DIY Halloween Ideas (Plus, a Free Printable!)

Happy (DIY) Halloween!

Halloween is a great opportunity to get creative with your kids and encourage them to use their imaginations—and their hands. Celebrate the holiday with these costume and decoration ideas.

Dressing Up

Creating a memorable costume can be both cheap and easy. Check your wardrobe, raid the craft supplies, and be creative. Here are a few concepts to get you started.

• Jellyfish: Use a clear umbrella and some string or streamers for this underwater wonder.
• Grapes: Just inflate some purple balloons and attach them to a purple sweatshirt. You’re an instant bunch of grapes!
• Bat: Cut up and spread out old black umbrellas for bat wings, attach them to a black sweatshirt, and add small felt ears for this classic Halloween creature.
• Lego Brick: Attach six Tupperware bowls (make sure they’re all the same size) to a cardboard box, paint the whole thing in a classic Lego color (red, blue, yellow, etc.) and you can become a favorite kids’ toy.

Haunting Your House

With just a few household items and a little ingenuity, you can transform your house into a frightfully fun destination that all little monsters will love.

• Spooky Eyes: Take empty toilet paper rolls and cut big peering eye holes. Next, drop a glow stick inside the tube and hide them in your trees or shrubs.
• Milk Jug Ghost: Using construction paper, cut out eyes and a mouth, then glue them on to an empty milk jug. Cut holes in the bottom of the milk jug and use artificial candles or Christmas lights to illuminate them. Hang them outside your door or from the trees.
• Front Door Mummy: Wrap your front door with white streamers. Then cut two large circles from white paper and two smaller circles from black circles for the eyes. This fun face is a great way to greet trick-or-treaters!

Sharing Treats

Finally, you can print this PDF of nine cool, spooky tags to label any treats you’re giving away this Halloween at school, at home, or at parties.