How to Make Halloween Luminaries

Create your own cheap Halloween luminaries from recycled material and by re-using decorations intended for other holidays. These Halloween luminaries are a cheap and easy way to decorate the outside of your home for Halloween. This project is one way to recycle, re-use and re-claim plastic materials.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Three to five empty and washed 1-gallon plastic milk jugs
• 1 permanent black marker
• 1 set of outdoor holiday lights with white lightbulbs
• Knife sharp enough to cut plastic
• Poster paints in yellow, black, orange and white

1. Start saving those one-gallon plastic milk jugs. Whenever your family finishes off a gallon of milk, immediately rinse out the container. Use soap and make sure all of the milk residue is removed. Place the plastic milk container upside down and let it dry thoroughly. Keep or toss the cap of the recycled milk container.

2. Use the knife to cut two small holes in the back of each plastic milk jug. You will also need a sharp knife (adults only). Kids can get involved in the drawing stage of this cheap Halloween craft. You can use 3, 5 or even 10 plastic milk jugs, depending on how many Halloween luminaries you want to create.

3. Dig out the plain, white Christmas lights. The bonus to this cheap Halloween craft for outdoor decorating is that you will have one less item to dig out when you are ready to hang the Christmas lights. The lights should be low-wattage and made for outdoor use. If you do not have outdoor lights, you could still use this Halloween luminary craft idea to decorate a table inside a home during the fall. The string of Christmas lights will be strung in and through each plastic milk jug when it's time to decorate the yard.

4. Decorate the cheap and recycled Halloween luminaries. If you are decorating the free Halloween decorations with permanent markers, do it in a well-ventilated area. Use your imagination and draw any Halloween image that you want. One Halloween luminary design could be a candy corn, using yellow and orange. One easy design is a big yellow moon with the silhouette of a cat.

5. Involve kids in the Halloween luminary decorating process. For young kids, provide paint. There are many different Halloween images that adults and kids can use to decorate the Halloween luminaries. Kids can draw two big ghost eyes and a mouth. The ghost face can be scary or friendly.

6. String the lights through the two holes in the back of each Halloween luminary. Use an outdoor plug to light up the luminaries. Place the Halloween luminaries along a walkway, with the wires in the back.

Tips & Warnings

• If kids will be helping, you may want to consider using a non-toxic poster paint to decorate the Halloween luminaries.
• Draw simple Halloween designs on the Halloween luminaries.
• Start saving those 1-gallon plastic milk jugs. Whenever your family finishes off a gallon of milk, immediately rinse out the container.
• Because part of this Halloween decoration craft uses a knife, it's a project for adults, not kids.
• Use soap and make sure all of the milk residue is removed.