You do not have to be a good crafter to be able to make many special Halloween items that will make your holiday joyful. Halloween suggests pictures of spooky ghosts, black cats, dark witches, and flying bats.

You can recreate some of these images with fun and easy crafts.

The best part about creating Halloween crafts is that it is something that the whole family can do and it can give you some time to spend together. Lots of Halloween crafts can be made by almost any age kid. For instance, your toddler can help out and learn new skills like cutting, drawing, and coloring.

Of course, you need some crafting supplies from the store. Here is the basic craft equipment needed:

Various craft paintings: black, white, orange, etc. (pots and spraying cans) Gold and silver paint (spraying cans) Colored pipe cleaners Black, white, silver and gold markers

Obviously, most homes already have basic craft supplies like scissors, tape and glue.

So, let’s begin: it is going to be fun!

Spiders

To make these spiders, you need an egg carton.

Cut all the egg cups.

Paint them black.

Paint their eyes with white or orange paint.

Make four small holes on each side of the spiders.

Insert a black or colored pipe cleaner in each hole and stick or glue them to the spider.

Give the shape you want to the pipe cleaners

Pumpkin boxes

Find as many small pumpkin plastic containers as you want.

Fill them with candies.

Voila! Treats are ready to be given to children who will ring on your bell on Halloween Eve.



Colored Pumpkins

Here is a very special idea that will allow you to renew your Halloween decorations without having to spend a lot of money. You probably already have ceramic pumpkins. Instead of buying new Halloween ornaments, paint your old ones according to your needs: gold or silver paint for a luxurious decoration, for instance.

You may also want to paint them in black or white. With a black, white, silver or gold marker, draw Halloween shapes on these new pumpkins such as black cat, white witch, black mansion…

Children enjoy bright colors so you can paint your pumpkins in several different bright colors such as orange, green, blue, red, yellow, etc. Draw Halloween figures on these pumpkins. For teenagers ornament, paint pumpkins with metallic colors, glow-in-the-dark, glitter, etc.

Pumpkin Jar

If you already have one or more, fill a glass jar with small plastic or ceramic pumpkins; alternate pumpkins with maple berries and leaves.

Homemade Halloween Lights

Here is an almost free Halloween craft! Paint small jars in black, white and orange. Draw some Halloween shapes on them and insert a tea light candle in each jar. For instance, paint a white jar, draw Scream murderer’s eyes and mouth and voila, you have an original ghost light. Place the Halloween candles on a black tray, insert mini pumpkins, maple berries and leaves, etc.

If you have larger jars, you may paint them as well and pour in Christmas lights.

Halloween Candelabra

Paint candelabra with black paint.

Add orange wax lights.

Hang cobwebs on the candelabra for a spooky Halloween effect!

Halloween Centrepiece

You will need to use a bread basket in order to make this item.

Fill it with some maple leaves.

Add cobweb, mini pumpkins, spiders…

You may keep the basket for Thanksgiving: you will only have to replace cobweb and spiders by grapes and pine cones.

Halloween Tree

Put bare branches in a vase.

Paint small Christmas tree balls black, white, and orange.

Draw Halloween figures on them.

Hang the balls on the branches.

You may also create your own Halloween tree ornaments such as ghosts, black cat, witches, and spiders cut out cardboard. Paint them and hang them on the tree.

Tip: make a uncommon Halloween garland with popcorn painted orange.

Witch Hat

If you still have a pointy black hat from last year, reuse it by sticking Halloween items such as fake hands, spiders, cobwebs or other spooky items and pin it to the front door.

Happy Halloween!



By: D. Halet

About the Author:

It’s a scary world out there, and so it is no wonder that the popularity of the holiday formerly known as All Hallows’ Eve has risen in recent years, ensuring continued healthy product sales of wholesale Halloween decorations, endless recordings of screams from cheap horror films, bulk seasonal candy closeouts, and all the other trappings that go with the one holiday devoted to scares and outlandish costumes. But why is a holiday devoted both to fright and fantasy so enduring?

Fantasy and horror are, if you think about it, mostly about control. Fantasy, like the Harry Potter books and Lord of the Rings, are often about largely powerful beings, sometimes with the help of seemingly less powerful creatures, working together to fight a very powerful evil. Horror is mainly about powerless, ordinary humans fleeing, and only occasionally defeating, an all but unstoppable evil force. The fun part is that’s it’s only a story and, in real life, we’re very unlikely to have to flee brain eating zombies, vampires, or superhuman murderers, and the enduring success of horror comedies like the cult hit Shaun of the Dead play off that real world/unreal world dichotomy.

