Autumn | The Patrick O'Brien Agency

It’s amazing how the Midwest weather can change in just 10 days. Two weekends ago we were sitting in shorts and tank tops watching our son’s baseball game under the sun on an 80 degree day. Today – the temperature maybe topped at 45 degrees.

We turned our heat and fireplace on and the candles came out. Don’t ask my why, but I typically only burn candles in cooler weather. It makes me feel more “cozy”.

When I dug out our glass jar candles, I noticed I held on to a couple that were almost burned to the glass bottom. I’m not sure how much life they have in them but surely they’d be okay for just tonight. Right?

WRONG! You should never let the candle burn to the very bottom. No matter how tempted you are to get the very last scent from the remaining wax, you should toss the candle once the wax drops below half an inch.

Candles cause nearly 10,000 house fires a year (35% from candles in the bedroom) and those candles I just mentioned, are a fire hazard. Without enough wax in my pillar as a buffer, the flame can ignite debris (like a match particle that’s been left in the candle) and cause a blaze to flare up. Even if a fire doesn’t ignite, the low-level of wax in the jar increases the likelihood of the flame brushing against the sides and the bottom. If the glass gets hot enough, it could shatter. In any case, if you let the wax burn lower than half an inch, you are putting your home at risk.

Although most of the time, the candle I’m burning is close to us like on a shelf or an end table, why risk it? They’re going in the trash. And, while I’m at it, I’m going to purge all other kinds of candles that are shorter than two inches. It just gives me more reason to buy some pretty fall scented new ones!

Where should my first stop be on my candle shopping spree?

– S.O.
POB Agency

This year I’ve volunteered to be the class parent for our Daughter’s pre-K class. One of my responsibilities is to help with class parties throughout the year.

Thursday, October 31st is our first classroom party so I’ve been on the hunt for age appropriate party game ideas.

Keeping the age range in mind (4-5 year olds), I’ve gathered a handful of games that aren’t too lengthy since this age has the attention span of about 5-10 minutes on any one activity.

Here are 6 class party ideas I think will work for her class. What do you think? If you have ideas or games that have worked for you in the past, please share in the comments below.

Bobbing For Apples – without the germy water and kids using their mouths.
Cut out several apples from red construction paper. Write activities for kids to do on each apple such as “5 jumping jacks” or “running in place for 30 seconds”. Attach a paper clip to each apple and place the apples in a large basket. Tie a magnet to a string or create a fishing pole with a dowel rod, magnet and yarn. Let the children take turns “bobbing” with their magnet and doing the activity written on each apple.

Candy Corn Bingo
Cut out Halloween or Autumn images and use candy corn as place markers for a fun and tasty Bingo game.

Boo is it?
Place slips of paper with names of characters on it (popular Halloween costumes like cowboy, ninja, spy, princess, etc.) and place one slip of paper into an inflated white balloon. Use a black sharpie marker to draw ghost faces on the balloons. Divide the class into teams. Have one person from the team come up and choose a ghost and pop the balloon to release the clue. Once he/she gets the clue out, he/she needs to act it out. The other team gets to guess who it is. Repeat until all “Ghosts” are popped.

Halloween Estimation Games
Guess the pumpkin weight; Guess the number of candy corn in a jar; Guess the number of “eyeballs” (ping-pong balls) in the black bag (kids have to reach into the bag without looking and feel around to guess).

Pass the Pumpkin (Hot Potato with a small pumpkin)
Kids sit in a circle. One child starts with the pumpkin, turn on Halloween music, and have the kids pass the pumpkin around the circle. Whoever is holding the pumpkin when the music stops is out of the game.

For Older Kids – Word Challenge
Give the kids an autumn or Halloween word like pumpkin, scarecrow, hayride – and ask them to make as many other words from those letters as they can.

Lastly, there’s always Pin the nose on the pumpkin.

– S.O
POB Agency