With Halloween fast approaching it’s time to get those crafty hands dirty, explore your creativity, and save your hard-earned money by making your own decorations.We’ve compiled the best DIY decorations for both inside and outside your home with varying degrees of difficulty – and there are even some great ideas to get the kids involved too. Happy scaring!
The Pickled Face in the Fridge
Is there anything scarier than opening the fridge looking for a leftover slice of delicious pumpkin pie, only to find a preserved head in a jar staring right at you? No, we didn’t think so. It’s probably most effective if you take a photo of your own face to put in the jar, so make sure you pull a good ‘dead’ face and follow the photo-editing instructions from Instructables. Otherwise, if you don’t feel quite as comfortable using a photo editing program, or just don’t have that much time, you can simply download and print out the face that they’ve already edited for you.
A Foggy Drink-Cooler
What’s a haunted house without the spooky fog (i.e. dry ice)? Plus, if you use it in your punch bowl for a Halloween party not only will it look cool but it will keep the drink nice and cold. Just make sure that you follow the instructions in this youtube video’s safety instructions because dry ice can be dangerous if it comes into contact with bare skin.
Boos, Buckets and Bats
This little craft decoration is great for two reasons: it’s unique and it gives you a lot of wiggle room to play around with the design. The overall concept of The DIY Village’s bats in the boo-buckets is adorable, and it’s really something you can have a lot of fun with. You don’t necessarily have to go buy the plants and buckets; you can use your own plant pots if you want, and you can spell out more than just “boo”! Set them on the table as a centerpiece as suggested, on the windowsill, or even on your front porch for a Halloween-y welcome.
The Mischievous Magic Mirror
Ever since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we’re pretty sure every girl and woman has dreamt of having a magic mirror to tell them just how beautiful they are every day. In a Halloween setting, though, a mirror with a live, moving face can be downright scary! If you really like to get stuck into DIY projects then this one is definitely worth it; the instructions from Instructables are comprehensive and easy to follow.
Jars to Light Up a House of Horrors
This glow-in-the-dark jar from Laszlo Luca Gerda is really easy to make and only requires three things: glow-in-the-dark paint, some old glass jars and a black light (or UV-A light). These jars will look great if you use them to light up dark hallways, and you don’t have to limit them to just this one holiday. After Halloween is over you can use different colored paint for any other occasion – maybe red and green for Christmas.
Mysterious Eyes in the Bushes
This next Halloween decoration from Rust & Sunshine is probably the cheapest and easiest of all, yet it’s the most effective. First of all, start saving your empty toilet paper rolls right now! Then all you need to buy is a pack or two of glow sticks and viola! You can tuck these ominous eyes into your bushes around the yard or even have them looking out of your windows to scare any passers-by.
Ghastly Severed Head
This mummified severed head (Crafts Unleashed) looks fantastic in a Halloween house, and the best part is that it looks like you went through an awful lot of trouble, when in fact it’s actually quite easy to make! If you’re a crafty person and coffee-drinker then you’re likely to have most of the supplies at home; the foam head shouldn’t be too difficult to find in a craft shop. You can put this on a coffee table as a simple decoration, hide it in a bed to scare someone, or put it out on your lawn to depict a mummy coming out of the ground.
Ghosts to Light Up the Occasion
No Halloween is complete without ghosts, and lucky for you, this ghost only takes about five minutes to make with minimal effort and just a few easy-to-find components. The spooky bed sheet ghost may be a Halloween cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason! This little craft project from Domestic Fits offers a fresh take on the old classic with a glow stick and a cheese cloth instead of a bed sheet; the cloth offers a different type of drapery element, making your ghost look less like a sheet and more like a real floating ghost.
Pumpkin-less Jack-o-Lanterns
Jack-o-lanterns are great, but for those who aren’t great at carving pumpkins, they can be a bit of a drag to make, and it can get pretty messy. Enter the Mason jar jack-o-lantern from My Crafty Spot. You can get everything you need for this DIY gem from your local craft store without having to spend a pretty penny on pre-made decorations. This is also a fun project to get the kids involved in since it’s relatively simple to do.
Ghosts in a Jar
Apart from merely hanging ghosts around your house, why not create a little Halloween ghost scene in a jar? Mason Jar Love’s is spooky but in a cute way – instead of an in-your-face shriek-with-terror kind of decoration, this DIY project is all about subtlety and detail. It’s almost like Halloween’s version of a snow globe.
Pumpkin Balloon Game
Not all Halloween decorations have to be frightening; some can be fun and playful, like Martha Stewart’s balloon pumpkin decoration. Not only is this an innovative piece of wall-art, it also turns into a game! The kids will absolutely love the excitement that comes with popping the balloons to reveal glitter and candy, and you’re sure to enjoy the delightful looks on their happy little faces.
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