Grandmother Wren's Halloween Pages -

Vintage Halloween Handicrafts for Children

(published in 1938)




HALLOWE'EN is our most rollicking American holiday.
For on All Hallows' Eve, which always falls on October 31st, we can disguise ourselves in masks and play a lot of harmless pranks.

Long ago it was believed unsafe to venture out on Hallowe'en, for witches and mischievous spirits were supposed to be abroad. But nowadays we wouldn't for anything miss meeting the jolly goblins who go spooking around on Hallowe'en in outlandish hats and masks.
Why not arrange a parade of your friends and yourself in masks and costumes of your own making? Carry along
whatever horns, squeakers, bells, etc., you may have.

Then play "Follow the Leader." When the leader waves his arms, the whole parade does the same. Mimicked by his train of masked merrymakers, the leader hippety-hops, creeps, whistles, dances, meows, roars, claps hands, stamps feet, and executes whatever absurd antics he can think of. If you think that this isn't fun, it is because you have never tried it. The same thing could be done at a school Hallow* e'en party.

Children could also put on a most wonderful "snake dance" in the gym. The snake dance is that comic parade
that college boys put on to celebrate the triumph of their team in football or other sports. Each walks along with his
hands on the shoulders of the person in front of him. The  leader takes a winding path, each person behind him stepping just where he steps. It always makes hilarious fun.
It takes brains to make something, yet the making is often as easy as falling off a log. You can make, for instance, a splendid Jack-o'-Lantern from a paper plate, the kind of plate on which bakeries pack cream puffs and cakes and
such good things.

One of these plate Jack-o'-Lanterns may be hung in your window by a string on Hallowe'en. Light won't shine
through the plate except through the holes cut for eyes, nose, and a wide smiling mouth.

Paper picnic saucers can be cut the same way to make little Jack-o'-Lanterns. You can hang several of these baby ones alongside a daddy Jack-o'-Lantern and "The o'-Lantern Family" will bring smiles to everybody who sees them.
While we're on the subject of Jack-o'-Lanterns, here is a new variety. It's a real orange Jack-o'-Lantern, part of
whose colored outer skin has been thinly peeled off in the shape of eyes, nose and mouth. The features are then
white, and they show up well against the orange skin. No harm is done to the fruit itself.


The Balloon Goblin isn't a bad goblin at all. He's a cheerful goblin whose ink features are painted on with a brush.

What color balloon makes the best goblin? Well-an orange balloon would look most like a Jack-o'-Lantern, a
green balloon would look the most spooky, while a yellow or white one would show up brightest in the dark. So make your own choice.

A long silk thread tied to the goblin's string will allow him to sail up to people's windows and wag his head at them. If a balloon can't sail that high he has no business being a balloon!
We've all heard of the Witch-on-a-Broom, sailing over haystacks and things.

But our Witch-on-a-Broom isn't like that. She's really a broom in a mask. We carry the broom-witch around and
hold her up outside of our friends' windows, so she can peer in at people and scowl at them with her scary face.

We'll tell you two ways of making the witch. You can think up other ways yourself.

First, the easiest way: Fold wrapping paper around the broom. Pin it together at the back. Then pin its lower
corners to fit the broom.

Paint on ink features. For a hat, wrap any black paper around the top of the broom. If you can find one of those
black paper bags such as dry cleaners wrap hats in, you can use that. Pull it over the top of the head and tie it on.

Then twist the loose end of the bag into a sort of point. If the bag is filled up with air and won't squash down properly,
poke a few holes in it; then it can be twisted into a steep, pointed hat.

Here's another way to make the witch. Use a sheet of pale green construction paper for the mask. Paste on eyes,
nose, and mouth cut from black paper. Pin the two lower corners of the green mask back around the narrow lower
part of the broom.

Make the witch's hat from crepe paper. A witch hat should be as black as licorice! You need about 30 inches of paper off the roll. Crepe paper is 20 inches wide, and the 20-inch width will be the height of the hat.

Frill the paper around its lower edge-the edge that comes closest to the face. Twist the top end into a point - better tie it, too.

You can add other things to make the Witch-on-a-Broom more fearsome. For instance, you could twist a long wire around the broom and let it stick out at the two sides like arms. Hang black cloth over it so the sleeves will flap in the wind.

You may make string hair that straggles forlornly out from under her hat. All there is to it is to hang pieces of string through the broom straws before you put her hat on.
If you are going to have a party, making your own invitations, table decorations, and favors is half the fun.

Make Jack-o'-Lantern folders to use as invitations. One way of making a folder is shown in our illustration. It is
jointed at the stem part and the stem is to be colored green.The Jack-o'-Lantern is of orange construction paper.

If you make the Jack-o'-Lantern about 4 inches high and 5 inches wide, there will be plenty of space to write the
invitation inside. Of course it needn't be that large unless your invitation is long. Here are a couple of invitation
verses you might use:

This Hallowe'en whilst witches fly,
We'll hang good Jack-o'-Lantern high;
You want to help us caper, don't you?
Then you'll come to our party, won't you?
We'll all wear masks and look so silly
That Jack won't recognize us, will he?



Hallowe'en pumpkins will light up our rooms
While out in the night fly the witches on brooms.
So come to my party, a mask on your face,
And let's cut up capers all over the place.