DIY Halloween Treat Bucket

For the past five years we’ve lived in a condo building which meant no trick or treaters at Halloween. Boo! Which in my opinion is the best part of Halloween! So you can imagine my excitement when we moved to a townhouse in the middle of a great neighborhood. I’m so excited to have an actual real Halloween this year complete with trick or treaters. I hope we see lots of kiddos, Lord knows I bought about 15 bags of candy so I hope they don’t disappoint and force the hubs and I to eat all the candy ourselves.

Anyways, I started searching back in August for the perfect treat bucket to use to pass out Halloween goodies. I came across this one but then I saw the $32 price tag I did a double take.

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Any other year I’d pay that in a heartbeat, but this year we have way too many furniture/home decor purchases to justify that price for a bucket I’ll use once a year. So I headed over to Pinterest confident I could find something just as cute that I could make for half the price.

Of course, Pinterest had no problem providing me with more than enough inspiration.

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I ended up using this picture to recreate my own.

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And came up with this.

Quick, easy and best of all cheap. The entire project cost $16 and was completed, start to finish in under 30 minutes. If you have a Cricut and can make your own decal, you'll save a few extra dineros.

Here’s what you need:

Ribbon – I bought one 3-yard spool from JoAnn’s at 50% for $2.00

Bucket – I found the perfect sized plastic one in the Halloween section at Target for $6.00

Decal – Ordered a custom decal from an Etsy shop for $8 (two parts: pumpkin & text)

Drill – borrowed the hubs’

The only real effort was drilling the holes in the bucket for the ribbon. This actually took real muscles so I had the hubs drill the holes with the biggest bit (about a 1/2 inch) that he had.

Choose how far or close apart to drill the holes; I drilled mine about 2 inches apart. Weave the ribbon through the holes and then tie a big ‘ole bow. Place the decal on the bucket.

And voila! Fill with candy and you’re ready to greet trick or treaters.

So far I haven't given in to the chocolately goodness, but the hubs has!

CVB

 

P.S. - I ordered the boots I mentioned here in both Cognac and Brown so I'll be sure to give you a full report when they arrive later this week.

My Advent Calendar!

I'm joining in Kimba's DIY Day over at A Soft Place To Land. Ever since I stumbled upon Buzzing of a Queen Bee's advent calendar last year I was determined to make my own. It was so stinking cute and looked pretty easy. "Technically" I had an entire year to make it but it didn't happen until this weekend. Nevertheless I don't think my hubby minds since he gets 6 days in 1 in order to catch up. Saturday morning we woke up to snow(!) so it was the perfect day for a festive craft. Here's what I needed to make this super cute calendar.

-24 paper mache boxes (in various shapes and sizes)
-holiday scrapbook paper

-1 picture frame (12x14 for me)

-Mod Podge

-24 goodies to stash inside

-hot glue gun

-exacto knife

-sponge brush

-scissors

-tape
I started by spray painting a "natural" wood frame with Rustoleum's Colonial Red.

Next I took the cardboard insert and covered it with scrapbook paper to make the base for the calendar. Then I cut out the scrapbook paper for the lids of the paper mache boxes. My "type A" self was telling me to cover the sides of the boxes w. paper too but my lazy bone took over. Cut the paper to fit the tops using an exacto knife (scissors and tracing will work too). Once you have all of the paper cut figure out the layout for your boxes.

Since I was only able to find one star box I decided to make that Christmas day. After you figure out the layout start applying the Mod Podge to the lids and paper. Tip - a little goes a long way. I got a little MP happy so I applied MP to the lids as well as to the back of the paper. Then once I placed the paper on the lid I applied a thin coat over the paper for a glossy finish. Set them out to dry.

In case you have preferences as to where each paper should go lay them in order to dry. Next, using my glue gun I glued all of the bases to the background.

I let the lids dry for about 30 minutes then I put them on. And no art project would be complete without ribbon. I finished off the calendar by making a ribbon hanger complete w. a box. Fill with your favorite treats and you're all set! (If only Starbucks gift cards would fit inside!)

cBv