12 DIY Halloween Decorations to Bewitch Your Guests

Happy Halloween! With the spooky day around the corner, architecture has to make an appearance, too. Buildings can be scary and intimidating themselves, or you can work your way to make use of every wall and each space and make your place scarier. Here are some DIY ideas for Halloween decorations.

12 DIY Halloween Decorations to Bewitch Your Guests

• Horror Novel Door

Courtesy of Charlyne Mattox, Food and Crafts Director

1. Cut long, thin rectangular pieces of different colored kraft paper.
2. Draw titles of your favorite spooky novels on the paper.
3. Outline letters with gold paint pens and fill the lines with a paint pen as well, or with gold acrylic paint.
4. Attach to your front door with double-sided tape.
5. To spice things up a little, add a large bushel basket and a buffalo-check doormat.

• Halloween Spooky Window & Door

Photo by Sarah Busby, Styling by H. Camille Smith

by Photo by Sarah Busby, Styling by H. Camille Smith

1. Draw and cut the spooky drawings you desire.
2. Simply attach them to the inside of your clear glass window.

• Zomby Hands Reaching Out in the Garden

Courtesy of Ruth Meharg

1. Cut sheets of thin, black plastic in the shape of your hands.
2. Hang them on the wall of your house or attach them to stakes and plant them in the middle of your garden.

• Build a Tiny Ghost Town

Courtesy of Brian Patrick Flynn

1. Buy regular cute birdhouses from a craft store.
2. Spray paint them with matte black paint.
3. To bring in more spirit, add oversized spiders or faux birds to the scene.

• Effortlessly Ghostly Living Room

Courtesy of John Kernick

1. Take a page out of Miss Havisham’s book and use sheet-draped chairs to give your room the look of ruin.
2. String a cheesecloth “cobweb” across a mirror and secure curly willow branches in candlesticks with museum wax.

• Time is Ticking

Courtesy of Charlyne Mattox, Food and Crafts Director

1. If you are a fan of the Nancy Drew Mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock, you can fill your wall with all kinds of clocks!
2. To imitate the theme, even more, decoupage pumpkins with photocopied pages from the series.

• Witch’s Broom Chandelier

Courtesy of Brian Woodcock

1. Start with a plain broom, then fill mason jars with black sand and battery-operated black candles.
2. Attach them to one side of the broom with black twine.
3. Balance it out by adding a watchful faux feline on top of the other side with black wire.

• Ghouls’ Night Out

Courtesy of John Kernick

Source: TheNavagePatch.com

1. Use glue dots to stick construction-paper eyes and mouths onto white tissue-paper bells.
2. Drape them with a cheesecloth and gather them in your living room.

• Haunted Archway

Courtesy of REBECCA GREENFIELD – via Woman’s Day

via Gemma Comas

1. Get the bash started with a spooktacular entry to greet guests.
2. Anchor two branches on either side of the walkway.
3. Bend tops to meet and secure with garden twine.
4. Cover with cobwebs to bend and shape the branches.
5. Add a skeleton crew!

• Pushing Up Daisies Skeleton

Courtesy of REBECCA GREENFIELD – via Woman’s Day

1. Get a plastic skeleton.
2. Place it in your garden or flower bird to look like it’s rising up from the dirt.

• Paranormal Portraits

Courtesy of Philip Friedman – via Country Living

1. Make a black-and-white copy of a portrait on printer paper and cut it out.
2. To “age” the picture, brush it with a sponge dipped in a solution of a few drops of black craft paint mixed with water. Let the paper dry.
3. Cut a piece of card stock the same size as the photo, glue it to the photo’s back.
4. With an X-Acto knife, cut out the eyes of the picture’s subject.
5. Insert red mini LED Christmas lights through the back of the eyeholes.

• Bookshelf Critters

Courtesy of Alexandra Rowley – via Woman’s Day

1. Print out silhouettes of mice.
2. Trace onto black cardstock for extra-lifelike rodents.