No one enjoys being actually frightened for any extended period, but from our earliest ages we love safe, short-lived, scares – a trusted friend or relative sneaking up behind us and saying “boo” is fun because the result is actually a kind of reassurance that our terror was groundless, after all – our momentary lack of control provides the tension, and the fact that we were fine all along provides the release. Thrill rides are similar in that we willingly subject ourselves to something that appears to be extremely dangerous, while actually being much safer than crossing the street. And so, there is a reason that every classic fairy tale, and most great family films, includes an element of terror. We’ve heard rumors that theater owners used to have to spend a fair amount of money to replace a certain number of urine-soaked seats whenever screening Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She might have caused countless nightmares for little ones, but without the terrifying, witch-like Evil Queen, there would be no one for the once powerless heroine and her diminutive friends to triumph over.

And so, Halloween celebrates both side of the fantasy/horror equations, and what the products we buy to celebrate mirror that dichotomy. Just as horror films range from once horrifying but now enjoyably dated monster classics like the 1930’s productions of Frankenstein and Dracula, to innumerable more recent ultra-disturbing opuses produced on the cheap, so do popular costumes range from superheroes (power fantasies), to **** nurse outfits (celebrating a different kind of power), to masks resembling political figures (depending on your opinions, a different kind of horror, perhaps), to the budding make-up wizards who try to turn our stomachs in the style of famed gore make-up genius Tom Savini.

Of course, while adults have been increasingly co-opting Halloween for their own purposes, it remains very largely a children’s holiday. It is therefore the more fun and cartoony bulk products and cheap items that prevail at sellers of wholesale Halloween decorations or that you see at the drug store closeout discount counter – scary/silly false teeth, coloring books, and themed bulk candy in various shapes that give little ones a sense of empowerment over their most fanciful fears. What better way to show your mastery over a monster than to eat it?



By: Marc Joseph

About the Author:

Do you ever wish you could make your Halloween decorations more distinctive? If so, you should take some direction from my nephew, who recently completely wowed us all with his creativity. Every year, my sister and my neighbor have a good natured competition over who creates the best haunted house within their own homes. But this year my nephew outdid them both with his distinctive and unique Halloween decorations.

With his decorations, my nephew would have done the Adams family proud. He placed fake spider webs all over the house, with the stairs looking the best. Then he used several plastic bats, setting them artistically in various corners of the rooms of their house. He even hung them from the chandelier in the family room. Then he used paper skeletons to add an extra touch. He stuck them to the walls in a very creative fashion. For example, one looked like it was walking into my sister’s bedroom, and another appeared to be peaking out of the door to the basement. There was even one that would welcome you as you entered the front door, greeting you from behind the couch with a bony smile.

He also decked out the kitchen. He placed artfully carved Jack O’Lanterns around with tea lights to give the room a spooky glow. Then, with clever touches he made the kitchen into a witch’s sanctuary. A decorated paper witch was hung where the mop is usually kept, and the mop itself was decorated to look like a witch’s broom. Then, he placed a potion pot on the stove to really make it feel like something creepy was cooking in the kitchen! You just knew that witch was up to no good!

However, the theme I loved the most was the one he put together in my niece’s bedroom. She’s an avid collector of stuffed animals, with plush toys everywhere. There were stuffed monkeys, cats, bunnies, teddy bears, and pretty much anything else you could think of. Rather than get rid of all the cute, my nephew decided to use them as props. He turned some of the plush toys into phantoms and ghosts, with white handkerchiefs used for each and a hole for their eyes. He looped a strap around their waists and hung them from the ceiling so they were “floating.” For her stuffed raccoon, because it already had a villainous look with its natural mask, he added a chain and a plastic knife. He turned several of the animals into vampires, the best of which was one of her teddy bears. He gave it a black cape and made some sharp white teeth from paper to complete its transformation in to a bloodsucker.

My nephew proved that with some creativity you can really make a spooky Halloween haunt. And of course, to no one’s surprise, he won the competition! We’re now all anxiously waiting to see what he’ll come up with next year, and who knows what my niece’s teddy bears will become next! So as you can see, there are many ways to be creative and work with what you already have to make the perfect Halloween sanctuary. Have fun, and creativity will surely follow!



By: Corina Volegna

About the Author: