crafts, decorations and rituals for samhain?

[thyself]

I am having a ritual get together on samhain, and I want to decorate dark and elegantly, like gothic style, but I don't have a lot of money. I am hoping to get some ideas for crafts I an make myaelf. Any ideas are appreciated! I already have one idea, for gift bags, I am using brown paper bags and cutting strips into the tops, then gathering the top around a twig or stick to make it look like a broom! The goodies are put inside. Please share some ideas!

[lightdragon]

pumpkin candles

salt dough figurines
1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water

preheat over to about250 degrees F.

make the desired creations you want before putting it the oven. also if you want holes in it, poke first.

then put in over for 2- 2 1/2 hours.

afterwards use paint and possibly doll eyes. and then spray with an acrylic sealer.

from this you can make skulls,apples,pumpkins,etc.

skull garlands
http://thebookofshadowsblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/samhain-crafts-and-decorationsthe.html

[thyself]

Thanks a bunch! Those are great!

[Nola]

a really cheap and cheerful thing I always do is get a load of oranges or satsumas and make pumpkin faces in them using cloves. smell amazing and look super cute as part of table settings.

if you can get a sugar skull mould, they look AMAZING. someone made a load for a window display at work last year and they were utterly beautiful

[thyself]

I looked up sugar skull molds and they are fantastic!!! So perfect! I plan on doing Halloween cookies also, so doing the skulls would be an awesome adventure also! And maybe I could give them away to trick or treaters... Although I am not sure how any parents even let their children go out anymore. It's really sad to me. =( But I hope I get a few trick or treaters!

Thank you both for all the great ideas!

[Heliotrope]

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from paper-mache, for it is the sticky, the gooey, the thing kids adore." -- Book of Crafts, 12:11

We used to make paper-mache skulls when I was little. We'd blow up a balloon and use it for a mold, then paper mache the whole thing, leaving a hole at the bottom around the knot of the balloon. We'd form noses, eyebrows, eye sockets, and teeth. Then, we'd pop the balloons and paint the skulls off-white and black where needed, and they'd make funny hand puppets. :D

[Amanda]

Make your favorite punch in a punch bowl .... for the ice take the none powedered surgical gloves and fill them with water... take a rubber band and tie off the ends or the best way you find you can so the water wont try to flow out.... also in your walmarts halloween section... ( they always have them ) you can get the plastic face masks that has the slits at the mouth and cut outs for the eyes ... they usually are a dollar... get a couple of them and use duct tape to cover the openings good.... then fill the mask with water just inside of it enough to get the face shape when it freezes.... when you fix the punch take the rubber gloves off what will be the ice hands and place them in the punch along with the face that's frozen from the mask... it looks like there is someone getting ready to come up out of your punch... so cool looking... everyone will love it .... I do this for our party every year.... =)

[Nola]

fabulous idea then, but be very careful about latex allergies. best to get vinyl gloves just in case.

and if you use some of the actual punch then it won't be watered down as they melt. although if the alcohol content is very high, they might not freeze well.


I'll also admit, I have quite a few Martha Stewart Halloween books and magazines that I just drool all over pretty much all year round. lots of great ideas. some spooky, and a lot of just very beautiful, nature inspired and autumnal ideas as well. it might be worth checking out the website.


the sugar skulls were brightly decorated with lots of coloured icing, painted with food colouring, and lots of edible glitter too. I wish I had a picture, they were just SO beautiful.

[Amanda]

My punch came from a Martha Stewart Halloween Special years ago I seen on TV.... =) She has such a magical way about her eye for decor... I've never thought about checking out her website for more ideas... but I would know there should be tones of good ideas there....

[thyself]

This is so cool! I am sooo excited! Thanks for all the great ideas for my party/ritual!

[)O( ~ Khara~ )O(]

I do the layered mexican dip a little backwards at this time of year. I put the lettuce on top and make mounds with the refried beans on top like new graves. I use either chips or toastettes as the gravestones.

As for decoration, I still use pumpkins everywhere. Almost all my lighting last year was from jack-o-lanterns.