Fall is here and with that comes crisp air, falling leaves, and pumpkin soup. And of course the October holiday beloved by children of all ages, Halloween. While kids are busy picking out costumes and carving pumpkins, you can create custom decorations for your home. Here are seven fun Halloween craft ideas.

  1. Laminate your kids’ art. No matter where your kids go to school, chances are they will come home with fall or Halloween themed artwork. By laminating these creations and storing them with your holiday decor, you can have reminders of your little ones on the wall or refrigerator for years to come, even after they’ve grown and moved out.
  2. Make pumpkin stickers. Or any other autumn themed sticker. Sticky back paper is available to use with cold laminators. Simply run your picture through the adhesive laminate, rub firmly to ensure the glue is attached, then slowly peel off the backing for a fun sticker. These can be a fun alternative to hand out instead of sugary candy bars.
  3. Create holiday magnets. Give your fridge a facelift for fall. By creating magnets out of your favorite Halloween symbols and pictures, your kitchen gets a fun, festive look with little work on your part. Magnets are another exciting gift for children to hand out.
  4. Make a Halloween cookbook. Every year around this time magazines and web pages are full of ideas for fall cooking and baking with the season’s star produce. Breads, cookies, pancakes, soups, and of course pies all center around pumpkins. And don’t forget about squash and sweet potatoes. Save your favorite gourd recipes for years to come by coating them in a protective laminate. Punch a hole in the corner, slide a ring through and you’ve got a mini personalized cookbook. The recipes can simply be wiped off and stored with other Halloween decor and costumes for easy access every year.
  5. Design personal labels. These can go anywhere! Run a few through on sticky back adhesive to place on the outside of a storage box to denote where costumes and scarecrows are stored. Coat others to use as gift tags.
  6. Create themed placemats. Put together a collage of Halloween and other fall images to laminate and use as a placemat. These could include pumpkins, scarecrows, witches, black cats, spiders, kids dressed up in characters, or anything you like. Colorful custom placemats add holiday fun to your dining table without added expense.
  7. Laminate pictures of your kids in their Halloween costumes. These are fun memories to look back on and lamination will ensure that your pictures stay safe for years to come. Keep them with your fall decorations and display the pictures every autumn for a nostalgic look.

This is merely a short compilation of ideas. We’re sure you may have many more. Give your kids room to create and they may surprise you with what they come up with. Now is the time to get a personal home laminator and start designing!