Every year we go to our local grocery store or jaunt our kids to the pumpkin patch to choose the perfect pumpkin to carve with the kiddies. I will not use anything else but my Carlson Knives set, just to be striaght from the start. This time were coming up with some virtually untouched pumpkins and their gourd cousins for some no-carve decorations!  It’s easy, simple, and so much fun to do!  So get in tune with your creative side, have your kids handy, and get ready to create a masterpiece!  No fuss, no mess!

Veggie Head Pumpkins:

Use veggies already stocked in your fridge to create this fun work of art!

Materials

• Pumpkin
• Assortment of produce

• Toothpicks
• Small hammer

Instructions

1. Let kids plan out funny or creepy faces while parents take care of any necessary cutting.
2. Attach the facial features like radish eyes, apple ears, and green onion hair with toothpicks. Use a small hammer to tap the picks through larger, thicker pieces too difficult to push through by hand.

Cut out facial parts and color to create a Mr. Pumpkin design!

 

Materials

• Permanent marker
• Adhesive-backed felt
• Scissors

• Cereal-box cardboard
• Flat thumbtacks
• Toothpick

Instructions

1. To make the mix-and-match parts, use a permanent marker to draw eyes, noses, mouths, and other facial features onto adhesive-backed felt. Cut out the shapes, then use them as templates to cut matching shapes from cereal-box cardboard.
2. Press flat thumbtacks through the cardboard pieces, then stick on the matching pieces of adhesive felt.
3. For ears that stick out, omit the tack and sandwich half a toothpick between the felt and cardboard.

Ghost Disguised as a Pumpkin:

"2 in 1 Ghost Pumpkin Disguise using silly paints!"

Materials

• White pumpkin
• Orange, black and yellow acrylic paints

• Paintbrushes

Instructions

1. Paint an orange “face” on the front of the pumpkin. If white pumpkins aren’t available, fake it by painting a regular pumpkin white first, leaving only the face area orange.
2. Paint black and yellow features.
3. Finish off by adding a big toothy grin. Boo!

Painted Pumpkins:

Let your kids become the next Picasso with this fun, no boundaries pumpkin painting project!

 

Materials

• Pumpkins
• Tempera paint and brushes
• Yogurt containers

• Newspaper
• Masking tape

Instructions

1. Cover a table with newspaper (tape it down with masking tape so it stays covered).
2. Set out liquid tempera paints, paintbrushes and plastic yogurt containers filled with water for rinsing the brushes.
3. Let the kids paint goofy or creepy faces on the pumpkins.

Wicked Witchy Pumpkin:

Paint your pumpkin green and cast an artsy spell on it for a spooky surprise!

 

Materials

• Pumpkin
• Green spray paint
• Tempera paint and brushes
• Carving knife
• Marbles

• Glue
• Small nails
• Black wig
• Cape
• Witch hat

Instructions

1. Begin by coating the pumpkin with green spray paint.
2. Add facial features with tempera paint.
3. Next, carve out eye sockets and lodge the marbles inside to form her beady eyes. Break off the top stem and reattach it to the pumpkin with glue for the witch’s nose.
4. To finish, fix the black wig in place with small nails and add the cape and hat. My…pretty!

Stay tuned for next week’s post on fun pumpkin carving ideas!

Check out blogger Laurali Star on The Damsel in the Attic!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

 

By Corey

Did you know that Americans will spent 1.75 Billion dollars on Halloween this year? That is a lot of green. We’ve come up with a way to have fun, look great, and keep some of that green in your pocket. Your local Goodwill store is an amazing resource for all things Halloween!

Have you ever felt like running away to join the circus? Don’t let the high prices of Halloween costumes scare you….just head to your local Goodwill and pick up an adorable costume at an affordable price. Our 1940′s model above is wearing Goodwill from hat to boots and everything in between. Her entire outfit came to less than $20.00!
Every vintage circus needs a ringmaster. Lion tamers are a MUST!Not only is she an amazing acrobat….she sells popcorn on the side….

Every circus needs a carnie to help out. I picked up a tattoo sleeved shirt, some bottom grillz and a newsboy cap for a song! This Halloween avoid the retail circus and head to your nearest Goodwill! Head over to www.ThriftingDenver.org for more Halloween ideas.

We are so fortunate to be able to work with Goodwill International
on making every year a Green Halloween.

Check out these fun and quirky handmade costumes by Shawn Connally, the director of digital media for Maker Media and  Craftzine!  Kudos to her for these winning looks!

Super cute & crafty lego costume!

Quirky homemade costumes

Adorable Kids Star Wars Costume

Hand-crafted Yoda Costume...too cute!

Blogger Laurali Star can also be found on The Damsel in theAttic and be sure to check out her blog!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Put a blindfold over guest's eyes for an ooooey, gooey Halloween surprise!

To make any kid’s Halloween party a bit more fun and interesting, spice it up with a little game.  Set out bowls and trays full of different textured items such as, peaches from a can, jello, and yogurt.  Have each kid take a turn being blind-folded as you guide them over the table to feel out each type of food and texture.  I guarantee you’ll get an “ewwwwww,” reaction when syrupy canned fruits feel like brains and other disgusting images the mind can conjure.  Meantime, the other kids will be giggling and laughing at this simple, old fashioned game.  Once the blind-fold is off, the player will giggle at how their mind played a silly Halloween prank on them.

Blogger Laurali Star owns her own little shop on The Damsel in the Attic!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

By Lynn

Last winter, with my husband’s help–OK, OK, all I did was supervise, i.e. tell him what to do–we made a dowel Christmas tree. At the time I thought we could use it for any holiday, but of course, I forgot about most of them until last weekend when we were celebrating my two granddaughters’ birthdays.

I brought out the tree and a mass of pre-used items including:

• bottle caps
• silver foil
• pipe cleaners
• paper
• “jewels”
• wooden beads
• wire
• paperclips
• bolts

..and lots of other odds and ends.

I set everything on the table and the kids (and a few grownups), had a ball making ornaments for the tree.

Here’s the overall result:

And here are just a few of the ornaments:

Everyone had a ball! Even our grandson who isn’t usually into art projects, spent at least an hour hunched over his work and came up with, among other items, the skeleton above.

If you have a Halloween party coming up and you’re thinking about activities, consider something like this. You don’t have to make the tree. Just get a branch, put it in a bucket filled with rocks and start decorating!

Corey did a segment on the news here in Seattle, that included the Halloween tree. And I’m already thinking about repeating this activity for Thanksgiving!

If you have made something similar, we’d love to see pictures!

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of  Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.