Some Halloween DIY stuff

I am going to stay pretty basic for Halloween. We do up the front yard with toddlers in mind, and then I get out the big bowl loaded up with supermarket candy. I do throw in some Halloween stickers as a sop to my conscience (hard to process the idea I am giving large amounts of candy to small children!) but they are sort of shoved to the side as the kids dig for the good candy. Oh well.

Anyway, this is my confession I won't be partaking of these nifty ideas, at least this year, but who knows what 2016 will bring. It may take me a whole year to prepare!  And if I was going to go all out, here are some ways I might wrap:

Paper Glitter's Free Halloween Paper Download

This is Paper Glitter's design and free download.  She teamed up with some other folks for more cute stuff here. If you follow the above link you will find a great Halloween pattern you can download onto paper, bags, etc. with very good detailed instructions on how to print on the bags.

The thought of doing this for trick or treaters is exhausting. But you know, those googly eyes are strangely inspiring.

Googly eyes are just so cute. Lots more detailed instructions after the jump to Practically Functional, but basically:
1) Start with empty toilet paper tubes. (left over from tping the yard?)
2) Paint black.
3) Fold in the ends in the classic pillow box configuration.
4) Cut out some card stock in a bat shape.
5) glue card stock anfd googly eyes.

Another version of the googly eye bat guy. Love the fangs.  From itswrittenonthewall.

The folks at itswrittenonthewall.blogspot.com are really into Halloween, with a lot of treat bags and downloads for a Halloween party.

What is everyone else doing for Halloween?

Spooky DIY gift wraps

With Halloween coming up, spooky gift wrapping may be on your agenda.  Here are some of my favorites:

Spooky DIY spiderweb gift wrap.

Very detailed instructions at this link.

Papercrave Printable Owl Gift Bag Template

Papercrave has free printable template AND extra instructions.  LOVE this, I am obsessed with owls. (In real life I think I would keep my distance since they are pretty fierce predators, but who can resist the disneyfied version, like here.)

I have no idea what Orly means. But this is still too cute.

Spoonflower Halloween

I have not mentioned Spoonflower yet, which is quite the omission for anyone seriously covering gift wrapping.  Though I have to admit I felt silly typing "seriously covering gift wrapping", but you know what I  am trying to say -- if you are going to talk about DIY gift wrapping, you have to get to Spoonflower at some point.

daisy_boulevard design

Why, you may ask?  Here is how the Spoonflower folks describe what they do:

1

Start with a design

Create your own design—just upload an image to get started.

— OR —

Choose a design from the Spoonflower Marketplace, where indie artists earn commissions from every sale.

2

Choose a product

Apply your design to the fabric, wallpaper, or gift wrap of your choice.

3

We print it to order

We make each item just for you. After we print it, the Spoonflower team hand cuts, processes, and packs your order.

Get started

 You saw the gift wrap in there, right?  That is relatively new, Spoonflower started as fabric and expanded from there.  So here is where you can create your dream design, or do cutesie things with your initials or your name, or make a pillow out of your kid's face, or make or buy Halloween themed gift wrap.

Like this:

Argyle bugs, anyone? Here's where you go!

It gives you a wide variety of previews, so you can see scale.  For example, I love this creepy portrait  print.

Andrea Lauren design

But if I am worried about what it might look like on a box, there is this button you can click on "gift box" so you can sort of see how it would work.

 Lots more to come about Spoonflower from me, but do check it out for Halloween ideas!

Variations on a theme: Halloween kid stuff

Halloween is coming up, and here are some spooky versions of kid wrapping.

googly eyes glued to a magic marker "crack".

Halloween Gift tags from Etsy

Halloween party favors, but this is a cool idea for wrapping too

Etsy Monday Halloween treat bags

Is it fair to pick a Halloween treat bag or anything because the model is so cute?  No, I tell myself.  But then, there's this:

Trick or treat bag.

Trick or treat bag.

Seekerofhappiness makes tote bags and knows some very cute kids. There are two very suitable for the upcoming holiday (bags, I mean.)

In the shop this is captioned as "funny treat bag." I would caption it "truthful".

And a final look at those cute kids, err, I mean bags.