37 Easy Halloween Crafts Ideas for the Most Boo-Tiful Home
Our easy Halloween crafts will help you create a spooky look for your home, both inside and out. From spooky ghosts and smiling pumpkins to a few other eerie friends, our DIY Halloween crafts will help you set the scene for a frightful spooky season.
Painted Pumpkins with Webbed Shapes
Create designs that resemble spiderwebs on painted pumpkins for a look that will brew major envy in your neighborhood.
Make the Halloween craft: Trace a moon onto one pumpkin and a bat onto another using a pencil. Leaving the traced shapes unpainted, paint the rest of the moon pumpkin black and the bat pumpkin white. Hammer crafts nail every ?-inch around the edges of the moon and bat, making sure the nails remain slightly above the surface of the pumpkin. For each pumpkin, randomly wrap string in a contrasting color around the nails to create the webbed design. Finish by looping the string around the adjacent nails to create an outline of the shape.
Colorful Paper Garland
Turn ordinary paper straws and crafts foam into a DIY garland that will turn any mantel into a festive Halloween display.
Make the Halloween craft: Cut pieces of black foam into bat shapes and use a large needle to thread them onto a thin string. To add color, cut Patterned Paper Straws ($9, Amazon) in half and use a needle to string them into a coordinating garland.
Spooky Black Cats
Black cats and Halloween go hand-in-hand. This year, dress up your porch with a few black cats of your own.
Make the Halloween craft: To make the figures, cut cat shapes from black foam core and use tape to attach the back side to something heavy (like a mason jar filled with rocks or sand) so they stand up straight and don't blow over in the fall breeze. Add paper stars and a celestial-inspired wreath to the front door to complete the spooky look.
Honeycomb Monster Garland
Whether you're prepping for a kids' Halloween party or decorating the family mantel, this plaful Halloween garland is our new seasonal go-to.
Make the Halloween craft: Start with a multi pack of Rainbow Honeycomb Shapes, ($11, Amazon), stringing them together using fishing line or thin twine. From there, use craft paper, markers, and googly eyes to add monster-like features.
Witch's Cauldron Craft
Off-the-shelf supplies can make a big impact when gathered together to create a spooky Halloween craft. Make this enchanted cauldron before your next Halloween party.
Make the Halloween craft: Choose sticker or die-cut letters in a style or size to your liking and hot-glue them to a plastic cauldron. Pull apart some polyfill and drape inside and to the side of the bucket to imitate a bubbly witch's brew.
Webbed Walkway
Even if you don't have paving stones, you can re-create this simple Halloween theme pathway to your front door to thrill trick-o-treaters and guests alike.
Make the Halloween craft: Purchase new pieces of paving stone in various sizes. Piece them together and "draw" a spiderweb using black electrician's tape. Spread the pieces apart and lay on the ground for an "eek" entrance to your home.
Skeleton Hands Wreath
Prepare for a literal round of applause from trick-o-treaters thanks to this easy Halloween wreath.
Make the Halloween craft: Apply a few even layers of silver spray paint to nine plastic skeleton hands (available at dollar stores). Add a liberal amount of hot glue to the back of the hands and affix in place around a small chalkboard circle. Write a spooky phrase in the center with chalk, then hang the wreath with string.
Blingy "Boo" Pumpkins
If you're not a fan of a pumpkin's slimy insides, skip the carving and opt for this chic pumpkin decorating idea instead.
Make the Halloween craft: Pick three pumpkins of varying sizes and cut the stems off the two bigger pumpkins. Paint all three black, tracing a "B" on the small pumpkin, an "O" on the midsize pumpkin, and a second "O" on the large pumpkin. For each pumpkin, fill in the letter outline with metal-leaf adhesive and place a silver-leaf sheet on top. Brush the silver leaf in place using a soft bristle brush until no excess leaf remains. Gently brush the silver-leaf letters with a sealer, and outline each letter with decorative tacks. Complete the look by stacking the pumpkins, starting with the largest on bottom.
Painted and Stacked Pumpkins
If your decor tends toward the less-scary side, try this clever craft to repurpose ordinary pumpkins. This craft idea for Halloween is chic and will stand out from the scary crowd.
Make the Halloween craft: Purchase real or craft white pumpkins, tracing a design imitating lights onto the fronts. Using yellow and black craft paint, fill in the designs. Stack the pumpkins on balustrades that have been painted a glossy black.
Framed Spider
An inexpensive frame and a plastic spider make a creepy combination in this easy Halloween craft.
Make the Halloween craft: Remove and discard the glass from an inexpensive black frame. Insert a piece of web-patterned paper cut to size. Using craft paint, add decorative stripes onto an oversize plastic spider, then attach the arachnid to the paper with a dab of hot glue.
Pumpkins in Picture Frames
Decorate the front of your house with these alluring, Pinterest-worthy portraits that add a Halloween twist to your outdoor decor.
