Halloween is all about creepy and scary decorations and funky costumes. It’s a great opportunity to dress up and to give people the jitters, whether in a spooky or a fun way. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for you to try some DIY crafts and it just so happens that we have the perfect beginner’s projects lined up and ready to be added to your collection. They’re all pretty simple and they use different resources and techniques.

22 Scary Halloween Decoration Ideas

Mason jars

A head in a jar would scare anyone, even if just for a second but in order for it to look realistic you need to pay attention to the little things. We can show you a neat trick that lets you use a laminated photo to make some people tremble this Halloween.

In order for this to work, you need three different photos of a person’s head and a photo editing program that lets you merge them together for a 3D effect and give them a yellow or greenish tint in case the jar is clear. You can have some fun pranking people with the jar if you place it in a kitchen cupboard or in the fridge. Check out Instructables for more details.

Boo burlap

Not everything has to be super creepy. You can make something that’s scary in a cute or fancy way and doesn’t actually try to give people heart attacks. You could make some paper bats and glue them onto some wooden skewers which you can then use to decorate small planters. The BOO on these buckets is a cute touch as well but not necessarily a mandatory feature. If you want to know more about how to make the ensemble, check out Thediyvillage.

DIY Halloween Severed Head

Who knew a severed head could look so…artistic? This is one of those projects you can’t wait to try for yourself and which always comes out different, as it should. If you’re interested in how this decoration came to be, you should know it started out as a blank foam display head.

After a makeup session, it seemed like it was almost ready to be put on a pedestal. The final touch was some cheese cloth dipped in fabric stiffener and coffee which was tightly molded onto the head, forming loose ruffles at the base. {found on consumercrafts}.

Mason jar ghost

Ghosts this tiny wouldn’t really scare anyone unless they’re tiny too in which case the decoration makes total sense. You never know when some tiny evil elves may come to visit you so it’s best to be prepared just in case.

You can make this using a glass jar, some styrofoam balls and disks, a little bit of moss, a few twigs, gauze, some glue and a sharpie. You can display your ghost in a jar on the fireplace mantel, the window sill or basically anywhere you want. You can find the full tutorial for this craft on Masonjarcraftslove.

Harvest yard sign

You can momentarily turn your yard or garden into a graveyard. You can put up some tombstones which you can make out of some reclaimed wood or plywood, even cardboard. For the scene to truly be spooky you should also add some skeletons or to scatter some body parts around.

You can make it look like some of the deceased are trying to come out of the ground or that the grim reaper is watching over them. In any case, you can get creative with this in lots of ways. Maybe Simplydesigning.porch can be of some help.

Mummy Mason Jars

These stylized mummy jars are half spooky and half cute. If you like the look here’s how you can recreate it. take some glass jars and apply a coat of gold spray paint on them. Let it dry and them wrap some rubber bands on the jars. Next, spray paint the jars black, rubber bands and all. When the paint had dried, remove the bands. The eyes are the finish touch. You can use googly eyes or you can paint them on. {found on itallstartedwithpaint}.

Spider

The fear of spiders is one of the most common phobias out there and one of the reasons why spider decorations are so popular every Halloween. There’s a bunch of cool stuff you can craft by following this theme. For example, you can include some small jars in your project as well and make some big spider decorations like this one.

Here’s what you’ll need: some 8 oz jars, black spray paint with both a gloss and a matte finish, googly eyes, pipe cleaners and a hot glue gun. Paint the jar and the pipe cleaners black. The jar will become the body of the spider and the pipe cleaners will be the legs. Glue them together and add the eyes. Find the full description of this on Masonjarcraftslove.

Horseman

The headless horseman is another popular Halloween figure. He’s pretty scary no matter how you put it. You could turn him into a scary host that welcomes guests into your home. Just repurpose some old clothes (preferably black and gloomy) and use them to dress up a dummy made up of MDF and pipes. The head can be a pumpkin which the dummy holds in one of its hands. {found on hgtv}.

Jack-o-lanterns

Jack-o-lanterns are traditionally carved-out pumpkins but that doesn’t mean you can’t be improvise or be creative. You can make an interesting version of the lantern using a reclaimed wooden pallet. You’ll need a template and a few other things such as some MDF, nails, orange paint and some wire. You can find the complete list of supplies required for this project on hgtv.

