If you have children, or are simply a child-at-heart, we’ve got a treat for you. Emily (editor for Travel Oregon magazine) and I recently rounded up a group of our favorite kids, and created some creative (and, authentically Oregon) Halloween masks. Check out our video, and try your hand at creating your very own Oregon Dungeness crab, beaver, or salmon.

Our mask-making adventure began at the craft store, where we stuffed our cart full of paper plates, stickers, colored felt, puff paint (which is still just as fun as it was in the 80′s, I must admit), glitter crayons, and of course, Halloween candy and other goodies. Once we felt we’d purchased the full amount of supplies we could handle (or our wallets could handle, for that matter) we were off.

Our crafty friends show off their impressive Halloween masks

While Emily and I had thought of ourselves as fairly creative people, the task proved to be more difficult when we attempted to cut animal shapes out of paper plates. Tip: Make sure you have an exacto knife handy- it is a life-saver when it comes to cutting out the eye-holes. I immediately got to work on the beaver and salmon, while Emily tried her hand at the Dungeness crab. I also discovered through trial and error that some paper plates don’t work well with markers. I would recommend using the back side of the plate as the front of the mask, as that side won’t smear.

After about three or four drafts, we finally had three successful Oregon masks to show off. The kids who joined us added their own creative spin to each of the Oregon masks, from a monster/alien beaver to a three-eyed duck/beaver/zebra Oregon crab.

Matthew shows off his finished Oregon Dungeness Crab mask.

Special thanks to Tyler, Ella, Everett, Jackson, Tucker, Alexie and Matthew for joining us, and for creating such fabulous Halloween maks! You may also download a pdf of these masks below:

Crab Mask

Beaver Mask

Salmon Mask

Our suggestions for full-Oregon costumes (in addition to the masks) are as follows:

Beaver: wear all brown, including brown gloves. Glue brown-colored yarn to the top of the gloves, to create a “furry” look.

Salmon: wear all blue or green, and construct fins out of colored felt. Safety-pin to clothing.

Dungeness Crab: wear all red or orange, and construct a shell out of cardboard. Decorate, attach with thick string or yarn, and wear as a backpack.

Happy Halloween!!