GRISWOLDDAD
Parenting, Entertainment, and Travel Tips
Halloween Crafts and Activities
There are plenty of fun things to do at Halloween too, of course. You can decorate your house with creepy decoration, spooky sounds, a graveyard in the front yard, flying ghosts and bats, imagination and price tags are your only limiters! Costumes, trick or treating, and carving pumpkins, haunted houses and haunted trails, hayrides and Halloween festivals are just the tip of the iceberg on the fun traditions of Halloween. There's the cartoon Halloween specials like the ageless "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," or the excellent "Shrek" specials. Then, there's the creepy food ideas, like cheese sticks carved into monster fingers, cupcakes that look like brains, spider deserts, pumpkin brownies, potato skins that look like ghosts with sour cream and chive faces!
I tell you...kids are lucky I don't live in a bigger neighborhood. It'd be my sole mission to scare the mess out of all that came to my house. I used to try, and since almost no one trick or treats on my road, my wife let me decorate as scary as I wanted, knowing that if I lay out in the front yard in a coffin waiting to jump out and scare kids...that these theoretical kids were safe since they were not coming... Once that understanding set in and my boys were born, I've dialed it back a little and now focus on the boys' Halloween experience. We all dress in themed family costumes, such as this year, we're all going as the "Guardians of the Galaxy"... and I steer them away from the really scary houses where I know someone just like me (let's call him a fun "griswolddad") lays in wait to give really good scares and then make up for it with apologetic candy!
Jack-O-Lanterns
Jack-o-Lanterns are the most iconic, traditional of all Halloween crafts. So, naturally, they're the first in the list. People get wild with designs for these, ranging from full Halloween scenes to traditional triangle eyes and noses.
Trick-r-Treating and Costumes
The favorite tradition of Halloween is dressing in costume and going trick-r-treating for candy! We like to do themed costumes for the whole family.
Painting Pumpkins
Many Halloween or Fall festivals offer pumpkin painting which can be a fun activity and craft for the kids, especially little ones. Bonus, the uncut pumpkin doesn't rot nearly as quickly as their cut into Jack-o-Lantern brethren. Similar to the lanterns, the painted pumpkin can show Halloween scenes and symbols or scary monster faces!
Paper Plate Pumpkin
Paint a paper plate orange and add a Jack-o-Lantern face. Then, cut some green construction paper strips and fold them accordion style. Glue those strips to the pumpkin plate as its arms and legs. Add some green leaves at the top of the pumpkin to make him (or her) look as if they're walking straight out of the pumpkin patch.
Lollipop Ghosts
This one is super simple and makes a good treat to send to school for the classroom Halloween parties. All you have to do is wrap a tissue around a lollipop and tie it with a rubber band. Last, draw on a fun face!
Paper Plate Black Cat
Start by painting a paper plate black. Cut out a black construction paper tail and glue it to the back edge of the plate. Then, cut a round circle of black construction paper and 2 black triangles. Add the triangles to the circle as ears and the newly formed head to the paper plate body. Next add the face by gluing on googly eyes, a pompom nose, and pipe cleaner whiskers.
Pumpkin Cake
You don't need actual pumpkin cake for this one. Take any cake slice, cover it with orange frosting. Then draw a jack-o-lantern face on it with black frosting. Use green licorice, sour gummy worms, or any other green candy stick to make the stem.
Spider Cupcake
Start with a cupcake. Add string licorice as spider legs and cookies as eyes.
Paper Roll Bat Craft
Paint a toilet paper roll black, then bend in the top on either side to create "ears" on the left and right. Add googly eyes, then draw and cut out a mouth and glue it onto the face as well. Finally, cut wings out of black construction paper and glue those to the back of the roll, creating your finished bat.
Haunted Houses
Whether you make a haunted house out of wood, or gingerbread (they sell kits similar to the Christmas gingerbread house kits now), or simply draw one on a piece of paper, they're fun to make.
Orange Pumpkins
Peel a mandarin orange. Then stick a celery piece or sour gummy worm in the top as a stem.
Eyeball Cupcakes
Buy or make white frosted cupcakes. Add gummy eyeballs on the top and drizzle red get frosting to make the eyes "bloody".
Paper Plate Ghost
No need to paint the paper plate this time, just draw on ghostly eyes and a mouth. Then, cut arms and hands out of white paper and add those to each side of your ghost head. Stream strips of toilet paper from the bottom of the ghost head to create its ghostly body.
Bone Bread Sticks
Get a can of breadsticks at the store, the kind you unravel once you pop the can open. Form them into bone shapes and bake them. Serve with marinara as a "blood" dip.
Ghost Potato Skins
Make potato skins, cover them in sour cream, and add chives as the eyes and mouth.
Paper Plate Witch
This time, paint your paper plate green. Add construction paper strips of "hair" in any color you'd like. Glue on googly eyes, a construction paper nose, and a construction paper mouth, which shows better on the green paint than trying to draw one on. Finally, cut out a construction paper witch's hat for the final touch.
Spider Craft
Cut the egg part out of an egg carton, decorate it as the spider's body. Then stick pipe cleaners into each side to create the spider's legs.
Lollipop Spider
Here's another Halloween craft that doubles as a treat. Tie 4 pipe cleaners around a lollipop stick, leaving each end stretching out to the sides as legs. So, 4 pipe cleaners equals 8 legs. Add googly eyes to the knot points at the base of the candy. The candy sucker part acts as the spider's abdomen.
"Finger" Food
Take string cheese sticks, cut lines into them at one end and the middle to create "knuckles". Then, divot out the other end enough to make indentions for a fingernail. Use green or red peppers to make the fingernail.
Brain Food
Use an icing bag to squeeze frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes. Use a swirling pattern to mimic the line patterns of a brain. It's even better if you can find cupcake liners with skulls on them!
Vomiting Pumpkin Dip
A Jack-o-lantern mouth makes a great place to start a trail of dip from its mouth to the plate. Encircle the dip on the plate with chips, and you have a cool chip/dip presentation for a Halloween party.
"Guts" for Dinner
Yes, this one is gross...
Linked sausage makes "intestines". Prop barbecue ribs above them for the "chest"...and then for presentation, put a plastic skull at the top of the platter.
If it doesn't gross you out, enjoy the food!
Mummy Hot Dogs
Wrap dough around the hot dogs and bake. Use squirt ketchup to make the eyes.