Autumn / Fall / Halloween Decorations?

[Think of Winter]

We're planning a Halloween party for young children. Anyone have good ideas for homemade decorations, either for inside or outside? I bought some mums, asters, and pumpkins today and now I'm really in the mood. Don't ask me why I'm rushing summer away...we still have 4 1/2 days!!

[tinasquirrel]

Last year, the kids and I made ghosts to hang from our front porch. I bought some inexpensive satin-type fabric. Then, cut it in big squares, wrapped it around a blown up balloon and tied it off at the bottom of the balloon. Then, I let the kids draw ghost faces with fabric markers on the part of the fabric that covered the balloons. Oh, and don't forget to thread some string or embroidery floss through the top before you put it around the balloon so you can hang it from your porch. The boys had a lot of fun making them themselves, and using them to decorate the outside of the house.

[MilkbarMom]

Pumpkin Trick-or-Treat buckets with the handles removed, hang nicely from the ceiling with fishing line. They look like they are floating, and glow nicely in the presence of a black light.

[medaroge]

I like the bucket idea. Also, hay bales to sit on and dried corn stalks make very good decorations and are inexpensive.

[KaraBoo]

When the kids who came to our parties were little, I had stations set up in the living room. (Also, I pushed all the furniture up against the walls to create better seating and more room to play and run around.)

I printed out autumn/halloween pics to color and put out a bin of crayons.

I bought each kid a black stuffed kitten and we used surgical gauze to "mummify" the kittens which they could take home.

We made paper napkin ghosts. These are super easy. Open a paper napkin. Put some cotton in the middle for a head. Close up and tie with twine. If you want, you can have them make a face on it too but the napkins tear rather easily.

One decoration people always liked at our parties were the Tesco ghosts. LOL They called them that cuz I used a Tesco (grocery/dept store) bag to make each. First, cut off handles of any white plastic bag and cut ribbons up to the fold. Leave a few inches, though. Then, blow up a white balloon and tape the bag around one end like a skirt. Draw face on the balloon. I usually taped the bag around the fat end of the balloon cuz I used the tied end to hang it from the ceiling.

You can cut ribbons and tear and twist plastic garbage bags and hang them in the doorways. I like the really cheap thin bags cuz the thick ones tend to smell! LOL

I love Halloween! I'll come back with more ideas when I have some more time.

Edited to add my blog post about last Halloween. You can see the plastic ghosts hanging from the light fixture in the living room.
Halloweenie

[tinasquirrel]

Originally Posted by KaraBoo

I bought each kid a black stuffed kitten and we used surgical gauze to "mummify" the kittens which they could take home.

That is so funny!

[KristyDi]

We saved cans from canned food, I also saved a couple of those huge empty coffee cans from work. I used a nail to poke some holes in them then spray painted some orange and some white (you could do green or black too) Then DH and I painted Halloween faces on them. Then I coated them with a clear layer to protect them. We have a vampire, a mummy, a jack-o-lantern, a frankenstein and a ghost. We set them out with candles in them.

[ian'smommaya]

Originally Posted by KristyDi

We saved cans from canned food, I also saved a couple of those huge empty coffee cans from work. I used a nail to poke some holes in them then spray painted some orange and some white (you could do green or black too) Then DH and I painted Halloween faces on them. Then I coated them with a clear layer to protect them. We have a vampire, a mummy, a jack-o-lantern, a frankenstein and a ghost. We set them out with candles in them.

thats a cute idea. i made pumpkins or gourds out of wool felt. i basically cut out six footb all shapes and sewed them together and stuft them. they are super cute.
grapevines strung around are nice too. dried into a candle holder shape...

[thixle]

Giant garbage bag spider! http://www.cindysporch.net/pages/spider.shtml

[Think of Winter]

[mama_mich]

Straight from Martha!! If you're having a punch bowl you could take medical gloves fill with water and freeze. You could also take a plastic mask and freeze the water in this too. Then you have scary face and hands ice cubes floating in your bowl!

[mrsalf97]

Originally Posted by thixle

Giant garbage bag spider! http://www.cindysporch.net/pages/spider.shtml

I made this for ds and he was so excited.

[moocowma]

pumpkin string

My boys (9 and 2) made a string of pumpkins the other night and it seemed to be a good mixed-age activity. I cut out pumpkin shapes in different sizes from old cardboard boxes we had lying around and painted them orange. Each boy took a few and decorated them, then we strung them together with green twine and hung them from a nail on the porch. You could do several strings if you were patient and make it like one of those old beaded curtains that went in a doorway in the 70s.

Another easy one was egg carton bats. Take three sections from an egg carton. The one in the center is the bat's body, so leave it alone. The two on either side are wings and you cut out the shape of wings on the front of the cups. Then, draw a face on the center and color it if you like. You can poke a string through the top to hang it. Or a couple of rubber bands make it a bouncy toy so you children can scare each other like mine do.