DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

1 NEW USES FOR OLD THINGS

Halloween decorating

1 GHOSTLY GARLAND

Want to create boo-tiful ambiance? Clean out used coffee K-Cups and poke a hole in the bottom center of each. Enlist the kids to draw ghost faces on them with marker. Pop the cups over the bulbs of a strand of holiday lights.

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2 FLYING-BAT DOOR DECOR

Let it vamp for visitors. Bend the arms of a wire hanger upward. Place black felt over them; snip a hole in the center for the hook. Secure a ping-pong ball under the felt in the center with a rubber band for the head. Cut the felt into a scalloped shape (use the template at realsimple.com/batwings). Glue on felt triangles for ears and white paper triangles for fangs, and add red nail-polish eyes.

Written by

Yolanda Wikiel

Photographs by

Philip Friedman

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MORE DIY DECORATIONS Get detailed instructions for these projects and two more at realsimple.com/ halloween newuses.

3 FANG PLACE CARDS

Invite friends to stay for a bite. Cut small slits into black note cards. Break off the handle of a white plastic fork and “paperclip” the tines so the outer ones are visible in the front of the slit, with the inner ones on the back. Use colored gel pens to draw drops of blood and write names.

4 CREEPY CANDLE HOLDERS

Time to recycle those snagged black sheer panty hose and fishnets. Cut a section of one leg, pull it over a glass votive, then trim around the top edge to fit. Rough up the hosiery even more with scissors. Place the lit candles close to a wall to cast spooky shadows.

toyota.com/camry

REAL SIMPLIFIER

Why we’re so fascinated by the supernatural

What. Was. That? A 2013 Harris poll found that 42 percent of Americans believe in ghosts. Matthew Hutson, the author of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking, sheds light on the reasons we’re so bewitched.

Why are people drawn to the supernatural? We have a cognitive bias to find meaningful patterns everywhere we look, to help bring a sense of order to a chaotic world. That’s why we see faces in clouds or hear messages in records played backward or even believe we see ghosts.

That’s magical thinking? Yes. As are some urban legends and the notion that if you cross your fingers and something good happens, one caused the other.

How do we get that way? It’s an inherent instinct that we tend to see life and intelligence where it does not exist. This explains why you hug a tree, name your car, or yell at your computer. That feeds into a belief in ghosts? Ghost “sightings” result in part from the power of suggestion. If you think you might see a spirit, say, while entering an empty house at night, you’re more likely to perceive an experience—whether it’s a cold draft or a moving shadow—as an apparition.

Is there something comforting about ghosts? There’s some research that suggests that after you lose a loved one, you’re more likely to see a ghost or feel a presence, because you’re lonely and there’s a desire for contact.

Written by Brandi Broxson Illustration by Peter Oumanski How can you help a child cope with a fear of otherworldly beings? It might help to search for evidence with him. Look under the bed; shine a light in the closet. You can’t always argue away fears, but you can help your child feel protected by simply letting him know that you’re there.

Tell us about superstitions. We’ve evolved to learn from others and their mistakes. Most of us don’t want to tempt fate or disobey advice. With a lot of superstitious rituals— for instance, knocking on wood—the cost of performing them is very small, but the cost of not performing them (if they’re “real”) can be great. So it’s basically “Better safe than sorry.” That’s the cognitive mechanism at work in our heads, even if we’re not conscious of it.

And that connects to urban legends, right? Yes, urban legends spread because there’s potentially greater harm in not believing a claim that’s true than in believing something that’s false. Humans are social. We share advice and warnings to appear credible, and we tend to respect people for doing so. Urban legends are a side effect of the human need to share true stories, rumors, and advice. Are there crosscultural themes to magical thinking? All cultures have beliefs related to spirits, luck, destiny, and a “boogie man” who’s out to get us. There are even universal themes, such as a fear of contamination in what we eat or drink—stories about a village well being poisoned or a mouse found in a can of soda. A lot of urban legends are about hazards.

Is there an upside to magical thinking? If you believe everything happens for a reason, then when bad things happen, you’re more likely to look for—and find—silver linings.

Magical thinking can also give you a sense of control, which in some cases can improve behavior or performance. In one study, subjects were handed a golf ball and asked to make 10 putts. Half the subjects were told the golf ball they used was “lucky.” The lucky group made 35 percent more successful putts than the subjects who thought they were using an ordinary ball. So the perks of increased selfconfidence and reduced anxiety can play out in your life in very real ways.

WANT MORE SPOOKY? Read about infamous haunted houses at real simple.com/ghostlyplaces.

All it takes is a few pool noodles (!) and some cotton batting to channel Roy G. Biv. For the how-to instructions, turn to page 40.

FOR 12 MORE CLEVER DIY COSTUMES, head to realsimple.com/ newuse costumes.

HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

WISH YOU COULD MAKE THIS COSTUME? YOU CAN

Ordinary items can easily transform into showstopping DIY kids’ disguises. Dare to dream.

Written by Yolanda Wikiel Photographs by Glenn Glasser