Paper Mâché Ghosts

I believe that one of the many reasons that I have a houseful of boys is because God knew that crafts were not my strong suit.  On more than one occasion, I have had to apologize to a classroom full of kids because, as Room Parent, I planned a lousy craft.  It's not that I don't try, I do, really I do.  But the year we were making snowmen by gluing pom poms onto popsicle sticks?  The popsicle sticks we had donated were coated and the glue wouldn't stick.  That's the kind of craft luck I bump into on a regular basis.

But now I'm feeling brave.  When my brother was little, he made the cutest little ghost out of paper mache. (He made this at school, mind you.  I'm not sure why I'm considering attempting it at home.)  The thing is, my mother STILL has that paper mâché ghost.  And, people, she's moved something like 20 times since then.  She even sold the old-fashioned typewriter we loved--at a Garage Sale for 10 cents!  But the ghost, he's still haunting her halls at Halloween.

So I've been thinking about how fun (fun?) this project could be for my boys.  As best I can tell, we blow up a balloon, cover the table with newspaper/plastic wrap, and get busy dipping strips of paper into paper mâché paste.  Dry overnight, repeat.  Dry again, paint.

Should we try it?  Have you?  If we get brave, I'll come back and post the results.  In the meantime, I'll take any crafty paper mâché tips you have to offer.