8 DIY Halloween decoration tutorials to turn your home into a cave
Halloween is the best time of the year! Turn your craft to The Craft and achieve these Halloween decorations for less…
Read on to find DIY Halloween craft tips for:
- Autumnal and natural hanging decorations
- Eerie windows worthy of a horror film
- Light dimmers to turn your room into a dark cave
- Lazy ghosts (it’s you that’s being gloriously lazy, not the ghosts)
- Faux tombstones
- Glowing eyes in the darkness
- Halloween trick or treat bowls that eyeball your guests
- Make the most of cheap Halloween cobwebs
How to make How to make Hanging Halloween Leaves
Less spooky and more gorgeous-autumny, these are just too nice not to mention! Beeswax is easily found in many health shops. It’s sold in solid blocks that last forever and cost very little, as well as smelling really nice.
You will need:
- Some lovely autumn leaves
- Beeswax
- String
- A sharp, straight pin
- A heatproof bowl, a pot, and some hot water
How to make your Halloween hanging leaves:
1) Press the leaves in a heavy book, if you like. This makes them flatter and easier to handle, but you can skip this step if you’re pushed for time.
2)Carefully place your heatproof bowl over the hot water, and place the beeswax inside to melt.
3) Holding onto the stem, dip the leaves into the melted wax.
4) When everything is dry, poke a hole into the top of each leaf and feed the string through the holes, tying a neat knot each time, to keep the leaves in place. Gorgeous!
How to make Halloween Windows
No windows? Try painting on plastic sheeting instead!
Nothing reminds me of Halloween more than paint-decorated windows. One glorious October, I spent a solid week of afternoons painting a life-sized sarcophagus onto my mother’s ceiling-to-floor kitchen window, complete with hieroglyphs.
Poster paint washes right off of windows with a little soap and water. Sadly this doesn’t work too well on windows prone to steaming, as it makes the paint flake prematurely. Wahh!
You will need:
- A cool, spooky design
- A clean, dry, window
- Poster paint of any description, in several colours
- Assorted sizes and types of brushes
- Cotton buds and a cup of water, to correct any mistakes
- Paper, pencils, and scissors for making your own stencils (optional)
- Masking tape, to protect the window ledge (optional, but better if you’re as newbie)
- Artistic flair (optional)
How to make your spooky windows
1) Painting directly onto the window, pop down your outline first, especially if you’re feeling a bit nervous.
2) Decide whether you want your work to be facing you, in your home, or the people on the street. If you go with the latter, you’ll need to paint any words on backwards (SO occult, dahling) – figure this out on a piece of paper first!
3) Layers tend not to work, so don’t paint too thinly. Too much paint is probably better – it’ll drip, but that can be wiped off.
4) Let it dry and enjoy the awesome! Add a coloured LED light for extra spooky points!
How to make a Halloween cave with light dimmers
Okay, these sound really lame, but I swear, they’re great. This is as cheapy as it gets, and they add great atmosphere!
You will need:
- A roll of plain black sacks
- A scissors
- Some tape
How to make your “dark cave” Halloween hangers and dimmers:
1) Tear off your first black sack and unfold it fully.
2) Carefully cut up one side, and along the bottom, so that it folds out like a sheet.
3) Cut strips vertically into the plastic. Leave a good three inches uncut at 4) the top, so that it all holds together nice and sturdily.
5) Cut the strips as thin or thick as you like. I like to cut mine sort of jagged, with different lengths and widths to the strips, to make it look a bit more interesting. You can even poke some holes in here and there, to make it look more ragged.
6) Using the sticky tape, carefully hang them around hanging lampshades to dim the lights in your home, without having to call an electrician! Be very careful to double and triple check that any material is away from the light bulb and attached to the lampshade itself ONLY.
7) You can also hang these across doorframes to create a dark cave entrance! They’re really fun and tickly to walk through, and make a great creepy noise.
How to make Lazy Cheap Ghosties
These are a lot like the last one, but use plain white rubbish bags instead.
