Let’s craft Halloween coffins made from your recycling!
Coffin, with recycled packaging!
Have you asked yourself why coffins are featured when it’s Halloween?
A BOX FOR TREATS!
I believe on a lighter note, they make very good containers, but on a smaller scale as coffin treat boxes! Don’t you think?
So in this post we are going to look at crafting Halloween coffin Treat box ideas!
COFFINS ARE SCARY?
Keeping with the Halloween theme, could it be that they are used in this way because coffins have dark or grim innuendoes, like what lies within? (in this case full of yummy treats!)
LET’S TRICK OR TREAT!
So they are a perfect example of making something grim, but fun using the coffin as a vessel to hold your treats in, either for trick-or-treating or just as a giveaway box!
MY INTENTION!
Having dived into my recycle bag, I came across a box that I had saved which contained a sink tap, funnily enough, this packaging resembled a coffin!
I thought this would come in handy one day although, I wasn’t sure how to use it.
IT’S NEARLY HALLOWEEN!
As Halloween was ahead of us, when all the scary ghoulish creatures, stories, fancy dress parties, and trick-or-treaters emerged, that’s when the light bulb went off!
HOW TO USE THE TAP BOX!
What better way to use this exciting box and yes you’ve guessed it up-cycle it to look more like a ‘coffin’ but in this instance one of the ‘Halloween coffin treat box ideas!
UNUSUAL SHAPED BOX!
This is an unusual type of packaging and not everyone will have one like this, but it was an opportunity to show you how to up it a bit and give it a very spooky feel!
OTHER ODD SHAPED BOXES!
Having thought about it, other types of chocolate boxes, or containers could also make good treat boxes, using the Halloween theme.
So I will dip into that too later on.
Are you ready for the trick-or-treaters?
WHAT ABOUT HALLOWEEN?
We know that Halloween features-
Ghosts, ghouls, witches, werewolves, vampires, mummies, zombies, skeletons, spiders, cobwebs and not forgetting trick-or-treaters, but where do coffins come into all of this?
Let's consider two types of coffins.
So when someone dies, they are buried in a coffin, right?
WHAT’S A COFFIN?
A coffin is a long 3-dimensional box that has six sides that taper at the feet and to the head, with an opening lid.
Coffins are generally made from different types of wood, like oak, mahogany, or elm-styled veneers.
WHAT ARE CASKETS?
A casket is another type of coffin that is oblong shaped and the lid opens in two parts.
There is a top and bottom half of a lid. The top half exposes the waist upwards showing the deceased head and the bottom half covers the legs.
Caskets tend to be much more expensive in the methods used to construct them which is more familiar in the United States.
Coffins and halloween!
Generally, Halloween is depicted around ghouls and spooks and something scary and dark and when we think of vampires we have the coffins!
A coffin is an interesting subject, to play about with,
It features all that is scary about it and is used in such a way to make it a cool artefact to withhold your treats in!
Because a coffin is a container, we wonder what we can put in it. This is when I thought why not a treat box?
That’s what makes it a fun concept to play with, especially when it comes to Halloween coffin treat box ideas!
Vampires and coffins!
Vampires have been regarded as monsters, the creatures that roam the night lusting for blood, hence their sucking fetish to survive, then by dawn return to their coffins before daybreak.
Their coffins would protect them from the daylight and the sun otherwise they would experience great pain turning into dust or going up in flames.
So here’s the thing, the link between coffins and vampires is… vampires need their coffins to hide, they align together and there is a play on this that is highlighted during Halloween!
BACK TO THIS CRAFT!
To make something light out of something dark, I decided to use this coffin-shaped packaging and craft it into a coffin-style treat box.
This time of the year during the autumn season, we generally get quite a lot of spiders, and spider webs and we have shorter days, so the darkness is within easy reach.
I have considered spiders and spider webs depicting a dark coffin to put you in the mood.
Does that sound good?
Here are the resources you will require to help with the coffin making!
One coffin-shaped box.
Black acrylic paint, White acrylic pen.
Black shredded tissue paper/paper to cut shape/black felt tip.
PVA glue/Glue gun (not shown)/Scissors.
Black tissue paper.
Paint brushes.
Some plastic spiders.
Strips of hessian.
Let's revamp this box!
LET’S CHAT!
How did you find that? You can paint the whole box, with a helping hand in under ten minutes.
It would need to be left to dry and then, you would need to decide how to design your coffin.
I went for a spiderweb, I added some strips of hessian to give it that old look and a finishing touch with a couple of spiders.
LOOK FOR THE RIGHT SHAPE!
In my search to find different types of packaging that could be converted into coffins, I also found a couple of different styles of chocolate boxes that would make great Halloween coffin treat boxes!
This is what I did with them. The shape of each box determined what spook to feature on each one!
- Two empty chocolate boxes.
- Acrylic paints/pens.
- Paint brushes.
- Scissors.
Click any image to enlarge.
SOME TIPS!
FIND AN OPENING!
- Once you have selected your box, work out where the right area is on the box to cut all the way around for the lid or find a way to open it up.
- In this instance, you want to make a container to hold treats in.
ENOUGH SPACE!
- Remember to allow enough space to put treats in the bottom section of the box.
