, a book to read at night, and fun headbands were perfect and could be played with all in the room or brought into the parks. Even the blow up dino head mallets (which we ended up not using there) were perfect for the space we were given.
As per usual, the favorite item were the bubbles and I loved how easily the wand was to use for the kids and the witch hat element was perfect. The kiddos always seem to love bubble wands most of all ($1 for the win).
Who doesn’t love silly straws!? I actually bought a couple of packets of these since they were also only a $1 and came in a package of three and I put them in a Halloween gift container in the garage for later use.
Minnie!! We are still working on saying Mickey, so Minnie is for BOTH Minnie andMickey!
Nothing brings me more joy then the love my kids have for receiving books as presents!
Target’s Bullseye had these adorable plushie keychains and this one was a purple bat in a pumpkin. The kids loved them and the fact that they could clip to their “pack’packs” were a bonus!
Was it excessive having to bring an extra bag for just the boo fairy, yes! Did it put us out at all since we can put whatever we want in the car?! No. I loved seeing their faces light up and answering all the questions about the boo fairy and hearing EV and Commodore talk to each other all morning about their treats and what they wanted to play with when they got back. Creating special memories and traditions like this has always been something important to me and something I wanted the kids to always look back on fondly and hopefully pass on to their own families. I hope they never get too big to enjoy these moments as I know I still enjoy the very same things and creating it now is even more fun.
Do you have Halloween traditions?! Or holiday traditions that you have passed on or created yourselves in your home?!
Is it just me that really loves going up and beyond!?
