I know you feel guilty tossing that junk mail and those egg cartons. But what if I told you those “trash” items could become the cutest Halloween crafts your kids have ever made?
My recycling bin is basically a craft supply closet at this point. And honestly? My kids have more fun digging through it than playing with actual toys. So grab that pile of “garbage” and let’s get messy.
1. Toilet Roll Bats
Take an empty toilet paper roll and flatten it slightly. Pinch one end together to form two pointy ears, then paint the whole thing black.
Add googly eyes or draw them with a white pen. Fold two small paper wings from a cereal box scrap and tape them on. Now you’ve got a bat army.
2. Milk Jug Skeleton
Rinse out a plastic gallon milk jug and remove the label. Cut off the bottom so it looks like a ribcage – that’s your skeleton’s torso.
Use four more jug handles (cut from other jugs) as the arms and legs. Connect everything with yarn or twist ties. Hang this guy on your front door and watch the neighbors double-take.
3. Egg Carton Spiders
Pop out a section of a cardboard egg carton. That dome shape is the spider’s body. Poke four holes on each side using a toothpick.
Thread four pipe cleaners or bent paper clips through for legs. Paint it black, add two googly eyes, and you’ve got a creepy crawler. I once found one of these in my shoe – nearly screamed.
4. Cereal Box Monsters
Cut the front panel off an empty cereal box. Let your kid draw a monster face right over the cereal logo – it looks hilarious.
Use bottle caps for eyes, yarn scraps for hair, and a broken comb as teeth. Glue everything on and stand it up like a monster puppet. Perfect for scaring your cat.
5. Jar Lid Pumpkins
Save those metal lids from spaghetti sauce jars. Paint them orange and draw a jack-o-lantern face with a black marker.
Stack three lids together and glue them. Tie a green twist tie or a real leaf from the yard to the top as a stem. These make fridge magnets if you stick a magnet on the back.
6. Newspaper Ghosts
Take a crumpled piece of junk mail or newspaper to form a ball. Drape a white plastic bag or tissue paper over it and tie at the bottom with string.
Draw two black eyes and an O mouth. Hang these from your ceiling with thread. Fair warning: my toddler tried to eat one. Maybe don’t use the grocery bag version if yours also eats everything.
7. Cardboard Tombstones
Flatten a shipping box and cut out tombstone shapes. Write funny epitaphs like “Here Lies Dad’s Diet” or “RIP My Sanity.”
Rub a little dirt or coffee grounds on them for a grungy look. Stick them in your yard using a chopstick or a popsicle stick as a stake.
8. Bottle Cap Witches
Collect plastic bottle caps from soda or water bottles. Paint them green for the witch’s face and add a tiny black hat cut from a yogurt cup.
Glue on yarn hair and draw warts with a marker. These fit perfectly on a pencil eraser – instant Halloween pencil toppers for school.
9. Yogurt Cup Ghosts
Take a clean single-serving yogurt cup. Turn it upside down and cut a small slit in the top for a string hanger. Paint the whole thing white.
Draw a ghost face on the front. Tie a string through the top and hang it from a light fixture. Every time the light turns on, it looks like a glowing ghost.
10. Paper Towel Tube Owls
Grab a paper towel tube and flatten it slightly. Push the top corners down to form two ear tufts. Paint it brown or leave it plain.
Glue on two large circles cut from an old cereal box for eyes, plus a small triangle nose. These owls look wise. Your kid will look like a crafting genius.
11. Plastic Lid Frisbee Spiders
Take a large plastic lid from a sour cream or cottage cheese container. Poke eight holes around the edge and thread black yarn through each hole.
Tie the yarn ends together underneath to make legs. Draw a spider face on the lid. Throw it like a frisbee – the legs wiggle in the air. Hours of entertainment for zero dollars.
12. Junk Mail Confetti
Shred all those credit card offers and supermarket flyers. Let your kid use a hole punch to make tiny circles of confetti.
Sprinkle it on a glue-covered pumpkin or a cardboard skeleton. Instant textured art. Plus, you get the satisfaction of destroying junk mail. Win-win.
13. Egg Carton Bats
Cut a single cup from an egg carton. Trim the edges so they look like bat wings – the cup becomes the body. Paint it black.
Add tiny white dots for eyes and hang it upside down from a string. Make a whole colony and tape them inside your closet. Scare your spouse when they grab a coat.
14. Tissue Box Monsters
Empty a rectangular tissue box. Turn it on its side so the opening becomes the monster’s mouth. Paint the whole box green or purple.
Glue on googly eyes, pom-poms from old sweaters, and pipe cleaner antennae. Your kid can feed the monster crumpled paper “candy.” This kept my nephew busy for an hour.
15. Straw Skeletons
Save those bendy straws from juice boxes. Cut them into different lengths for bones – long for arms, short for fingers. Arrange them on black paper.
Glue them down in a skeleton shape. Use the bendy parts for elbows and knees. It looks like a real x-ray. We taped ours to the window for a spooky shadow.
16. Pizza Box Haunted House
Take a clean cardboard pizza box. Open it up and stand it like a roof – the hinge becomes the peak. Cut a door and windows on the front.
Paint it gray and add ghosts cut from milk jugs in the windows. Shine a flashlight behind it to make a shadow puppet theater. Tell terrible ghost jokes. Your kids will laugh anyway.
