My family lived with my parents for a couple of years while my husband was looking for a job. Since she has all of her own decorations, my holiday decorations just sat in a box for 2 years. And for whatever reason my mom wouldn’t let me take her decorations with me when we got our own place. So a couple of weeks ago my daughters and I – all excited to decorate the house and get festive- opened up the Halloween box to discover that none of them are kid friendly! They’re all decorations I bought before I had kids… they’re really pretty, but not really cute or fun. Nothing to get a 4 and 2 yr old excited for Halloween. So I started thinking, and realized that it would be even more fun to let them HELP with making the decorations.
Last year, my sister raided my dad’s scrap wood and painted them to make some really cute Halloween decorations
(similar to this pic that I found on pinterest)
And I really liked that idea, but I don’t have any wood. And we only have one car -which my husband takes to work- so I was stuck at the house. So I improvised. I raided my pantry. You could raid your recycling bin if you want, and I would have but we had just barely emptied it the day before (go figure). I like the various heights of using different types of boxes, but you could use all the same kind of box if you want them more consistent. (as long as you have boxes that are all the same size- we’re going for something you don’t have to buy, remember?)
I opened up the boxes and put them in front of my girls- with the non-printed side up. I gave them paint and let them have at it.
Once they were done I let the boxes dry and then hot glued the boxes back together- inside out- so the label was on the inside and the paint was on the outside. You could do this before painting them but I was worried that the kids would get paint all over the table when they turned it over to paint the back. Then my 4 yr old picked out a face and I painted it on. (this was a great nap time activity- she told me what faces to do, then I sent her to bed with the promise that I would be done when she woke up.) This part I just free handed- but you could always print out a face from the internet and sketch it on to the box so you have a guide before painting it.
I love how they turned out! They are not only fun and festive looking, but they were cheap (free, since I already had the paint), easy and fun to make. I love that if you look closely you can see that the paint is uneven and different… you can tell that the kids helped paint them- it just gives them character. I love that I don’t have to worry about the kids playing with them or ruining them because it was a pasta box… If they ruin it no big deal ☺ And I love that we were able to do a really fun craft together.
And I don’t have hardwood floors, but if you do, an extra bonus is that these won’t damage your floors (or toes) like they would if they were made out of wood.
So… If you’re looking for a fun, cheap craft to do with your kids, all you need to do is raid your pantry and give these awesome Halloween buddies a whirl. If you mess up the first time, just paint over it or grab another box.
