I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween so I am always caught off guard as far when and what to put up around this time of year.
On the other hand, my husband grew up very involved in the Halloween festivities. His father worked actively in an organization that raised money for Special Olympics. Their most popular fundraiser was designing, building, and running a haunted house that drew thousands of people and thus raised a lot of money for a very special cause. My husband talks about going to the haunted house as a young boy, years later - helping to build sets and then when he was old enough, acting in some of the rooms. It is more nostalgia for him then for me,
so we compromise.
As a mother of young boys, I am also sensitive about what images I want displayed in my house. Most of the Halloween decorations available in stores are either too expensive or too gory.
So I came up with my own Halloween decorations/crafts that won’t wake my kids up in the middle of the night
and it can save a little money too.
I made this owl out of brown, black, white and orange construction paper I had in the art supply area. I love his cute little eyes.
I also made a brown branch for him where he can keep an eye on things!
He’s a real hoot!
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I love cats. I actually really want a cat of my own, and I can’t (one family member has asthma). I tend to improvise when I can.
So, I decided to make a cute, black, paper cat of my own. I drew an idea of the kind of shape and expression I wanted of the cat. When I got as close as I could to the idea, I put some black card stock paper underneath and traced it again really hard with a pen.
This left an imprint on the black paper which I cut out with scissors and then the eyes/mouth with an X-Acto knife.
Green tissue paper was perfect for the eyes as it let some light come through.
I just glued them on the back.
I think my little black cat is purrrrfect!
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These little, black bats are so cute you might be tempted to take one home. I cut them out of black poster board and then traced them with a white colored pencil.
The eyes were easy to make with a hole puncher.
I was happy I finally found a reason to use the patient, white colored pencils that never get used.
These bats look great on windows or hanging from a ceiling!
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I like to set out battery-operated candles on our ledges so I made this little owl cover for one. I folded brown construction paper in half and then in half again, drew a little owl and then cut it out.
I used the hole puncher for it’s eyes too!
After I unfolded it, I added more details, then taped the two ends together and dropped a little, battery-operated candle inside.
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I wanted to do a simple Halloween craft with the kids using things I already had around the house. I pulled out some Styrofoam egg cartons, toothpicks, an inkpad and a clear stamp block. They drew some pictures on the Styrofoam and then we cut out the shapes. We taped them onto the clear stamp block and pressed them on the ink pad and then on paper. They turned out really cute.
The boys really liked making ‘their own stamps’. After they skipped away from the table I tried the same technique but on craft foam. They turned out much clearer. Here are the ones with the craft foam.
(Please notice the one nail I got painted that day!)
Here is a darling mummy craft I did last year with the boys using string and popsicle sticks.
Enjoy and have fun!
(this button is a tiny snapshot of a future post)
I love this sign!
