88 Best DIY Halloween Decorations You Can Pull Together Scary Quick
Score major scare points with these homemade Halloween decor ideas.
Get into the Halloween spirit with DIY decorations you can make at home! We’ve compiled a list of spook-tacular DIY Halloween decorations for you to start crafting right now. Luckily, there’s plenty of time before the big day, so you can take on as many DIYs as you’d like. They range in difficulty from easy Halloween crafts (such as supernatural paper lanterns), to impressive, but more advanced creations (like PVC pipe candles). So, whether you’re new to making DIY decor or you're a seasoned veteran, there’s something for you to tangibly tackle and enjoy.
After creating these DIY holiday decorations, you may feel inspired to host a Halloween party and show off your masterpieces. Friends and family can attend in costume whether you throw a ghoulish Halloween dinner party or a chilling trivia night. Don’t be surprised if they ask where you bought your decor. Take it as your time to shine and say, “I made it myself!”
The best thing about homemade decor is that very few people have the same pieces as you. And even if they do, it’s easy to personalize and make a craft your own. This will ensure that your indoor and outdoor Halloween decorations stand out as the scariest, spookiest, most creative decor of all.
Creepy Readers
For each spider, gather eight pipe cleaners and twist together at one end to secure. Fan out the pipe cleaners so there are four "legs" on each side of the spider. Wrap tinsel garland around the pipe cleaners and use hot glue to attach it while you wrap.
Moody Candles
Turn regular black taper candles into something more sinister by add red hot glue to the body so it looks like blood!
Mummy Treats
Take regular tin cans and wrap them in gauze with googly eyes to create a scary-good treat canister. You can also put little plants inside if you want.
Bewitching Wreath
Cut 150 6-inch-long strips of 2-inch-wide black grosgrain ribbon. Fold the strips in half and attach them to a 16-inch foam wreath form with straight pins, layering them on top of each other to create a ruffle effect. Once that's dine, but out a silhouette of a witch from black kraft paper.
Snake Candles
There's nothing easier than buying some snake props and using them to up the spooky factor of your decor. Just hang the toys on your taper candles to achieve the look.
Snake Napkin Holders
Another great use of toy snakes? Napkin holders!
Boo! Pumpkin
All you have to do is paint any pumpkin with black paint, and grab some pipe cleaners to spell out the word boo, or any other saying you want!
Pumpkin Treat Bags
Treat bags get an updated look when you use glitter pant to draw on some sparkly pumpkins.
Clothespin Bats
Take any drink to the next level with these adorable bats that can sit nicely on the rim. Simply buy black clothespins or paint them black, and attach DIY bat wings to them with glue.
Pasta Pumpkins
For the neon pumpkin, use shell-shaped pasta (you can buy the fake kind) and arrange them into flower shapes all over the pumpkin. For the orange one, paint glue around in a stripe design and use orzo to create the sprinkle-like effect.
Candy Wreath
For something less haunting and more delicious, go for a candy covered wreath. A styrofoam wreath form and some candy is all you need. You can go with real candy or fake!
Little Monsters
We love a good toilet paper craft. Here, you and the kids can paint toilet paper rolls in any color, and use pipe cleaners, googly eyes and other supplies to turn them into scary or friendly monsters.
Shadow Pumpkins
Create your own "woman in white." Print an image of a silhouette onto paper, cut it out, then paint the silhouette black or white. Tape the image to the pumpkin using double-sided tape. Attach lace trim with double-sided tape or glue to form a frame around the silhouette.
Bat Garland
Go bat crazy, and hang this cute garland! Cut out bat wings and ears from black construction paper, and glue onto cork stoppers. Then glue on googly eyes. Push greening pins into the bottom of cork stoppers, and thread a ribbon through to hang.
Pumpkin Planters
Give your jack-o'-lantern a silly hairdo with plants! After carving a funny face into the pumpkin, create eyeballs by gluing lentils onto almonds. Then attach them to the pumpkin with dress pins. Place a battery-powered tea light inside the pumpkin, and cover it with a clear bowl. Set your plant on top of the clear bowl, so it sticks out the top of the pumpkin.
Bloody Lantern
Make Edgar Allen Poe proud with this The Raven-esque craft. Outline drops of blood on the opening of a lantern in red marker, and fill in with red glass paint.
Snail Statue
Gary, is that you? Turn a pumpkin on its side, and carve a hole large enough to clean out the inside. This will help the pumpkin sit flat. Draw a double-walled spiral around the stem with a marker, and cut it out. Chop off the bottom of the butternut squash to sit flat. Glue googly eyes onto ping pong balls. Using an X-Acto knife, cut a small x into the bottom of each ping pong ball. Stuff a pipe cleaner into the x, and secure the pipe cleaner to the squash using hot glue.
Boo-It-Yourself Ghosts
Talk about an easy craft! Blow up white balloons. Cut out three ovals from black card stock for the ghost's eyes and mouth. Attach them to the white balloon with dots of glue. Tape white streamers to the base of the balloon.
Embellished Pumpkins
Repurpose them for Thanksgiving too! Hot glue lace appliques and cotton trim to the ridges of pumpkins or gourds.
RELATED: Easy DIY Thanksgiving Decorations
Corinne Sullivan is an Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers a variety of beats, including lifestyle, entertainment, relationships, shopping, and more. She can tell you everything you need to know about the love lives of A-listers, the coziest bedsheets, and the sex toys actually worth your $$$. She is also the author of the 2018 novel Indecent. Follow her on Instagram for cute pics of her pup and bébé.
Kate Franke (she/her) is the editorial assistant at Woman’s Day. She loves all things lifestyle, home, and market related. Kate has a BAJMC in Magazine Media and BA in Writing from Drake University. She is a proud ASME alum whose work has appeared in Food Network Magazine, The Pioneer Woman Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Modern Farmhouse Style, Beautiful Kitchens & Baths, and more. Next to writing, Kate’s two favorite things are chai lattes and pumpkin bread!
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