Exploding Test Tube Candy Poppers

It's Halloween time again, and as a kid, I ALWAYS loved getting a small gift bag of candy trick-or-treating instead of the usual ho-hum handful.  Sure, you wouldn't always get more candy with the gift bag, but the surprise of opening it up to see what was inside was ALWAYS a treat! 

Plus, sometimes they got creative!  I got candy is small pumpkins, and cauldrons, but nothing I remember would fall into my Halloween theme this year, Mad Scientist's Lab!

So I made these adorable test tube goodie bag poppers to hand out on Halloween (I will probably run out before I run out of trick-or-treaters, but hopefully some of the neighborhood kids will get a kick out of these!

What You Will Need:
Empty Toilet Paper Rolls (or paper towel / wrapping paper rolls cut into 5" sections"
Empty Clean White Styrofoam Egg Cartons
White Glue or Glue Sticks
Hot Glue Gun
White Paper
Black Sharpie or other marker
Tissue Paper in Assorted Colors
Candy to fill them (and snack on too!)

To make the rounded bottoms of the test tube (which are also JUST flat enough to let them stand on their own), cut up a white styrofoam egg carton into the individual egg cups.

Measure the individual cups to the opening of the toilet paper roll, and trim each cup so that there is no excess.

VERY carefully, use your hot glue glue to apply glue to the bottom of the CARDBOARD ROLL, and firmly press your egg cup onto the glue.

DO NOT use the hot glue directly on the styrofoam, as it will melt/warp the cups.

This is your test tube!  Now you must decorate it.

Using a glue stick or plain old white glue, wrap a piece of white paper around the tube, lining it up with the rounded bottom of your test tube.  

It's okay if it sticks out a bit, or a lot, at the top.  You can tuck that into the tube at the open end!

Using a black sharpie or another marker, make several horizontal lines down the test tube for "measurements"

Now you're ready to fill it up!  I found I can put 2-3 pieces of candy in each test tube, making sure to leave enough room for the tissue paper explosion.

To make your tissue paper explosion and top off your test tube, roughly rip off half a sheet of tissue paper.  Stuff the even end into the test tube, covering up the candy, and make sure to flare the rough end out the top!

Enjoy the looks of joy and surprise on people's faces when you give them an exploding test tube full of candy!

For more awesome crafts and fun projects, visit my blog, The Procrastibaker!