You’ll need:

· 11 plastic or cardboard container lids

· Colored construction paper

· Metallic or other decorative papers

· Craft glue

· Glitter or glitter glue

· Scissors

· Pencil

· Colored markers

· 20 jumbo paper clips

· Hole punch

It won’t take long to describe how you can make this whimsical Halloween garland. And the supplies are simple. In fact, you can feel good about re-purposing some items that might ordinarily become trash. The fun comes with the creativity you’ll be able to display, as you design each letter disc.

Each lid will have one letter of the phrase "trick or treat." The center lid will have the entire word "or" written on it.

I found 11 lids from yogurt containers, all the same size. It occurred to me that your lids may be different sizes or shapes, and that might make for an even more interesting garland than the one you see here. The main constraint is that you have to be able to fit the hole punch over the lip of the lid so you can make the holes in the appropriate place.

Wouldn’t it be fun if each member of the family were assigned a few letters, and concentrated on coming up with the absolutely most creative designs imaginable? Then when you string the letter discs together, you will have a truly unique decoration.

Begin by punching two holes in each lid, on opposite sides. Then decide on the colors for the paper discs. Use the pencil to trace each lid onto the papers you’ve selected. Carefully cut out the circles, making them just slightly smaller than what you have drawn, so they will fit smoothly inside the lids. Punch holes in the paper discs to match the holes in the lids.

Now it’s time to get creative! Make the letters as fancy or plain as you wish. Incorporate drawings of bats, pumpkins, ghosts, witches and all the other motifs of Halloween. Use contrasting colored papers or decorative papers to cut out designs. It’s fun to glue strips of yellow, orange and white paper, then cut out triangles to look like candy corn. Draw the letters with colored markers, or cut them from colored paper. The sky’s the limit!

Use a generous swirl of craft glue to attach each paper disc to the inside of its lid, being careful to match up the punched holes. Decorate as you wish with glitter or glitter glue. I piped a line of glitter glue around the edge of each lid. Let your creations dry, overnight if possible.

The next day, you can string the garland. First, lay the discs out in the correct order. Use a jumbo paper clip to link each letter to the next. Use three or more paper clip links at each end to provide hangers for the garland. If you wish to make the garland have two loops instead of just one, punch a hole at the top of the "or" (center) disc and attach three paper clip links. When you hang the garland from the center disc as well as the two side discs, you’ll have a gracefully looped decoration. One warning: this decoration is not waterproof, so it is probably best enjoyed indoors.

Tina Munson of Edgewater is an art therapist and educator.