- Ping pong eyeballs! Grab some cheap ping pong balls - draw a black dot for the eye’s pupil, a circle of blue around the pupil for the colour, and then add red squiggly lines for bloodshot eyes! You could glue them to string or ribbon and hang them as a garland, or just place them in random spots for a spooky surprise.
- Giant eyeballs. If you have any old balls lying around, paint them white and make some giant eyeballs!
- Pumpkin and ghost jar lights. Find some empty jars. For the pumpkin lights glue one or two layers of orange tissue paper onto the jars (leaving the top open). For the ghost jars, use white tissue paper. Either draw straight onto the tissue paper jars or cut out paper shapes to make eyes and mouths and glue them on. Pop in a tea light candle (either wax or battery operated) and they will glow in the dark through the tissue paper.
- Tin can ghost. Paint clean and empty tin cans with white paint. Drill a hole through the bottom of the can and push through some string. Tie a knot in the end inside the can so it doesn’t come out. Paint on ghost eyes and a mouth and hang long strips of white tissue paper from the open end of the tin can (or use an old white pillowcase, cut into strips or any other bits of white fabric). You could also make mini ghosts using white paper cups instead of painted tin cans.
- Balloon spider. Blow up two black balloons – one smaller than the other one. The larger balloon is for the spider body and the smaller one is for the head. Stick the balloons together with a bit of glue or double-sided sticky tape. Add googly eyes (as many as you like!) or make your own from paper. Add black pipe cleaners or strips of black cardboard for legs.
- Cobwebs. Find some fluffy white wool and tie it randomly around your fence or between verandah posts for a spider web. You could also attach your balloon spider!
- Instant ghost! Throw a white sheet over your kerbside bin – add black cardboard eyes and mouth and you have yourself an instant ghost!
- Paper plate Halloween art. It’s amazing what you can make with a few paper plates, paint, and some googly eyes!
Black cat – paint the plate black, add eyes, and ears (from black paper or felt). Add black pipe cleaners for whiskers.
Ghost – paint a ghost face on your paper plate and add strips of tissue paper so they hang off the bottom in a ghostly swirl!
Pumpkin – use orange paint and black paper or felt for the eyes and mouth. Add a green stalk.
You can put these on your walls (inside or out), fence or attach to lolly sticks or wooden skewers and ‘plant’ them around your garden.
And finally, raise the bar when it comes to treats for the trick-or-treaters! (You’ll be the envy of the neighbourhood!).
Grab some lollipops on a stick and turn them into spooky treats:
- Ghosts: Wrap each lollipop in a white napkin (or tissue) and tie with black ribbon just below the ball of the lollipop. Draw on a ghostly mouth and eyes.
- Spiders: Wrap some double-sided tape around the lolly stick, just below the lolly (to keep the legs in place). Cut black pipe cleaners in half and wrap four around the lollipop stick to make 8 legs. Glue some googly eyes on top of the legs and you’ve got yourself a spider! If you want to make it all black, wrap the lolly in black tissue paper, over the top of the original wrapper (or just leave the wrapper in its original colour).