Homemade Halloween Decorations: A Mother and two children having fun

Homemade Halloween decorations – the best thing about Halloween!

All across the USA Moms and Dads look forward to Halloween, a night when they can be kids again, but why wait? You can have fun for longer when you make your own handmade Halloween decorations. Make your own props and decor and get the whole family involved.

Decorations aren’t just strings of cobweb, food can be decorated for the table, plates can be decorated and so can people. What’s a Halloween costume if it’s not a decoration? And that’s not all. You can decorate your porch, your garden/yard, create a halloween centerpiece, have a party, or just have fun with the children as they come round

As a newcomer to the USA, I’m anxious to get involved, but I the problem is, I’ve never done this before. Halloween in the UK is, well, different.

But I like crafting, so with my intrepid teen, Mina ( my daughter) I’m trying to learn. My first inclination was that all these decorations would be very expensive, but then I found this video on youtube showing one family’s homemade decorations. Clearly homemade decorations can be great (or should I say Awesome?)! See what you think.

In the years to come, you’ll remember your Halloween adventures, but you’ll also remember the quality time you spent together learning how to make halloween decorations, starting from the ideas on these and other pages, and eventually producing your won.  Take the time, save money and build happy memories. What else is life for?

Here’s an easy one to get started on.

A Paper Cutout Spider’s Web

All you need is a square sheet of paper, a pencil and some really good scissors.

Follow the video and fold the paper. With a little experiementation you’ll be able to work out other patterns and cuts.

 Halloween: Origins

Before there was such a thing as Christianity, the festival we know as Halloween was the marking of summers end and the time when all the meat, grains and fruit were stored in preparation for the long harsh winter days ahead and masks and costumes were also used by the Celts to ward off the evil spirits of winter.

Another tradition was that bonfires were lit in honor of the dying sun and this is thought to be the pre-cursor of Bonfire Night in the UK.

When the Romans arrived they brought their traditions and festivals, in particular the celebration of Pomona, the Goddess of fruit, whose symbol was the apple, it is believed that ‘bobbing for apples’ has it’s origins in this

Then came Christianity and the festival of Halloween became a way to mark the evening before All Hallows (all Saints) Day and the remembrance of loved ones that had passed into the ‘After Life’.

Since these early times many Halloween traditions have sprung up such as :

Carved Pumpkins or Jack O’ Lanterns, this is something we can all relate to, it is based on the Irish legend of ‘Stingy Jack’, a notorious character who turned against God and tricked the Devil and for this he was denied entry into both Heaven and Hell and has since had to stumble his way through ‘eternal darkness’ with only a single glowing ember in his lantern. The lanterns in  Ireland and Scotland were carved out of turnips and large potatoes, which was a difficult and time consuming job but when the first Irish immigrants arrived in America they discovered the much easier to use and more widely available pumpkin to carve their lanterns from, it has been this way ever since.

Trick or treating, which is now most common in the US, owes it’s origins to the Irish also. ‘Giusing’, or going from door to door, to collect food and money, was a peasant tradition in the run up to the festival of St Columb and Scotland  has a colorful tradition of celebrating Halloween too.