Halloween Craft Ideas

On October 31st, we will all turn into pumpkins, in some way shape or form, so here to help you plan for the main event is Amanda Kingloff, editor at Parents Magazine. She's got some unique Halloween craft ideas that you will love.

Host: October 31st is just around the corner, it’s Halloween. Everybody getting ready for it. So here to help you plan for the main event is Amanda Kingloff. She’s the editor of Parents Magazine and she’s got some unique and creative Halloween craft ideas for you and your little goblins to enjoy so everybody can have fun right? Amanda: Everybody can have fun and you can essentially go around your house and turn anything into a pumpkin. We were kind of amazed at all the round things that we found. Host: And inexpensive too because we like the fact that you don’t have to spend a lot. Amanda: Really inexpensive and things that you can reuse which is also really great. So we started here and we though Christmas a little bit and we used these kind of traditional plastic ornaments that open up and we filled them with different craft materials in orange, pompoms, feathers, crinkled paper and with a Sharpie we just drew on the little pumpkin faces. Host: I don’t think that people can see at home. There you go, you can see it up close now, you can see the different materials inside. Amanda: It obviously doesn’t take a lot of time to do something like this and if you need help, we have templates on line at parents.com that you can download to use as guides. Host: Good, so there’s some help. Then I like the candles down where too. These aren’t just regular candles? Amanda: They’re not just regular candles. They light up and they’re just cute and they’re just a cute little accent for your Halloween. Host: And you can definitely use those over and over and over again. Now, the picture frames. This looks so professional though. Amanda: Everyone has picture frames and the great thing about these again is that they’re not permanent. Everything you’re doing you can undo. Just remove the picture, remove the glass. We put in little orange pieces of paper again, downloaded the templates from parents.com and just wrapped the frame in orange ribbon. Host: So these are not glued down. You can take it off-- Amanda: Nothing’s glued, it’s just taped. You can take it off or if you buy the frame specifically for Halloween, just store them and pull them out again next year. Host: That’s smart, I’m telling you smart. Now, we’re going to make something here. This is a different kind of a bag that you guys can use for trick or treating. Amanda: Trick or treating bag and this is great because it’s a canvass bag that you can get at any craft store and after you’re done with Halloween you can actually remove this and reuse it. You’re not using paint or glue or anything. So it’s really easy. Host: So you kind of use different colored tape obviously. Amanda: So the first thing you want to do is start with orange tape and all you do is tear it so if you mess up, you just throw that piece away and start tearing again. So you just want to pull off a piece and you start in the middle with a long piece and then as you work your way out and get smaller. You just lay a piece down, rip it off. Host: This is something that the kids—they’re obviously going to have fun doing. Amanda: The kids obviously can help you do. Host: I like that. That doesn’t look like much of a pumpkin yet but-- Amanda: Not yet and so then we took black tape. We took thicker black tape and we made these jack-o-lantern features so you just want to stick them. Stick them on. Now, it’s coming to life. Really easy and you can vary them. I did this one kind of you know one of these little faces. And then he needs his little green stem. Host: I’ll help you with the stem here really quick too so that we can get it all together. Like you said you can also make the tape—can be fluorescents. Amanda: You can use that reflective tape so then the bag becomes a safety feature too because you always want your kids to be safe when they’re trick or treating. Host: Right so there’s my little contribution. There we go and when you’re done, just rip it off and you can continue to use the bag. Amanda: Cute. Like I said it’s not a messy craft so you have a lot going on for Halloween. There’s candy everywhere. There’s crafts because you’ve made your costumes. This is really easy and really clean. Host: Then last but not least, this is also easy to make too. This pillow that you guys have. Amanda: So easy and all of this again, it’s your throw pillow from your couch at home. We took a piece of orange fabric and literally just like singed it in back and glued black buttons to the front and made a jack-o-lantern so again, it’s like a slipcover. Host: Very very easy. Amanda: A pumpkin slip cover. Host: Thank you so much Amanda. Good to see you again. Amanda: You’re welcome. You too. Host: You guys can get other creative Halloween decorating tips from putting pumpkins to snack-o-lanterns by picking up a copy of Parents Magazine which is on newsstands now or as always you can go to their website, parents.com.