Talk to Hobbycraft about the Halloween activities you and your DCs will be doing this year – 3 MNers will win a £100 Hobbycraft voucher NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

The team at Hobbycraft would like to hear about the Halloween arts and crafts activities you’ll be doing with your DCs this year.

Hobbycraft say “As parents ourselves we know what a challenge it can be to keep the kids entertained during the holidays and on a budget. So, for the sake of parents everywhere who are in need of inspiration, we’d love to know you’ll be making with the kids for Halloween”.

So, what crafty spooky Halloween projects will you be doing this year? Do your DCs dress up? And if they do, do you make their costumes? Maybe you paint their faces? Perhaps you bake Halloween treats together?
Whatever you and your DCs will be making this Halloween, Hobbycraft would love to hear about it.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, where three Mumsnetters will each receive a £100 Hobbycraft voucher.
Please note your comments may be included on Hobbycraft's social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore]

So, what crafty spooky Halloween projects will you be doing this year?
At the moment, we're keeping it simple. Carving pumpkins, cut out paper jackolanterns to hang up. My 5yo wants to make a huge full moon and put it up on the fireplace so we can have a witch on a broom by it. I'm still pondering that one.
Do your DCs dress up? And if they do, do you make their costumes? Maybe you paint their faces?
Generally not, as ds1 is disabled and hates dress up stuff. Ds2 loves it, however, and they are supposed to dress up for the school disco, so I guess this year it will be a costume. He is a dead ringer (oops sorry!) for Harry Potter with his glasses and an actual scar on his forehead (courtesy of a school playground fall last year ) but he wants to be a witch instead. No face paint as he has eczema.
Perhaps you bake Halloween treats together? We've made some pumpkin bread. I'd like to introduce them to pumpkin seeds, but when I suggested it I got this look from them both. To be fair, they're not keen on anything INSIDE the pumpkin being cooked (apparently they've deemed tinned pumpkin to be okay as it comes in a tin and not in a pumpkin ) - the squeals and shrieks they emit when we're gutting the pumpkin to carve it would make any primary school girl proud.

[Stars66]

I love halloween! But dont dress up myself! Get DD dressed up in a costume and I decorate the house with spider webs, pumpkins and some day of the dead banners. And we do games, appy bobbing, flour and smarties, and donuts on a string!
Plus have a bag of sweets for the kids who come knocking...

[2ofstedsin24weeksistakingthep]

We love Halloween and always dress up and party. We enjoy pumpkin carving and do Halloween crafts to decorate the house. This year we will also be making spider biscuits and gummy worms! DD is counting down the days on the calendar!

[rachyconks]

I love halloween! We will all be dressing up and having a massive party with fireworks. The kids and I will be hand making the decorations and the treats. I can't wait. It's so much fun!!

[Leiajulie]

i make witch covered chocolate apples - better than toffee apples and decorate with laces for hair etc etc and a cone for their hat

[TracyKNixon]

We're making pumpkin cake pops, green lime jelly pots with jelly spiders, bugs, worms etc inside. We are also making spiders from pom poms and felt and cutting spiders webs (the same way you make snow flakes!)

[cuppawithbiccies]

pumpkin carving, make lots of pumpkin faces, using orange paper, to stick on windows and walls, and make spiders from egg boxes, painted black with each egg section cut out to be the body and black pipe cleaners for legs

[raviolig]

We are going to be making paper mache pumpkin bowls for the sweets to go in and scary pom pom and pipe cleaner spiders

[fazkin]

We don't celebrate Halloween but we will still do crafts which are to do with halloween; like carving pumpkins and making paper cut outs but all ours pics have friendly smiles on :)

[Mistyblue01]

We will be carving pumpkins and making scary decorations and spooky cakes.

[badgermum]

We make mini mummy's with toilet roll tubes and toilet paper

[Catmint]

We'll be baking cookies and decorating them.

And we have already made some spooky bunting using orange, purple and black fabric scraps, and a few paper bats strung on.

I'd like to have a go at making spooky eyes by cutting eye shapes out of toilet roll tubes, putting a glow stick inside and stuff the sides. Then place them in bushes etc.

[Annbunce]

Pumpkin carving - they really enjoy this.

[zipzap]

We'll be decorating inside the house as the dc but especially dh love it but probably won't do anything outside - we don't know any families locally that would come trick or treating (dc school friends all too far away) and we've recently had some 'yoofs' hanging about on the path outside our home and being fairly unpleasant so we'll not do anything to encourage them to come near us.

We have a few decorations we've bought over the years, although our lovely cute friendly cardboard dancing skeleton seems to have disappeared so we'll either have to try to make one for ourselves or see if we can find one to buy (I'm not so good at art - enthusiastic but not talented so it might be beyond me!).

We'll also make some decorations out of paper plates and paints or coloured paper - ghosts, spiders, pumpkins etc. Then some pumpkin carving - we've tried the carving kits but they never work very well so it will just be with sharp knives!

I've tried roasting the seeds but they never come out like the pumpkin seeds you buy in shops.

Last year I picked up several pumpkins for 10 p each in the supermarket at the start of November so we had loads of cheap pumpkin meals (I love it roasted and then in soup or risotto or as part of roasted veg) which is always an added bonus!

We'll also do some baking - dc will have lots of fun decorating biscuits and cupcakes as ghosts, pumpkins and now that ds1 is getting older and ds2 like things more gruesome there will probably be plenty of things that involve blood (ketchup or red icing), guts (smushed up fruit or cheese with aforementioned 'blood' and so on.

[FUZZ62]

we have started making things like scary mummies, witches etc out of card board, pumpkin is an obvious one, cakes are next week and we might then try biscuits the week after, all ready for the Halloween party as i dont believe in sending them out effectively begging at 5+7

[hiddenmichelle]

Mine are making their own scary masks this year!

[rachheap2014]

traditional pumpkin carving

[barbsbarbs]

I also avoid halloween like the plague, but I will be making spiderman fairy cakes on this day.

[easter1965]

We have a large group of childrens friends staying over, all different ages from primary school age to college and 6th form. did similar last year took them all trick or treating, baked loads of goodies and making pizzas and scary fairy cakes and watched scary films all night. Having an array of different ages is so much fun and there will be around 12 staying over, bringing sleeping bags and lots of sweeties and goodies too. So much fun for everyone

[gamerwidow]

We're doing some pumpkin carving and because DD loves drawing at the minute will be making some scary pictures too.

[maximum4]

we carve a pumpkin and we make a delicious cake with the flesh. Sometimes we dress up and sometimes we don't.

[buckley1983]

We'll be getting into the halloween spirit in a very family-friendly way, definitely no blood, guts & gore! A witches brew punch (lime cordial!) with a large hand shaped ice cube (made by filling a rubber glove with water & sticking it in the freezer) & making some wooden spoon ghosts - covering wooden spoons with white paint, wobbly eyes & glitter - that's as far as we'll be going this year!

[aless02]

SPIDER WEBS FROM CUTTING PAPER

[mimmcfinn]

I will be enjoying pumpkin carving with my son, making scrummy soup from what's left - gorgeous and making other edible and artistic treats in the kitchen, spooky, pizza, buns etc as he loves cooking budding chef :-)

[andy07]

We will be making scary mask, we always do and a non family member judges later on. we will be carving, painting and blinging up some pumpkins and then we will make a Halloween spooky gingerbread house which we will decorate once cooked.