As the Halloween festivities are starting to get into full swing, I still stop every now and then to think about the rise in popularity of this American cultural tradition in Australia. It seems every year over the past five years or so its popularity has doubled, at least. Now there are stores dedicated to selling all sorts of related merchandise and the supermarkets have also caught on and are selling Halloween produce and wares.
Yes, the commercialisation of this festivity gripes a little but there's a lot of good that comes from it too. I enjoy creating traditions with my family and finding a way to celebrate Halloween that fits in with our lifestyle and interests. Not surprisingly, a lot of our focus relates to craft and decorating our home. Baking, too. We usually try to make biscuits or something that's not overloaded with sugar - and, again, is about not buying into the celebration, but creating our own activities related to the day. I also want to create these great fruit treats this year.
Most of our crafts are paper-based and recyclable - as in get used for a few years in a row. A little like Christmas decorations. We made the bats and spiders last year using chalk on black paper. More recently we created these spiderwebs, and will share a few more of our projects this week.
It's also lovely walking around the neighbourhood with our children and getting to meet and talk to some neighbours that we don't always see that often. And, of course, there's a great atmosphere of celebration on the streets with all the children walking around dressed up in their costumes. As I said, it's not all bad at all.
How do you and your family celebrate Halloween?
image the indigo crew
Sometimes a craft project can be staring at you right in front of your face. The other day we received our grocery delivery and after I emptied the eggs into a basket, the carton was beckoning to be transformed into something. I'm not big on creating pieces that just go onto a craft slush pile. I prefer things that the children can play with in some way. And then I saw it - the eyes and nose. We were going to make an animal mask!
YOU WILL NEED
Egg carton
Scissors
Textas
Pipe cleaners
String
1. Cut eyes and nose shape out of egg carton.
2. Colour eyes, nose and snout.
3. Pierce the snout in three spots to insert pipe cleaners. Fold over pipe cleaners at the end so they don't fall out.
4. Pierce two more holes - a little closer to the eyes - to create a place to thread the string. You can also cut out eye holes if your child wants to see through the mask.
images the indigo crew
For our recent four-year-old's birthday party we created (fairy) star wands as one of the activities. As usual, it was a joint effort. In the morning before all of the children arrived my son and his grandfather were cutting the stars for me from craft paper (using a star template that I keep in my craft box) and I assembled all the bits and pieces in a tin so that it was ready to use come party-time.
We had a few left over after the party and all of the children have made more wands, and adapted them to what materials they have been able to find.
This is a simple activity, but these are often the best as it's easy for little ones to make, and then there's lots of time for them to play with them afterwards.
YOU WILL NEED
Craft paper
Star template
Pencil
Scissors
Craft or lolly pop sticks
Tape - we used Washi tape as it's easy for little hands to tear
Feathers for decorations
1. Using a template, draw an outline of a star on a piece of craft paper. Cut out with scissors.
2. Tape star to the back of the star. Tape feather to the front. Adapt according to your craft supplies - you could decorate with stickers, attach a bell or several feathers on a piece of string.
images the indigo crew
For many years we had parties in the park because our small apartment couldn't accommodate a children's birthday party. However, quite a few times we got rained out and so had to reschedule or relocate. When we moved into our current home and had space to host a party, we were happy to finally have the chance to do so.
We have always enjoyed making birthdays a special celebration, and creating them ourselves - from the food (homemade sausage rolls and birthday cake) to the decor and the entertainment. (Last year for a science party, we created our own experiments using a salt pendulum and a fishing game with magnets and different types of metal.) We like the children to see that we can create our own fun. Where possible, we also like them to get involved in helping create the day - from helping in the kitchen to decorating the walls.
While there's often a big mess to clean up afterwards, there are also lots of memories too as we often let the balloons float around the house for the next few days. It's a nice reminder of the fun that we've had.
This year we created a scalloped wall decoration that was even easier than I was expecting.
Here's how to create our feature wall.
YOU WILL NEED
Crepe paper - white
Tissue paper - gold (If you can find crepe paper in a nice shade of gold, all the better)
Scissors
Washi tape
1. Cut a scalloped shape out of folded crepe paper, ensuring you leave a join on either side of about 2cm. This will give you a strand of scalloped paper about 2m long.
2. Alternate with a gold paper. We had to use tissue paper and as it wasn't as long had to hang in three parts. We folded the paper in a similar style to the crepe paper and cut.
3. Alternate one row of white paper with one row of gold. Or you could use one colour en-masse.
4. Add helium-filled balloons for fun.
images the indigo crew
It seems we can't stop making crowns. The other week it was from craft feathers. This week from glitter paper, which the three-year-old loves. This was another super quick project. Steps below.
YOU WILL NEED
Glitter paper (or paper and sprinkle glitter onto pasted glue)
Black paper (we chopped up a paper shopping bag!)
Pencil
Scissors
Stapler
HOW-TO
1. Draw an outline of a feather on the back of the glitter paper and cut.
2. Cut a strip of black paper that fits the circumference of the child's head.
3. Staple feathers onto black paper. Easy!
images the indigo crew
