Halloween Treat Poppers & Printable Toppers

I decided to revisit an idea that I had for Easter, and adjust it for the Halloween holiday.

Treat Poppers from cardboard TP tubes!

You can see my original Easter Poppers here.

And now I'll show you how I made a Halloween version : )

First, I have to tell you, I had a humorous "You Know You're a Crafter When..." moment last week, after having hoarded every empty TP tube I came across, trying to get enough for my son's preschool class by this week, I very nearly snatched one from someone else's bathroom out of habit.  Ha!  It made me do a double take when I realized I automatically started setting it aside...but wait a minute, I knew it would be way too awkward to walk out of my son's therapy office with an empty TP tube just because I had been saving them for a craft project.  This is how busy my brain has been lately!  HAha!  Please tell me I'm not the only one who has had a crafter moment like this ; )

What I used:

empty TP tubes

tissue paper

cocktail napkins

cupcake toppers (printable below)

gift ribbon

large shaped confetti & candy for fillers

First, I prepped my tissue paper by opening the entire stack of sheets flat, and cutting them with my cutting mat, quilting ruler, and exacto knife, to be the same length as one of the cocktail napkins unfolded.  For this particular pack of tissue paper, it worked perfectly to cut it in half down the middle - but I know from experience that not all tissue sheets are the same size.   I then cut each half-stack at about every other fold crease, making rectangles that were 7" by 10".  The end rectangle was only 5 1/2" by 10", but not to worry - I found a use for these smaller sheets, too!

Once I had my tissue paper cut, I began the base layer, covering the TP tubes.  I used a quick spray of adhesive on the tube to get me started, then simply laid the tube in the center of the 10" side of a double layer of tissue pieces.  I rolled it around, and used a regular glue stick to secure the ends.

Repeat, repeat, repeat...till all your TP tubes are covered with tissue, with the long ends left as-is.

The cocktail napkins make the next layer.  For these, I opened each napkin once (so it's still folded in half), and folded the crimped edge over about an inch, till it was the same width as the TP tube.  Then I taped the short end centered to where the tube is (scotch tape is fine for this bit, it gets covered up afterward).  Roll it around the tube, then fold the end over about a half inch.

Add a line of glue stick before you roll it completely around, and this will hold it nice and neat.

I find that putting a piece of scrap paper underneath make the gluing faster, because I don't have to pay as much attention to getting off the edge - just swipe the stick across the end and keep rolling.

You could stop here, but I wanted to add a little more detail to my treat poppers.

I took those remaining  5 1/2" by 10" pieces of tissue and folded each piece in half three times over,

 to create a thicker strip about 1 1/4" wide that I wrapped around the center of each popper.  

I wrapped these so that the ends met at the center of the front of the popper and secured with 

scotch tape.  This gets covered up in the next step anyway, and keeps the backside nice and neat.  

Then I went ahead and tied one end of each popper with gift ribbon.  I found that crinkling the tissue together a bit first help prevent any tearing when the ribbons are pulled to a tight knot.

Now you are ready to fill your poppers with treats!  

I used Smarties and a generous pinch of confetti.  There is plenty of room in these for little trinkety things, too, like plastic bat rings and stickers, along with a few pieces of candy.

Then I scrunched and tied the remaining open end of the popper.

For the final detail, I like to use printable cupcake toppers to decorate my treat poppers.

  You can find free ones all over the web, but I decided to make some of my own.  I used My Memories 

for the base designs and PicMonkey for the fonts and Halloween stickers.  I didn't have any white cardstock, so I printed them on kraft paper.  Looks good, but loses the textured burlap look 

of some of the backgrounds.  Anyhoo - I punched them with a 2" scalloped punch and 

hot glued one circle to the top of each popper.

And there you have it ~ 

cute and festive "poppers" full of Halloween fun!

And because I love you, here is the printable 

cupcake topper/treat popper topper.  Say that ten times fast ; )  

Just click this to open it full-size in a new window, and then right click to save to your desktop.  

I printed it as a full-page photo.

Today is a double feature!  So come back and see the 

Caramel Apple Halloween Munch recipe 

I came up with, plus a free coordinating printable treat bag topper!

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Made by You Mondays @ Skip to My Lou