Tag Archives: Halloween

🎃 “Lazy Pumpkin Roll” Cupcakes

Posted on by Standard Reply

Alright. I bought some Halloween fun-shaped silicone pans from Aldi and I wanted to use them. I’m not a baker. I could have made beer cheese bread? This seemed easy enough though. No measuring. No fuss. Fall shenanigans good for Halloween or Thanksgiving. These taste like delicious pumpkin rolls.

A countertop view of the baking ingredients used, featuring a box of Baker's Corner Classic Yellow cake mix, a can of 100% pure pumpkin, and a cup of applesauce.

Three ingredients. OK, four. I used some pumpkin spice. Alright, five if you count the frosting.

Ingredients:

  • 1 box (15.25 oz) Yellow Cake Mix
  • 1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin
  • 1 single-serve cup (4 oz) Unsweetened Applesauce
  • A shake or two of Pumpkin Spice
  • 1 tub Baker’s Corner Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Get your cupcake tins of choice ready, grease, spray, or line ’em if so inclined.
  3. Dump the cake mix, the can of pumpkin, & the cup of applesauce t into a large bowl.
  4. Shake on some pumpkin spice and/or cinnamon. Mix it all together. Mix it well.
  5. Slap that batter into your cupcake thing, go about ¾ fill ’cause it’ll rise.
  6. Pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.
  7. Pull ;em out & let ’em cool.
  8. Slather on a generous amount of cream cheese frosting.

Notes:

  • I used the silicone cupcake trays, so I put them on a flat backing sheet. Apparently this can extend typical baking time a bit. I started checking at 20 minutes with a knife, and it was still gooey then.
  • This would be fine in a cake pan or pie plate or casserole dish or even a loaf pan or two, I bet. I am here for you doing you & using what you’ve got.
  • I like pumpkin flavor more than pumpkin spice. Of course, go heavy if that’s your thing.
A white plate filled with an assortment of freshly baked, golden-brown Halloween-themed cakes shaped like skulls, pumpkins, a bat, cats, and Frankenstein's monster.
A close-up of a golden-brown baked Halloween treat on a white plate, thickly frosted with white cream cheese frosting, with a tub of Baker's Corner cream cheese frosting sitting blurred in the background.

Hit me up with your tips, tricks, similar recipes, or super easy stuff to bake.

Vintage/Nostalgic Jack O’ Lantern Halloween Decoration

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So, I made a quick & cheap Jack O’ Lantern Halloween decoration. OK, I made 8 of them. The pumpkins are $1.97 at Walmart, although the teal one was from CVS and $4.49 because not wanting to kill kids with peanuts or chocolate is definitely something that should be cost prohibitive.

I saw these all over social media, and I had to try it out.

Two tall stacks of colorful plastic jack-o'-lantern trick-or-treat buckets standing on a dark surface in front of a white door. The left stack features orange, black, orange, and white buckets from top to bottom. The right stack features teal, orange, black, and orange buckets.

I grabbed some acrylic makers from the craft section, but had to get the green one online. I got orange, black, white, & yellow in a few different tip sizes. I kept it simple, and sort of like those paper Halloween decorations that were shiny on one site and matte on the other that were everywhere from the 50s to the 90s.

I’m probably gonna hit them with a clearcoat spray so they can survive a bit outside.

You should try ’em out and make your own!

A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring green cat-like eyes, a nose painted to look like a piece of candy corn, and a broad smile showing white teeth.
A close-up of a teal blue plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring stylized orange-and-black eyes with short painted eyebrows and eyelashes, an orange nose, and a wide orange-lined grin. (For the Teal Pumpkin Project & Food Allergy Awareness!)
A close-up of a black plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring painted orange triangular eyes with small black pupils, an orange nose, and an orange-accented smiling mouth
A close-up shot of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket with painted black triangular eyes, a small triangular nose, and a wide grinning mouth, with the top of a teal bucket visible just above it.
A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring triangular eyes with round, surprised-looking orange-and-green pupils, a small nose, and a classic carved grin.
A close-up of a black plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring bright green cat-like eyes with vertical pupils inside yellow triangles, a yellow nose, and a wide yellow-lined grin
A close-up of a white plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket with black triangular eyes containing white highlights, a black nose, and a wide black-and-white toothy smile. (An amalgamation of a classic 🎃 & the Misfits' FIEND or Crimson Ghost logo.)
A close-up of an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket featuring green eyes inside yellow triangles and a wide, mischievous grin filled with many white teeth.

