A do-it-yourself Disney Halloween

Halloween is in full swing at Disney World, which means normal people have about a month to get ready before we have to start decorating.

So get out your paint and your craft paper and pull up a chair. We're going to help you add some Disney flair to your fall with a few simple ideas.

MarthaStewart.com

Of course we all love one particular mouse, but mice overtaking your house? That's a different matter. You can easily add the creepy factor to your front foyer with this clever idea from MarthaStewart.com. Give it a Disney twist by adding your own hidden Mickeys. Just download the pdf mouse templates and add a few silhouettes of our favorite mouse, which you can find easily through a Google image search. The lesson here: Almost any Halloween craft idea can be given a fun Disney spin.

Everyone loves visiting the Haunted Mansion graveyard while they wait in line for the ride, so why not add a pre-show in your own front yard? It wouldn't be difficult to make your own using styrofoam sheets and an inexpensive styrofoam tool kit. Can't find sheets thick enough? Glue more than one together. Paint the finished product a splotchy gray and add your favorite epitaphs: "Here lies good old Fred; a great big rock fell on his head" or "Rest in peace cousin Huet, we all know you didn't do it." Or make some up for your friends and family.

Sticking with the Haunted Mansion motif, you can add the hitchhiking ghosts to a window or mirror. Just blow up these guys to the size you want and cut them out of black construction paper (windows) or frosted window film (mirror).


Of course, Disney wants to help you get your craft on too. DisneyFamily.com has 31 days of Disney Halloween Crafts & Recipes, including a cute Mickey Mouse bat that can fly individually or in a flock -- or, if you're adventurous, you can string them together to make a garland of bats. Another one of my favorites, for the adult who wants to show some Halloween spirit without wearing a costume, is a pair of Malefecient's black and green horns.

Mission: Pumpkins

DisneyFamily.com

You also can count on Disney to provide a variety of spectacular Halloween Pumpkin Carving Templates. These have a high degree of difficulty. But if you don't want to try all that precision carving, consider using the templates to paint pumpkins.

One of my favorite simple projects is to buy several white pumpkins and paint different Jack Skellington faces on them. All you need is black paint, preferably something waterproof if you plan to put your pumpkins outside.

The best thing about this is that the pumpkins last for weeks -- you can paint them now and they'll still be good for Halloween. And if you don't have any artistic talent to speak of, that's ok; just print the faces out and use them as templates. The white pumpkins aren't cheap, so as an alternative you can paint an orange pumpkin white before adding the face.

Can't get enough of the Pumpkin King's many faces? Try this variation on another idea from MarthaStewart.com: Buy some white balloons and some eight-hour glow sticks. Just before your party, snap the light-sticks so they glow and insert one or two in each balloon. Then inflate the balloons and tie them off. Instead of painting generic ghost faces on the balloons, give them Jack's smiling -- or grimacing, or groaning -- mug.

If DIY isn't your thing, you can also bring home a Disney Halloween.