Inexpensive Halloween Decorations
Did you know that in 2006 over 36 million children went trick-or-treating? It’s no wonder there is a huge fascination with dressing our homes up with grave yards, tomb stones and creating our very own haunted mansion. We want to impress the kids and look as “Halloweenish” as possible for the big night.
Here at Haunted Hangings we have lots of outdoor decorations to help dress up your home but if you want some ideas for a do it yourself Haunting, here are some simple and easy Halloween decorating tips that will make your home look spooktacular but won’t empty your wallet.
Use a something a bit more scary in outdoor lights, lanterns or walkway lights. Try purple or orange lights to give a cool effect. If you can’t find orange or purple light bulbs, you can purchase an inexpensive string of Halloween themed lights (like Christmas lights) and hang them around your front door.
Create Your Own Luminaries
Make some spooky looking homemade Halloween luminaries alongside the sidewalk or walkway up to your front door. These are easy to make and very inexpensive using only paper lunch sacks. You can either leave them the original brown or spray paint them orange.
On each bag, lightly draw in pencil a rough outline of a pumpkin, ghost or spider. With a sharpened pencil or nail, poke holes about every inch along the outline of the design.
Fill each bag with approximately 1 ½-2 cups of sand. Place a votive candle in a glass votive holder and securely place the votive in the sand (or use glow sticks if you’re leaving your home unattended). Light the votives at dusk on Halloween night and your home will have a beautiful Halloween glow.
Make Your Very Own Scarecrow
Using old slacks, an old flannel shirt, some hay and a straw hat, you can make your home come alive with a friendly scarecrow welcoming your trick-or-treaters.The other supplies you’ll need are twine, permanent marker, an old pillowcase and an outdoor chair
Stuff the pants and shirt firmly with hay, leaving some of the hay sticking out from the bottom of the legs and bottom of the sleeves. Position the scarecrow’s pants in the chair and shift the hay so he “sits” comfortably in the chair.
Tie the arms and legs off with twine. Stuff the old pillowcase with hay. Tie off with twine and position the pillowcase inside the shirt collar to appear as the “head” of the scarecrow. Secure the pillowcase to the shirt by tying off with twine. With the permanent marker, draw a scarecrow face and place the hat on top.
By painting or carving silly and whimsical faces on pumpkins, you can create an entire pumpkin family that can be proudly displayed on bales of hay on and around your front door.
On paper, sketch your ideas of what kind of face you’d like to put on your pumpkin. Transfer that design to a cleaned and dried pumpkin using a non-permanent marker. Paint the design using craft paints. Seal with a spray glaze or sealer.
If each member of your family (even the little ones) paints their own pumpkin design, you’ll have a memorable collection of painted pumpkin decorations for your home.
