Cheap (Free) and Easy DIY Ghost Garland

Happy Fall!

Why yes, it has been 8 months since I last blogged. My kid was still crawling back then. The weather was cool and wintery. The government was still operational and I hadn't yet seen Miley Cyrus' tongue staring at me all over the internet. Fun times.

Speaking of my kid, here he is all grown up...

He adores vacuuming. Like more than you could possibly understand.

So I've been on the prowl for cheap (or free, I'll definitely take free) fall/holiday decorating ideas that also don't take a whole lot of time. 

Then today my husband was entertaining Harrison with a dryer sheet and a yard stick--as one does--and I suddenly realized that used dryer sheets would make perfect little ghosts. And what's better than a ghost garland for your mantle for Halloween? Nothing, that's what.

If you're anything like me you have a little bin on your dryer to collect all of the lint and dryer sheets and other random bits so you don't have to run to the trash can every time. So I dug through ours and pulled out all of the old dryer sheets I could find. Bonus points for recycling and whatnot.

The process is really simple, but I documented it with a series of grainy iPhone photos, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. The compromise in photo quality is seriously the only way this was going to get posted. Can you say nofreetime? I mean I have a toddler, you guys.

You will need:
Dryer sheets, yard or thread, and scissors. And like 10 or 15 minutes. Shortest materials list ever.


To start, cut a piece of yarn or string for each dryer sheet 4 or 5 inches long and set aside. Pinch the dryer sheet in the middle, then cup it in your hand and mess with it until you get the look you want. Then pinch at the base of the "head" and tie a yarn piece tightly around the sheet, creating a knot.

Cut off the excess yarn and repeat with your remaining dryer sheets. Soon you'll have a plethora of ghosties!

To create the garland, measure out the length of yarn you need for your mantle/window/staircase etc, adding an inch or two to account for the amount you'll be using to tie around the ghosts. I started tying the ghosts about 8 inches in from the end and spaced the ghosts roughly 10 inches apart, just eyeballing it. To keep the free end of the string going in the right direction, put the string in front of the ghost, instead of behind, then wrap the free end around the back of the head (like a scarf) before tying it--just once--and moving on to the next ghost. It's semi-less confusing in the photos below, but overall a simple concept.

Then hang it up and voila! Halloween decoration!

There's nothing like a revelation about a dryer sheet to get you back in the game, amiright?