Jar-o'-Lanterns

I love these cute glass jack-o'-lanterns from Disney FamilyFun Magazine so much that I wish I had thought of them myself. Here's why: 1) They are quick and easy to make. 2) It's a nice way to re-purpose something that might otherwise get thrown away. 3) If you like to do crafts, you probably have the materials on hand already (glass jars, masking tape, scissors, paintbrush, orange acrylic paint-- or blend your own with yellow and red if you don't have orange). 4) The end result is super cute. (Obviously, this is the most important thing in a craft project.) You and your kids can whip up several of these in time for Halloween.

We attempted fancier faces than the directions suggested, and I think they came out fine. You, of course, can stick with simple triangles if you prefer. Mia told me what she wanted and I did my best to cut the shapes out of masking tape. I think having a variety of sizes and types of jars makes a nice little display, just like real pumpkins (although we haven't even carved ours yet). Not having any of those flameless tea lights available, I used regular tea lights. While the fake kind would probably be safer since they aren't a fire hazard and they wouldn't make the jars get hot, the way I see it, these are glass jars, and I don't plan to keep them where kids can get at them anyway. (This is really my only complaint with this craft; it's intended for small children, and realistically, glass isn't an ideal material for little ones to work with. That said, I know Mia well enough to know she could handle it at age 4 1/2 so I wasn't concerned.) So, for the photo, I took them out to the porch and then put them back on the counter where they have been since Mia made them a few days ago.