Make the Halloween craft: Cut an artificial pumpkin in half and spray-paint each half white. Once the paint is dry, stick tape along the natural indents of the pumpkin to create stripes, then spray-paint the slices black. Allow the paint to dry before removing the tape, then hang the pumpkins and craft store wooden frames using picture hooks.
Oversized Faux Spiders
Our DIY giant spiders can be made in three different sizes so you can easily decorate any space in the houseโeven the roof!
Make the Halloween craft: Create the body of the spider with halved foam balls, then use wire and foam tubing to create the spider legs. Attach hairy brown fabric to the body with hot glue and you'll have a whole gang of spiders to place around the house.
Vintage Magnifying Glasses
Magnify the fun on your beverage table or buffet with this spellbinding centerpiece.
Make the Halloween craft: Adhere our small, medium, and large downloadable vintage images to magnifying glasses. Place the magnifying glasses on a newspaper or book page for a more believable trick.
DIY Pallet Decorations
Transform ordinary wood palettes with a few coats of paint. This Halloween project couldn't be easier.
Make the Halloween craft: Cover a wood pallet board with white paint, then freehand three ovals in black paint to form a ghost face. Repeat with orange paint to create a smiling jack-o-lantern to match.
Paper Lanterns and Bats
Looking for an easy paper Halloween craft? This cute and clever collection of party basics lends this fall front porch an quirky yet festive dose of seasonal style.
Make the Halloween craft: Paper lanternsโblack, silver, and whiteโhung at alternating heights offer visual interest and act as a backdrop to a few "sleeping" cut-out paper bats. Plastic spiders scatter across a trio of pillows thanks to a bit of magic (and hot glue).
Silhouette Hands and Feet
Equal parts humorous and Halloween-themed, this ingenious outdoor Halloween craft is great for a shed or a garage, or even a series of front yard windows.
Make the Halloween craft: For this craft, you'll need bright colored cardstock or tissue paper and black cardstock. Cut out the bright color to fit the windows and set aside. Cut outlines of hands and feet from the black cardstock. Attach the hands to the bright cardstock and adhere to the windows using removable tape. Attach the feet to the base of the door or house.
Bug Plates
Use orphaned plates and platters to create dishes with ginormous insects.
Make the Halloween craft: Download our free images, below, then use them to create custom decals that work on smooth, nonpourous surfaces. Follow the decal-paper manufacturer's instructions to transfer the images, then stick the decals to the dishes and spray on a coat of clear high-gloss acrylic finish. Hang your infested dishes in a swarm for intimidating impact.
Spiderweb Doormat
Set the mood for a spooky event and welcome guests to your home with this easy spiderweb doormat.
Make the Halloween craft: Using chalk, draw a spiderweb on a round black door mat. Cut pieces of clothesline to fit your design. Singe the ends of the clothesline with a flame to keep them from fraying, then use heavy-duty white glue to adhere the pieces to the mat, using the chalk lines as your guide.
Halloween Ladder
The great thing about Halloween is that you can lower or boost your scary decor based on your own preferencesโor your kids' ages. Here, the vibe is decidedly friendly, thanks to a collection of smiley carved pumpkins and gourds, stacked cleverly on half of an old ladder.
Make the Halloween craft: Select carvable elements that vary in shape and size for visual interest, and tuck in other seasonal accents, like crows, around the pumpkins.
Bright and Cheery Halloween
Halloween crafts and decor don't need to be scary and dark. This adorable gathering of colors and images offers a humorous hint a the holiday's traditional colors and images.
Make the Halloween craft:
Create your own silhouettes of family members (cast a light against a wall and trace the outline of their heads) or download silhouettes of your choice from online. Mount the cutouts onto bright cardstock and add patterned tape as borders. Create another design on the wall out of more patterned tape. On the mantel, collect a few old-fashioned plastic treat buckets and other paper accents, such as an accordion fan. Drape honeycomb garland in seasonal hues, too.
Skeleton Wreath
A just-right scary aesthetic belies the simple construction of this spooky skeleton wreath.
Make the Halloween craft: Purchase a premade wreathโthis one is made of grapevine, then color it white with acrylic spray paint. Tuck in a bit of grown moss, as well as a few Halloween-theme accents, like a miniature crow, a small skeleton, some spiders, and an eerie welcome sign.
Slithering Snake Doormat
This scream-worthy doormat is perfect for scaring trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.
Make the Halloween craft: Spray-paint rubber snakes a glossy black. Arrange the snakes along the edges of a thick plastic-foam board so some are slithering in under the mat and some are slithering out. Glue the snakes to the board's edges, then set the foam board under your doormat, arranging the snakes to their fullest spooking potential.
Stuck Skeleton Figure
A pair of plastic hands and a skull make a creepy entrance in this outdoor skeleton decor idea.
Make the Halloween craft: Prop up an odd-shape piece of hardscape material at an angle. (In place of heavy rock, use a piece of foam core, painted and streaked gray.) Tuck skeleton hands and skull (and feet, if desired), in a pose and scatter fallen leaves around the scene.
