Frugal Halloween Fun: Cheap Crafts and Activities for Kids

After the long, hot summer in Texas, fall officially kicks off with Halloween. As a result, we usually fully immerse ourselves in the Halloween spirit on Oct 1^st every year. While the stores are capitalizing on the consumerism of the season with expensive decorations and costumes, we try to get into the spirit with simpler, more economical activities. Here are some crafts that my kids enjoy and that really help usher in the fall season.

Decorating Mini Pumpkins

Halloween is really symbolized by pumpkins. For a super cheap craft, grab up a bag of mini pumpkins with your groceries. The kids love to decorate them with paint and permanent markers. Little kids enjoy scribbling on them with the markers or painting them funny colors. As they get older, the kids get more particular about making spooky characters and scenes. After the pumpkins are dry we display them: on the front porch or in a bowl on the table. We wind up with great Halloween decorations without spending a fortune.

Footprint Ghosts and Handprint Spiders

These cute and cheap Halloween decorations can be made by kids of any age. All you need is white and black paper and white and black paint. For ghosts, paint the bottom of your child's foot, or pour the paint onto a paper plate and let them step on it, rolling their foot to coat. Step down several times onto the black paper to create white ghosts. Once dry, the kids can use markers to draw spooky eyes and mouths on the heel end.

For spiders, use the white paper and black paint. Paint or dip your child's hands in black paint, keeping the thumbs dry. Remember, spiders only have eight legs so you want a print of the palm and four fingers, leaving room to do the palm and four fingers on the other side. Again, have the kids use markers or glitter glue to decorate your spiders' eyes and mouths-with fangs of course.

These creepy characters can then be cut out and hung around the house for cheap decorating. Or let the kids make them into Halloween cards to send off to friends and family. While you're at it, you might want to add in a few handprint turkeys out of brown paint-Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Make Your Own Decorations

Don't buy expensive yard decorations. Most creepy Halloween decorations can be homemade cheaply and easily. Create a grave yard on your front lawn by painting wooden boards, cardboard, or foam pieces gray and black. Have kids come up with silly epitaphs-such as "Jack O. Lantern" or "Here Lies Jim McNair, came in second in a fight with a bear"-and help decorate them. Purchase spider webbing to spread over bushes and windows. Replace your regular outdoor light bulbs with orange or green bulbs or black lights. Make small ghosts out of white bathroom trash bags, or cut up an old sheet. Fill them about halfway with dead leaves, or other packing, and secure with a rubber band. Have kids draw spooky faces on them and tape string to the tops. Hang them in the branches of the trees. Complete the Halloween ambiance with a spooky CD on repeat.

Caramel Apples

In my article, Frugal Fall Treats: Caramel Apples, I discussed the many virtues of making caramel apples. They are cheap, fun, and delicious. One of the ways my kids make them special for Halloween is by rolling them in various Halloween-themed toppings. We roll them in sprinkles and colored sugar making orange, black, purple or green caramel apples. You can also decorate the caramel with candy corn or gummy worms. Use melted white chocolate to create spider webs or ghosts with black licorice faces.

The best way to make caramel apples with kids is to set out the toppings of their choice on paper plates. For example, mini-marshmallows and orange sprinkles on one plate and candy corn on another. Then an adult can dip the apples and let them cool slightly before handing them off to the kids to roll, pat, and smoosh their Halloween themed choices onto the apple.

Start a Tradition: Homemade Apple Cider

Making homemade apple cider is a delicious and inexpensive fall tradition. The frugal part is that the cost of a dozen apples will get you several hours of fun and about 2 quarts of homemade cider. First, buy about a dozen of whatever cheap apples your family likes. I use half green and half red. The cider will be strained at the end so there is no need to core, seed or peel the apples. At home, we set up an assembly line: the kids wash the apples, I chop them into quarters, and they dump the apple chunks into the pot. Then, armed with plastic cups, they fill the pot with water until the apples are covered. You can then add whatever sweetener and spices you like. We use ½ cup brown sugar, ½ a cup white sugar, 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 whole nutmegs, and a teaspoon each of allspice and cloves. If you don't have these spices on hand try to find them at a grocery where you can buy spices by weight; they will be much cheaper than those in the spice aisle. For example, 1.5 oz of cinnamon sticks, or about 12 sticks, is only about 50¢.

Once everything is in the pot, turn the heat on high and relax while your house fills with the wonderful fall smell of apples and cinnamon. Boil the mixture for an hour uncovered then turn the heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for two hours and then turn off the heat. Use a potato masher to mash up any big pieces of apple and then strain the mixture into a large bowl or pitcher. You can strain it twice if it is too thick. The cider will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks. To serve, fill mugs and microwave them for a minute to heat them back up.

In my house, Halloween marks the launch of the fall season. With Christmas coming up, however, there is no reason to celebrate it by spending lots of money. Spending time with your kids and establishing simple Halloween traditions will make for more meaningful and memorable holidays.