Do any of you have the neighbors that really like to go all our for the holidays?  One of our neighbors that lives across the street puts giant spiders all over their house for Halloween.  I mean, I’m talking giant spiders.  Like bigger than me.  These things are not homemade, and they must have cost a small fortune.  Where on earth do they even store them?  All day and all night those humungous arachnids are mocking the meager spider webbing we slung across our front porch.  Or how about the one house that we drive by during Christmas, who have no less than thirty-two inflatable and large plastic holiday inspired characters scattered across their lawn.  Now, they actually have a shed that they store all of this stuff in.

And then there’s people like us.  Well, I would like to say that we can use random household items to make clever-looking holiday decorations.  The best part is that we can do them with our kids and make good memories (instead of the bad ones that probably come with trying to hand up a dozen over-sized, eight-legged freaks, and untangling miles of electric cords).  Specifically, I’m going to suggest we use whatever packaging supplies are laying around.

Like tape.  Tape is still considered part of the packaging supplies family, even though it has many other uses, and this time around we are going to use it as caution tape!  If you have yellow duct tape, that would be perfect.  If you have only masking tape, or electrical tape, than that’s fine too.  I would always suggest painting whatever it is yellow, and then just scribbling “caution” all over it with sharpie.  For some reason, the kids really like to do the writing part, and it’s just cool to see their shaky handwriting.

Make tombstones out of cardboard boxes.  Cut them to the right shape, spray paint them grey, and then use paint to write out a witty epitaph: Here Lies Dead Fred.

How about bubble wrap?  I spray paint it white and wrap it around a homemade snow man that sits on our front porch.

What other kinds of packaging supplies can you dig up and find creative uses for during the holiday season?  My friends and I have started getting into competition over it all, and we wind up voting which family put on the best show.  It’s a great way to get into some creative activities with our kids that involve critical thinking and lots of fun!