We love how creative you can get with paper bags, especially around the spooky Halloween season. From trick-or-treating sacks to candle lanterns to scary hand puppets, there’s plenty you can do with your old paper shopping bags to engage your children’s imagination and keep them busy on the cold and windy nights prior to their evening of ghouls, ghosts, and goblins.

Of course, even the most well-made paper bag will start coming apart eventually, but there’s no need to throw yours away! Instead, make sure your kids have one of the best costumes around this year by making a Halloween mask from paper bag papier-mâché.

First up, you’ll have to get together everything that you need. A few old paper bags are obviously necessary, but you’ll also want to scour your shelves and drawers for:

• A Balloon (or more than one for more than one child)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Rubber band
• Hole puncher
• Markers
• Newspaper
• Needle

Of course, you’ll also need some paint to colour your kid’s Halloween masks in appropriately.

Now that you have everything you need, it’s time to begin the fun part: making your papier-mâché. The balloon is going to help create the shape and size you need, so blow one up until it’s the size of your child’s face. Once your balloon is inflated, coat it with three layers of thin newspaper strips that have been soaked in glue. Now go put your feet up and wait for it to dry.

After everything is nice and dry, add a few more layers from your paper bags. Using paper from bags instead of normal paper will give a rougher texture, which is especially fun if you’re making a mask for a ghoul with peeling skin or a centuries-old mummy. You can now poke a needle gently through the mask to pop the balloon, then cut the ball of papier-mâché in half. Take one half to be your mask and cut out the eye holes. Make two holes around the ear area using your hole punch, then thread the rubber band through and secure with a tight knot.

You can now help your kid paint the mask to create their very own spooktacular Halloween character!