DIY: Halloween spider and witches curtains

I came up with this idea many years ago when I was a preschool teacher. I needed something to decorate my classroom for Halloween, but didn't have a budget to do so. In one of the many teacher supply catalogs, I found a black plastic spider that could be hung from the ceiling. The more I looked at it, the more I decided I could easily make one of those things on my own.

I have to say that it turned out great back then and the kids loved it! They were so surprised to see that huge spider hanging on the ceiling! We also hung one up on the front porch at the house and the reaction of the trick or treaters was great!

Now that we have the large front porch again, I thought this would be a great time to bring the spider out of retirement. So, with Ally's help, we made another spider (named Fred by Ally) and also made some witches curtains to go with him.

Everything turned out great and the front porch now looks amazing and ready for Halloween! It was so easy and took just an afternoon to make and hang up everything. Here's what you'll need to make your own "Fred" and witches curtains:

A box of black outdoor garbage bags

White poster board or construction paper

Staple gun & outdoor staples

Black duct tape

Newspapers

Black marker

Black yarn

Directions for spider:

• Stuff one garbage bag full with crumpled newspapers. Secure the top with some black yarn. Use 2 pieces of black duct tape to tape down the bottom corners of the bag. This will round out the spider's body.

• Take 4 garbage bags and cut them down the middle. Make sure to also cut down the seams to open the bags up. These will make the legs of the spider. You'll end up with 8 legs.
• Tie the legs to the top of the spider body with black yarn.
• Cut eyes and fangs out of the poster board. Pupils can be drawn onto the eyes with the marker.
• Eyes and fangs can be either taped or glued to the body of the spider. Both ways have worked just fine.

• To hang, we staple the top knot of the spider and legs to the ceiling of the porch. Legs are then draped and stapled in the middle to make a joint.

Directions for witches curtains:

•  One black bag will make one curtain. To make shorter curtains, leave the bags as is and cut strips about an inch wide starting from the bottom and working to the open end. Leave about 2-3 inches uncut at the bottom of the bag. This will be the end that is secured to the top of your window to hang the curtain.
• To make a longer curtain, cut down the side seams of one black bag. Leaving 2-3 inches uncut at the top, cut 1 inch wide strips.
• Any stretching or tearing is ok. The more ragged, the better.
• Curtains can be hung by using either duct tape or staples.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!