17. Wine Cork Pumpkins
If you have a few cork stoppers (from that one time you had wine during naptime), glue three together in a triangle. Paint them orange and add a green twist tie stem.
Draw faces on each “pumpkin.” These are small enough to glue onto hair clips. My daughter wore one to school and her teacher asked where she bought it.
18. Potato Stamp Jack-o-Lanterns
Cut a raw potato in half (okay, you might eat the potato, but the peels count as trash). Carve a simple face into the flat side like a stamp.
Dip it in orange paint and stamp faces onto old newspaper or paper bags. String them up as a banner. This is messy but worth it. Just don’t accidentally cook the stamp potato.
19. Laundry Detergent Jug Cauldron
Cut the top off a laundry detergent jug and rinse it well. Paint it black and draw green bubbles on the side. Fill it with crumpled orange paper “fire.”
Place it on your porch with a foam “brew” stick made from a cardboard tube. Tell the kids it’s a witch’s potion. They’ll stir it with a real stick from the yard.
20. Cardboard Roll Mummies
Wrap a toilet paper roll with white bandages (old torn t-shirt strips or paper towels). Leave two small gaps for eyes – draw them on with a marker.
Glue on googly eyes if you have them. These mummies look awesome lined up on a shelf. And they won’t fall apart like the real thing.
21. Plastic Fork Spiders
Take a clear or black plastic fork from takeout. Snap off the handle so only the tines remain. Paint the fork body black.
Glue on two googly eyes on the top. The four tines look exactly like spider legs. Stick it into a foam ball or just lay it on the table. I brought these to a Halloween party and people thought I bought them.
22. Egg Carton Skulls
Cut a single egg cup and flip it over. The bumpy bottom becomes the skull’s nose. Paint it white and draw black eye sockets and teeth.
Make a whole dozen and string them on yarn as a garland. Hang it across your mantel. Spooky but somehow cute – like sugar skulls for toddlers.
23. Milk Carton Bat House
Rinse a cardboard milk carton and let it dry. Cut a small round hole near the top. Paint the whole carton black.
Glue on bat shapes cut from a black trash bag. Hang it from a tree and tell your kids real bats might move in. (They won’t, but the suspense is fun.)
24. Shoebox Shadow Puppet Theater
Cut a large rectangle out of the lid of a shoebox. Tape a piece of wax paper or a white plastic bag over the hole. Shine a flashlight from behind.
Cut monster shapes from cardboard scraps and tape them to skewers or straws. Your kids can put on a Halloween show. I’ve seen this entertain a room of five-year-olds for 45 minutes. Miracle.
25. Plastic Straw Spiders
Gather three or four bendy straws. Thread a piece of yarn through all of them and tie the ends together. Spread the straws out like spider legs.
Paint the center where they meet as the body. Add googly eyes. This spider is floppy and weird – kids love it because they can bend the legs any way.
26. Toothbrush Monsters
Find an old toothbrush you were going to throw away. Paint the handle as the monster’s body and the bristles as wild hair. Glue on wiggly eyes.
Use it as a puppet. Or just keep it in the bathroom as a “monster toothbrush” to convince your kid to brush. Desperate times.
27. Coffee Filter Ghosts
Flatten a used coffee filter (rinse and dry it first). Draw a ghost face in the center with a marker. Crumple a small piece of foil into a ball and wrap the filter around it.
Tie a string at the neck. These ghosts are translucent – hang them in a window and sunlight makes them glow. And they cost absolutely nothing.
28. Can Tab Bracelets
Save the pull tabs from soda cans. Link them together like a chain bracelet. Paint them orange and black. Add a small plastic spider glued to the center.
Your kid will wear this for weeks. Bonus: you’re keeping sharp metal out of the landfill. I feel very responsible when I make these.
29. Cardboard Tube Frankenstein
Take a toilet paper roll and paint it green. Glue on two black bottle caps for bolts on the neck. Draw a stitched mouth and sad eyes.
Use a scrap of cardboard to make a flat top “haircut.” He looks grumpy but lovable. My son named his “Frankie” and sleeps with it. I pretend not to find that weird.
30. Yarn Scrap Witches’ Hair
Collect all those short yarn pieces from old projects or unraveled sweaters. Glue them to a plastic lid as a base. Draw a witch face below the yarn.
Cut the yarn into a bob or long tangles. Tie it with a string and hang it on the wall. It looks like a witch who just flew through a windstorm. Very dramatic.
31. Mixed Media Trash Monsters
This is the “throw everything in” craft. Gather bottle caps, straws, egg carton pieces, jar lids, and cardboard scraps. Give your kid a glue stick and let them assemble a monster.
No rules. No instructions. Just chaos and creativity. We made one that had six eyes and a fork for a tail. It lives on our fridge now. Honestly, it’s my favorite thing in the house.
So What’s the Takeaway?
You don’t need fancy supplies or a trip to the craft store. Your recycling bin is a goldmine for Halloween creativity. Every one of these 31 crafts uses stuff you were going to toss anyway.
Try a few with your kids this week. Start with the toilet roll bats – they’re foolproof. Then send me a picture of your trash monsters. I’ll pretend to be impressed even if they look like blobs. Now go raid your bin before the garbage truck comes.