A Bird? A Plane? Superman? Maybe, But It Started As A Leaf Bag.
Say you’ve found yourself on a committee to plan a fall festival of some kind (real or virtual) – maybe a reunion, church event, football party, or something else.
Or, maybe you’ve been called upon to transform some of the usual doings into socially distant ones.
How about a “What Can You Do With A…” component?
The fist time we did this for our homeschool group annual kick-off party, we used lawn and leaf bags. You know, those big, brown paper bags that are used for lawn and yard waste in many communities. Each family was challenged to do something interesting with one bag. Anything.
You may be surprised, very surprised even, at how creative your fellow group members can get, and exactly how much paper is in those things – they’re not just big, they’re double layered.
Okay, rules: One bag per family/group, can add or take away parts. That’s it.
We had one family that added some wheels and made theirs into a race car. Another squared off the top, cut a hole in the front and inset what looked like flames, for a fireplace. Pretty cool ideas.
We also had a giant toasted marshmallow made by stuffing the bag with something, spray painting it white and adding brown and black accents to show the toasting. It made us wish for a huge chocolate bar and graham cracker!
My personal favorite… and also our family’s submission - hehe … was titled “The Antithesis of a Lawn and Leaf Bag.” Basically, we cut the whole thing into simple leaf shapes, spread them out on the kitchen table, and brushed them with paints in fall colors.
Insider info: This was a plan B that evolved out of necessity. We had in mind to make a replica of the Sears Tower (okay, Willis Tower) but botched it. I think the creative “pulling one out of nowhere” idea is part of what I like most about it.
Truth be told, I didn’t save them. But, the next year, when my mom made me some stuffed pumpkins to put on our radiator cover in the living room, it occurred to me that those leaves would have made a nice grounding. So, we did a do-over. I know, crazy, but no regrets. Don’t they look nice?
Another year “gourd” finished the sentence. We had a Minnie Mouse one, an owl, a princess, a couple of monsters with gnarly bumps, and others. Some people let the veg shape suggest a creation, and some went the other way and looked for one that would work with their idea.
In a slight stray, another year we did scarecrows and got some great entries. One was a stereotypical homeschool mom - baby pulling on her apron (a doll pinned on), a spatula in one hand and a math book in the other. Haha. Plus a couple farm-looking ones as you’d expect, and some others.
For ours, we put a trench coat on a hanger, found a life-sized picture of George Washington’s face and stuck it on a piece of Styrofoam, used the curly white beard from a Santa costume for his hair, and fashioned a tricorn from an old cowboy hat.
We avoided the word contest and called them showcases. Nice and friendly, but hey, go for a contest if you like. We had a volunteer make up awards, in advance, and stick them on while everyone was kibitzing. I recall that George was awarded “Most Likely to Learn Latin”!
So if you’re looking for something different, something creative, family-oriented, inexpensive, and true to the season, give one of these a go. Since you’re working on being your own resource, see what your family or group can come up with by using stuff you have around the house.
If you’re “getting together” this year via video or some kind of posting, these still work. And, if you were planning to go live but got rained out, you can stay home, submit your entry in some online format and enjoy your own potluck dish. What? You signed up to bring the napkins and plastic cups instead of food? Pizza is good any time of year.