You will need:
- Plain white rubbish sacks
- A scissors
- Old coat hangers
- Red or black permanent markers (optional)
How to make your easy cheap ghosties:
1) Rip off and unfold your first bag.
2) Carefully cut a very small hole in the bottom, towards the middle.
3) Turn it upside down, and cut some jaggedy bits into the ends, so that it looks like a creepy cloak.
4) Pop a coat hanger through the hole in the top.
5) Draw on glowing red or black eyes, if you like.
6) Hang up in dimly-lit areas of your house and watch them eerily flutter about.
7) This is a good way to recycle plain white shopper bags, too!
How to make Fake Halloween Tombstones & Plaques
Done properly, these will look just as good as any shop bought tombstone decorations. They take a little bit of effort, but they’re quite fun to make.
You will need:
- A sheet of Styrofoam, easily bought on the cheap from any DIY or home improvement store
- A sharp blade, such as a Stanley knife
- A pencil
- Poster paint and a few brushes
- Ribbon or string for hanging (optional)
- Glitter glue, sequins, stickers (optional, but who can say no to glitter glue?)
Directions:
1) Take your Styrofoam outside, or it’ll be pre-emptively snowing in your house! Carefully draw the shape of the tombstone or plaque you want to cut.
2) Following the outline, cut your shape as neatly as you can. It’s trickier than you’d expect, so start off with simple shapes until you get the hang of it.
3) When you’re happy with your bases, take them inside and paint fun designs on them.
4) Let the paint dry and add stickers, sequins, glitter glue, tinsel, cotton wool, PVC glue in the shape of cobwebs, and so on…
5) Use glue or tape to add ribbon or string for hanging up your decorations. For more security, you can staple it, but be VERY careful not to break the foam!
6) You can use sealant spray to stop your lovely work from getting scratched if you like, but they should last fine if you’re reasonably careful with them.
7) Shape suggestions – tombstones, pumpkins, cauldrons, moons, scary cat faces, cute boo ghosts, eyeballs.
How to make Glowing Eyes for Halloween
(Photo: Thrifty Fun)
I spotted these on my internet travels a while back. I haven’t tried it, but they look really cool!
You will need:
- Kitchen roll or toilet roll holders
- A scissors
- Glow sticks
- Tape
- Poster paint (optional)
How to make your scary glowing eye tubes:
1) Carefully cut two eyeholes into the cardboard tube.
2) Tape a glow stick inside and hide in a dark place for evil-looking glowing eyes!
3) Alternatively, if you want a gentle glow on a party table or similar, paint the tubes as well.
4) Using a similar method and some white paint, you can easily make fake and safe pillar candles!
How to make Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bowls
This is really easy, and comes out looking great!
You will need:
- A balloon
- PVC glue
- A paintbrush
- An old newspaper
- Poster paint
- A little patience
- Sweets
How to make a Halloween pinata:
1) Blow up the balloon.
2) Tear the paper into strips and paint the glue onto the paper strips, ideally in a criss-cross pattern.
3) Wait for it to dry fully, then pop the balloon and remove it.
4) Paint the paper mache ball like an eyeball. If you’re making a bowl, you might need to cut it a bit to make it shallower.
5) Prepare to be extremely popular!
6) Pumpkins, cauldrons, and brains look good, too.
How to make the most of Cheap Halloween Cobwebs
The only non-DIY, shop bought decoration on the list. It may look unassuming in its big plastic sack in the bargin baskets of every other shop, but that plain white cobweb stuff can add some serious atmosphere to your Halloween décor. It’s cheap as chips, easy to use, and re-usable, too. I’ve had the same bag going strong since 2010!
Tips for optimum cobwebbiness:
1) Stretch it super thin and double it back on itself a few times in different directions. This adds texture and makes it look much more realistic.
2) Trail it out of other decorations in big webby strings. Add a fake spider to the bottom at eye level!
3) It really does stick to anything – bumps in the paint on your wall, unvarnished wood, doorframe corners, and so on. Get creative, it looks great everywhere!
And that’s it. Have a wonderful Halloween!
