Halloween is certainly the most spooky time of year, and it’s a great chance to get dressed up, eat candy, and have a fun time with friends and family. To really get your kids excited about All Hallows Eve, why not spend some time creating homemade, scary Halloween decorations that you can use to decorate your home and really give it a chilling and creepy atmosphere. Sure, things can get messy – but your family is sure to have a lot of fun doing these easy crafts at home.
Milk Jug Ghosts
Traditionally, pumpkins are carved into scary shapes at Halloween, but if your kids are very little it’s not always practical to have sharp knives around, yet you still want something pumpkin-like to really scare the neighbourhood kids. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, save your empty plastic milk bottles, clean them out, and remove all the labels. Give your kids some paints and pens, and ask them to create spine-chilling faces that turn the plain bottles into unnerving ghosts. This activity can get a bit messy, so make sure you have some good laundry detergent to hand. You can find out more about the working of washing machine appliances online and how best to tackle tough stains, too. All you need to know is that these clever machines will get your kids’ clothes looking brand new, regardless of how messy they get!
Frightening Cupcakes
Kids love baking (mainly because they get a tasty treat at the end of it!) so making spooky cupcakes is a great activity. Together, make up a batch of plain cupcakes, and allow them to cool. This is where the fun really begins! Melt some chocolate and add a small amount of heavy cream to make a ganache. Allow this to set slightly, so that it thickens but can still be piped. Put the ganache into a piping bag and let your kids use their imagination and creativity to draw all sorts of Halloween-related designs on top of the cupcakes, such as spider webs, bats, and black cats. To make it even more interesting, you could opt to use white chocolate with a few drops of food colouring to make colourful designs and styles. This can be a messy activity, but your kids are sure to enjoy it!
Haunted Houses
If you’ve got some empty cardboard boxes laying around, why not turn them into chillingly lifelike haunted houses? You don’t need large boxes – the type from cereal packets are ideal. With your kids, glue a number of different sized boxes together to create a three or four storey house, then draw on windows and doors, and paint the boxes a dark colour. Then it’s time to get creative! Is that a ghost in the bedroom window? Or a bat on the roof? And what about that skeleton knocking at the front door? There’s no limit to how scary you can make your house, and it comes in handy as a great Halloween decoration once it’s finished.
Getting your kids excited about Halloween is fun, even for adults! Why buy Halloween decorations in the store when you can make your own at home with just a few empty bottles and boxes and some amazing decorating skills? You’ll have the scariest house in the neighbourhood – guaranteed!