Ghost Host

Summon up the Halloween spirit with this spectral sextet.

Materials

Instructions

First, find a good location for your gathering of ghosts. They look especially good when circling a central pole, such as a tree or lamppost.
Next, cut your dowels to the height you'd like your ghosts to be. We've seen them in every size, from toddler height (quite cute) to larger than life (quite spooky). Remember: the larger the ghosts, the more sheets you'll need to use. The ghosts shown here are about 4 feet high.
To make a ghost head, stuff a small white garbage or paper bag with crumpled newspaper or leaves to the size you like. Push one of the dowels into the bag, then wrap masking tape around the neck to secure. Repeat for the rest of the ghosts.
Drape a sheet (or half a sheet, if you're making small ghosts) over each head and tie a piece of string around each neck. You may need to experiment with cutting your sheets to the right size; here, we used a queen-size sheet for each ghost and rounded the bottom edges to the desired length.
Use permanent black markers to draw a face on each ghost.
Gather your ghosts around the tree or pole -- with a foot or two between each one -- and push the dowels into the earth so that the sheets touch the ground. Angle the ghosts so that they are leaning slightly backward, then knot the corners of the sheets together as if the ghosts were holding hands.