Category Archives: Halloween

Green Halloween

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Green Halloween

To learn more about enjoying a green Halloween check out Planet Green’s Halloween page.

Last Minute Halloween Costumes

Caution: some of these costumes are more for adults than children – so bewar-r-r-re.

Plastic laundry basket or other large plastic bin with holes cut out for legs + white balloons + a shower cap or curlers in hair = Bathing Beauty
White dress + pipe-cleaner halo = Angel
White dress + pipe-cleaner halo + dirt on face (use brown eye shadow) = Fallen Angel
Green clown or afro-style wig + a schoolgirl outfit = Broccoli Spears
Trench coat + fedora + sign around neck reading “Blessing” = A Blessing in Disguise
Clear umbrella + party streamers or wide ribbons = Jellyfish
Black clothes + yellow electrical tape down chest + toy cars + Velcro = Highway
Bathrobe + dolls pinned to robe + bare feet = Barefoot and Pregnant
Blue T-shirt  + cotton balls taped or glued to shirt + water gun = Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Rain
Blue T-shirt  + cotton balls taped or glued to shirt + meatball-sized balls of aluminum foil spray-painted brown & taped or glued to shirt = Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Rain + Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs = couples costume

Green Halloween Decorations

Outdoor Lights: Use a black marker to draw a jack-o-lantern type face on an empty plastic milk jug. Leave the cap as is or make a stem by painting it brown and gluing on a short branch the same diameter as the cap. Cut a hole in the back of the jug and insert a battery operated light. This works with both half gallon and gallon-sized jugs.

Rock Solid Jack-O-Lanterns: Paint small to medium size rocks orange. Use a marker or paint to draw a jack-o-lantern face. Glue on a short stick for a stem. After Halloween, just turn the face to the back and you have Thanksgiving pumpkins.

New Uses for Halloween Items

Is your house haunted by leftover Halloween items? Here are four easy ways to re-use leftover candy and pumpkins.

Jack-o’-Lantern Soup

While your Jack-o’-lantern is still fresh, peel and cut it into cubes to create the base for a savory soup

Family-Friendly Desserts

Melt chocolate bars for chocolate-covered strawberries or use peppermint patties or Snickers for brownies (place the candy in between two layers of the mix before baking).

Stock up on Baking Supplies

Chop leftover chocolate candy or candy corn and use in place of chocolate chips for cookie recipes.

Construct a Seasonal Centerpiece

Cut off the top of a pumpkin and hollow out the seeds. Arrange fresh flowers, such as daisies or mums, in a water-filled jar and place inside, or use dried leaves and twigs.

Candy Corn Decorations

Thanksgiving Garland: candy corn strung together using a needle threaded with fishing line.
Thanksgiving Wreath: candy corn glued to a styrofoam wreath form.
Thanksgiving Balls: candy corn glued to a styrofoam balls of various sizes. Leave the bottom half unadorned and place the balls inside plant pots and urns so that the candy corn portion rests on top of the pot. This sounds tacky but trust me, it’s beautiful.

Pick Up Inexpensive Halloween Treats for Your Trick-or-Treaters

Recycled Candy Wrapper Art

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Wait – don’t toss out all those candy wrappers! Halloween is a prime time to collect recycled candy wrappers for art projects all year round. I’ve listed a few ideas below but I’m sure you all can come up with many more. Please post your ideas, successes and failures in the comments section.

Ribbons and Bows

Cut each recycled candy wrapper to the same width and tape to package as a decorative ribbon. You can then loop each length of candy wrapper and tape or glue it to the package as a bow. You can face the shiny side out or the writing side out.

Decoupage

I hardly ever buy silver leaf anymore. I just use recycled candy wrappers and recycled potato chip bags.

When carefully opened and washed the shiny side of these wrappers can be used in a decoupage or collage project, or to simulate a body of water in a doll house or Christmas gingerbread house.

I like to use recycled candy wrappers to cover smaller surfaces or surfaces like a frame where a long skinny shape is best. I use recycled potato chip bags for larger surfaces such as pots, trays, etc.

Antique Foiled Frame

I’ve covered scratched wooden frames with the shiny side of recycled candy wrappers. First crumple the candy wrapper. Smooth with your hands. Cut to fit, and glue to the frame. Wipe the foil with brown or black shoe polish to age it.

Contemporary Foiled Frame

Cut wrappers into squares or rectangles. Glue pieces to frame, butting together or overlapping.

Mod Frame

You could use the packaging label side to cover a frame for a retro mod look.

Decorative Tray or Box

Any of the ideas above can be used to cover a tray or box. I’ve used candy wrappers to cover a tissue box, then I use the box to store spare change.

Halloween Decor – Ghastly Pen

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I saw this project in a magazine a few years ago. I wish I could remember which one so I could give them credit. I modified it a bit to conform to IA’s mission, but here it is.

Materials:

  • white clay
  • toothpick
  • plastic fingernail (a true IA devotee would use a fake fingernail that had fallen off and was too damaged to be re-glued on)
  • glue
  • dark fingernail polish

I do not like those pens that businesses give away. They’re unattractive and they don’t write that well. This project is a good way to make use of those pens. Ghastly Pens make great party favors or a fun take-along for school during the month of October.

For each Ghastly Pen, cover a ballpoint pen with approximately a ¼-inch thick layer of white clay or similar material, leaving the tip of the pen exposed. Use your hands to mold the clay into the shape of a finger, using your own finger or a willing hand as a model. Use a toothpick to make wrinkles and creases for the knuckles.

Glue a plastic fingernail near the pen tip making sure to leave enough room to be able to write with the pen. Trim the nail so that it’s a bit ragged. Use the toothpick to form lines for the cuticle area. Paint the nail with a ghastly shade such as green or black. Let clay dry completely before using.

Glamour Pen – use flesh colored clay instead of white clay. Don’t trim the fingernail to make it look ragged. Paint the fingernail a bright red, or do a French manicure on it.

Teen Scene – use flesh colored clay. Paint the nail a cool color such as light blue or bright orange. While polish is still wet carefully place a decal, sticker or charm on the nail. When polish is dry cover entire nail with a couple coats of clear polish.

Leftover Halloween Candy

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With all the candy oriented holidays in our culture it’s no surprise we end up with an overload of all sorts of different candies. As we move from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years to Valentine’s to Easter we can use the excess candy from one holiday to supply the next holiday looming on the horizon.

Storing Candy

Most candy can be kept at room temperature without spoiling, with the exception of chocolate. Because fat can turn rancid (ever detect a slight soapy smell on your chocolate?) any chocolate candy that you plan to use thirty days or more from the date of purchase is best stored in an airtight container in the freezer.

RePurpose Candy

Use candy corns to decorate Thanksgiving baked goods, or fill a cornucopia with them.

All types of candy bars can be buzzed into milk-shakes, chopped and stirred into home-made ice-cream, as an ice-cream topping, chopped and stirred into baked goods batter, chopped or sliced and used to decorate the top of a frosted cake …

Gum drops, gummie shapes, candy corns, peppermints, Lifesavers, lollypops – all kinds of candies can be used to decorate Christmas gingerbread houses.

Any red candies can be saved for Valentine’s Day.

Any chocolate candies that can melt down completely can be stirred into hot chocolate or coffee.