Great alternative to painting gourds if you don't have them. Pompom Spiders - even young kids can make spiders by gluing two black pompoms together and adding black pipe cleaner legs. Add wiggly eyes for fun. Pompom Pumpkins -Kids can make a pumpkin from an orange pompomand black and green felt. You can even make the pompoms out of orange yarn.
Embroidery floss is wrapped around the clothespins and tied off or glue down.
Markers, yarn and construction paper can also be used to embellish. Spooky Hands - Trace the child's hands, extending the drawings of the fingers to look long and pointy. Let them cut the hands out and decorating them with markers, stickers, paints, etc. You can add a fabric paint medium to regular acrylic paint or just use fabric paint. They can make them too.