Halloween is not a traditional holiday in the Netherlands, but we have adopted the tradition. The children like to dress up, we decorate the house with spooks and spiders and I make some scary dishes for dinner. We do walk around the neighbourhood -- there's a specific street where people really make an effort to do the scary thing. But we don't really go trick-or-treating as we traditionally celebrate Martinmas a few weeks later. This is when Dutch children traditionally go around the neighbourhood with a homemade lantern and sing songs for the neighbours (in return for candy, obviously!).

Yesterday we had a day off from school and we decided to make Halloween luminaries to decorate the house. We found a few empty jars in the garage (I always keep empty jars for jam or chutney making or for crafts) and I brought out my stack of kite paper. With a brush and a varnish/glue (like Décopatch or Mod Podge) we glued pieces of orange and red kite paper on the glass (also brush on top of the paper and don't be afraid to layer!). We then used dark brown kite paper to make pumpkin eyes, nose and mouths.

Done! We all made one, and we all loved doing so. And the result is so very sweet! We will leave these Halloween luminaries in our house until Martinmas. They look so cosy!

xxx Esther

PS Beautiful leaf lanterns!