Homemade Halloween Decorations

When most people think of homemade Halloween decorations, a grinning Jack O'Lantern pumpkins are usually the first thing that comes to mind......

While pumpkins are a great traditional decoration, there are plenty of different things you can do to personalize and make your own Halloween decorations to suit you.

Creepy Halloween Spider

For These Homemade Halloween Decorations You will need:

• Egg cartons
• Chenille stems
• Black craft paint
• Hot glue or tacky glue
• Thread
• Googly eyes

Cut one segment out of the egg carton for each spider you want to make. Trim the edges neatly so your spider's body will sit flat on the table or bench.


Paint the egg section black inside and out and leave it aside to dry. When the paint has dried poke two small holes into the top of the middle section. You can use a skewer or the tip of your scissors for this. Run your thread through the holes to create a loop. This will be used to hang your spider. You can use white thread if you want it to look like spider web or invisible thread if you want your spider to appear suspended.


Poke four holes in each side of your egg carton section for the legs and push the chenille stems through. Bend each leg into shapes that look like creepy, hairy spider legs.


Put googly eyes (or paint them) on the front of your spider and hang it up as a Halloween decoration.

Spooky Halloween Tombstone

For This Homemade Halloween Decoration You will need:

• Styrofoam sheet
• Grey craft spray paint
• Knife for carving
• Black marker
• Dowel lengths

Draw an outline of your tombstone onto the Styrofoam sheet and carefully cut it out. Write your RIP message on the front of the tombstone and then use your knife to carefully carve out the words to look like they've been engraved into the stone.


Spray paint the tombstone grey all over and allow it to dry completely. When the spray paint has dried you can use a black marker with a fine point to fill in the carved engravings.


To make your tombstone stand in the ground and to help protect it from blowing over in the wind push some of the dowel up into the bottom of the tombstone. You only want to push perhaps 5 inches of dowel into center of the foam and leave the rest out to push into the ground. This will help to support your foam from falling over. For extra support you can put a piece of dowel at each end of the bottom of the tombstone. You might also want to put a planter or a brick behind the stone to be sure it stays standing in any weather.

Pumpkin Garlands

For These Homemade Halloween Decorations You will need:

• Styrofoam balls in various sizes
• Orange tissue paper
• Masking tape
• Green paper ribbon
• Rubber bands

Begin by pressing each foam ball down onto your bench to flatten the bottom. With a pencil, mark the center point of each ball at the top and bottom. You'll need three rubber bands to create equal sections of your pumpkins. Place a rubber band around the foam ball so that it runs from the top center point around to the bottom center point. Your second rubber band should crisscross the first and the third should cross over the first two. When you have all three rubber bands running top to bottom at different points around the ball, you can create each section of your pumpkin.


When you're happy with the section sizes you've created, use a pencil to trace long the sides of the rubber bands so you'll know where each section is. Remove the rubber bands and use a craft knife to cut a groove into the ball from the top center point down to the bottom center point, following the section lines you drew.


Wrap a piece of orange tissue paper around the foam ball, making sure the edges of the paper all come to the top at the center. Wrap some masking tape tightly around the top parts of the paper to create your stem. When the tissue paper is secured, press the paper into the ridges you cut to give each section of the ball some definition and make it look like a pumpkin.


Repeat these steps for each pumpkin you want to make.


Glue a short length of wire to the masking tape stem. When the glue is dry, wrap the masking tape stems and wire with green paper ribbon or green floral tape.


You'll need a longer length of wire to create your garland. Wrap green paper ribbon or green floral tape around it. Then twist the ends of the wire stems for each pumpkin around the garland so you have dangling pumpkins hanging at intervals.

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We hope you enjoyed these suggestions for homemade Halloween decorations. We'd love to see your comments if you have suggestions for other homemade Halloween decorations or if you've tried any of these at home. Please post them below