How to make a quick and easy Halloween garland decoration

My friend Kaylea got in touch with me recently to show me the Halloween garland she created for her classroom and it’s such a fun and simple project that I just had to share it with you too! This is an amazingly quick and easy way to create a themed decoration for your classroom or home with just basic crafting supplies – and it’s a perfect project for young children to get involved with too.

You’ll need:

Your favourite digital scrapbook kits / clip art illustrations
Access to a printer and cardstock to print on
Scissors, a hole punch, ribbon or string and some small paper clips

And that’s it! Super simple.

I’ll let Kaylea tell you all about how and why she made her garland:

I wanted to decorate my classroom – high school speech, drama, and debate – for Halloween. It’s my first year, and I got a second wind of creativity during fall break. Perusing Pinterest, I found a “ghost garland”. Rather than use any old ghost, I found my EHD and Kate’s Frank ‘n Friends and Spooky Street doodles.

I used Google Slides for ease, and created 11 x 8.5 (horizontal) slides, and then added the artwork two up to a page. I used all of the characters from Frank ‘n Friends along with the ghosts from Spooky Street. I also used Kate’s “Keep Calm Halloween” freebie to make a set of sign to go with the garland. While I do have Photoshop, using Google Slides was an easy way to be “high speed, low drag” to create the garland and signs.

I ran to the corner store Sunday night and found a hole punch. The only string they had was curling ribbon, so I got silver since it seemed the most “halloweeny”! After I had printed the images on cardstock and cut them out, I started out weaving the ribbon through the shapes to create my garland but soon found it was easier to hang the string first, put a paperclip through the shape’s hole as a hanger, and then add them to the string already on my windows. I then added a bit of scotch tape to the paperclips so the picture stays facing the “room side”.

I plan to “wash and repeat” this technique each month with a new theme. It’s a fun “happy” for my students, who are struggling with wearing masks and going to school in “social distance” style. In fact, I’m already thinking of my Christmas Tree – yes, I’ll probably get a small real tree – I have a “fake fireplace” in my room that serves as my decor focal point. I may use the Wizardry doodles to make “Harry Potter” inspired Christmas decor. I might even do a bit of over achieving and hang white lights across my ceiling.

I want my room to be a “safe place” for my students. A place where they have a bit of fun and can be creative. Life is tough during COVID-19, and this is my way of making it a bit more cheerful. It’s funny, I thought the garland might be too cheesy for my students – ok, well it is cheesy! – but they thought it made the room fun and got them in the spirit of the season.

Thank you Kaylea for sharing your classroom pics and your fun garland! This is a project that would be easy to create for any celebration or holiday (I love the idea of a Christmas version with cute paper stockings hanging across a mantlepiece!) You could even include some kids’ drawings amongst the illustrations to create a really personal garland you could use year after year.

If you create your own garland using this simple technique I’d love to see what you come up with! Happy creating and happy Halloween!