Halloween Crafts

It only comes around once a year, so why not celebrate Halloween with a collection of memorable crafts? From costumes to pumpkins, sweet treats to harvest décor, there's almost no end to the creative things you can do to decorate your home. Kids and adults can get in on the celebration with craft-filled activities.

Indoor Halloween Decorations

Halloween crafts can decorate your home and add to the holiday theme. While some of your decorations will be more suited just for October 31, many crafts can last the entire fall season.

Candle Crafting

Use orange, black and purple votive candles for this easy craft idea:

Paint clear votive candle holders with designs such as spiders, ghosts, cats, pumpkins, witches and more.
If you're not good at freestyle painting, use stencils to create the shapes.
Add the candles and light them at night for a spooky feel.

Alternately, fill a shallow glass dish with candy corn and "float" candles in the middle of the sweet treats.

Crafty Spiders

Kids of all ages will enjoy this activity. You'll need these supplies:

Empty egg carton
Black pipe cleaners
Kid-friendly black paint
Glue
Googly eyes, available at craft stores

Carefully cut individual holders from an egg carton. Young children will need supervision for this and should use safety scissors. Otherwise, an older child or adult should perform this step.

Turn the holders upside down, so that the hump is pointing upwards. Paint the exterior with black paint and let dry.
Glue the googly eyes on the front of the "spider."
Cut pipe cleaners to 3-inch lengths.
Stick eight pipe cleaners directly into the "body" and bend to create "legs."

Pumpkins All Around

Nothing says "Halloween" like pumpkins. Try these pumpkin craft ideas:

Go the traditional route and carve faces on pumpkins. Expressions may range from frightening to funny. While an adult should do the carving, get the children's input for facial expressions.
Use paint, markers or stencils instead to draw faces or other designs on pumpkins. Small pumpkins are especially suitable for little hands.
Design a colorful fall centerpiece with leaves (real or fake), acorns, mini pumpkins and pine cones. Artfully arrange your items on a wooden plate or in a small bowl. This will add seasonal cheer to your dining room or kitchen table.
Cut the stalk off a small gourd and clean the gourd out thoroughly. Insert a candle into the opening. A small arrangement of gourd-candles are perfect decorative items for a Halloween party.

Other Ideas

Gather crafty items such as orange and black paper, tissue paper, fabric pens, paints and paint pens, felt paper, construction paper, plastic cups and more. Let your imagination run wild. Create some of these fun crafts:

Wall hangings on posterboard
Bat, spider and pumpkin cutouts
Tissue ghosts

Outdoor Halloween Crafts

Crafts aren't just for indoors. Let visitors and candy-seekers know that your home is the Halloween spot by taking your decorating ideas outside, too.

Wreath

A Halloween wreath is a great way to welcome guests to your home.

You'll need the following:

Unused coffee filters (one or two large packs of the basket style)
Orange and black food colorings
Round styrofoam wreath form
Old newspaper
Hot glue gun
Large buckets or bowls

Fill two buckets or large bowls halfway with cold water.
Add orange food coloring to one and black food coloring to the other.
Separate coffee filters and dunk them into food color baths. Leave in from a few seconds to slightly longer, depending on how dark you want the color.
Remove filters and let dry on newspaper.
Once filters are dry, glue them randomly onto the wreath form, making sure it's completely covered. There's no need to be precise; bunch the filters with your fingers randomly to create a pleasing, rounded shape.

Bush Faces

Give your home a spooky look with this craft:

Gather old white sheets and black fabric paint -- flat or puffy paint works well.
Drape the sheets over large bushes in your yard and secure at the base with string, rope or bricks.
Paint faces onto the sheets. Anything from scary to funny will do.

Make a Graveyard

Store-bought mini tombstones are cute and easy to buy, but why not make your own cemetery to welcome visitors?

You'll need these items:

Old cereal boxes
Gray and black paint
Skinny dowel sticks

Cut the front and back off of cereal boxes.
Round the upper edges with scissors so that the top corners are curved.
Paint the front and back gray. Allow to dry.
Add epitaphs with black paint. Funny R.I.P. sayings are sure to amuse guests as they walk to your front door.
Place tombstones around your front yard. Use short dowel rods to make them stand.

Homemade Halloween Costumes

It seems like every crafty mom loves to make cool Halloween costumes for her kids. Not only can you save a bundle, your children receive one-of-a-kind outfits that allow creative input from everyone.

Using Sweatsuits

Choose a different color sweatsuit, and you have a different character with each one.

Add stuffing, such as a small pillow, underneath a white sweatshirt, add white sweatpants and your child has the beginnings of a snowman costume.
A black sweatsuit can easily morph into a scary spider with the addition of eight stuffed hosiery legs secured to the back of the shirt.
Create a ladybug design on a red sweatsuit by taping (or securing with velcro tabs) black poster board circles across the back.
Cut curved wings out of colorful poster board, decorate with dots and swirls and secure to the back of a dark sweatshirt. Instant butterfly!
Dress a child in a red or purple sweatshirt. Add a large cluster of matching blown-up balloons and you have a bunch of grapes costume.

Adding Face Paints

Begin with the same sweatsuit idea and add face paints. You don't have to be a creative genius to create a bunny, dog or cat face, either.

Dot the nose with pink or black face paint; be sure you use a non-toxic brand that's safe for kids.
Draw whiskers with thin white lines onto the cheeks.
Place random black dots on area between the nose and upper lip.
Use fake teeth to create a more realistic "bunny mouth."
Now you can add an easy tail. You'll often find clip-on tails that secure to the back of pants, but you can also make a tail with stuffed pantyhose. Just match the color to the costume.

Crafting Fun for All

Halloween crafts work for all ages from kids to grownups and may be easy or complex; the choice is yours. With so many crafting ideas for Halloween, you might want to get started well before the big day. Children often have a wealth of creative ideas, so don't leave them out of the action. From indoor decorations to outdoor ideas, you can transform your home into a spooky, creepy or amusing environment, perfect for parties and welcoming trick-or-treaters. Halloween is a great holiday for bringing the spirit of fun to people of all ages. When you use your creative energy to make crafts, you have even more reason to celebrate.