DIY Halloween Decorations for In and Outside the House

If you celebrate Halloween, you know that it’s super magical for kids. I remember when I was young, the whole neighborhood would be decorated and neighbors had fun with each other. When you’re a child, the amount of candy you can eat is exciting. Costumes are cool. Even now Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. But, and this can be a big but, it can get expensive if you’re trying to go all out with your decorations. I’m here to tell you that you can do a lot with a little, especially with DIY Halloween decorations.

The only way to make these DIY Halloween decorations worth the effort is if they 1. Look good and 2. Don’t actually cost too much. I’ve pulled all of these from Pinterest, so if you’d like to track down my sources you can head on over to my pins and check out the DIY Halloween board. You will also find more detailed instructions on how to do these projects.

Indoor DIY Halloween Decorations

Unless you’re having guests over or a party, you’ll most likely not care too much about indoor decorations. Well, unless you just like decorating like I do. One of the key requirements for décor that I like is that it has to look clean. What I mean by that is it has to not look cobbled together too badly, otherwise the messiness of the crafts bothers me. Weird, I know, but that’s me.This idiosyncrasy influenced my project choices that I found.

Bat Decorations

My favorite one is the bat mobile. Laughs aside, I like the dynamic nature of the decoration, and it’s really easy to make. The version I made for myself involves a medium-sized tree branch, black spray paint, black construction paper, scissors, and string. Start off by painting your tree a solid black. Once that’s done, cut out your bats and tie them on the branch at varying lengths. Voila! I like the idea of hanging this on a stairwell, or in the corner of a room above a table with other decorations on it.

Similarly, you can take some black twigs either painted black or found at a craft store and hot-glue black paper bats to them. Putting these in bunches in vases makes for a lovely table-topper or end table piece. These take the place of flower arrangements and fit the mood of Halloween splendidly.

Bat mason jars with little twinkle lights are also a great touch for windowsills, table centers, and above fireplaces. Essentially you take some black construction paper and cut out little bats and hang them from the inside of a mason jar with some fishing wire. You can decorate the bottom of the jar however you like, but I used brown twigs and pinecone pieces. Lastly, you twirl around some battery-powered lights on the inside, and you’ve got yourself a cute light feature!

You might’ve noticed a theme. Yes, it’s true, I like bats. As I’m writing this, I too am realizing it’s just way too full of bats. So let’s switch gears here.

Window Decorations

It’s amazing what you can do with some construction paper and some tape and scissors. I found a lot of outlines to cut and hang in windows, highlighted by a backdrop of drapery and a lamp. The best part about this DIY Halloween decoration is that you don’t have to be good at drawing to cut a shape, and you can print outlines if you need to. You can take a look here at some of the examples I found.

A favorite of mine is making giant spider webs to cover each window, and then decorate my stoop with spider-related things. Sometimes I’ll even switch out my window lights with purple lightbulbs to create an even creepier atmosphere.

Outside DIY Halloween Decorations

Now this is the bread and butter of Halloween. You can’t skimp on this if you truly want to celebrate the Halloween spirit. It’s easy to go out and buy fancy decorations that light up and move. You can even find some cheaper ones from the dollar store, though those don’t quite ever look good in my opinion.

Or you could make your own! The easiest right off the bat is making trash bag spider webs. What you’ll need is a box of large black trash bags, scissors, and tape! You cut out strips from the trash bag and arrange them in the pattern of large webs, then you tape them together and hang them. And to go with them, you can make DIY giant spiders.

Now we just need some spiders…

For a giant spider you’ll take an empty gallon carton and cut off the top so you have a round shape. Either spray paint in black, or cover it in black duct tape. Lastly you’ll use black foam noodles as legs and tape them on. You can make eyes or designs on the spider with different colored tape or construction paper. You can also get creative and try a myriad of other objects.

Speaking of noodles, there’s an easy DIY chain project you can make out of a grey pool noodle. Simply cut the noodle in small, chain link-like portions. Cut a slit onto each one so you can chain them together. Hanging these from a porch light or displaying them across your yard will help create that chain-rattling ambiance of Halloween. You might encounter the problem where it doesn’t come out looking much like a chain. If that’s the case, try using them in conjunction with another decoration so that way their function becomes more apparent.

And we can’t forget about a Halloween wreath. If you take an embroidery hoop and decorate it with faux webbing and little plastic spiders, maybe a orange and black ribbon or two, you’ve got a very cheap and easy to make wreath for your front door. You can’t make any of these DIY Halloween decorations easier than that.

Final Note

The most important part about Halloween, just like many other holidays, is to have fun. While I might be a stickler for pretty, shiny things, creativity and humor is what can make or break or Halloween décor. Take for example this priceless gem to the right. While the decorations themselves aren’t strictly “DIY”, the arrangement is and the price for these things can be cheap if you settle for some of the lower quality stuff.

And when you think about it, that’s really all you need. This holiday comes once a year for one night, so you shouldn’t be spending a ton of money on anything for it. I will be doing another article on halloween costumes at a later date, but I think it’s important to remember not to spend a ridiculous amount of money for an outfit you can’t wear on a regular basis. While I get to writing, I suggest that in the meantime you check out this article on how to get you Halloween spooky on a budget.

I will also be covering some children’s games you can do yourself, Halloween-themed of course. If you’re interested in just doing regular old games then you can check out a previous article I did on DIY Kids Crafts and Games. Good luck!