I love making seasonal crafts with the girls. This year because we have a bigger house we need more Halloween decorations and I thought the perfect craft would be to make paper mache pumpkins which can decorate the porch and be brought out year after year. The best thing is that this can be made with things you should have lying around the house.
Firstly rip your newspaper into small squares. Next make a paper mache paste out of the flour and water – simply mix in equal quantities. You can use PVA glue slightly watered down instead if you have it.
Blow up your balloon and tie the string around it tightly to form the ridges of a pumpkin shape.
Trim the toilet roll tube to size and tape on top to form the stalk.
Place the balloon on a bowl to keep it steady. Put on your disposable Marigolds – this is going to get messy!
Dip the pieces of paper into the flour paste and stick to the balloon. Keep doing this until the whole balloon has been covered in several layers.
Leave to dry in a warm place. Ours took 24 hours in front of a radiator to dry because it was a big balloon.
When it is dry make a small cut in the bottom of the pumpkin so that it will stand flat. You can then remove the balloon from inside by popping it and pulling it out.
Draw and cut out the pumpkin face of your choice.
Next, put on those Marigolds again and get painting!
You can light up your pumpkin at night with an electric tea light to make it look extra spooky!
The girls absolutely loved making this and the gloves really saved us from getting messy at all – we could just throw them in the bin afterwards which really made cleaning up so much easier. They don’t have any powder inside and were thin enough to be able to use without them feeling like they were getting in the way, but they are also strong and durable. I’d definitely recommend having a box of these handy as they are so useful for all sorts of things, not just paper mache! They are great value too at only £5.99 for a box of 60.
What do you think of our Halloween craft – will you try to make a paper mache pumpkin this month?
Really clever to make the ridges with string.
This is a great idea – it looks so fun and less smelly than a real pumpkin!
What a fantastic idea. I bet Sylvia would love to do this with me. It’s a fab tutorial thanks.
Wow these look fab! So effective too! Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year!
Aww bless the pumpkins look amazing I will need to turn my sister on to this idea with her two!
Oh thats so cool and way more kid freindly than carving a pumpkin!! I should do this with mine!!
How fun is this! I can’t wait to be able to do crafts like this with my little one.
That’s so cute! My kids would love it and it looks nice and easy too.
This looks so fun to make! I love a bit of Halloween crafting!
What a wonderful idea and it looks so lovely all lit up.
I absolutely love this idea. Paper Mache is so much fun and really cheap to do.
Such a great idea! Paper Mache can be so much fun!
I keep trying to persuade my boys to do some paper mache with me but they don’t have the patience!
Wow this looks fab, fun to make and won’t stink the house out!
This totally beats buying an actual pumpkin that will last a few days! Also it’s always great fun for you and the kids!