Halloween crafts made from household items

Story highlights

Use the items you have around the house to make Halloween extra spooky this year

Spiders, monsters and pumpkins are easily made with glue, paper and buttons

Paper towel tubes transform into scary monsters or a Halloween gourd garland

Parenting.com  — 

We’ve got tricks for turning objects around the house—like baby food jars and cardboard tubes—into easy Halloween crafts.

Terrifying tube monsters (Watch how to make this craft!)

You’ll need: Paper-towel tubes, craft paint, buttons, straws, pom-poms, stickers, feathers, golf tees, rickrack, construction paper

1. Cut the tubes to desired height and paint.
2. Create faces by adding buttons.
3. Glue straws topped with pom-poms to create the monsters’ antennae.
4. Decorate with stickers, feathers, golf tees, rickrack, and construction paper. Make it easy by pre-cutting construction paper eyes, mustaches and mouths, and let your tot glue them herself!

Chilling spider web (Watch how to make this craft!)

You’ll need: Embroidery hoop, white string, 2 yards, plastic spiders, colored pom-poms

1. Wrap white string around an embroidery hoop, overlapping in a crisscross pattern as you go. Glue string ends to the hoop.
2. Glue two pom-poms to each plastic spider, and attach them to the web.
3. Add a string to the hoop and hang.

Parenting.com: Easy no-carve pumpkin ideas

Spooky paper spider piñata (Watch how to make this craft!)

You’ll need: Black paper lantern, black tissue paper, black crepe-paper roll, white and orange card stock, buttons, floral wire

1. Fill black paper lantern with small treats, and tape black tissue paper over the top and bottom holes.
2. Cut 16 strips of crepe paper, each 20 inches long.
3. Sandwich an 18-inch piece of floral wire in between two strips of crepe paper, and glue together. Cut eight circles out of the remaining crepe paper.
4. Glue each crepe circle to an end of each strip to make “legs.” Next, glue each leg to the spider body.
5. Cut two large circles out of white card stock, then two smaller circles out of orange card stock. Glue white and orange circles together, then add a black button to each “eye.”
6. Attach eyes to spider, add a cord, and hang. For tiny crafters under the age of 3, replace buttons with black pom-poms to create eyes and avoid potential choking hazards.

Eerie milk carton haunted house

You’ll need: Half-gallon milk or juice carton, newspaper, black, yellow, and white construction paper, pipe cleaner

1. Cover the carton with newspaper. Cut two sheets of black paper into rectangles to make roof, then add scalloped shingles to each side.
2. Fold a 3-inch strip of paper into a 3-D rectangle to create the chimney. Cut a slit in the center of two opposite chimney sides, then attach to the peak of the roof.
3. Cut small rectangles out of black paper to make the door and windows. Add smaller yellow rectangles to each window, then add desired colorful accents to the windows and door.
4. Cut ghost shapes out of white paper, and attach to a pipe cleaner. Place the pipe cleaner in the chimney.

Boo baby food jar bats

You’ll need: Empty baby-food jars, labels removed, black paint, black construction paper, purple glitter, buttons

1. Paint jars and lids black.
2. Cut two identical scalloped wings and two small triangles, or “bat ears,” out of black paper.
3. Cover the edge of the wings and triangles with glue, then sprinkle with purple glitter.
4. Glue two buttons to the front for eyes, wings to the back of the jar, and ears to front of the lid.

Parenting.com: Halloween face painting 101

Ghastly recycled-can mummy

You’ll need: Empty metal cans (be sure top edges are smooth, not jagged), cheesecloth, buttons, gummy worms

1. Cut 3-inch strips of cheesecloth, then glue one end of each to the side of a can. Wrap, secure with glue, and repeat.
2. Glue on two buttons to create eyes.
3. Fill can with gummy worms.

Ghoulish Trick-or-Treat cans

You’ll need: Empty paint cans, wrapping paper, Mod Podge, black construction paper

1. Measure the height and circumference of the can, then cut a rectangle the size of your can out of wrapping paper.
2. Paint the can with a thin layer of Mod Podge, and cover the outside of the can with the paper rectangle.
3. Cut spooky shapes out of black construction paper and glue to front of can, then finish with a coat of Mod Podge.

Parenting.com: Kid Halloween costumes seized for lead contamination

Creepy paper towel pumpkin garland

You’ll need: Paper towel tubes (one paper towel tube makes 11 pumpkins), orange paint, orange pipe cleaners, green paper, orange rickrack

1. Cut a paper tube into 1-inch sections, and paint orange. Once dry, make a hole in top and bottom with a hole punch.
2. Cut pipe cleaners in half, and fold each. Push ends in one hole, leaving a loop at the top.
3. Once through the second hole, bend open to secure. You’ll have a 1-inch looped “stem.”
4. Cut a leaf out of green paper; glue to the top of each pumpkin.
5. String rickrack through the pumpkin “stems” and hang.

Wicked witch’s hat bag of treats

You’ll need: Black and colored construction paper, ribbon

1. Trace a 10-inch dinner plate on a piece of black paper. Cut out the circle, and set aside.\
2. Cut a semicircle out of a piece of 8 by 10-inch black paper, form into a cone, and secure with glue. (It should be 3 to 4 inches in diameter.)
3. Place the cone in the center of the larger circle and trace. Then cut “tabs” in traced circle.
4. Glue cone over traced circle, and bend “tabs” inward. Decorate with colored paper. Attach a 12-inch piece of ribbon to each side.

Eek jar-o’-lanterns

You’ll need: Canning jars, acrylic craft paint, Energizer LED battery-powered votive

1. Paint inside of a jar with colored paint, and paint the lid black. (Paint coating should be translucent enough for light to shine through.)
2. Draw a spooky face with black paint or black marker.
3. Add a safe LED light to create the spooky glow.

Parenting.com: Most inappropriate pumpkins ever