Glow in the Dark Halloween Garland

Spooky Decorations for a Halloween Party

This spooky garland is fun and easy to do with the kids

Halloween Garland Supplies

• Ghost and Bat clipart (available at Hersheys.com or draw your own)
• 12 x 17 ½" white foam mat
• 12 x 17 ½" black foam mat
• Scissors
• Hole punch or awl
• Package of black chenille stems/pipe cleaners
• DecoArt Glow in the Dark Acrylic Medium
• Tulip Glow in the Dark Dimensional Fabric Paint in natural
• Manila folder or lightweight cardboard
• Pencil or fine point pen
• Soft sponge stencil applicator
• Glue stick
• Black marking pen

Garland Instructions

1. Print a ghost and bat from clipart. Glue prints to a single layer of the manila folder and cut out the two patterns.

2. Trace around pattern for the ghost on the white foam mat with a pencil or pen. Fit as many on the sheet as you can. Do the same for the bat on the black foam mat. Cut all the shapes out.

3. Using the hole punch or awl, put a hole in each bat wing and each ghost arm.

4. With the stencil sponge, put a heavy coat of glow in the dark medium on each ghost. (Using a brush will leave lines that show later.) Let the ghosts dry for a couple of hours.

5. In the meantime, using the 3D fabric paint, outline all the bats and draw two dots for the eyes. Let the bats dry for several hours.

If the garland will be hung against a wall only one side of the bat and ghost figures need to be painted. Otherwise repeat steps 4 and 5 on the reverse.

6. Wrap black chenille stems around a large marking pen such as a Sharpie into individual coils. You need enough to connect the bats and ghosts together.

7. Do a second thick coat of the paint on each ghost. Let dry several hours. You really want them to glow brightly.

8. Using a black marking pen draw faces on the ghosts such as large black eyes and a mouth.

9. Connect a bat and a ghost with the chenille stems until all the shapes are used.

This should make an 8 to 10 foot garland depending on how tight you make the coils.

This makes a great kids' craft with some supervision.