I've had several people ask about how to do the silhouettes I put up every Halloween and so here it is...
They are really simple and cheap (cuz that's how I work...) and reusable from year to year. This is our fourth year using the big ones. So I don't have step by step pictures, but you'll get the idea...
The jack-o-latern face and Boo silhouettes are made from large black garbage bags. (Told you it was cheap...) I had to tape two bags together with duct tape since our windows are pretty large. Then I used a black sharpie and drew on the shape I want. You can (weirdly enough) see it on the black bag. Then cut out the pieces. I first used orange tissue paper (you can see that on the Boo) but last year the jack-o-latern needed a little love and I switched the paper for a $1 orange, plastic table cloth. Which is much better. You can see my tape through the orange. I just taped it all down and put little bits of tape on each tooth and eyeball, so they didn't droop. (I made both big ones in about an hour.)
Here is the Boo with tissue paper. I'll switch it out to a table cloth this year when i take them down. It hangs better and stores easier with the plastic. Then I just tape it around the window using painter's tape. And when the season is over - I just fold the tape down so it can't stick to the garbage bag. This makes a nice stiff border after a couple of years... =) Then I fold them up, like a blanket, and stuff them in the Halloween boxes.
For the skulls - I just bought some felt skulls from the dollar store and taped them onto butcher paper. I throw away the paper and just save the skull for next year.
So, there you have it. Super easy, super cheap, super fun Halloween silhouettes.
And for those that asked about the spider problem we have every year... It's rope. The branches are 6 long ropes tied in the middle and stretched out and attached with a staple gun or tent stakes to whatever Tom can find... It's a little different every year. They need to be pretty taught. Then he starts in the middle with a long rope and keeping it tight, wraps it around the branches and spins his magic...
The spiders have flexible legs, so he just bends their legs tightly around the rope and they hang around for the season.
Posts
