Quick and Easy Halloween Decorating Ideas
By Kathy Wilson
The Budget Decorator
Need some quick Halloween decorations, that even the kids can help with?
Here are three great Halloween decorating ideas using easy to find,
inexpensive materials.
Craft Foam Creepies
Craft foam is sold in sheets at the craft store in a whole array of
colors. It is similar to construction paper, but made of thin, durable
foam you can easily cut with scissors. Trace simple Halloween shapes
onto the backside of the foam sheets and cut out. Use contrasting colors
and a glue stick to add details such as a jack o lantern face, red eyes
on a bat, or the face of a silly ghost. You can make these cutouts as
large or as small as you want. Hang them in windows or hang them with
clear thread form curtain rods, doorways, or in your front entry. (This
works really well with bats, hang them from the tips of each wing, and
one place on the body to make them appear to be flying) These can even
be used on protected porches as the foam is water resistant.
Graveyard
A graveyard near your front walk is a creepy and creative touch to the
Halloween spirit. We used scrap pieces of plywood and siding and cut
them into rectangles with the tops rounded, like a gravestone. We first
painted them gray, then washed over them with a watery white paint for
age and spook factor. We used black paint to add amusing names and
epitaphs, such as I.M. Gone or Ben Dismembered. Screw a wooded stake to the back and pound into the ground. I like to group them together on an area of grass, then rope them off with chains, add a few pumpkins (and in my neck of the woods, tumbleweeds are a nice touch) and line the edge of your
graveyard with lighted jackolanterns for Hallows Eve. My kids have the lost fun with this!
Giant spiders and webs
First of all, set the stage for your spiders by picking up some
webbing, it is really cheap, and stretches a LONG way! Corners of
rooms or porches, or stretched over a door are great effects. To make
the spiders, pick up large black pom poms and large black chenille stems
from the craft store. Take 4 chenille stems and twist them together in
the middle. This creates the eight legs. Bend the stems downward about
halfway down each leg. Now use tacky glue or a glue gun (glue gun is my
choice as it sets almost instantly, but the adult must handle this!) to
secure a large pom pom in the center of the legs at the twist to form
the body. You can add google eyes as some do, but I prefer to cut scary
red eyes from felt or craft foam and glue on. Set your spiders in their
webs, and you can bend the leg tips to attach them to a picture frame or
a lamp chain. Remember, with this project, the bigger, the better, so
buy the bargest legs and pom poms you can find!
Three great projects for Halloween, make enough of any of these and you
can turn your home into a haunted house without the huge price tag.
(Don't forget to pack them away for next year!)
Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator
and Decorating Your Small Space
<http://www.decoratingyoursmallspace.com> . You can find thousands of
budget home decorating <http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com> ideas at
her website at Home Decorating on a Budget with The Budget Decorator!
<http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com> . Don't forget to sign up
for her free home and garden newsletter while you're there!
By Kathy Wilson
The Budget Decorator
Need some quick Halloween decorations, that even the kids can help with?
Here are three great Halloween decorating ideas using easy to find,
inexpensive materials.
Craft Foam Creepies
Craft foam is sold in sheets at the craft store in a whole array of
colors. It is similar to construction paper, but made of thin, durable
foam you can easily cut with scissors. Trace simple Halloween shapes
onto the backside of the foam sheets and cut out. Use contrasting colors
and a glue stick to add details such as a jack o lantern face, red eyes
on a bat, or the face of a silly ghost. You can make these cutouts as
large or as small as you want. Hang them in windows or hang them with
clear thread form curtain rods, doorways, or in your front entry. (This
works really well with bats, hang them from the tips of each wing, and
one place on the body to make them appear to be flying) These can even
be used on protected porches as the foam is water resistant.
Graveyard
A graveyard near your front walk is a creepy and creative touch to the
Halloween spirit. We used scrap pieces of plywood and siding and cut
them into rectangles with the tops rounded, like a gravestone. We first
painted them gray, then washed over them with a watery white paint for
age and spook factor. We used black paint to add amusing names and
epitaphs, such as I.M. Gone or Ben Dismembered. Screw a wooded stake to the back and pound into the ground. I like to group them together on an area of grass, then rope them off with chains, add a few pumpkins (and in my neck of the woods, tumbleweeds are a nice touch) and line the edge of your
graveyard with lighted jackolanterns for Hallows Eve. My kids have the lost fun with this!
Giant spiders and webs
First of all, set the stage for your spiders by picking up some
webbing, it is really cheap, and stretches a LONG way! Corners of
rooms or porches, or stretched over a door are great effects. To make
the spiders, pick up large black pom poms and large black chenille stems
from the craft store. Take 4 chenille stems and twist them together in
the middle. This creates the eight legs. Bend the stems downward about
halfway down each leg. Now use tacky glue or a glue gun (glue gun is my
choice as it sets almost instantly, but the adult must handle this!) to
secure a large pom pom in the center of the legs at the twist to form
the body. You can add google eyes as some do, but I prefer to cut scary
red eyes from felt or craft foam and glue on. Set your spiders in their
webs, and you can bend the leg tips to attach them to a picture frame or
a lamp chain. Remember, with this project, the bigger, the better, so
buy the bargest legs and pom poms you can find!
Three great projects for Halloween, make enough of any of these and you
can turn your home into a haunted house without the huge price tag.
(Don't forget to pack them away for next year!)
Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator
and Decorating Your Small Space
<http://www.decoratingyoursmallspace.com> . You can find thousands of
budget home decorating <http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com> ideas at
her website at Home Decorating on a Budget with The Budget Decorator!
<http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com> . Don't forget to sign up
for her free home and garden newsletter while you're there!
