Halloween Crafts for Kids

Many kids love Halloween. There are parties, costumes, and every kid's favorite – candy. Trying to keep kids entertained until Halloween night can require the patience of Gandhi himself. Here are some easy Halloween crafts that you can use to keep the kids entertained.

Puppets
Ghost puppets are easy to make and can inspire hours of creative play. Get a white handkerchief, black marker, and a rubber band. Drape the handkerchief over your child's middle three fingers, secure with a rubber band, and draw on eyes and a mouth with the marker. You can also put the cardboard from a paper towel roll and stuff the head with cotton balls if you want a more permanent puppet.

Lollipops
If you are planning on handing out lollipops as part of your treats for trick-or-treating, you kids can help you decorate them. Cover the lollipop with a tissue, tying securely with a rubber band or piece of ribbon. Use a marker to draw eyes and mouth on your ghosts and they are ready for giving.

Spider webs
Take 3 craft sticks and glue them together so that they make a star shape. Taking white or black yarn, weave it over one craft stick and under the next, working your way outwards from the center. When it is finished, glue down the end and attach a plastic spider. Your creation is now ready for hanging.

Candy Cauldrons
Find an empty plastic container and paint it black. You will also need to paint three small wooden balls black as well. Once everything is completely dry, glue the balls to the bottom of the cauldron. Add a wire handle if you would like, and fill your cauldron with your favorite Halloween candies.

Paint a pumpkin
Pumpkin carving is a bit messy and difficult, and can be dangerous if you do not want small children handling the knife. Instead, get some permanent markers or acrylic paint your pumpkin to look like a monster, clown, or other Halloween character. For kids, the smaller “pie pumpkins” or even the mini-pumpkins will work perfectly for this craft.

Paper plate masks
While your child may not be able to dress up in their costume until the day or evening of Halloween, you can easily create your own masks. Help your child cut eyes and breathing holes out of a paper plate. Punch a hole on either side to attach a ribbon or string to tie the mask on. Then you can allow your child to decorate the mask with crayons, marker, paint, or by gluing items to it.

Reusable treat bags
Purchase some reusable cloth totes or shopping bags as well as some Halloween-colored fabric paint. You can also look for iron-on transfers and stencils to make decorating easier. Allow your kids to decorate their own bag. If you do this a few days before Halloween, it will be dry and ready to go along when trick-or-treating.
A little creativity and you can come up with your own Halloween crafts for kids as you wait to celebrate this fall holiday.

Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas For Children

You can find a large variety of Halloween costumes available at stores in your neighborhood. However, when you consider the cost and lack of originality, homemade costumes are a more fun and oftentimes more cost-effective option. Plus, if you involve your children in creating the homemade costumes, the results will be worth more than any store-bought costume in any store.

Here are some inexpensive, homemade Halloween costume ideas that will cost little money and show lots of imagination.

Scarecrow: An over-sized flannel shirt, some straw, and faded jeans with patches will make a great scarecrow. Stuff the jeans and shirt with plastic grocery bags and leave a little straw hanging out of the shirt and jeans. A little makeup will complete your scarecrow costume.

Ghost: Ghosts are an old stand-by that never goes out of style. Use an old white sheet with holes cut for the eyes and sew a simple treat bag out of a scrap of material or a worn out pillow case. You can dress your ghost up a bit by making lips out of red lipstick and a few false eyelashes. Or you could color a beard and moustache with markers. You may want to create a colorful ghost by using a sheet covered with polka dots or one that is brightly colored.

Clown: You can create a great clown with sweat clothes that are a bit to large decorated with fabric paint or markers. Sew on some pom poms, use an inexpensive wig with a large, colorful hat, and you could even stuff the clothing with tissue (although the tissue will be a problem if the need for a restroom break arises).

Hippy: You can become a hippy from the 1960s with a tie-dye shirt and faded jeans with holes in the knees. Combine this with a headband, a ponytail wig, and a jacket or vest covered in fringe and you will have the most authentic looking hippy costume of all time.

Nerd: Halloween is the time to dress like something completely out of character. You can dress your child as a typical nerd, complete with white shirt, pocket protectors, pants that are too short, horn-rimmed glasses, while socks and black dress shoes. Don't forget to tape one corner of the glasses for a true nerd appearance. Make sure you use plenty of hair gel to slick back the hair and a few overly large fake teeth will be a great addition.

Soda Can: Find an inexpensive plastic barrel and cut a hole in the bottom. Paint the entire barrel the colors and design of your favorite brand of soda in a can. With holes for arms and your head, a simple barrel can transform your child into a soda can.

