Halloween Menu Board

{Potentially} Inexpensive Halloween Decoration Idea #3

I liked the menu board I made a while ago, but it was not going so well with my Halloween theme. Hence, a Halloween Menu board. I say potentially inexpensive, because you can use whatever you have lying around the house, or you can go to the store and spend as much money as you would like (provided you have the money to spend). If you have a frame you are not using you can recycle it for spookier purposes.

I started this project in Microsoft Word. I knew I was going to be using a 8 1/2" x 11" frame so I just used the whole sheet. If the frame you have is 8" x 10", just size your document accordingly. I typed in the Weekly Menu heading and followed it with the days of the week, leaving space in between each day to post that day's menu. I wanted a more Halloween font. I ended up using one of the ones that came with the free party kit I used to make the banner. I added some clip art, and printed it out on orange paper. You could use any color or pattern paper that you want, provided you can see what you write on it. I know my black dry erase marker will work just fine with orange so that is what I used.

Next, get a frame for your paper. Mine was already black so I didn't have to paint it. I wrapped black fun fur yarn around the outside edges and tacked in place with hot glue. Then I added different size googly eyes around the edges. Needless to say, you can paint yours whatever color you want. Use whatever decorating items you want. Make it yours and enjoy!
Alternate ideas:
*Paint frame white (orange or purple might even work). Draw or paint spider webs (if using darker color for frame, use a light color or white for webs). Glue plastic spiders to frame. Could even dangle a few spiders on strings.
*Paint frame orange. Paint wooden block or dowel brown, or use a twig to glue on top for stem. Tie festive ribbon around pumpkin stem. (Use orange paper for menu. Could even draw some curved lines on paper to make it look more like a pumpkin)

More Dresses

For the brother-in-law's wedding, I made the small fries' dresses. The smallest fry was modeling Simplicity 3509 view B. I love that this pattern has the diaper cover pattern. Since neither girl has any concept of modesty yet, it is nice to at least have their diapers match their dresses. I am kind of silly that way.

Here is the back view of the medium fry in Butterick 4967 view C with sleeves added. She liked being a princess. Technically, she was the flower girl, but her sole function was to look cute. That she did very well.

This is the front view of the dress. The medium fry and the big fry were having fun climbing on the building. He started out in a vest and tie. They didn't last long after the group picture.

Fortunately my mother-in-law found his vest on Ebay so that I didn't have to sew one, and his tie he inherited from his uncle who outgrew it. Random side note- that tie was present at every one of the three married siblings' weddings. Royal blue is a good wedding color I guess.

Trick-or-Treat Banner

Inexpensive Halloween decoration idea #2:

This one is a free printout you can find here. I printed out the banner flags on cardstock. Then just because I could, I took solid black cardstock and used a deckle blade on my paper cutter to make a slight border and spray mounted the two sheets together. I used a paper punch to make holes in the corners, and tied them together with some orange ribbon I had.You can see the border a little better from this angle. There are many options available- you could string them together differently, use multiple colors or cutting blades (or just use them straight) for the background. If you have Halloween paper lying around and don't want to print off the pages, you could make a banner with whatever you have. It adds a nice splash of festive color on my wall.
Oh, and it gets even better. Because this download isn't just a banner. No, it is a whole party kit, complete with party favor boxes. And did I mention the word "Free"?

http://www.mygrafico.com/freebies/free-printable-halloween-party-kit/prod_5511.html