I have a toddler, and that means my time is precious. And money? Uh, yeah, not so much. My goal for Halloween is to create something fabulous, and it has to be something I can do with my toddler. But that doesn’t mean it has to look like something a toddler made, and it also doesn’t have to cost me a ton of time or money. Oh, yes: I can have it all!
Put together these ghostly “ornaments” to hang throughout your home and get in on the Halloween spirit!
DIY: Halloween Ghosts
Gather these items:
- Balloons ($1 at the Dollar Tree)
- Old fabric or rags ($3.97 in the paint section at Lowe’s)
- Scissors
- Rubber bands ($1 at the Dollar Tree)
- String/Twine
- Black marker with a fine tip
- Safety pins
Directions
- Know the size of your fabric pieces before blowing up the balloons.
- Blow up the balloons, but do not tie them off until you’re sure that the fabric is going to cover them completely.
- Drape the fabric over the balloon.
- Grab all of the excess fabric into your hands and tie off with the rubber band (like a pony tail).
- Use the scissors to make random slits into the fabric.
- Starting at the slits, shred the fabric, with your hands, up to the rubber band.
- Attach the safety pin to the top of the ghost.
- Tie the string to the top of the safety pin.
- Draw a face on the ghost.
- Hang from chandeliers or any other area where a ghostly presence is needed!
This project can be customized to match your decorating plan, so consider these variations:
- The ghosts can be displayed indoors or outdoors.
- If displaying outdoors, hang the ghosts from trees, ornament style.
- They can be made with old fabric or rags, or using cheesecloth for a more sheer, “ghostly” appearance (see photo for an example).
- Make the ghosts on a smaller scale (as seen in the photo) by replacing the balloons with a cotton ball or a round, plastic cap (check your recycle bin for old lids and caps). Drape the fabric over the cotton ball or plastic lid and glue to fabric.
- Give the ghosts more of a floating appearance by leaving the base untied below the “head” created by the balloon, cotton ball or cap.