- Depending on the type of box you have, you need to decide how it will open up safely, without damaging the shape.
ACRYLIC PAINTS!
- You need to apply layers of acrylic paint to cover the patterns on the box, which makes an excellent base to apply paint on.
- You can recycle your disposable gloves by washing the paint off them and re-using them.
- Also, wash your paint plate so the acrylic paint doesn’t dry hard.
HOT WAX WORKED!
- I attempted to glue the plastic spiders with PVA glue, but this didn’t work, so I used some blu tack, this didn’t adhere to the plastic spiders either. Hot wax was the only type of glue that held the spiders fast.
BE INVENTIVE!
- The chocolate boxes I used have unusual shapes and this should not deter you from how they look, but how you can transform them into super spooky Halloween coffin treat boxes!
Here are some easy coffin printables!
Need some help in making coffin boxes?
I have included these templates and video showing you how to make a super easy coffin box, with just a few simple resources from kidspot.com (make a spooky coffin)
These printable links are the top and bottom parts of a coffin. No measurements are required everything is done for you. All you need to do is print out the templates, stick them onto a black card and cut them out!
I had a go and printed one out from my smartphone. Check below what I did with it!
I ran off the templates which were very easy to do and this is what I ended up with!.
Fancy chocolate treats that are a bit different?
Are you looking for a cool and unusual gift treat for Halloween, then look no further, I have the perfect solution for you.
Take a look at this amazing site! Chocolate Trading Company!
It stocks an amazing selection of specialized high-quality milk chocolates and a super spooky Halloween novelty selection!
Their Halloween novelty chocolates come in all fun ghouls and spooks, including, Ghosts, Witches, Spiders, Pumpkins, Skeletons and bats!
They cater gifting for Halloween or Halloween-themed parties, Trick-or-Treating, Party bags, or surprise boxes, which are available in packs of 8 or bulk drums, you pick what’s right for you and your occasion!
Here is a sample of their selection!
Click on each treat to have a closer look!
Halloween resources!
What about all your art resources that would give that extra magic touch to all your Halloween thirst? Baker Ross will have everything you need to feel those spaces!
So Baker Ross those ideas with some fun Halloween ideas to tempt you too!
So Baker Ross those ideas with some fun Halloween ideas to tempt you too!
Hey,
I LOVE this article and your website.
My niece and nephew are going to love going through this post before Halloween and working on their coffins and caskets.
I am going to share this with my sister-in-law first and encourage her to go through this with my niece and nephew. They are going to have such a great time.
Looking at your other articles too, you have some amazing ideas that will help educate and make kids happy. I LOVE them.
Keep up the amazing work you are doing.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom, your feedback is so inspirational, this is exactly how I want visitors to my
website to react!!! and the fact that you want to share this Halloween article, with your
niece and nephew is even better! I am also glad you had a peep at all my other articles and they got your
tick of approval! super stuff.
Thanks a bunch Tom, and happy Halloween!
I honestly like your website so much as I think the text you used is so fitting. In fact, if you don’t mind can you actually let me know what text you used for the part at the very top of this article above the heading that says: “What my intentions are”. That will be much appreciated!
Such cool ideas here for Halloween.
Hey Schalk, yes of course when I chose my theme for my website, this was the
style, design, and fonts they use, I love it as it kind of compliments and works
well with the children’s themes, I write about, it has that informal feel and fun look.
So the name is ‘Architects daughter’
At first, I thought it was a kind of ‘Scribble’ font, but yeah it’s quite cool.
Also, this font automatically comes up when I choose different size headings.
Hope that helps and feel free to ask anything else?
These seem so easy and fun there are tons of coffin shaped boxes. You have great ideas on how to decorate the coffin and what part we like is what we are going to be filling our box with.
In the article we like how you put all the things in between, such as what vampires sleep in.
We are going to pass this article on to my brother so that he can do this project with his kids.
Cheers,
MnD
That sounds great Mathew, love it when I can inspire kids as well as big kids,
like the adults to do some easy crafting and the best thing is that you are thinking about
recycling your throw-outs! So no real cost to you and you are up-cycling something ordinary
into something fun and in this case spoooooky!!! great for Halloween!
So happy you are passing this on to your brother and his kids, they will have a great time
crafting, and oh’ please do check-out other posts that also cover more articles on Halloween!?
Thanks for your super feedback and Happy Halloween! ??
Absolutely love this idea! Great work! Very spooky?
Hi Elena, thank you so much! glad you liked this project, just remember to save all your
treat tubs or boxes and spook them up with a bit of paint and then you
can have them re-filled with more of your fav treats, but you will need to go
trick-or-treating first lol!
I love your ideas!
This can be a great way to spend time with your family now that Halloween is coming.
In my country, Halloween isn’t celebrated that way. They just organize Masquerade balls for youngsters, which are also okay, but again there’s now the opportunity to do something like this.
Thank you for this article!
Alisa.
Hey Alisa, thanks for your feedback! Wow, Masquerade balls sound super fun too!
I could think of some great spooky masks to make, Mmmmm maybe on another post lol!
My aim is to offer ideas, and hope readers can get something out of them whether it’s
something simple, or even big.
Thanks for dropping by and Happy Halloween!