Squishy Scary Spider

Hello hello ladies and gentlemen. As Halloween grows closer many of you prepare for the festivities. Some ready for trick or treating with family and others plan for this year's Halloween party. Many of you are preparing Halloween decorations to please and entertain guests. Seeing how several people have a dreadful fear of spiders, me being a prime example, why not entertain your guest with a fun game of squish the spider. Especially when the spiders are full of surprises.

The materials you will need include:

-Two balloons
-Four pipe cleaners
-Filling (examples: candy, toys, or $$$)
-Thread
-Tape
-Thumb tacks

The tools you will need include:

-Scissors
-Markers
-And an object to hold the mouth of the balloon open. I used a finished toilet paper roll thing.

Making the spider is very easy. First start by begin by stretching the mouth of the balloon over the toilet paper roll (or similar object). Then drop the filling inside careful not to make it too heavy. Take the balloon off the holder and blow it up make it relatively large for a big scary spider. Lastly tie off the end.

Preparing the head is probably the easiest step. Blow up the other balloon around a third the size of the body and draw a little face on the head to give it some character.

Take your pipe cleaners and place them over each other and twist them together in the center. Place the two end bits of the balloons together and place the twisted set of pipe cleaners on the center. Twist the set around once and finally Bend the pipe cleaner ends to resemble legs.

Rinse, lather, repeat untill you have a whole nest of them. Mix up the colors, draw diffrent cutesy faces, and add diffrent fillings to them. Use a bright colored marker for the black balloons otherwise you may have a hard time seeing the face.

The easy way to rig the spiders is to draw a bit of thread enough that they hang but preferably not enough to bop someone on the head. Attach the thread to the spiders behind with a bit of tape. Add a small loop at the end of the thread and attach it to the surface with a thumb tack. A bit of that nylon web stuff they sell at most party stores or super centers would do great here. Unfortunately I did not have any on hand.

To rig mr.spidey to fall you'll have to aquire a paper clip as well. Find a door frame or hall way you want to rig for this example I'll use a door frame. Place one thumb tack above the door where you want the spider to fall, call it point A. Place another one at the upper left or right hand corner of the door frame, call that one point B. From that tack set two tacks a few feet bellow it around waist level, call them C and D. Make sure the two tacks you just set are colinear with each other and form a line parallel with the floor. Place another tack directly across the doors threshold, call this one point D.

To begin connecting the points attach a bit of thread to the spider via a peice of tape on the spiders behind. Run the thread from the spider across the tack at point A. Run the thread over the thumb tack at point B and downwards from there between the tacks at points C and D. Allow the thread to hang and bend the paper clip like the picture. Attach some thread to the loop end of the paper clip and attach the end of the thread, running across the door way, to the tack at point D.

To set the trap place the long end on the paper clip under the two tacks at points C and D. Allow the thread from the spider to go between the two tacks and wrap the end of the thread around the long part of the paper clip. The weight of the spider should hole the paper clip in place untill the thread across the door is pulled. Pulling the thread across the door will cause the paper clip to slip and release the thread thus allowing the spider to fall.

All and all this supper simple and cheep project only set me back around 5 dollars not including the filler. After making all the spiders set them in random places through out the room as a plesent decoration. Allow your guests to squish them at will and receive what ever you put inside. These are great for children's parties and end up as little mini piñatas. Mr.Spider and his friends are sure to add a fun little activity to any Halloween party. If any of you try this please post a picture of how you incorporated it into you party or how you could have improved the design.

Thank you and have a pleasant Halloween.