Easy and Cheap Ways to Make Halloween flipping MAGICAL

I SHOULD have titled this “How to Fake Halloween” or “How to Pretend You Still Have f**ks to Give”…. but alas

It seems every year right around this time, those Pinterest mommies reemerge from their “Back to School” chalkboard picture hiatus and come out roaring for Halloween.  You start seeing stuff like this….

and costumes like this…

But you don’t need to go buy the Costco sized glue gun sticks and wonder over fields for au natural tablescapes materials.   Yes, you can totally rock Halloween without losing your mind or whats left it of it…

1. Dress up lunches to build excitement

– Supplies- 1 Black sharpie, googly eyes (dollar store), toilet paper extra points for 2ply

• Draw ghost faces on cheesesticks
• draw ghost faces on banana peels
• turn fruit cups into jack o’ lanterns
• do the jack o lanterns idea with mandarin oranges
• Rip TP into strips and glue it on juice boxes and fruit pouches. Glue on googly eyesSee how cute!  (and totally easy!)
  

  

  

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2. Make your house magical

• Candy Corn Vase
  • Supplies- candy corn, empty  bud vase
  • Pour candy corn into the empty bud vase voila!
• Buy a bunch of small pumpkins and gourds. Toss them around haphazardly it’s called “rural chic”  extra points for putting them in some sort of vessel…
• Buy one of those plastic pumpkin pails from the dollar store and cut it to fit around your porch light
• Giant spider web
  • Supplies- black garbage bag scissors
  • Instructions for cutting the web here.
• Pumpkin pole
  • supplies- a bunch of those plastic pumpkins, hot glue gun… I know I said you wouldn’t need it, but I meant you wouldn’t need A LOT.
  • glue those badboys together to make a Pumpkin Pole as an outdoor decor.

• Get out the paper and the crayons and have your kids make pictures.  They can hang it up as decoration.  No work for you, no mess, childhood self-esteem boost…. that’s a win in my book.

3.  Have FUN

– Carve a pumpkin

• Supplies- pumpkin, carving kit like this, newspaper to help contain the mess.

-Make a fort for some spooky movie watching

• supplies- blankets, binder clips (for fort stability) flashlights, spooky movie, snacks

– Check out Halloween themed books from your library

• Themed reading?? Be still my heart….
  • Might Girl Halloween Book List 
  • Top 10 Classic Halloween Books for Kids

– Trick or Treat

• ok this one isn’t easy, but it is kind of the main event, right?  My suggestion is to meet up with other parents and mosey on behind the screaming running kids.  Oh and bring along this.  If you bring enough for all the parent you will definitely win Halloween, not that we care at all…

 

Extra Credit

Ok here are some good ideas if you want to go a step further but still not be THAT parent… looking at you, Ms. Hanging your Halloween-themed lights on your gutter…

10 Halloween Crafts Inspired By Halloween Books

35 Halloween Kids’ Crafts

40+ Quick and Easy DIY Halloween Decorations

For the adults…..17 Halloween Cocktails That Are Even Better Than Your Costume

 

Don’t forget about the Teal Pumpkin Project.  Read more here

Whatever you do or don’t do…..