Halloween Crafts
Even if you haven’t crafted much, you can still make some great Halloween crafts to decorate your house and make the holiday festive. Halloween conjures up images of evil witches, spooky ghosts, black cats and flying bats. You can create these images with easy and fun crafts.
The best part is that the whole family can create Halloween crafts and you will be spending time together. Many Halloween crafts can be made by almost any age children. Even a toddler can help make Halloween crafts and learn new skills like drawing, cutting and coloring.
We are going to give you an assortment of ideas for Halloween crafts. Many of them can be made out of common household items so you won’t have to spend lots of money on craft supplies. Believe it or not, you can turn an ordinary plastic grocery bag into a spooky ghost and an egg carton into an scary bat.
You will need just a few crafting supplies from the store for these crafts. These will be on hand then for future craft projects as well. Here is a list of basic craft items that you might need for these crafts:
- Various colors of craft paint – black, white, green, orange, etc.
- Googly eyes
- Hole punch
- Fun foam in different color
- Pipe cleaners
And you will need standard craft supplies like scissors, tape, and glue. If you find that you really get into crafting, this list will grow, but this is enough to get started.
One thing about crafting with kids is the need to be patient with them and not to expect perfection from their work. The whole idea of crafting with kids is to have fun and spend time with them.
The History of Halloween
Some people think Halloween is a “devil worshipping” holiday. But the truth is that Halloween really has its basic origins in the Catholic Church. Halloween means “All Saints Eve” or “All Hallows Eve”.
All Saints Day is a religious holiday observed by the Catholic Church for worship of all the saints in heaven. It formerly was considered one of the most significant observances of the church year.
The American Halloween origin extends more from the Celts celebration of Samhain, which is a festival to celebrate the end of the harvest. Fairies were thought to be very active at this time as they ushered in the winter.
The Celts believe on that night, the borders between the worlds of the living and worlds of the dead became blurred. On the eve of October 31, they celebrate Samhain. That was the day that they believe the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth damaging crops and stirring up trouble.
Celts felt the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Celtic priests to predict the future. For a people entirely dependent on the natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
The Celts wore costumes during the celebration – usually consisting of animal heads and skins – and they tried to tell each others fortunes. They would build huge sacred bonfires where the people came to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
When their celebration was over, they re-lit the fires in their hearths that they had put out earlier that evening. The fires were re-lit with flames from the sacred bonfire and would help protect them during the coming winter.
