How to Make a Haunted House Out of a Happy Meal Box

We made our quarterly trip to McDonald's earlier in the month. My son found his Happy Meal box to be fascinating. (Great prize, by the way – it was a Batman "mask" that doubled as glasses.) He told me it looked like a house, and wanted to play with his action figures in it when we got home.

That got me to thinking. Since it's Halloween season, why not grab some acrylic paints and turn this into a Halloween project?

Step 1. Remove any remaining hamburger grease from Happy Meal Box as best as possible. I shook some baking soda into mine, then emptied. It wasn't very messy anyway.

Step 2. Tuck the handles in and close up the roof with tape.

Step 3. Use a pencil to trace arched windows and a door into the sides of your Happy Meal box.

Step 4. Cut the bottom out of your Happy Meal box using age-appropriate scissors.

Step 5. Carefully use the scissors to cut the windows and doors out of your Happy Meal box.

Step 6. Squirt some black acrylic paint onto a paper plate. Fill a cup with water in case you need to wet your brush. Have paper towels on hand for blotting excess water out of the brush. Use a paint sponge or thicker brush to paint your haunted house black, including the roof.

Step 7. Squirt some black and some white paint onto the paper plate. Mix together to make gray. Use a smaller paintbrush or a Q-tip to paint little gray stones onto the roof of your haunted house.

Step 8: Set the haunted house on top of newspaper or paper towels and let dry.

Take it Up a Notch!

To make this Halloween project even cooler, get a large shoebox, stand it sideways horizontally and paint a spooky scene on it. Dangle plastic bats from the ceiling of the box. We haven't gotten around to this phase of the project, but if we do, we'll be sure to post and share!

Are you doing any fun Halloween crafts at home with the kids? Share your link here!