Spooky Halloween decorations can be easy breezy as well as creepy. Create a fun atmosphere by welcoming in guests with a friendly ghost, then serve up other treats. Turn up the scare factor at your house with these tips and tricks.
Ghostly Greeter
Greet trick-or-treaters with this standup ghost loitering in your door way or perching on a side table. Start by creating a form for the ghost. Around the neck of a 2-liter plastic bottle, twist the center of a 3-foot length of wire and then bend the ends to make arms. Push a 6-inch Styrofoam ball onto the top of the bottle.
Working on a protected surface, drape a piece of cheesecloth over the form. Pool the cheesecloth to make a base on which the ghost will stand.
Now you are ready to bring your ghost to a standstill by stiffening the cheesecloth. In a spray bottle, mix three parts water to one part fabric stiffener. You can find fabric stiffener in craft stores. Saturate the cheesecloth and then let it dry completely for about 24 hours. Repeat once or twice until the cheesecloth is stiff. Once the ghost is stiffened, lift the cheesecloth gently away from the form.
Cut out eyes from black felt and hot glue them onto the head.
Bat Colony
Create a bat colony that will make hearts flutter with fear. Tie them to your stairs or attach them to a large tree branch. Use this bat template to cut out shapes for the bat bodies and heads.
Tie a 6-inch long piece of monofilament line around the middle of each bat body. Let the ends dangle. Hole-punch two pieces of orange paper for eyes and hot glue them to the head. Glue the head onto the middle of the body.
Tie the bats to your stair railings and the long ends of filament line. These bats will move when you walk past the tree branch or go up and down the stairs.
Who’s Your Mummy?
Carve a large mouth into a pumpkin with a utility knife. You can use either real or fake foam pumpkin. Hot-glue gauze around the gourd and add felt eyes. Fill the pumpkin with treats, and dare guests to help themselves to a snack.
Creepy Eyes
Every move you make will be the target of creepy eyes when you attach these orbs to your front door and potted plants. Cut pupils out of adhesive-backed felt and put them on Styrofoam balls or half spheres to make eyeballs.
Attach these peepers to your front door with double stick tape. Stake them into your potted plants around the front door.
Haunted House
Turn a wood birdhouse into a haunted house by painting it white with black trim. Back the doors and windows with orange felt. Create shingles for the roof with self-adhesive photo corners, Add glitter paint doorknobs. Will anyone dare approach a treat table guarded by this creepy mansion?
Now crawl on over to Woman’s Day to see more devilishly creative ideas for the spookiest Halloween decorations around.
