Spooky time of year...

I've got to say that Halloween decorating ranks right up there with Christmas decorating for me.  I look forward to it all year.  Could have something to do with meeting my husband at a costume party way back when.  But I digress....

One of the old standbys for my family is the Halloween ghosts.  I've been doing them since I read about them in a kids craft magazine about 9 years ago and they've served the family well.  

This is the first year I've tried lighted heads so I'll have to let you know how they work.  If you'd like to make your own here are the steps:

SUPPLIES FOR EACH GHOST

1 plastic table cloth 

1 gallon milk jug, well washed

1 timer tea light candle

cutting implement (bread knife works well)

zip ties or twist ties or floral wire

1 thin pole (long garden stakes or bamboo or the like)

The tea lights I picked up at Walmart.  They are designed for for use as memorial or 

graveyard displays.  Once you turn them on they light up at the same time every night and stay on

for a few hours.  They are supposed to last about 30 days.  This means that assembling the 

ghosts is best done just about twilight...or turn your tea lights on at twilight the day before but

I'm never that organized.

Cut a few inches down the side of the milk jug.  This just needs to be far enough to open 

the top and fit the candle inside.

Throw the tea light inside.  Lay out your table cloth and find the center.  Place

the milk jug in the center and gather the ends around the mouth of the jug.

Secure the table cloth at the mouth.  Zip ties are my favorite for this

but, alas, we just moved and mine are all still packed in a box...somewhere.

Floral wire ended up being easier than trying to tie the "neck" with string.

Finally, put the sticks into the ground where you want the ghosts and 

feed the top end into the mouth of the milk jug.  I like to tie the corners of

the table cloths together to make the ghosts hold hands.

Just a couple of tips from over the years:  You can use large white trash bags for the ghosts.  But if you let the corner of the bag point up at the top of the ghosts' head...well, you have friends calling to ask why the KKK is meeting in your yard.  Different height stakes make for a family of ghosts.  Kind of fun to have everyone in your real family decorate their ghost counterpart.  Hey, and different color tablecloths make for different creatures...I should post the winter of aliens sometime....