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This Halloween Coffin Tray is Creepy Crawly

Turn a mini wood coffin into a Halloween tray covered with creepy crawlies! This unique Halloween coffin is perfect for surprising guests.

Creepy Crawly DIY Halloween Coffin Tray

Hi everyone. It’s David from Cheltenham Road.

I’m usually kind of a last-minute sort of guy – starting my holiday projects a few days before the actual holiday. But this year, for my Etsy shop and blog I vowed to be ahead of the game! (wish me luck).

So, sorry to jump into the future but, Halloween is on the way!

Michaels’ is even more ahead of the curve than I am and I was kinda stunned to see Halloween decor last month but not so stunned that I didn’t grab (using a coupon of course) a fun coffin-shaped tray they have this season.

It was a bit of a whim purchase, but when I got it home I started ruminating on the possibilities and thought a creepy, crawly DIY Halloween tray might be fun.

This wood Halloween craft turned out to be very easy, but there is a fair amount of drying time needed on each step. So plan accordingly!

Halloween Coffin Tray

Black wood Halloween coffin tray and scanned in candy wrappers printed out
Box of Envirotex Lite resin with fake plastic roaches and spiders

Gather These Supplies

  • The aforementioned coffin from Michaels
  • Some plastic bugs (the flatter the better)
  • Envirotex Lite (also available at Michaels. It’s a bit pricey without a coupon so make sure to have one on hand)
  • Scans of candy wrappers (more on that in a sec).
  • Matte Mod Podge
  • Foam Brush

I knew I wanted candy wrappers for the design and I contemplated just buying a bunch of candy but:

A) that gets a bit pricey these days and;

B) although I’m very capable of doing it I thought it best not to eat that much candy (and there wasn’t even a small chance I was going to unwrap it and then throw it away)

so . . . internet to the rescue!

A quick Google search turned up a bunch of pics of candy wrappers, vintage and new, that I downloaded and resized putting them together into a collage.

Halloween candy wrapper collage

(I used Photoshop to create my design. I just scanned the tray itself and then populated the shape with my candy wrappers. However, I know not everyone has Photoshop or similar software, so the graphic is available above.

When I was first doing tray collages, I would make a cut out of the base shape of the tray and then simply print out and arrange all the collage pieces, trimming them to fit. Once I had the design as I wished I would Mod Podge each piece into place.)

After printing out the collage I used Matte Mod Podge to attach it to the bottom of the Halloween coffin tray.

The paper needs to be thoroughly sealed AND dried before you pour the Envirotex on top, otherwise the chemicals will discolor it.

So, once my collage layer had dried, I laid down a fairly thick coat of Mod Podge for the seal and then used it to “glue” my bugs and snakes in place (that way they won’t move around when I pour the Envirotex).

Plastic snakes and spiders and roaches stuck into wet Mod Podge

It takes overnight (and sometimes a bit longer depending on humidity) for a thick coat of Mod Podge like that to dry.

Envirotex is a two part epoxy resin that dries like a sheet of glass. It’s easy to work with but you must follow the directions on the box to the letter.

I mixed up my Envirotex and poured it into the tray. Because my cockroaches were a little thick I did need to do a second pour after 24 hours.

Once the Envirotex had dried I was good to go with my creepy Halloween coffin tray.

DIY coffin tray for Halloween

The Envirotex seal is just like glass and the bugs are well beneath it.

Turn a plain wood coffin decoration into a DIY Halloween tray covered with creepy crawlies! Perfect for surprising guests when they grab a piece of candy.

Is it wrong that I’m looking forward to seeing people jump when they reach for candy and uncover a bug?

Closeup of a Halloween coffin tray made with Mod Podge and resin

I hope this Halloween coffin tray inspires your holiday decorating imagination.  Please do let me know if you have any questions.

I’ve been in full-on Halloween crafts mode for a bit, how about you? I’d love for you to check out these other posts for the holiday:

Walter Silva

Sunday 4th of October 2015

David, this is so cool! Have to try this Pour On method!

Janele

Wednesday 26th of August 2015

I love it! My hubby is a Mortician and one year we put a wooden coffin on our front door so Trick or Treaters had to open the lid of coffin in order to ring the front door . This is my kind of craft.

Haley

Wednesday 26th of August 2015

I love this idea; It is the perfect addition to any Halloween party! The creep crawlers are the perfect extra touch!

jengd

Wednesday 26th of August 2015

Great tray, fun project!