Sep 20, 20223 min read

DIY: LIGHT UP GHOSTS- BOO!

This is a budget-friendly and quick craft to do for Halloween. These Spooktacular ghosts can either go inside or outside to add a little glow and fun to your decor. My kids love them and what a fun way for your trick-or-treaters to be greeted for Halloween.

Supply List:

tomato cage (I used 33 inch for both ghosts)
large round styr0fome ball
string of lights (I did one ghost white and the other orange)
white bed sheet*
black felt
white felt or puff paint
hot glue gun
hot glue
scissors
tape
optional: zip ties (to attach lights to the tomato cage)

*Instead of a white bed sheet you could use a plastic table cloth from the dollar store and/or gauze for layers. I'm not sure how these do in the rain but if you don't have a covered porch/patio, the plastic might be the way to go.

Pro tip: I started by throwing my sheet in the dryer (with a scoop of ice cubes and a dryer sheet) to get all the wrinkles out. You could also use a hand steamer at the end.

Step #1: Styrofoam meets tomato cage

Stick the Styrofoam ball onto the top of the tomato cage. Make sure its secure. On my second ghost, I stuck the Styrofoam ball much further down on the stakes, so the ghost appeared shorter (I couldn't find a smaller tomato cage so this was just going to have to do).

Step #2: Wrap the cage with lights

I started at the top of the tomato cage and wrapped the lights down and around to the base, making sure the plug end could reach an outlet. You could use zip ties to make sure the lights are secure to the cage (cutting off the slack once they are zip tied). I chose to wrap the top end of the plug around the top of the tomato cage securely and it worked just fine for me.

Step #3: Drape the sheet

I cut/tore my sheet in half so I could cover two ghosts. **This does not have to be perfect because you will end up tucking the extra fabric under or around the cage depending on how you want it to look.

I draped one sheet over the ball/cage and cut off slack around the bottom. Again, this does not have to be perfect, in fact I think it looks cute jagged. I thought about adding more layers and putting more lights on under the layers but I was on a time crunch so I stuck with one of each.

Step #4: Eyes and Mouth

You can trace the eyes and mouth onto your black felt with a white pencil or chalk. Make whatever kind of face you want :) I added eyebrows to mine at the end because I had random scraps of felt leftover. Again, this doesn't have to be perfect- have fun with it.

I taped the eyes and mouth onto the sheet first so I could make modifications if I didn't like the first go-around. Thank goodness I did it this way because I definitely made changes. I added white to the eyes to give them more expression.