Macaroni & cheese boxes make great little houses, and these Halloween Houses with light-up windows are next level. No skills or spells required. This handy pattern makes it easy, and there’s even printable artwork for four different window designs. Just inkjet-print or copy the artwork onto tracing paper to make the windows. Or use tissue paper and draw your own art. Step-by-step directions below.
Make with any Annie’s or Kraft-type macaroni & cheese box.
You’ll need scissors, craft knife, double-sided or regular tape, and tracing paper
Spooky but not scary - perfect for littler kids
Windows really light up on a window sill, or with LED tealights inside.
Let’s get started!
Print the pattern, and print the window art onto tracing paper. Gather up double-sided or regular tape, scissors, craft knife, markers, a pencil, and an empty Annie’s or Kraft-type macaroni & cheese box.
No tracing paper? Skip printing the artwork, and use any color of tissue paper to fill in the windows. You can draw marker lines on the tissue paper for window panes and it will look great.
Cut out the house pattern, including all the windows. Cut apart the four window groups on the tracing paper.
Open the bottom of your empty mac&cheese box, and open the side seam. Lay the pattern on the box and trace all around. Cut out with scissors. Cut the windows with a craft knife.
Watch the fingers.
Bend all of the “factory” folds backwards so the box will go back together inside-out.
Fold the three roof sections down like this to make creases.
Now you can decorate the outside of your house if you want to. Markers work great.
Take one of the window units you printed, fit the artwork over the windows, and tape it in place.
Tape the side seam closed with double-sided or regular tape. Tape the bottom flaps closed.
You can use regular tape on the outside instead of the double-sided. Frankenstein’s monster had seams that showed, and he was as Halloween as it gets.
See how one side of the roof has three flaps? Put double-sided tape on those guys. Tuck in place, and seal. Then put tape on the two remaining roof flaps, tuck that side in and seal the seams.
Again, you can use regular tape on the outside instead of double-sided.
That’s it!
Make all four and you’ll have a haunted village. You can also try drawing your own window artwork to change things up.
Halloween Houses light up on a window sill during the day. At night, LED tealights give an eerie flickering glow (but please keep real candles far away).
Since the box is reassembled with the printed side in, the outside is plain and can be decorated if you want. I like the natural brown color, but this year I drew on them and I like that even better. Now I’m thinking that rubber stamps might be the way to go. What will you do with yours?
Have a Happy Halloween!