Posted on by thelongthread

Paper Bag Bowls

recycled-halloween

pumpkin-and-ghost-bowls

pumpkin-bowl

Here’s a fun project to make with the kids.  These are papier-mâché bowls made from paper bags and tissue paper.  We plan to use our bowls for Halloween candy.

I’ve never had much luck with the flour mixtures (maybe because of the humidity here), so I used a mixture of equal parts white glue and water.  I used a full bottle of glue for each bowl.  For the pumpkin bowl, I cut off the top of an actual pumpkin and used that as our base, but we just used a metal mixing bowl for the ghost bowl.  If you do use a pumpkin, be sure to cut it at the widest point so that you can remove the paper bowl when dry.

For both, I first covered the base with a plastic grocery bag (you could use plastic wrap), dipped strips of paper bags in the glue mixture, squeezed off the excess and laid the strips across the top until the bowl was covered.  Oh, if you’re working with kids, you will definitely want to do this project outside.  We let the bowls dry for a day, then brushed them with more glue mixture and laid tissue paper (cut into strips) on top.  We then brushed more glue on top of the tissue as we laid it around the bowl.  Once dry, you can trim your edges or leave them ragged.  We painted our bowls with acrylic paints and left the insides unfinished.  If you used colored tissue paper, you wouldn’t need to paint at all.  I just used some brown tissue paper leftover from packaging.  Now the kids are ready to fill up the bowls!

inside-of-bowls

22 Replies to “Paper Bag Bowls”

  1. ooh, I want to try this! But it’s chilly here – maybe I could do it in the bathtub?! the kids are not about to sit back while I have all the fun!

  3. Hi,

    I recently started a blog for Nursing Home Activity Directors. I search the web for great ideas to share with them. I love love love these

    thank you

  10. Cute! My fiancé and I are going to make them for our first home-made Halloween decoration in our new house. Thanks!

  16. So cool! I definitely would love to try this.
    But…I’m a bit confused – you say you made them from paper bags, but further down the page, the directions say newspaper – huh???

  17. P.S. Wallpaper paste makes a great, more permanent substitute for the flour/water mixture & is less sticky/messy to work w/.,

  20. Hi there. I love your Pumpkin treats bowl craft. I was wondering if I would be able to feature your craft on my crafts blog as well. I have a question though….will these last forever, or should they be thrown away after using it as a treat bowl. I am just wondering if they eventually rot or get bugs. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

    Rachel Goldstein

  21. thanks for this idea. i saw one just the other day for home made paper using the pulp this way, but for my 6 and 3 yr old boys this will be awesome! We are huge on recycling so thank you thank you thank BOO! i mean you.

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