Halloween Crafts & Art Projects

It’s easy to make your child custom "Trick or Treat" bag. This project is not much more difficult than the Halloween placemat project which is used as a base for this project.

Directions:

1. Follow the steps #1-4 for a Halloween placemat and repeat to make the two side pieces of your bag. Important: Make sure your 2-inch holes are where you want to insert the bag’s handle.
2. Using the same process, craft a handle for the bag. Insert each end in the holes on the side pieces and sew over them 4 times, locking the handles in.
3. If desired, craft and add an appliqué to one or both side pieces.
4. Sew side pieces together, leaving an opening by the handle for the candy.
5. Zig-zag stitch around the edge again to make sure the seam is secure.

Be sure to ask your child about what character they’d like their bag to take on. That’s what my mother did and when she asked my brothers and I what we wanted for our Halloween bags, the results were a ghost, a pumpkin and my black cat pictured here. Frankly, I think this bag is pretty near a masterpiece of Halloween folk art and is one of my treasured holiday possessions. Years of use, storage and display wore the appliqué of the black cat threadbare. In 2006 I carefully removed all the black material in the body of the cat and slowly brushed in the area (guided by the original appliqué stitch) with black acrylic paint. It worked wonderfully. It takes a close look to tell that the fabric has been replaced with paint.