October is in full swing and the countdown to Halloween is on! That means I only have a few more weeks to shower you with all my Halloween projects and recipes. It also means that we are getting closer to my daughters birthday party (which will be on her actual birthday, Halloween, and is Halloween and Origami themed) and I need to start creating decorations for her party stat.

Yes, you may think a Halloween Origami party sounds strange, but my daughter knows what she wants. Ha! To bring more of the paper folding/manipulation aspect origami into the party decorations, I came up with this crafty and cheap fringed tissue paper bat and pumpkin. The process is pretty straight forward and the results are quite large and visually impact-full which is what everyone wants for party decor. Bang for your buck!

The simplest shape to make was definitely the pumpkin, but the supplies are the same for both. Just tissue paper in the color of your choice or that goes with the shape you are making (orange for the pumpkin, black for the bat, white for a ghost, etc…), a large piece of cardboard or a box that you can disassemble, scissors, and glue/tape.

First off you will want to
sketch your shape onto your cardboard and cut it out.

Now is it time to prepare your tissue paper. I purchased mine from Target’s Handmade Modern Collection, but use what you can get. Home Goods always seems to have it on sale or you can find small quantities at the party or craft store. You will need to cut strips that are approximately 2.5-3″ wide and then fringe them leaving about a 1/2″ at the top uncut.

Now it is time to apply the tissue paper. I used both tape and a glue stick (and then regular glue when the glue stick ran out), and think that the glue stick was the easiest. But again, use what you have because they all work. Starting at the bottom of the cardboard image, start to glue your tissue paper fringe down one strip at a time overlapping the bottom piece with the next strip as you move up towards the top.

One you have your entire piece of cardboard covered, check to make sure that all the edges are glued down. You will need to do this to make sure that the last piece of fringe on the sides doesn’t come off when you trim the edges.

Now that your done with the tissue application and everything is secure, it is time to trim up your shape. Just use your scissors to cut around the cardboard base to reveal your shape. I used markers to add the finishing details like the bat eyes and the brown pumpkin stem.

How cute are they?! Not bad for a buck or two! I ended up using about 3 sheets of tissue for the bat and 2.5 for the pumpkin. Not that much considering the large scale of these decorations. I think I will be able to create several more pumpkins and maybe a ghost or Frankenstein head out of the one pack of tissue paper. I love it when crafting saves me money! Oh, and if you are going to hang yours in the air instead of against a wall, you will want to tissue paper the backside as well, so people don’t see that ugly cardboard sticking out!