Your child can be the hit of your block or at the neighborhood Halloween party if you use a little imagination and create special homemade costumes out of inexpensive, household items.
Like the commercials say "The memory of your child in a costume you made together"... priceless.

Halloween Games for Kids

While adults may be jumping on the Halloween bandwagon, first and foremost Halloween is a kid's holiday. Besides trick-or-treating and costumes, Halloween parties are one of the many activities that kids can look forward to each Halloween. If you are thinking of jumping in and hosting your own kid's party this year, one thing that you will need to think about is the games.

When planning kid's party games, keep in mind that many games will only have one winner. So be sure to play enough games that every child can be a winner, or consider providing second and third place prizes to help avoid hurt feelings. If you don't want to use candy for prizes, Halloween party favors and small toys also make great prize ideas.

Ghostly musical chairs
Almost everyone is familiar with the game of musical chairs, so you probably won't need a detailed expression of the rules. All you need is one chair less than the number of kids attending the party (so 9 chairs for 10 kids, for example). Cover the chairs with white sheets and paint some eyes and mouths on them to make them look like ghosts. Line the chairs up or arrange them in a circle. To play the game, play some music while the children walk around the chairs. When the music stops, the child left without a chair is out. Remove a chair, and keep playing until there is only one child left.

Dress the scarecrow
If you have some of dad's old clothing lying around the house, this is a fun game for kids. Divide the children into small teams, and give all teams some clothes for their scarecrow. Jeans or overalls, flannel shirts, boots, gloves, and a straw hat are typical, though you can use whatever you have on hand. One child in the team is the scarecrow, and has to stand still while the others of the team put the clothes on. The first team to complete a scarecrow is the winner.

Meet my mummy
For this one, you will again want to divide children into small teams and have one child volunteer to be the mummy (preferably a child who was not the scarecrow if you play both games). Give each team a roll of toilet paper, and have them wrap their mummy with it (you can also use rolls of streamers in Halloween colors if you would prefer). The first team done wins.

Pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern
Create a large pumpkin out of cardboard, or make one out of construction paper and pin it to a bulletin board. Paint or glue eyes and a mouth on the jack-o-lantern, leaving the area where the nose should be empty. Cut out several yellow triangles, writing the child's name on the front and placing a small piece of double-sided tape on the back. Blindfold children and have them attempt to pin the nose where it belongs. To make the game more difficult, spin the child in circles several times before having them pin the nose on.
Almost any child's party game can be converted to a Halloween game with a little creativity. Of course, leave plenty of time for snacks and the ever-popular costume contest.

Making Halloween Parties Fun for Kids

Halloween is often a favorite holiday for kids. The costumes, the candy, and all of the festivities make it a favorite time of year for many. Part of that fun often includes a Halloween party. If it is your turn to play host this year, here is a look at some of the things to consider while you are planning. The better prepared you are, the more likely everything will go smoothly.

Who is coming?
Before you can really start the party planning, you need to know how big the party is going to be. Some parents will invite only their child's favorite friends, while others will make it an event for the entire class. How many you would like to invite is totally up to you, but it is helpful to have a number in mind before you start buying Halloween candy and favors.

Costume contest
A great way to pass some time during the party, as well as encourage everyone to come in costume, is to have a costume contest. If you are hosting a party for younger children, you will want to make sure that you have enough categories so that everyone wins a prize. Scariest costume, funniest costume, most creative costume, best animal costume, etc. can all be categories. If you have the time, you can have party goers nominate and vote for the different categories. Find some fun Halloween favors to hand out as prizes, or you can create your own medals or award ribbons.

Face painting
If you have a little artistic talent, face painting is another fun activity for a Halloween party. Brush up on drawing ghosts, pumpkins, black cats, and witches, and you will be good to go. This can be a great way for kids to participate if they didn't come in costume, or just a way to have fun. You might forewarn parents ahead of time that you are going to be doing face painting so that your little witches don't come in already coated in green face paint and warts.

Treat bag/bucket decorating
For a craft idea, you can have kids decorate their own bags or buckets to use that evening for trick-or-treating. You can purchase inexpensive bags or buckets for the kids to decorate with paints or by gluing Halloween decorations to them. Check your local craft store for inexpensive Halloween themed items to use.

Food, drink, and atmosphere
Food and drink are a part of any party, and Halloween is no exception. Of course, you will want to make things spooky. Consider decorating cookies or cupcakes with Halloween themes, serving punch with floating spiders, or trying out any other creepy Halloween recipes you have on file.

To set the mood, try dimming the lights. Orange and black streamers and balloons can give the room a festive air. Or you can hang fake spider webbing and put up tombstones if you want a creepier feel. Find some Halloween music to play in the background as well.
With a little creativity and planning, you can create a Halloween party that your kids will always remember.