A Glittery, Scary Mantel
A few well-chosen accents can transition from Halloween into Thanksgiving and give you a chance to flex your crafty muscles, too.
Make the Halloween craft: Gold makes a luxe impact in this vignette. Using gold paper, accordion-fold half sheets and attach to sticks for a fan display. Paint a few framesโsome black, some goldโas well as other accents of your choosing (here, a few masks). Look for gold-foil leaves or paint some faux options to glue to a ribbon for a homemade garland. Once Halloween is over, swap in a fw pretty bursts of colorโlike flowers and dried seedsโto transition the scene to Thanksgiving.
All-Eyes-on-It Wreath
Once you get the hang of them, rolled felt flowers are easy to make and a fun way to decorate a premade wreath form.
Make the Halloween craft: Cut a square of feltโstart with 5 inchesโand round the corners. Cut the square spirally, until you end at the center. Begin rolling at the outer edge, hot-gluing as you go, to create the flower. When you reach the center piece, glue it to the bottom to hold in place. Attach the felt flowers to a wreath form in the pattern of your choosing, adding googly eyes and a pretty patterned bow.
Spider Luminarias
Simple, Halloween-themed luminarias lead the way to trick-or-treating fun.
Make the Halloween craft: Decorate white paper bags with spider stickers and craft tape. Fill the bottoms of the bags with sand, then place them on stairs or along a walkway. Rather than use real candles, we turned to battery-operated votive candles for safety.
Spiderweb Treat Boxes
Let guests (or even trick-or-treaters!) scoop up their favorite treats from these tantalizing boxes.
Make the Halloween craft: Add a coat of white paint to small peat pots. Glue black trim around the top of each pot, finishing with a spiderweb die cut and filling with your favorite Halloween candies.
Ghostly Welcome
Welcome trick-or-treaters to your home this Halloween with an eerie trio of floating ghost crafts.
Make the Halloween craft:
Buy three white plastic bowls and predrill holes in the bottoms. Run twine or fishing line through the holes and anchor with duct tape. Cut two large squares of white cotton cloth, snip holes in the centers, and thread onto the overturned bowl. Cut black felt facial features, adhere with hot glue, and hang ghosts on your front porch or entryway.
Aluminum Candleholders
Flickering candlelight is perfect for sharing ghost stories. We used sheets of decorative aluminum to cast spooky shadows long into the night.
Make the Halloween craft: Cut metal sheets into strips with tin snips. Use food containers, such as a soup can, to figure out your dimensions. A 10x17-inch piece makes a large lantern; a 4x10-inch strip makes a votive. Roll the strips into cylinders, using the food containers as molds. To secure, twist wire through the mesh at the top, middle, and bottom of the seams. Turn edges of wire to inside and trim excess. Spray surfaces with two coats of black paint; let dry between applications.
Spooky No-Sew Cat Tablecloth
This hair-raising tablecloth can be made in mere minutes with our easy pattern.
Make the Halloween craft: Download our free pattern and cut out the cat shapes from black felt. Attach the shapes to a large piece of gold felt using fusible web or fabric glue to finish the tablecloth.
Spooky Lantern Silhouettes
Light up your living room with these Halloween-inspired silhouette lanterns.
Make the Halloween craft: Print the silhouettes below and trace onto the back side of vinyl or adhesive shelf liner. Cut out the shapes and adhere to the lanterns. Fill with moss, candles, and miniature gourds to finish.
Haunted Paper Tree
This spectacular paper tree makes the perfect display for a fun DIY photo station at a Halloween-theme party.
Make the Halloween craft: Begin by laying sheets of black construction paper side-by-side on the floor until you have enough to create the size of tree you want to make, then cut it out and tape together. Add paper animals for a truly spooky Halloween display.
Striped Spider Wreath
You've never seen a creepy-crawly look this fabulous! A store-bought glittery spider on an orange web makes a stunning statement on this under-$5 Halloween wreath.
Make the Halloween craft: Mark even sections on a foam wreath using a ruler and a pencil. For each section, hot-glue the end of a long piece of yarn to the back of the wreath form and begin wrapping the section, alternating black yarn and white yarn. At the end of each section, cut the yarn and hot-glue its end to the back of the wreath. Add a purchased spider web decoration to the center of the wreath.
Raven Wreath
Give guests a fright with an ominous raven wreath covered in feathers. This craft for Halloween is simple, but makes a spooky statement!
Make the Halloween craft: Cover a rectangle wreath form in faux black feathers (look for a black feather boa at the crafts store) and attach with hot glue. Add a faux raven and hang the wreath with a few layered black and white ribbons.
Spooky Painted Birdhouses
Welcome guests to your home with a haunted birdhouse town that is full of Halloween charm (and a few plastic spiders).
Make the Halloween craft: Round up an array of wooden birdhouses and coat them with glossy black and matte gray spray paint. Position your tiny town on a vibrant orange bench, and top the display with an eerie branch and mini pumpkins. Use adhesive to secure the spiders in place.
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