Halloween Traditions

Ever since The Big One was a little munchkin, we've been making mini-pumpkin bats and spiders for Halloween. It's a simple craft project for kids, and we use them to decorate our yard and house. We have even given them as little gifts some years.

Basically, what you need is a bunch of mini pumpkins with good stems, chenille stems (pipe cleaners), black contruction  paper or foam sheets, Sharpies or acrylic paints, string, glue, and optional googly eyes.

Kids can make bat and spider faces on the pumpkins. Then an adult can poke holes in the pumpkin for the pipecleaners. I  used to use a nail to poke the holes, but it hurts your hand! Now I use my little electric screwdriver with a small drillbit.

For bats: Cut wings from the paper or foam and attach a pipecleaner to each wing, with a bit hanging over the inner edge. You can glue or staple the pipecleaner on. Stick the free edge of the pipecleaner in the holes and attach a string or piece of fishing line to the stem for hanging. I like to make sure the string stays attached with a little hot glue.

For spiders:  use 8 pipecleaners for each spider. Curl or twist or bend the legs in any way you like. Attach a string or fishing line to the stem.

We hang our spiders from trees in our front yard and the bats hang from our Christmas light hooks on our gutters. They look cute-creepy, not scary.

Don't make them too far in advance of the big day, especially if you live where it's warm like we do. Otherwise, your pumpkins will turn mushy and disgusting. We aim for about 3 days before Halloween.  Have fun!