Ready...Aim...Fire!

Katniss. Merida. Hawkeye. 2012 has definitely been the year of the bow & arrow! Needless to say the monsters have caught on to the trend & have been asking for little archery sets for some time now.
Problem? Price & durability. We've gotten small sets, which have broken within a day's use. So when Lynneth asked to be Brave's Merida (complete with a bow & arrow fit for a princess!) this year for Halloween, I went on the hunt for a cheap & easy way to make something that would last!

Ta Da!

Not too shabby for a few dowel rods, some fishing line, hot glue, & feathers, huh? Monster Man loved it.
I sliced a groove maybe 1/4-1/2 inch deep into each end of a 3/16x36in dowel rod & knotted fishing wire around the ends, pulling til the line was taught, but not overly tight.

-Important- You can NOT use too much hot glue to secure the ends of the bow's wire. Let me tell you, it hurts like #%&* when that line pops (note the band-aid!) & I was super glad I was the tester versus the monsters. PLEASE use caution if making your own!
For added safety on the arrows I used pencil erasers for arrowheads! Just fill with hot glue & spin the arrow in til it hits the bottom. While the arrows do go a lot farther/faster without the eraser caps, I'm glad we chose the safer route. Hurts a lot less getting hit by a rogue arrow when they're capped. >.<

Hot gluing a feather on the tip & slicing a small notch to help 'grip' the line round out the finished arrows!

For the hand grip I used half a shop towel my hubby had laying around outside on the porch, hot glued one end on to the bow, wrapped the towel around several times, & them taped the whole thing down & painted it. The only real flaw I've found so far is that the paint started to rub off the more the monsters used it.
As for Lynneth's request....here ya go. A bow & arrow set worthy of my very own red headed princess. =)

Not to be left out, Gwenna got a half size 'practice' set. You barely have to pull on the line & the arrow goes!

*gasp* "For me!?!?!"

Now the real question...do they actually work?

So much fun! My kids spend a good hour this afternoon playing with their new toys, which held up just fine to all the use & abuse! I'll admit, I'm actually kind of jealous...might have to go back to Hobby Lobby for some mommy-size supplies. ;)