Our children will be 12, 9, and 9 in a few months. Our oldest decided that he's too old to go trick-or-treating this year. That's why I decided that we better squeeze in as much Halloween fun as we can before they are too old to enjoy Halloween the way only kids truly can.
Zombies are all the rage these days, whether you're 8 or 80. Checkout this easy Halloween table centerpiece I made with a few Halloween supplies from Oriental Trading Company!
What you'll need . . .
Zombie Head Centerpiece
big bags of assorted candy (red and pink preferred)
Bowl with Eyeballs & Floating Candles
3 red tealight candles
Table Coverings
Scary Hands Holding Zombie Head Candy Bowl . . .
This candy bowl will be super-easy for you to make because we have done all the trial and error. All you need to do is attach the latex monster hands to either side of the zombie punch bowl so that they look like they're holding the head. We tried hot glue, white glue, model glue, and a tagging gun and could not get the hands to attach securely. What finally worked is double-sided foam tape. I highly recommend that you use permanent double-sided foam tape because the non-permanent kind we used still allowed the hands to detach now and then.
If you are careful in the placement of the foam tape, then it will hardly be visible at all. You can also make it so that a person can put their hands inside the monster hands to hold the candy bowl for trick-or-treaters to help themselves to candy for some spooky fun.
Speaking of candy . . . we used two big bags of assorted candy (85 pieces each) that had mostly red and pink wrappers. I removed the small handful that were other colors so that only the zombie brain-colored ones remained. This punch bowl can hold a ton of candy. My two bags only filled half of the head, so I placed a plastic food container upside-down at the bottom and stuffed some paper around it to help the candy reach the brim of the bowl.
Bowl with Eyeballs and Floating Candles . . .
The eyeball erasers from Oriental Trading Company come in a set of 24, which was the perfect quantity for this project. We had enough to put in the bowl and to scatter around the centerpiece. The erasers are flat on one side, so the eyeballs remained stationary with the pupils facing up even in the floating candle bowl filled with water.
As for the candles, I just used tealights I already had in the house. You can certainly purchase small floating candles, but the tealights worked just fine for us. If you are using tealights, you'll need to carefully remove them from the plastic cup. Be sure to check that the metal disc on the bottom that is connected to the wick has at least a thin layer of wax over. If the disc is not covered, then water might get up through the center of the tealight. Before placing the tealights into the water, trim the wicks to 1/4" tall.
Halloween Table Covering . . .
For an easy Halloween backdrop for our centerpiece, I layered a stretchable black web over a vinyl orange tablecloth. The web was not what I was expecting. I pictured something more stringy, but this web worked out fine. It was sticky just like you'd expect a web to be and even came with a handful of spiders designed to hook onto it.
Let's talk candle safety! . . .
PLEASE DO NOT leave candles unattended while they are lit and do not leave your children or pets alone with the them. Also, DO NOT place anything, including decorations, close to or over the edge of the floating candle bowl. The candles float around with the slightest air current. I placed the rat prop next to the bowl to make the centerpiece more interesting, but had to remove it shortly after I lit the candles because one of the tealights floated right over to it. Remember, Halloween is not just about having fun. It's about being safe as well!
For more Halloween inspiration, be sure to visit Oriental Trading Company's Halloween section!
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