Halloween Hacks: Make Spooky Decorations In Minutes

Did you know that “witchcraft” is an abbreviated form of “We’re itching to craft?” That’s what I choose to believe, anyhow. The world of monsters, spooks and ghoulies presents a bottomless cauldron of inspiration for families wanting to make DIY Halloween decorations. Here are 30 ideas to get you started, all of which need very few materials.

1. Maple or sycamore leaves make admirable ghosts (see top image).

2. Cut a black bin liner into strips and hang them from curtain rails.

3. Know how to make a paper chain of people holding hands? Why not ghosts instead?

4. Put white sheets over the furniture. Phantom futons! Terrifying tables!

5. Make origami bats to hang from the ceiling.

6. White napkins + action figures = ghost action figures.

7. Stretch cotton wool to make tangly spider webs.

8. Build a “potion corner” and have fun playing in it.

9. Carve a pumpkin face

10. No pumpkin? Make scary heads using red or yellow peppers instead. 

11. Make a Door Monster, like (but hopefully better than) this one we made earlier:

12. Have fun drawing spooky faces onto balloons (especially orange and white ones), then tape them to the mantelpiece. 

13. Craft a skeletal hand from twigs and sticks. Place in front of an LED light to project an uncanny shadow onto the ceiling.

14. Make an origami black cat.

15. It’ll need some spooky mice to chase. Cut out a semi-circle from black card, paint menacing red eyes onto it, then attach to the skirting board for a diabolical mouse hole.

16. Cut out supernatural silhouettes from black card and stick them on the outside of lamp shades.

17. For a subtle decoration, draw tiny skeleton hands onto paper, cut out, and stick to the hands of a clock. 

18. Make a ghost piñata.

19. Buy a multipack of ping-pong balls, turn them into eyeballs with a waterproof marker, then submerge them into a jam jar or pickling jar full of water.

20. Pom poms + pipe-cleaners = spooky spiders.

21. Big pom pom + little pom pom + felt ears = spooky black cat.

22. Get a large sheet of black paper and make a splatter painting… using only red paint.

23. Fill a transparent bowl with two-thirds of water, add a few drops of red food colouring, and drop in any toy frogs, newts, toads, crocs, sharks or anything else you like (so long as it’s waterproof). Hey presto, a blood bath fish tank.

24. Make mini-bunting shaped like pumpkins and bats, to adorn any dolls house or toy building.

25. Use string and tape to construct a cobweb. Use it as an inspiring lesson on how spider’s spin webs.

26. Collect twigs and small branches from a park or garden. Arrange them in a vase, then hang cut-out pumpkins, bats or other spooky objects from their ends. The ‘tree’ can be reused for other festivities (e.g. hang paper eggs at Easter or hearts for Valentine’s Day).

27. Cut out ‘devil’s footprints’ (horseshoe shape) using a template so they’re all the same. Tack them to an uncarpeted floor as a trail for children to follow (with a diabolical prize at the end).

28. Craft long, jagged cracks from black card and tack them to the walls.

29. Alternatively, use yellow or reflective card to make lightning bolts, and display up near the ceiling.

30. If you really want to abandon yourselves to the Halloween spirit of mischief, give the kids some pots of paint and let them paint whatever spooky images they want straight onto the walls.

Just imagine how exciting they’ll find this act of rebellion.

Naturally, you’ll only want to do this in a room you were planning on redecorating anyway, and it’s probably not a good idea to do this with smaller children, lest they think it’s OK to repeat the experience unsupervised at a later date. Now that would be horrific.