Do you have a little ghost or goblin counting the days and hours down until Halloween? I sure do. As soon as Thanksgiving is done, my kid turns his thoughts to all things Halloween. His costume is picked out and carefully tested (by running around the neighbourhood randomly while wearing it), his trick or treating strategy is carefully mapped out, and his candy ranking is done. So now, we have to find a way to pass the time until the big day arrives. Bring on the Halloween crafts! There are countless Halloween decorations that you can print out and put together with your kids. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Simple is good
With a basic black and white printer like the Canon imageCLASS, you can quickly rattle of a massive stack of ghosts, black cats, and pumpkins for your kids to colour, cut out, and hang around the house. Make sure to use outlines of the images instead of solid colours, to save a considerable amount of ink.
Sticker shock
Every kid in the universe loves stickers. If you happen to have a colour printer that can handle printing label sheets (like the Brother Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer), then you can make your own scary stickers to affix wherever the spooky mood requires. Label sheet manufacturers like Avery offer a wide variety of Halloween-themed templates. I like the Zombie Quarantine one myself.
Ominous loot bags
Here’s a fun (and delicious) decorating idea. Print the image onto an iron on transfer sheet, iron it on to a cloth bag, and fill the bag with the candy of your choice. And the decorated bags can serve double duty, as both decorations and as take home gift bags for your Halloween party guests. If you’re looking to wow the neighbourhood kids and their parents, simply crank out enough of the bags for all of the trick or treaters (though this may get to be a little bit too expensive, so set a budget!)
Did somebody say party?
Once your kid develops a taste for parties, they’ll want one for every single holiday and occasion. We had to put our foot down when he suggested that a party a month was reasonable. If you’ve decided to throw a Halloween party to indulge your party monster, why not go for a unified theme? By using coordinated decorations, your party gains an extra level of impressive design for almost no effort.
For the extravagant decorator
You probably don’t have a 3D printer just sitting around. But if you do, you are probably itching for an excuse to fire it up. Or maybe you’ve had your eye on the Makerbot Replicator for a while now, and this is your time to indulge. Either way, you’ll have the ability to whip up your own 3D decorations. It also makes creating your own custom costume pieces a possibility. Having trouble finding a template for the item you want? Jump into the included software and design your own model. 
images from loveobsessinspire.typepad.com, thingiverse.com,catchmyparty.com, avery.com,homicraft.com,pagestocoloring.com