Which one’s your favorite? Hit me with some of your creations in the comments!

As always, you ought to listen to some Halloween jams, and maybe try out some of my free Halloween mazes if you’re gonna do this as a Halloween party activity! I got you with Halloween pasta & hot dog ghosts too.

🎃

Those Halloween Hot Dog Ghosts 🌭👻

Posted on by Standard 1

I had to try ’em out. We’ve done the mummies. Why not the ghosts? They were at least horrifying in the spirit of the holiday.

8 hot dog ghosts in various positions after baking on top of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

These were really simple, here’s what I did…

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°.
  2. Cut 4 bun-length hot dogs in half, & stand them up on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  3. Roll out a can of Pillsbury croissant dough, pinch the diagonal seams & cut it into 8 squares.
  4. Put some shredded cheese and seasoning on the dough.
  5. Wrap the dough over the dogs cheese & seasoning side in.
  6. Use a metal straw (or whatever) to cut holes for the eyes and mouth.
  7. Pop them in the oven for 13 minutes, because of course.

You can see how they turned out. My wife got a much more flattering picture:

4 ghost styled hot dogs standing on a white plate with some ketchup.

She opted for ketchup. I made “Scary Sauce.”

Maybe 3:1:½ of Ketchup/Yellow Mustard/Miracle Whip, with some onion powder, paprika, and mustard powder. It was nice & orange for the season.

Next time, I may cut up black olive slices & use them for the eyes and mouths. Maybe. I also will use regular sized dogs instead of the bun length, so maybe they don’t half tip over.

What are your favorite or new fun Halloween themed foods?

Of course, I made these while listening to a Halloween playlist. You should too.

Jackie Lanterns | The Punkin Demon

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I can’t stop watching this. What is it from?

Now this?

Not-Quite-LEGO Bat Sets by Block Tech & Brickcraft

Posted on by Standard 2

You may know I dig LEGO. I find it a relaxing hobby, & a carryover from my youth when it was definitely my favorite toy. These days, shelf real estate is low and big sets are expensive… but more & more competitors are popping up. They’re all over the place quality-wise.

I remember having Tyco blocks back in the day, getting my son some of the He-Man Mega Bloks/Mega Construx sets, and I may have purchased a set or two from AliExpress. Those little Zuru Max sets are awesome.

I guess I don’t really blog about it (save for our LEGOLAND trip!), but it’s peppered on my Instagram.

Recently I saw & picked up two different fLEGO bat themed Halloween decoration sets. I thought I’d share my take.

Built some not-quite-LEGO bat sets. They are cheap as in affordable, but are they cheap as in quality?

Two brick sets - Block Tech (from Five Below) Shadow Bat set & Brickcraft Hanging Bat 72741 set.

Block Tech (from Five Below) Shadow Bat 🦇 This set was pretty neat to build. The pieces don’t clasp & hold together as well as “leading brick brands,” but was fun for the money. The cage piece seemed out of place… but it works, and this used some pretty unconventional pieces in neat ways. I feel like the wings are repurposed sword blades or something? Not sure how they get away with outright cloning real LEGO pieces. This set retails for $6.00, which is decidedly off brand for Five Below. (Yes, I know.)

The Block Tech bat in a cage.
Close-up of the Block Tech bat.

Brickcraft Hanging Bat 72741 🦇 This set snapped together a little better, and had wildly fun building techniques, but you can see through the gaps in the bricks which usually does not happen with the “other name brands” mentioned on the box. The poseable wings are awesome and the printed pieces instead of stickers are a big win. This set is $9.99 online. If LEGO can learn anything here, it’s printed bricks over stickers all day every day.

Brickcraft Hanging Bat Set with see-through wings.
Brickcraft Hanging Bat Set folded up

All-in-all, they were both fun sets and neat builds. They didn’t take long, they didn’t break the bank, and they’ll look neat as part of Halloween decor. I’d suggest building both while rocking a Halloween playlist on random.

Instruction books for not-quite-LEGO (fLEGO?) bat sets.

Do you stick to LEGO or do you think outside the blocks™?

I really like the little Zuru Max sets, and I am super curious about Lumibricks and some other brands like Pantasy or just the generic stuff from AliExpress or Temu that seems to be creeping into Amazon. I also have a few Snap & Switch sets form Five Below.

