This week and next week here on the blog is ALL ABOUT HALLOWEEN! This is probably the first year I’ve truly decorated for Halloween in a long time and its been so much fun. I forgot how much I loved it! This DIY Halloween bat wall is my first project this season. Bats on the wall are very popular this year – all over Instagram and Pinterest. Actually, it seems pretty popular every year. You can find the bats at stores like Target or Michaels, but I decided to DIY mine. Yup, did ’em myself. They literally cost me a $3 pack of black cardstock! (post contains affiliate links, see disclosure)
DIY HALLOWEEN BAT
SUPPLIES:
- black cardstock or construction paper
- bat template, print my template here
- double-sided tape or glue dots, I used the glue dots because I had some already and they are quick and easy!
STEPS:
Using the template I cut out the different size bats. Then, traced the bats, just as the instructions read on the template. Cut out the bat and fold at the crease for dimension. Then I added more dimension to the bats by folding the wings, first towards me, and then away from me. This is the key to a successful paper bat! Then using the glue dots, I started gluing all the bats to the wall creating a design flow. I wanted the bats to look like they swarmed the wall and then flew away.
I also wanted to make a Halloween update to my existing plate racks. So, I searched and searched online to find Halloween themed dishes that would be small enough to fit into the plate racks. No luck. Then, one night it hit me – since I already know which plates fit in these racks, I can just create my own. They are only a few bucks at Target and I can keep them year after year.
I searched for DIY Halloween dishes on Pinterest and found that my friend Chloe at Boxwood Avenue did some a couple of years ago. Amazing! She also has some free printables! I liked the skull and the bat best, so I printed them (I did have to scale them down to 75% when printing so that they would fit on my plates), cut them out, and used some Halloween themed washi tape from the Target Dollar Spot to attach them. Another almost free project!
Chloe used mod podge to attach hers directly onto the plates. Of course, these are for decoration only so I wouldn’t be eating on these. My original plan was to do the same, and I will probably go back to Target and buy extra plates just for this purpose because I definitely want to recreate this look next year!