It’s October, which means Hallowe’en is just around the corner. Hallowe’en derives from the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain. Many customs, like bonfires and dressing in ghoulish costumes to ward off malignant spirits, come from this ancient festival.
A traditional Hallowe’en has long been celebrated in Scotland, from dookin’ for apples to carving neeps. The best-known Scottish Hallowe’en tradition is ‘guising’ i.e. dressing in ‘disguise’. Dressed as skeletons, ghosts, or other supernatural creatures, children visit neighbours’ houses where they sing songs and tell jokes in exchange for sweets (a good gusier may even earn a shiny penny or two!)
In the old days folk were thrifty, making costumes out of whatever material was at hand. This included pillow cases, old linen, and even sheep hide! In recent years however, you’ve probably noticed an influx of single-use costumes and items flooding the supermarkets. Think plastic lanterns, faux spider webs, and off-the-shelf costumes.
The scariest thing about modern, mass-produced Hallowe’en is all the waste. 83% of shop-bought costumes are destined for landfill with the majority of the materials being made from synthetic, non-biodegradable fabric.
If you’re finding Hallowe’en consumerism a pain in the neck, Nest has the antidote! Whether you’re hosting a fancy dress party or sewing costumes for the grandkids, we hope our ideas for a handmade Hallowe’en will put you in good spirits!
Handmade Hallowe’en party invites
Throwing a fancy dress party? Have some fun with handmade invites. Paper crafts are a great activity for kids as it uses accessible materials and is easy to clean-up. All you need are paper, scissors, glue, and some beads.
Set yourself a challenge to only use what you can find at home - a foil lid for a full moon, sweetie wrappers for haunted house windows, or red buttons for glaring monster eyes.
Hint hint: Nest has an overflowing cauldron of decorative beads and coloured card galore if you need materials.
Devilishly good doorstep decor
Painted pumpkins
Did you know you can paint pumpkins? Level-up your doorstep this Hallowe’en by painting pumpkins in chic shades of chalk paint. You don’t need to stick to traditional orange and black - why not try frosted pastels or paint a spooky scene instead of carving one?
Nest stock a range of Frenchic chalk paint, including Frensheen if you want to add an extra dusting of fairy glamour.
With pumpkins this pretty, only high quality guisers need apply!
Pom pom spiders
Dangle these cute creepy crawlies on your porch or in a stairwell to give guests a spook-tacular welcome. Gather four pipe cleaners together and tie them in the middle with black string. Bend and fan the legs to create your desired shape. Next, cut a bobble off an old hat and glue it to the legs. Finally add eyes and mouth made from coloured card. It’s scarily easy!
Handmade Hallowe’en party decorations
Crochet pumpkins
Adorable crochet pumpkins add autumnal ambiance to desks, sideboards, and bookcases. They’re simple to make with basic crochet skills. In fact, Nest has already run 2 workshops on how to make them! Luckily we had some left over that are for sale in our shop.
Remember, a cute crochet pumpkin isn’t just for Hallowe’en! Use them to decorate your living space all autumn long.
Fang-tastic Fabric Bunting
Is it a party without bunting? Only basic sewing skills are needed to transform your living room into a ghoulish lair with a string of festive fabric bunting.
Opt for skull or spider patterns or go grown-up with autumnal shades of plaid. Either way, by the time you’ve decorated the hall or living room with strings of bunting it’ll look like you’ve gone to lots of effort.
The best part? You can reuse your bunting next year! The same can’t be said for the reams of synthetic spider webs festooning the shops throughout October.
Handmade Hallowe’en costumes
Dressing up is part of the Hallowe’en thrill. Half the satisfaction is making a costume yourself by hand or figuring out how you can turn your wee ones into superheroes using egg boxes. Part of the guising fun when we were little came from the weird and wonderful DIY costumes our mums made us and the happy memories of guising in our costumes are priceless - like getting your paper bat wings caught in the car door!
Cheaper and more satisfying than an off-the-shelf costume, here are some ideas for quick and easy DIY costumes.
Bedsheet Ghost costume
A last-minute classic. The trick is to secure the bedsheet to a light coloured hat which your child (or you!) wears inside the sheet. The next cunning trick is to stitch black mesh fabric to the underside of the bedsheet where the eyes and mouth are meant to be. That way the person inside the costume can still see without losing the ghostly effect! Finally, sewing elasticated wrist straps inside the costume will help secure everything in place and allow freedom of movement.
Bonus eco-points if you repurpose the ghost costume after Hallowe’en to line baskets.
Hairy Hands
Got a pair of old gloves? Simply cut off the fingertips and handsew or glue faux fur onto the backs of the hands. If you really want to sink your teeth into a werewolf costume, you could also attach faux fur to the chest of an old t-shirt. Add a loosely buttoned plaid shirt over the top and it’ll look like a werewolf caught mid-change!
Paper Witch Hat
Here’s a be-witch-ing costume idea. All you need is a sheet of black card, scissors, a ruler, and glue. First, roll the card into a cone shape then cut equal length fringes along the base and fold them out.
To make the brim measure the diameter of the cone. Mark the diameter on the leftover black card then use a compass positioned at the midpoint to draw a circle. Keep the compass at the midpoint then draw an even bigger circle to define the brim. Cut out the inner and big circle to create them brim. Now glue the brim to the hole.
Go from hags to riches with extra embellishments for your witch hat, like a felted buckle, glitter glue, or colourful beads. Here’s a detailed step-by-step!
Pop into Nest to browse our affordable donated fabric or try the local charity shops!
More Hallowe’en craft ideas
Tote bags for guisers
‘Trick or treat’ bags might seem like an American invention but Scottish guisers have always seen the merit in a swag bag. Making yours from remnant materials is a practical, reusable way to a more sustainable Hallowe’en as you can use the bag for years to come.
At Nest, we’re dab hands at stitching together tote bags from donated fabrics. Here are a couple of tips to bear in mind for a strong Tote Bag:
- Use a thick thread. ...
- Reinforce your stitching and seams. ...
- Sew with strong needles.
Dog bandana
Maybe your little monsters are the four-legged, furry variety? If so, don’t ghost them this Hallowe’en - pets can join in the party fun with custom-made bandanas! All you need is remnant fabric in a spooky pattern and your pets will be howling at the moon in delight.
Whatever you do we wish you a 'spooktacular' time!