Recycled Trick-or-Treat buckets

It's my week to teach preschool and we are having a party!!! I love little people and parties, and the fact that Halloween is this week only makes it better. But this little craft is serving a double purpose. We are also making these for FHE tonight. Our lesson is on gratitude (a very re-occurring theme at my house) and it is also teacher appreciation week so we're making a little something for our wonderful teachers.

Theses little tricksters are just up-cycled 2L soda bottles!

They are super sturdy and so long as you can tie a solid square knot, they hold a good amount of candy as well. Here's what you'll need to make one:

2L soda bottle

scissors

Hole Punch

Hot Glue Gun and Glue

Felt or Fabric to cover bottle- a 9x15in piece is perfect for the bottle, you'll need a little

 more to cover the bottom

felt or fabric scraps to make faces

ribbon or fabric for handle

Any spooky accessories you want!

{I've also done these with the smaller 20oz bottles-super cute! Great for a neighbor or friend, in fact my daughter's soccer team are getting the smaller ones for snack on Saturday}

First, get yourself a tasty flavor of soda, and finish it off. Then rinse out the bottle.

With a pair of scissors, following the top of the label as a guide, cut off the spout portion of the bottle. Then remove the label.

{Hang on to the top, you'll need it soon}

Using your handy dandy hole punch, punch 2 holes, one on each side of the top of the bottle, about 1/2-1" down. These are the guides for your handle so be sure they are directly opposite of one another, and equally spaced apart.

Lay your felt/fabric out in front of you. Place the bottle on it so that you have an inch of fabric above the top of the bottle. Run a length of hot glue down the short edge of the fabric and attach it to the bottle.

Keeping the bottle centered, roll up the bottle in your fabric.

Run another length of glue and seal the fabric onto the bottle. You should now have a fabric covered 2L soda bottle! Sit the bottle up right so that the bottom is facing you...

Using the hot glue gun, fold down the fabric and glue in place. I like to work my way around the bottle so that my edges tuck under each other. It helps it to stand upright better.

Grab the bottle top that you saved and a scrap of matching fabric. Using the top as your guide, trace and cut out a circle. Glue the circle piece onto the bottom of the bottle to cover up all your folds.

Turn the bottle up right, and re-punch your handle holes going through the fabric.

Fold the fabric over the edge of the bottle and glue down. Be sure not to cover up your handle holes!

Run the ribbon/fabric through the guide holes. Play with the length of your ribbon before you cut it!!! Your little ghoul doesn't want a handle that reaches the ground or one that's too small to comfortably carry.

Once you've determined the length of the handle cut it and tie it together. I usually tie a couple of knots just to be safe...

Using your scraps of felt/fabric accessories create a face. It's like carving a pumpkin without the goo! Anything goes, spooky, silly, scary. If you can cut it, he can wear it. Once you've gotten your pieces cut out, glue it all in place.

Ta-Dah! Bring on the candy, you did it!

The best part of this is you can make your bottle into anything. Get creative and have fun. For the ghost and mummy I used already green bottles.  Torn strips of muslin wrapped and tied together for the mummy, and I only glued down the top of the fabric for my ghost. One year I made one of these for all 10 of my preschoolers to match their Halloween costumes! I had a spider, a mermaid, a fireman, a ballerina, a princess, a pumpkin...the possibilities are only limited to your imagination!

Happy Crafting!!!