www.womanthismonth.com 86 October 2016 PARENTING| DIY Kids big and little love the one night of the year when it’s OK to dress up, play tricks and gather far too many sweet treats for their own good. We’ve come up with a few Halloween how tos, to make sure your party goes with a howwwwwl! Happy Halloween Carve A Laughing Jack-o’-Lantern 1. Buy a pumpkin from your local supermarket or farm shop. 2. Draw a circle around the stem on the top where you want the lid to go. 3. Cut out the lid, make sure you use a sharp knife and angle it inwards so the lid will lift off easily. 4. Use a long-handled spoon or ladle to clean out the inside of the pumpkin. 5. Wipe the inside and leave to dry. 6. Draw your chosen pattern onto the skin with a washable marker – it’s possible to buy ready to cut stencils if you’re not all that confident of your artistic abilities. 7. Either cut out the shape freehand or, take the experts’ advice, and use a sharp pin or screwdriver to poke holes all the way round the shape and then push it through using your knife to even up the edges. 8. Pop a tea light inside, replace the lid and, hey presto, one pumpkin lantern. 9. If you want to hang the lamp rather than standing it on the porch, pierce a hole on either side of the design a few centimetres down from the lid and thread through thin wire. Create Creepy Costumes Scary mummie: 1. Take a couple of old white sheets – if you don’t have any at home check out charity shops or discount stores. 2. Cut slits around 5-7cm along one edge (they don’t have to be perfect) and then tear along the length of the fabric. 3. To get the aged effect, take a bucket of boiling water, add a few teabags and soak the material for about half an hour. Remove from the water and leave to dry. 4. Get an old white, long-sleeved T-shirt, or tutle neck if possible, and, starting from the bottom, stitch the strips around the shirt. Again, they don’t have to be perfect, make sure you go for uneven and leave ends hanging. You can do this with a sewing machine if you have one but running tacking stitch is fine if you don’t. 5. Cut along the length of the sleeves and attach layers so you don’t have to stitch around. Once you’ve done a few layers and are happy with the look, turn the shirt inside out and sew the sleeves back up. 6. Take white leggings or pyjama bottoms, cut the inside seams and do the same, sewing on strips until you’re happy with the appearance and then stitch the legs back up. You can tie strips together for an authentic look. 7. For hands and feet, add more strips onto socks and gloves. 8. Cover face and head with left over material strips – as little or as much covering as you like – and then add a bit of green face paint, after all mummies are pretty old, so their complexions are probably not great. Dress up your costume with more green and grey or black face paint, but don’t go over the top.
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