I recently got the X-Files LEGO set & the Bricklink Antique Collection set. The quality and little build details on LEGO sets are incredible and worth the price.

Hit me up with your takes on LEGO and not-quite-LEGO or fLEGO bricks!

HALLOWEEN MUSIC | Epic Playlist List 💀🎃👻

Posted on by Standard 4

OK, I have posted my Halloween Playlists before… but there’s more. Someone asked for spooky songs on Threads today and it kicked me into Halloween mode. It’s basically October, right? You can move these to your preferred streamer with Tune My Music. I have amassed more spooky and spooky-adjacent playlists.

I may have a problem.  Let me know if I’m missing some obvious or obscure bangers!  A lot of these I will listen to on shuffle/random, because I add stuff in what could be aptly described ss manic bursts of energy. Bold ones are ones I probably hit more often.

I definitely hit a lot of them on random/shuffle too. The main Halloween one is 50+ hours long.

(Updated Oct. 31st, 2026!)

Halloween Stuff:

Halloween Costumes & Creatures:

Spooky Vibes in General:

Playlists not by me:

I guess if you’re having a party, you might wanna add some pizza songs to your list. Like I said the last time I posted these: You can peep this Misfits tribute from 20 years ago too, and don’t forget to get some Halloween swag or solve some free Halloween mazes.

AiXeLsyD13's Halloween Playlists on Amazon Music

If you wanna do some free Halloween-ish mazes while you listen, peep these:

I probably have Halloween Mazes pop up a lot here.

Shameless Plug: Get a Turkey Maze T-shirt! 🦃✍️

Posted on by Standard 1

I love Thanksgiving. It’s coming soon. This is some Turkey Day attire that you can relax in. Wear it under a nice cozy flannel. It appears to be on sale at both my TeePublic and RedBubble shops currently. You should take advantage of that if you’re so inclined.

A green Thanksgiving T-shirt featuring a colorful turkey maze design, available for sale.
Green t-shirt featuring a colorful turkey design with maze patterns, labeled 'Turkey Maze 2023 Essential T-Shirt' with a price discount.

You can get this design on an apron, a coffee mug, a tote bag, a hoodie, a blanket, a pillow… or all kinds of stuff really. You can change the clothing color with a bunch of options & styles at each site too. Poke around & see if you can find something you like!

Also, you can print this out & try to solve it for free. Or do it on your phone/tablet/whatever. You can post it on social media & tag me @AiXeLsyD13.

A colorful maze illustration of a turkey with intricate patterns in its feathers, depicting a fun Thanksgiving theme.
A maze illustrated in the shape of a turkey, featuring intricate labyrinth patterns throughout its body and feathers.

Of course, I have a buch of other Thanksgiving themed mazes too:

I suggest printing the mazes for guests to compete to see who can finish first while dinner is being cooked. I have my recipes tips & tricks for that too… as well as recipes Turkey Noodle Soup and Thanksgiving Sliders. I’ll even hit you right in the stuffing nostalgia.

Hey, this pumpkin maze works for Halloween and Thanksgiving if you ask me. And, you can get two versions of it on all kinds of stuff too:

Illustration of a pumpkin designed as a maze with intricate lines and an orange color scheme.
Black and white illustration of a pumpkin designed as a maze.

You can get the full color orange one on stuff at TeePublic and at RedBubble. You can also get the black & white one on stuff at TeePublic. I thought that might look cool on an orange T-shit.

You can do all that while listening to my Thanksgiving Playlist too, on Amazon Music or whatever you listen to.

@aixelsyd13

Get my #Turkey #Maze T-shirt from #TeePublic or #RedBubble now so you can impress your friends & family by wearing it on Thanksgiving. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/53088197-turkey-maze-2023 https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Turkey-Maze-2023-by-AiXeLsyD13/154800158.6ATOD 🦃✍️  @TeePublic @Redbubble

♬ Oh You Cant Find This In The Store – THE TUMBLER AMBASSADOR ✨

🍗 Have any suggestions for Thanksgiving recipes, songs, or mazes? I’m all ears. 🌽🌽 Hit me up in the comments!

Spiderweb Maze 🕷️🕸️🪰

Posted on by Standard 1

I felt like drawing another Halloween sort of maze. I will probably do some more. I wanted to give this a bit of color too. As always, I’d love it if you solved the maze on paper or on a screen, posted it so social media, & tagged me.