Hanging ghost

Maybe you won’t scare a lot of people with these fabric ghosts but you’ll definitely catch their attention. The ghosts are easy to make and there are actually many different methods you can use. For example, you can use balloons and some white fabric or small pillows and even fabric in other colors. Just combine colors in such a way that the eyes and mouth are visible. {found on hgtv}.

Porch Skeleton

A skeleton casually sitting on a rocking chair on your porch is best left alone or complemented with some of the usual fall decor elements such as pumpkins, hay bales or garlands. The idea is to set a decor that doesn’t suggest anything is amiss. You could throw in some crows to set the mood if you want. Check out this setting featured on Nobhilldesign if you need some inspiration.

Tombstones

An idea is also to give your front porch or yard a whole new structure by building some fences or adding some tombstones. you can also make it look like a crash site or like a forgotten land if you add a ton of spider web and debris. Just be prepared to clean it all up when Halloween is over.

Skeletons and coffins

If you want your Halloween decorations to be scary and creepy, the trick is to make it look plausible. For instance, you can come up with a scenario and if you plan on using skeletons and coffins, you can make it look like the skeleton has managed to get out of the coffin or to come out of the ground or to make it seem like it’s blocked behind some boards but could get out to get you any second. {found on garageofevilnetwork}.

Spooky jack-o-lanterns

There’s no need to go overboard to get the desired effect on Halloween so if you don’t want to invest in a lot of decorations, just make some jack-o-lanterns but make them look spooky. Scatter them around the yard and they’ll look awesome after nightfall. Maybe you could also hang some in the trees or from the roof. {found on garageofevilnetwork}.

Snakes Wreath

Sometimes the element of surprise is your best option if you want to get some good reactions on Halloween. Let’s say you want to put up a wreath on your front door. Instead of making it the usual fall wreath, full of flowers and berries, make a snake wreath.

That’s right, we’re not even kidding. Don’t worry, the snakes aren’t real but they definitely look great. They’re little plastic snakes painted black like the rest of the wreath. This amazing idea comes from Instructables.

Brush huge eyes

Would you be frightened if a bush or a tree were to suddenly open its huge eyes and look right at you? Probably yes and we’re counting on that when we suggest you bring your front yard or garden to life this Halloween. The idea is very simple actually. You just need to find two round things like two pumpkins for example, paint them all white and then paint the iris and some thin veins radiating from the center. Put them up in a tree or a bush. You can find out more about this from Kitchenfunwithmy3sons.

Giant spider egg sac

A giant spider egg sac seems like a perfectly scary Halloween decoration. the trick is to make it look as real as possible. There’s a nice tutorial about that offered by Marthastewart. For the project you need a foam egg, some white batting, a white stocking, various plastic spiders and a hot glue gun.

Wrap the foam egg in batting and pull the stocking over it. After that, put some small spiders inside, between the batting and the stocking and glue the other ones on the outside. Hang the sac from the ceiling.

Collection of liquor bottles

In this case, it’s all in the details. Sure, this seems like a nice collection of liquor bottles on a table, the usual setting for a party. Look closely however and you’ll see that the labels suggest something different. The custom labels can be printed out and then glued onto the bottles and you can even go a step further and make the contents look like the real deal as well. Check out Fynesdesigns for details.

Blow in dark toilet paper tubes

In order for these decorations to have the desired effect, it needs to be dark around them. Imagine you have a bunch of guests over and suddenly you turn off the lights and it all becomes pitch black, except for a few pairs of glowing eyes that scare everyone as soon as they’re noticed. If you’d like to try this idea, you can follow the simple instructions offered on Rustandsunshine.

Table seating

You can add a spooky touch to your Halloween table setting as well. The table cloth could feature a spider web pattern and you can add a snake table runner as well. You can do this yourself using nothing more than toy rubber snakes (you can also throw in some siders and insects as well), black spray paint and glue. {found on karaspartyideas}

Flower pots

Most people use planters to grow beautiful flowers but there’s nothing scary about that. Since it’s Halloween, a bunch of severed hands would be much more appropriate. Fill the pots with soil and then insert the hands but not before you punched them with skewers so they stand up straight. You can paint some blood on them to make them look ever scarier. {found on sewwoodsy}.

Window Decoration

We’ll end with a project that needs to be seen from a distance to be fully appreciated. The idea is to make your home look like a haunted house by decorating the windows with creepy silhouettes of zombies, people without heads and all sorts of other spooky things. You can use templates or you can make the silhouettes yourself. All you need to know about these Halloween silhouettes is on Makezine.