DIY Halloween Décor
Halloween means costumes, scary movies and spooky home décor for visitors and trick-or-treaters. Thinking about decorating can seem like a harder task than it has to be. Keep reading for DIY Halloween decorating ideas you can make from household items you already have or by making a quick trip to the grocery store or your neighbourhood Dollarama, Dollar Store or Dollar Tree!
Indoor Décor Ideas:
Bottle Broomsticks – take a few of your bottles out of the recycling, paint them matte black and stick a tall candlestick in the bottle neck! To make this an outdoor decoration, use a branch instead of a candlestick for the broom ‘handle’.
Bubbling Cauldron – fill a dutch oven or big stove top pot with dry ice for a spooky, misty, bubbling witches’ brew! Black is the best colour for added spookiness, if you have an old pot, give it a spray for a matte black finish. This is another great dual idea for inside or out! (note: dry ice is a specialty item you won’t find at the grocery store)
Potion Bottles – using clear bottles or jars, fill them with gummy candies (think worms, fake teeth and spiders!), add water and a few drops of food colouring for eerie, mad scientist, lab potions! If you’re looking to up the scare factor, you can use fillers like beef jerky for an extra scary feel. To put on finishing touches, add labels to your potions.
Veggie Monsters – put googley eyes, or homemade eyes on your veggies and set them out on display around your space!
Old Haunted House – put white sheets over your furniture to give your space an instant haunted vibe. Has the house been sitting vacant for decades? Did something sinister take place? Your guests will be intrigued and only limited by their own scary imagination! Amp this idea up by spray painting sticks and branches black, adding some fake cob webs and placing them in the same area as your covered furniture!
Candle Swap – for the quickest, simplest way to give your space/home a Halloween feel, replace all your regular candles with black ones. Easy peasy!
Outdoor Décor Ideas:
Pumpkin Bowl – want to have candy for trick-or-treaters but not going to be home all night? Cut a large hole in the front of a pumpkin, scoop and clean it out and put your Halloween candy in. A fun way to keep the spirit of Halloween alive for candy goers in your absence! You can also use this inside for Halloween parties. Or, for a spookier feel, paint the pumpkin black and poke tiny holes around the large hole. Using string or dental floss, thread the tiny holes to create a spider web across the main hole. For a more authentic look and feel, use fake cobwebs across the hole!
Creepy Crow Wreath – pick up a grapevine wreath and some black bristle board, spray paint the wreath black and cut out crows from the bristle board to attach. Serious ‘The Birds’ vibes!
Morgue Door – using black bristle board or foam board painted black, cut out rectangles to adhere to your front door in a single column. On the left side of each rectangle, add gray or silver hinge cut-outs and on the right, handles (you can use real hinges and handles if you happen to have extras lying around). Finally, make a small banner for across the top of the door that says MORGUE.
Monster Door – using coloured paper, bristle board or foam board, create a monster face for your front door to welcome trick-or-treaters!
Hanging Hats – if you have a front porch, pick up a few witch hats and hang them above where your guests or trick or treaters will walk. Go one step further and light the way by adding battery operated lights inside each hat!
Friendly Ghosts – grab some tin cans from your recycling, paint them white then add on eyes and a mouth with a black marker. Hang them around your yard to say hell—ooo to passers by. Give them some added ‘body’ by attaching white strips of material, ribbon or streamers to the inside of the bottom of the can to make your cans fly!
Watching Eyes – have lots of trees or shrubs around your yard and house? Pick up a few beach balls, paint them white then add pupils using a black marker. Secure them in your trees and bushes to keep a watchful eye on Halloween night.
A Spooky Greeting – take an old picture frame or mirror and paint it with black chalk paint. Put it outside your front door and leave a spook-tacular message for all to read.
Whether you’re throwing a Halloween get together, preparing for trick-or-treaters, or just love getting in the spirit of Halloween, these DIY ideas are just the tip of the iceberg!
Happy Halloween!
-Paige Sandvold is the Content Manager on the Brand & Digital Platforms Team at Directwest