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Halloween is upon us and the holiday’s spirit should be well into its traditions, inspiring everyone to finish putting costumes together and buy hoards of candy treats. This is an obvious part of the season to which most children and college students alike look forward. But you might be asking what this could possibly have to do with coffee. Well, holiday crafts are also a major part of getting into the seasonal spirit, and Halloween crafts are some of the most fun to make. And if you brew coffee at home, chances are you have a surplus of coffee filters and might even have a spare or nearly empty coffee can lying around, and both are great supplies to use to begin crafting.

Let’s start with coffee cans. When painted black, they make great candle holders to safely light a walkway or even interior space during a Halloween-themed party. You can punch holes or more elaborate shapes into the cans to make interesting patterns with the light that they emit. They can also function as festive candy canisters when decorated with colorful paints.

Coffee filters can be used to make little ghosts or bats. The best filters to use are the bleached (white) variety. To create a ghost, place a cotton ball or facial tissue in the middle of the filter. Next, twist the filter around the cotton ball or tissue and use a piece of string (or, carefully, a small rubber band) to hold the ghost shape in place. Draw eyes and a mouth, or leave ghosts as a simple decoration to hang around the house.

Making bats out of coffee filters is a bit more complicated. By adding food coloring to a bit of water, coffee filters can be died black or purple then left to dry before they are shaped into bats. Fold the coffee filter in half before cinching a pipe cleaner around the middle of the filter to create the bat’s wings, which can be cut with scissors to give them a more realistic look.