Whether or not you are participating in the 100 Days to Christmas countdown (as of today, there are only 71 days to Christmas but it is not too late to join in), which includes preparation for other holidays, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving, decorating for an upcoming holiday really helps you get in the spirit of things.  You can spend a lot on store bought decorations that do all manner of spooky things, but some kitchen or craft supplies and family fun time will yield you fabulous results, too.

• A vertical garland is a festive and simple project for your home. All you need is construction paper, scissors, string and tape or glue. Pick a spooky but simple shape like bats, witch hats, ghosts, skulls or owls to cut out and string up in your home.  Or for a less spooky creation, here’s a candy corn garland.
• Other simple paper crafts include cutting out mice or cats in profile on black paper and attaching them to the stair risers.  See lots of great examples of spooky silhouettes here.
• If you enjoy making paper snowflakes, try paper spider webs!  You can add paper spiders to them, or make your spiders from small pom-poms, or larger ones from foam craft balls, paint and pipe cleaners.
• Big spiders on the wall or ceilings are can be made from black crepe paper rolls for spider legs, while the spider body can be a black balloon or made from papier-mâché.
• Give an old shirt some new life with a spooky skull face cutout. A fun and free craft.
• A few craft supplies in hand and you can build a fabulous black feathery wreath with spooky eyes. And once it’s finished you have a piece to take out each year and hang up.
• For a fun rainy day activity geared toward little ones, set up a spider web of painters tape on the floor and you have an awesome game of don’t touch the floor.
• Make some sparkly webs for your windows or mirrors with glue and glitter.
• Recycle some glass jars or wine bottles into a duo or trio of skulls with this easy tutorial. I might even paint my bottles black first. The project calls for craft foam, but you can achieve the same effect by recycling styrofoam packaging, usually from mushrooms, meats or some egg cartons.
• Create some fun mood lighting for the dinner table with a recycled tin can lantern. Chances are you already have all the supplies on hand for this craft.
• Mix up some fantastic fake blood to rim your milk glasses at dinner.
• Decorate your pumpkin early with your old crayons, glue, and a hair dryer! My family loves to do this, have one turn at decorating the exterior of the pumpkin, and then we carve them when Halloween is closer, so they don’t rot too much before then. You can also decorate the pumpkins with modge podge and tissue paper or glitter, permanent markers, really anything in your craft supply will do.
• Create a bowl of “jack-o-lantern” fruit for you kitchen.
• Make snack time a craft with fun cut out apple slices, a safe craft for even little hands using only apples and cookie cutters.

Take a photo of your Halloween craft or creation and attach it below in the comments. Or link to a favorite craft for Halloween on the web below.