Halloween Cards and Crafts

I picked up a few Halloween craft supplies in the Dollar Section a few weeks back, so I figured now's as good of time as any to put those items to good use. Both Tory's sets of grandparents gave her Halloween gifts already, so we made our own Halloween cards to send as thank-you's.

I borrowed some inspiration from various Internet searches for these projects. For the thank-you card, I didn't have any black paint on hand (nor did I feel like making my own by combining colors), so I traced Tory's handprint on black construction paper for the "spider" and painted a simple white spider web on the card's front for the background. Tory's excited for any craft that involves tracing her hands and feet, so she was a big fan of this one.

Spooky Spider Halloween Thank-You Card

What You'll Need:
Black, orange and white construction paper
White paint
Q-tip or paint brush
Glue
Scissors
Pencil or marker
Googly eyes
Blank envelope

Trace child's hand on black construction paper, then cut the shape out to make the "spider." Glue googly eyes on the spider handprint. Cut then fold in half orange and white construction paper to fit inside blank envelope. (I buy these blank envelopes in bulk for mailing various invitations, handmade cards, etc). I glued the orange and white construction paper pieces together to make an orange "outside" and a white "inside" of the card. Use a Q-tip or paint brush to draw a spider web on the outside of the card with white paint. I just free-handed it. Make four lines connecting in one corner of the card, then draw three or four sets of horizontal lines to connect the vertical lines together.

Write your thank-you message inside.

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I also helped Tory make Halloween "hello" greeting cards for other family members.

Candy Corn Halloween Card

What You'll Need:

Black, orange, yellow and white construction paper

Glue

Scissors

Marker

Halloween stickers

Blank envelope  

Cut and fold a piece of white construction paper to make a card. Be sure it fits inside the blank envelope. Draw a candy corn shape on the outside of the greeting card, then draw two horizontal lines inside the candy corn shape to make three "sections." Tear uneven pieces of black, orange and yellow construction paper into pieces. Then, glue the black, orange and yellow pieces in each section of the candy corn drawing. Write a "Happy Halloween" message inside the card and let the child decorate it with stickers and crayons. Tory enjoyed ripping up all the pieces of construction paper and glueing the paper pieces on one or two cards. Full disclaimer though, I had to finish the rest of them because she lost interest after a while.

Then, I posed Tory in her Halloween costume and included photos in each card for our family members to enjoy. It's basically my own competition to send recent photos to my great-grandma so she can display them in her room at the nursing home. She'll brag about Tory's card and picture for at least three days.

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M&Ms Mini Candy Ghosts

What You'll Need:
M&Ms Mini candy
Orange construction paper
Facial tissue
Small rubber hair tie band
Marker

I bought M&Ms Mini Halloween treats to give to all the little kids in our in-town family. To make them festive, I covered each M&Ms pack with a facial tissue and a small white rubber band (I use little rubber bands for Tory's hair, so I have a whole pack of colors). Then, I dotted two spots on each one for ghost eyes using a black marker. Finally, I traced a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter on orange construction paper and made name tags for each candy.

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This one was just a fun Halloween craft to do together.

Dangling Spider

What You'll Need:

Black construction paper

Scissors

Pipe cleaners

Googly eyes

Hole punch 

String or yarn

Use an upside down bowl to trace a circle shape onto black construction paper, then cut out shape. Punch three holes on each side of the circle and one hole on top of the circle using a hole punch. Let the child place pipe cleaners in each one of the "side" holes on the black circle. Then, have the child scrunch the pipe cleaners various ways to make "spider legs." Tie a piece of string or yarn in the top hole so the spider can hang from the ceiling, window or light fixture.

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Pom Pom Spider

What You'll Need:
Pom Pom
Pipe cleaner
Googly eyes
Scissors
Hot glue gun

I give all the credit to our weekly babysitter who made adorable Halloween spiders using pipe cleaners, pom pom balls and googly eyes with Tory one morning. She cut a pipe cleaner in thirds for the "spider legs" and hot glued them to a pom pom ball along with googly eyes. Simple and cute.