The great thing about Halloween is that things can look sloppy. I mean, did you ever see a neat, pristine haunted mansion or abandoned graveyard? Cobwebs and decay rule the day. So just by virtue of being neglectful homeowners, you could have a fabulous haunted house! Hardy har. Here are some actual ideas for low-cost Halloween embellishments.
Mummy Door
Make your home scary starting with the front door! Wrap paper streamers or white packing tape around your front door to make it look like a mummy. You may even find giant eyes to slip into the bandages for an extra-freaky effect!
Haunted Portraits
These are so hilarious, it’s scary. Do a Google Images search for “Oil Painting Portrait” or similar, and find something that will look somewhat spooky in the right environment. Download the image, blow it up as big as you can, and print it out. Don’t worry if it’s blurry, poor-quality, or uneven: That just adds to the effect. Use spray mount to stick it onto cardboard, and make a fake-fancy gilt frame to go around it (gold spray paint topped with Sharpie details). If your crafting skills are more advanced you can create glowing eyes out of LED lights; I’m not that advanced, but if you’re full of the spirit, go for it and let me know how it works out. Hang these portraits in your newly haunted mansion… so spooooky!
Balloon Ghost
Hang up some ghosts by tying a piece of white garbage bag or paint cloth over a balloon and tying at the neck.
Mad Scientist Specimens
I know you, like me, have many large plastic toys of dubious origin. If not, there are loads of them at Goodwill or recycle shops. Pop them into glass jars, fill the jars with water, and add green food coloring. Put them in front of a spooky light source for maximum scary effect.
Zombie Trees
Head out to the woods and get some great branches, especially ones that have enough appendages to look like trees. (Note: Do not kill a tree to do this! There should be plenty on the ground!) Drag them home and stick them into buckets, planters, or other big tub-type containers filled with sand, rocks, or dirt to keep them upright. Spray paint the branches black and drape them with cobwebs. Or make them gray and hang creepy ornaments on them -- eyeballs, hands, whatever suits your fancy. So scawwy!
Spooky Alternatives to Construction Paper
I really can’t be bothered with orange construction paper. Seriously. A trip to your local
Home Depot or Lowe’s can provide you with better-value and stronger stuff for your dollar. For instance, you can get wallpaper and paint samples for $3-$5, and sometimes they’ll have a clearance bin with odds and ends that are even cheaper. Wallpaper is great because it’s so much stronger than construction paper, comes in bigger sheets, and offers textures and colors more likely to spark your imagination. Paint chips are also free, and are perfect for details (like eyes), and for mobiles, garlands, and wreaths.
The Un-Dead Lurking in the Shadows
Every other house has old clothes stuffed with newspapers, set to look like a zombie sitting on the porch. Yawn. But what if you tacked those clothes to the walls of your house so they looked like ghostly people standing in the shadows? What if you had them dancing with each other? What if you had a black dress that you draped onto a mannequin and then stood in an upstairs window, back-lit in red with parasol in hand, like a headless widow searching for her long-lost husband? (I have no idea how she lost her head. Let your imagination run wild.)
Pumpkin Candle Holder
Use a mini-pumpkin to make a cute candle holder. Carve a hole in the top just large enough to hold a votive candle. Leave plain, or draw on a Jack 'O Lantern face with a sharpie marker. Burn the candle and let the wax drip down as shown here.
BOO
