How to Make Halloween Decorations Out of Household Items

Turn a water bottle into a ghost.

Go green as you prepare your home for the Halloween festivities this October 31. Turn those items normally tossed into a trash can into a Halloween decoration instead with a little ingenuity. Repurpose older household items lying around in the kitchen drawers or kitchen shelves into a home Halloween decorative display. Arrange the items throughout your home, on the walls and on table tops as you transform your home into a spooky Halloween haunt.

Things You'll Need

• Juice glasses
• Food jars
• Tissue paper orange or black
• Ribbon
• Halloween wrapping paper
• Candy
• Candle
• Paper plates
• Craft paint
• Hole punch
• Craft ribbon
• Food boxes
• Plastic doll
• Bandage
• Gauze
• Pizza box
• Construction paper
• Glue
• Cutting board
• Rubber kitchen glove
• Knife
• Spaghetti
• Ketchup or tomato sauce

Instructions

1. Look through your kitchen for old juice glasses or small empty jars. These items transform into candy and candle holders within minutes. Wrap orange or black tissue paper around them and gather at the top with a black ribbon or tape Halloween wrapping paper around the bottles. Fill the jar or glass with candy treats for guests, or fill it with rice and place a tea light candle inside.

2. Turn paper plates into pumpkin displays. Paint the plate a bright orange and then paint on the face in black. Punch a hole on top and loop a 2-inch green ribbon through the hole. Hang it from a wall individually or make several pumpkins and hang them together on a string along the wall.

3. Design your own coffins and mummies. Paint square boxes, such as tissue boxes or cereal boxes, black on all sides and paint on coffin "hinges" in brown or metallic paint. Cut around the edges of the top of some of the boxes to make a door. Leave the door open and stand it up on a shelf. Wrap a small plastic doll in bandages or gauze and put it inside the box.

4. Create a Halloween wreath. Cut a circle out of an old pizza box, or use one from a frozen pizza, and then draw and cut a circle inside so you have an "O" shape. Spray paint it black. Cut out witches, black cats, small round pumpkins, ghosts and bugs from construction paper and glue the shapes to the wreath. Punch a hole into the wreath and hang on your door.

5. Place a wooden cutting board on a table and lay a rubber kitchen glove on it. Stick a knife into the glove and slice off one finger of the glove. Stuff the finger and glove with paper, sew the bottom and place it back on the board by the stuck knife. Surround it with cooked spaghetti in tomato sauce.

Tips & Warnings

• Add the sound of crunching bones into your decorations by hiding pretzles and hard bread together under throw rugs.

References

• Kid Activities; Halloween Decorating; Barbara Shelby; July 5, 2010
• House Beautiful: Halloween Decor That Isn't Tacky
• Recycled Crafts: Halloween Uses for Baby Food Jars