Need bags for your Halloween treats?  If you’ve got paper lunch sacks in your cupboard, you can easily turn them into these cute jack-o-lanterns!  Sara from Confetti Sunshine drew a different face on each of these bags, creating an amusing assortment of expressions.  You could churn out w hole stack of these fairly quickly with an assembly-line-style process, and it would be a great project for enlisting the assistance of kids!  [make DIY paper bag jack-o-lanterns]

Project estimate:

• Paper bags, on hand or $1
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Sharpie, on hand
• Candy, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  Free and up!

The post Make Paper Bag Jack-O-Lanterns appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Halloween is just two weeks away! I usually procrastinate and find myself stuffing treat bags desperately an hour before trick-or-treating begins, so this year I decided to get an early start. I also decided that this year I am participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. For many kids with food allergies, Halloween can be disappointing, since they aren’t allowed to eat various types of candy. To make sure these kids don’t feel left out this year, FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) is encouraging people to place teal pumpkins outside of their doors to indicate that they have non-food treats available.

Since I know several kids with severe food allergies, I a definitely participating in this project. And the dollar store is the perfect place to find non-food Halloween treats! I recently went shopping for items to fill up my treat bags. Watch the video above to see what I got, or keep scrolling for photos!

A teal skeleton – I’m using him to decorate my teal pumpkin!

A bowl for my allergy-friendly treat bags.  It’s the closest to teal I could find at Dollar Tree!

Plastic treat bags, and teal ribbon to tie them shut.

Pencils

Foam stickers

Skull rings

Glow bracelets

Erasers

Temporary tattoos

Stickers, stickers, and more stickers!

Are you participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project?  What are you handing out in your non-food treat bags?  Share your ideas in the comments!

The post Haul Video: Non-Food Halloween Treats for the Teal Pumpkin Project appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

We’re total suckers for innovative ideas that we haven’t seen before, and we kinda fell in love with this one!  Autumn from It’s Always Autumn turned mini chocolate donuts into cute lil’ spiders, complete with edible legs and eyes.  They’re sure to be a big hit at any Halloween party, with your family, or with your coworkers!  You could also substitute other small baked goods if you aren’t fond of donuts.  (But, who doesn’t love donuts??)  [how to make mini donut spiders]

Project estimate:

• Mini donuts, $1
• Pretzels, $1
• Chocolate candies, $1
• Frosting, $1

Total:  $4

The post Make Mini Donut Spiders appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Are you planning a Halloween party this year? You don’t want to spend all of that time making a costume and decorations, then just stick a jar of salsa and bag of chips out for snacking, right? Here are lots of sweet – and a few savory – ideas for your ghoulish spread.

1. Frankenstein Rice Crispy Treats – How cute are these bright green treats?

2. Caramel-Apple Milkshake – Your guests will love making their own Halloween-themed shakes.

3. Vampire Cupcakes – You can use any cupcake recipe you like for these spooooky cupcakes.

4. Apple Bites – These spooky monster mouths use only three ingredients.

5. Mint Chocolate Bars – Sneak something healthy onto the table with a batch of bright green chocolatey treats that contain no artificial colors.

6. Ghost, Pumpkin and Mummy Pizzas – Who says all Halloween treats have to be sweet? These spooky mini pizzas are definitely in the Halloween spirit.

7. Spooky Hummus – I know, hummus isn’t very scary. But add a little spiderweb food art, and you can transform black bean hummus into an on-theme savory snack.

8. Homemade Candy Corn – Store-bought candy corn is delicious, but does it come in adorable heart shapes?

9. DIY Candy Bracelets – Remember candy bracelets? This homemade version looks like such a fun Halloween activity!

10. “Ghoul”-camole with Homemade Ghost-Shaped Chips – Make your own spooky corn chips from stale corn tortillas for this savory Halloween treat.

The post 10 Halloween Party Treats to Make at Home appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I'm a big fan of Halloween and all of the fun stuff that comes along with it. I especially love fun homemade treats, but I don't always have the time (or patience, or crazy decorating skills) to make cute treats. On a recent trip to Dollar General I came up with an idea that both cute and simple, requiring no artistic skills at all: witch's brew cupcakes!

Project estimate:

• Cupcake mix or ingredients, on hand or $1 and up
• Frosting, on hand or $1 and up
• Cupcake liners, on hand or $1
• Plastic tubs, 3/$1 (so $4 for one dozen)
• Pretzel sticks, on hand or $1

Total: $4 and up per dozen

This year the Halloween selections at Dollar General include a ton of things I love! I could have filled a whole cart with all of the great stuff I found. I didn't go quite that crazy, but I did walk out with quite a few fun items.

One of the items that did come home with me were these cute little plastic tubs in packages of 3 for $1. They reminded me of little cauldrons, so I thought it would be neat to do something witchy with them. And they were just the right size for holding cupcakes!

So of course, you'll need to make some cupcakes. If you're feeling like a bakerista, you can use your favorite from-scratch recipe, but I "cheated" and grabbed a boxed mix from Dollar General's baking section. Bake them and let them cool completely before you move on to decorating.

Tip: Since the cupcakes are presented inside of the plastic tubs you can't see the liners. I usually use fancy liners when I make cupcakes but in this case I used plain white liners as a money saver!

Place a cupcake into each plastic tub. (I bought 4 packages of plastic tubs so I would have enough to make a dozen cupcakes.) There will be a little bit of extra space around the edges so make sure the cupcakes are centered as well as possible.

Mix up a batch of green frosting. You can either make the frosting from scratch or buy a tub of it, but either way you will want vanilla (or other white) so that you can dye it with food coloring. Add green food coloring until you reach the desired shade of green; I also added a few drops of yellow to get the color I wanted. Frost the cupcakes as you normally would – no need to be super fancy. I just threw mine into an icing bag and squeezed a blob onto the top of each one.

Finish the look by adding a sprinkle of green sugar to the top. I think this makes them look kind of fizzy!

Just before serving, add a pretzel "spoon" to each cupcake. If you do this too far in advance the moisture in the cupcakes will make the pretzels get stale and mushy really fast, so the longer you wait to add them the better they will be! What do you think?

Do they look like little witch's cauldrons? (I know one thing for sure – they definitely didn't taste like they contained eye of newt or any other witchy ingredients. They were quite yummy!)

The post Make Witch’s Brew Cupcakes with Dollar General appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Treats and party favors are so much more fun and memorable when they come in a cute container, don’t you think? And they don’t have to be complicated or expensive to be downright adorable! Check out this idea from Brittni at One Charming Party, who used strips of colorful duct tape to make fringe-covered baggies that are just perfect for holding portions of Halloween candy. This idea could be used for other holidays and events as well – with duct tape available in so many fun colors and prints these days, the possibilities are endless! [how to make duct tape Halloween treat bags]

Project estimate:

• Small paper bags, $1 and up
• Duct tape, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $1 and up

The post Make Duct Tape Halloween Treat Bags appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.