While Halloween can be a fun holiday, store-bought decorations can get quite pricey. However, with some imagination and a willingness to get crafty, you can create a creatively and hauntingly decorated home without breaking the bank. Here are some top budget-friendly Halloween home decorating ideas that are both low-cost and spooktacular.
Cobweb Draping
One of the easiest and most iconic Halloween home accents is cobwebs. Making your own cobweb prop is simple and inexpensive. Stretch out string or cotton twine in long wispy strands and lightly brush the edges with a small paintbrush dipped in black or gray acrylic paint. Drape your faux cobwebs from ceilings, corners, stairs, and doorways to instantly conjure an eerie atmosphere.
Paper Lanterns
Use recycled newspaper, brown paper bags, or scrap paper to craft alluring jack-o’-lantern-style paper lanterns that can glow indoors or out. Paint pumpkin faces on the outside, punch holes in strategic areas, and place flameless tea lights inside. You can hang them from trees and porch railings or line a stairwell for an enchanting guide through your home. For added character, write names or messages on the lanterns in calligraphy using orange and black pens.
Spiderweb Window Clings
Children's washable window crayons or paste-on window cling vinyl sheets can be used to draw or print out and apply spiders, webs, or silhouettes directly onto windows to instantly transform them without permanent damage. Search online for free spiderweb cling templates or trace stencils to make unique patterns with ease. Don't forget to use yellow, lime green, and purple hues too for Day of the Dead-inspired designs.
Creepy Garland
Take inexpensive black, orange, or purple crepe paper streamers and cut them into random lengths between 12-24 inches. Then gather and twist them slightly at the ends and tie regularly spaced knots to create a feather-like garland that can then be draped along banisters, fireplaces, and around door frames indoors. Add craft worms, spider rings, or black feathers along its length too for extra creep factor.
Skeleton Centerpieces
Create your own spooky tablescape centerpieces using household supplies. Fill glass jars or vases with skeleton bones, witch's hands, and ghostly garlands nestled in black or orange ribbon and string. For an even easier DIY, simply print out enlarged black and white skeleton images and stand them amongst votive candles inside glass containers. Classy yet chilling.
Glowing "Potions"
Faux potions are fun trick-or-treating favors or haunting accents around the house. Half-fill clean glass bottles with water, food coloring, and a couple of drops of glycerin or dish soap per bottle. Add floating “ingredients” like eyeballs, foam cubes, or dried flowers/herbs. Seal with craft or real corks and voila - glowing ghostly elixirs to delight. Set them between candlelight for an atmospheric touch.
Ghostly Towels
Transform normal white towels into eerie spirits with acrylic paint or fabric markers. Draw on spooky faces with black ovals for eyes and zig-zags for mouths. Cut triangles in the towel “bodies” for tassel ends. Hang these simple ghosts throughout the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room with clothespins or safety pins. Children can do their own designs too!
Paper Bag Ghost Lanterns
Who says jack-o’-lanterns are just for pumpkins? Take brown paper lunch bags, fold the top down, and staple them to create a lantern shape. Paint or draw faces, then punch holes at the top for battery-operated tealight candles inside. Tie jute twine around the middle and hang bags from porch ceilings, patio umbrellas, or trees like charming ghosts.
Spooky Silhouettes
Cut out enlarged black paper silhouette images of ghosts, bats, black cats, and spooky trees - you can even draw your own. Tape or pin them to living room windows after dark for an eerie backlit glowing effect. Use them as stand-alone decor or in addition to window clings. Your neighbors may be intrigued! These silhouettes can also be taped to interior glass doors and mirrors.
Mood-Setting Candles
Candles in autumnal scents like pumpkin spice, sandalwood, or fall harvest set just the right mood for Halloween festivities. Use mismatched jars you already own in shades of orange, brown, and black. Or make your own candle vessels by tying raffia or jute string around glass vases and jars before adding taper candles, tea lights or soy wax melts.
Frightfully Easy Wreaths
All you need is a cardboard wreath form, pinecones, berries, twigs, and branches to create a naturally spooky addition to your front door. Jazz it up with black and orange velvet or burlap ribbon woven through and tied in bows. Or go for the easy route - poke spooky pictures, plastic eyeballs, and bones onto the florist's wire and shape into a creepy hanging wreath shape which can then be displayed almost anywhere.
Creepy Doormat
Your entryway sets the tone and welcomes guests. Design a unique doormat by brushing black acrylic paint over a cheap thrift store find or spare mat you already own. Let dry completely before going over details in glow-in-dark acrylic paint. “Bewitching” or “Haunt this House!” spells out a spooky greeting. Top it off by hot gluing gemstone “gems,” googly eyes, or sprinkles for character.
DIY Haunted Mirror
Place a full-length mirror in a dimly lit area and slip a creepy cut-out silhouette behind it for a fun surprise. Or hang a large framed mirror and adhere silhouettes to the inside of the glass using multi-surface adhesive or low-tack repositionable double-sided tape. Activate a battery-operated LED candle to glow eerily behind the mirror as onlookers happen upon it. Not for the faint of heart!
Spiderweb Wreath
For a charming front door accent, hot glue plastic spiders, cotton balls resembling spider egg sacs, and lengths of thin black string in wispy patterns onto a dollar store foam wreath form. Drape with a dark purple or black velvet ribbon tied in a bow. The more weblike spider elements, the better! Hang with care for all to notice.
Graveyard Yard Decor
Get creative outdoors too without spending a fortune. Scatter pea gravel or mulch to mark a "graveyard path" amongst your plantings. Cut white paper into tombstone shapes and write names or sayings with acrylic paint. Stake into the ground along the path for a chilling touch. Place foam stones wrapped burlap "body bags," or skeleton figurines amongst the "tomb area" for a finished look.
These budget-friendly Halloween decor ideas are perfect for haunting your home no matter your budget. With affordable materials sourced from dollar stores and your own craft skills, you can definitely put a spell on guests this spooky season without breaking the broomstick! Happy haunting into the witching night.