Have fun with this. Print it for your Halloween parties, to pass out with candy, or just for fun. Free to use, just don’t steal & sell it.

I really used to be super creeped out by spiders. Perhaps I should make a series of different kinds of spider mazes. The fly is kind of a blob here. I may do a cleaner version at some point. Still working out if I want the next book to have a theme or just be chaos (again).

A black and white maze depicting spider webs with a spider and a fly, featuring the text 'HELP THE SPIDER GET TO THE FLY!'
A Halloween-themed maze with a spider at the top and a fly at the bottom, featuring intricate web designs and an orange gradient background. The text at the top reads, 'HELP THE SPIDER GET TO THE FLY!'
A Halloween-themed maze illustration featuring a spider and a fly. The maze is intricate with spiderweb patterns, and a red text prompt reads 'HELP THE SPIDER GET TO THE FLY!'

You can get the black & white version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, mugs, & wall art at TeePublic & Redbubble.

You can also get the orange version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, hoodies, & aprons at TeePublic & Redbubble.

There’s a whole Halloween category of my stuff at Redbubble. I got some stickers for myself to pass out in our non-food Halloween treats bowl.

We are a food allergy household, and while peanuts, tree nuts, or chocolate aren’t triggers for us, we participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project & offer 3 separate bowls… of “traditional” stuff, stuff that is does not contain or is not processed with nuts or chocolate, & total non-food treats. The non-food stuff goes well every year!

Don’t forget to check out my other Halloween mazes like the Haunted House/Graveyard, old Halloween maze merch, and stuff from long ago, or even longer ago!

You can try to solve some of these while listening to my Halloween & monster playlists! Or, check the newest one (I cannot stop!): Halloween | Certified Bangers 💀🦇🕸️🕷️

Haunted House & Graveyard Mazes

Posted on by Standard 2

Have you noticed that I like Halloween? I made some more Halloween-themed mazes. I felt like doing a haunted house and a graveyard. My drawing skills have waned, I need more practice. Third book? Maybe. I have sold 10’s of copies of the others so far. If you try these mazes out, be sure to post your solution on your social media of choice, and tag me. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 just about everywhere. You can even listen to one of my Halloween playlists while you do it… or the monster playlists, or the newest one: Halloween | Certified Bangers 💀🦇🕸️🕷️

You could even print some out for kids at a Halloween party. Just, please, don’t steal & try to sell them.

Also, check out the versions I colored with paint.NET below, and you can get them on stuff at my TeePublic & RedBubble shops.

A Halloween-themed maze illustration featuring a haunted house with intricate maze patterns and a bat flying above, set against a full moon.
A black and white maze design featuring a graveyard theme, with intricate paths and outlines.
A whimsical illustration of a haunted house maze under a full moon, featuring two bats flying overhead and orange-lit windows.
A Halloween-themed maze featuring gravestones, with clear markers indicating the entrance and exit.

You can get the haunted house maze and the graveyard maze on T-shirts, hoodies, stickers, etc. at TeePublic & Redbubble.

Who gets better monster songs?

Posted on by Standard 2

In addition to my plethora of Halloween & Halloween-adjacent playlists, I recently created some rather specific ones.

Which mythical ghouls get the best songs… Vampires, werewolves, or zombies?

These are my lists (so far):

If you have any glaring omissions, I’m all ears! I mean, cryptids, aliens, or mummies may sweep in with a win, too?

Do you base it on one song? On the whole work? On a few standouts?

I mean, the Vampire team has “You’re Dead/Vampire Ska” by We Are Union (not to mention the originals), “Sacrifice Theory” by AFI, & “(She’s My) Vampire Girl” by The Groovy Ghoulies.

The Werewolf team has “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” by the Cramps, “Werewolf” by the Five Man Electrical Band, & “Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy.

Zombies are rocking hard and apparently dancing with “Do the Zombie” by the Eyeliners, “Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship” by Alestorm, & “Re Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton. I think I may be leaning zombies because it was hard to pick just 3 songs.

I wanna hear your take! Hit me up here or on social media at @AIXeLsyD13.

A collage featuring three scenes from a horror-comedy film: the top scene shows a zombie with blood on its face, accompanied by an anguished character; the middle scene features three vampires in dark attire; the bottom scene depicts a werewolf dressed in a basketball uniform, holding a basketball, in a gym setting.