How to Make the Perfect Tree Ghost for Halloween

We know Halloween is coming when we see the Ghosts! Dress up your home with easy to make Tree Ghosts this Halloween. Kids will love this project. It doesn't cost much to create and parental supervision is only required for installing the hang line. The Tree Ghost can easily be made from things you already have around the house. Read this article to find out how.

Materials:

• White cloth approximately 1 foot by 1 foot for a small ghost, a piece of old sheet material works great
• A proportional size hallow toy ball or Styrofoam ball for the head (newspaper can also be used, if the ghost will be hung in a protected area, just mold it into a ball)
• Waterproof black magic marker or glow in the dark paint in your choice of color
• String, twine, ribbon or tying material (get creative), approximately 2 feet for tying neck and hanging
• Paper clips, hair pins, bobby pins or small stick
• Pinking shears (optional)

Construction:

• Place your ball in the middle of the cloth. Pull the cloth tightly around the ball to form the ghost's neck and secure cloth by tying with string, twine, ribbon or other tying material, even a twist tie will work.
• Draw or paint two large oval eyes and a large oval mouth on the "head" of the ghost.
• Tie your string, twine, ribbon, etc. tightly to the end of a skewer or other narrow straight pointed tool and push it up through the middle of the ghost's "neck" and through the cloth at the top of the ghost's "head."
• Pull the hanging string through the head so that you have about 1 ½ foot of string, then secure the string under the ghost's "neck" and "skirt" with a large knot, by tying it to a paper clip, small stick, bobby pin or whatever you can think of to keep it from pulling through.
• Alternate hanging method: Attach hanging string, twine, ribbon, or other tying material to the neck tie at the back of the ghost's neck and pull it tightly to the top of the head. Secure it to the top of the head with glue, waterproof tape or by opening a paper clip and hooking it into the top of the head (like a fish hook) and tying the hanging string to it. This will ensure your ghost hangs straight, rather than having the head flop over.
• Using pinking shears or by ripping, fray the ghost's skirt, so it looks ragged and easily catches a breeze.

Your ghost is now ready to hang in a tree, from your porch or wherever you want it to haunt. These are so easy to make, you can give your ghost many friends and haunt an entire tree.

You can modify this basic ghost by making it larger, creating a hangman's noose out of heavy twine, using a stick under the skirt to create arms (be sure to glue the skirt to the arms, so the spread affect stays in place) or by turning it into a friendly ghost by giving it a smile. Let your imagination and your child's imagination run wild. Who said all ghosts have to be white? Happy Halloween!