A Make Your Own Scarecrow Party

Use recycled household items for a fun fest your ghoulish guests will never forget! Of course you will need to teach your guests a few tricks of the trade just to jumpstart their creative spirit.

For the head, you can use an inflated balloon wrapped with toilet paper and cured with a mixture of equal parts school glue and water. Layer on the toilet paper piece by piece and using a wide painters brush, stick the toilet paper in place by completely brushing it with the glue and water mixture.

To make the hair, you will need a skein of yarn of any color of your choice. Roll the yarn a few times across the width of your four fingers (about 25 times). Cut through both ends of the looped yarn to make about 50 pieces of 4-5 inch long yarn. Glue or with a handy sewing machine, sew this on to one side of a piece of strong fabric about the size of small plate. Wrap the yarn loosely around a small pillow (or larger pillow, depending on your preferred length.) and cut through one end of the loop. Glue or sew this on to the fabric making sure it covers the glued end of the bangs so the cloth doesn’t show. Repeat this procedure until you are completely satisfied with the volume of yarn hair on your wig.

To make the hands, you will need a pair of inexpensive rubber gloves. There are a couple of ways to do this; it depends on the level of skill you require. One way of making them is to take the rubber glove and use it as a pattern to cut the pieces of cloth or fur (if you want to make a hairy scary scarecrow) to cover the back of the hand. Glue the pieces of cut out items to the hand and let it set. Then take a small piece of construction paper of any color of your choice, and cut small pieces of triangles and glue them on the gloves as nails. You can paint over them if you prefer, with glossy black or dark green paint or nail polish.
 
You may even prefer to make a warty old scarecrow, just roll a few small pieces of gray modeling clay and flatten one side by gently pressing on them with a hard surface. Glue them on the glove and wait. For a more funky looking creation, paint the warts in bright colors and see the difference!

For a sturdier, more complex looking scarecrow hand, you will need some casting plaster, like Plaster of Paris. Mix enough of the plaster to fill both gloves and tie off the top of the glove firmly with a rubber band to prevent the plaster from spilling out. Once the plaster has hardened sufficiently, rip or cut the glove with a sharp knife to remove it. You may now customize your plaster scarecrow hand. With red poster paint, you can draw the veins, or simply dripping blood for a scary scarecrow. Or you could paint chicken pox scars or moldy fingernails. You could break some fingers off for that mangled effect.

Use old trousers or denim jumpers and old shirt stuffed with wads of newspaper for the body. Give out prizes for the silliest looking, scariest scarecrow, most adorable or even most sinister scarecrow. Make sure you give out consolation prizes so no one would go home empty handed. Remember, the more authentic the setting, the more realistic the ambiance.