Mindful Hallowe'en

Spooky Halloween Crafts for Get-Togethers

Halloween is right around the corner. Millions of people will be planning spooky gatherings in their home. Having the right décor, food and costume is only the beginning. You’ll need the right party favors too.
Here are six ideas from craft experts that are perfect for the season:

1. Personalized spooky candles. TLC Family states that spooky candles make fun, simple party favors. Just take a fall scented/colored candle, a Halloween stencil (witch hat, ghost, or bat) and a carving tool to create personalized candles. Etch a design on the side of the candle and paint the crevices for a more dramatic look.
2. Homemade Halloween lanterns. With a little ingenuity and instructions from Better Homes and Gardens’ website, you can turn an empty tin can into a Halloween lantern. You can make a bat or Jack-o-Lantern dot pattern with a hammer and large nail. Then paint the can, add wire for handles and place a candle inside.
3. Trick-or-treat candy jars. Mason jars have become classic decorating elements and it doesn’t take much to give them a Halloween-flair. All you need is a stencil (Jack-o-Lantern, ghost, black cat or spider) and a permanent marker. Draw the figures on the glass and fill the containers with uniform candies. HGTV offers more ideas.
4. Candy corn cone treats. If you don’t have mason jars you can create paper candy containers that resemble candy corn. All you’ll need is sturdy, white paper that you secure in a cone shape. You can paint the candy corn design with yellow and orange paint and fill the cone with candy. You can find further instructions on the Country Living website.
5. Halloween eggs. Have leftover plastic Easter eggs? Martha Stewart suggests painting the eggs as skulls, pumpkins or ghost faces and filling the containers with candy. You can find complete instructions here.
6. Musical pumpkins for the kids. For kiddie party favors, consider mini music makers from the Parenting website. Simply cut the top and bottom off a section of an egg carton. You fill the section with dried beans and glue the cardboard pieces together with a Popsicle stick coming out the middle. Finally, paint the egg carton orange and top it off with green paper leaves.
7. Pumpkin on tap. Hallow out a pumpkin and carefully carve a fitted hole for a tap. Fill the pumpkin with punch or other spooky beverages. Let guests fill their own drinks at the party.