Here Are Some Classic Halloween Craft Ideas For Under $10

You only need to take a trip to your local park for the main ingredient of this one, or if in doubt, the dollar store should have them for your fall decor needs, just like the other supplies. All you need for creating a pine cone spider is the pine cone, a pack of black pipe cleaner or chenille stems, glue, and black and white paint. If your kid is already crafty, then chances are they already have the paint and glue, maybe the stems, and you can add some googly eyes to stick under the $10 limit.

Steps:

1. Paint your pine cone black, with any details your kid feels like adding, like little white fangs or texture to the pine cone scales.
2. Take your pipe cleaner and bend it into the shape of a leg, bend in the middle like it has knees. Make eight legs.
3. Take your spider legs and add a dab of glue onto the end. Think of this as the ‘hip’ of the spider. Push the glued end into the pine cone, will is easy as there are tons of little nooks and crannies all over it. Hold it until the glue dries. Do this for every leg, and bam, that’s your spider practically done. If you don’t want to use glue, you can use longer pipe cleaners, winding them around the spider body instead.
4. Paint on eight little beady eyes, or add googly eyes. And that’s it, you're done!

Probably the most affordable craft on the list, as you already have the rolls, and all you need is paint or markers. It’s a great way to upcycle something you’d just wind up recycling anyway If you’re offput by anything that’s been lying around the bathroom, then you can still make cones from craft card and PVA glue. Any additions, budget dependent, such as googly eyes, glitter, sequins, felt, pipe-cleaners, or foam stickers, are completely up to you, but they can still look good without. But onto the craft!

Steps:

1. Pick out some green, gray (or silver), black, and white paints or pens, paints are more fun and look better generally. Paint the bottom half of the roll green, and the top half black.
2. Paint on the details of Frankenstein's monster: wild eyes, a goofy nose, and a snarling smile. Add any detail you wish to the hair, such as silver highlights or random bugs (since he’s probably quite stinky).
3. Take some excess card, foam, or paper, and cut out his neck bolts. Color them silver or gray and glue them on each side of his face.

Bonus: For some extra oomph, you can also cut holes in the eyes and mouth like he’s a jack-o’-lantern, and hide an electric tealight in the roll. Now he’ll glow. But if you’re keeping it simple, the paint steps are all you really need. You can do this same craft with any Halloween critter: black cats, bats, pumpkins, anything really.

A papier-mâché hand made from your kid’s own little paws. Think of the lone hand of a mummy, inexplicably ripped off in a pyramid tomb somewhere — freaky, but not gory. You can make this quite easily with some PVA glue, old newspaper, toilet paper, and some cold tea or coffee.

Steps:

1. Prep your kid’s hand by wrapping it in plastic kitchen wrap. Wrap it tight enough to keep the shape of the hand, but obviously loose enough so it’s not uncomfortable.
2. Rip up several strips of newspaper, more than you think you’ll need, and place them aside. Then mix 1 part PVA glue with 2 parts water in a bowl or bucket. Be sure to do it in this order so the glue doesn’t clump up as it tries to dry.
3. Start dipping the paper into the mixture, and wrap each strip over the hand like a mini bandage. Do this all over the hand so there is a firm cushion of paper, and each finger is covered. While it’s still wet, take some toilet paper and cover it again, making the hand now mostly white.
4. After it’s dried, extremely carefully cut the paper open from the wrist to the end of the pinky. From there, the child should be able to wriggle their hand out of the cast. Glue it back up and leave to dry fully overnight.
5. Once it’s dry, take some cold black tea or coffee and a paintbrush, and lightly run the liquid over the toilet paper to give an aged, stained look. You can also dust some expired brown eyeshadow over it for a more dusty look.

A homemade lamp to light up the spooky dark nights. All you need are an old plastic milk carton — hurrah for upcycling — a marker or some googly eyes, and some string lights. You can find really cheap string lights at a dollar store, or online, for under $5. Make sure the string lights are battery-powered.

Steps:

1. This is more for the adult than the kid, but make sure your milk carton is thoroughly clean and dry. Do this step days or even weeks before Halloween, if you can. An easy way to dry it out is to set your hairdryer to the cool setting and blast it for a while. Or cut the bottom off of the ‘ghost’ to hand dry it.
2. Take a marker and draw on some eyes, and a mouth, some dots and a big upside down D shape will make a classic ghoul face.
3. Paint on some clear glitter glue if you want some sparkle, you can also paint the bottle cap white to blend in with the rest of the ghost.
4. Make a small hole at the back of the ghost, where the carton will be facing the wall. Take the end of the lights (not the battery pack), and feed the lights through that hole. Leave the battery pack outside for easy access to turn it on and off. If you cut the bottom of the carton, then you can skip this part and just shove everything underneath. Switch on the lights and boom: A ghost!