Beginner Projects

Imagine it’s almost Halloween and you want to make your house the spookiest on the street! You can do that with some fun Halloween do-it-yourself (DIY) projects that are easy to make. These crafts are perfect if you’re just starting out and don’t worry, making these will be as easy as pie. Spiders, ghosts, and pumpkins – oh my! You’ll learn how to make those and more, all by yourself, to scare and surprise your friends and family with your creepy, crafty skills. Get ready for a Halloween where your house is filled with your own handmade decorations!

Simple Spooky Lanterns

Materials Needed for Homemade Lanterns

To make your own spooky lanterns, you’ll need some easy-to-find items. Grab some clean, empty jars – they can be any size you want! You’ll also need paint that glows in the dark, some paintbrushes, and a few tea light candles. If you want to decorate your jars, you can also get some stickers or markers. Make sure you have everything before you start.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Lantern

First, make sure your jars are clean and dry. Then, take your paintbrush and start painting the inside of the jars with the glow-in-the-dark paint. You might want to do a few coats so it’s extra glowy! After the paint dries, you can put fun stickers on the outside or draw scary faces with markers. Finally, place a tea light candle inside each jar and watch them glow! Remember to ask a grown-up to help you light the candles.

Safety Tips for Using Lanterns as Decor

When you’re using candles, you have to be very careful. Always keep your spooky lanterns away from anything that can burn, like curtains or paper. Never leave a candle burning without an adult nearby, and don’t forget to blow out the candles before you go to bed or leave them alone. If you want to be extra safe, you can use battery-operated tea lights instead of real candles.

Creepy Paper Mache Bowls

Gathering Your Paper Mache Materials

For these scary bowls, you’ll need some newspaper cut into strips, a bowl to use as a mold, and some cling wrap. Also, gather up some flour and water to make your paper mache goo, and a paintbrush to help you stick the paper strips down.

Mixing the Paper Mache Solution

Paper mache sounds fancy but it’s just paper and a special glue that you can make! Mix one part flour with two parts water until it’s smooth and feels a bit like pancake batter. This is your paper mache solution that will help stick all your newspaper strips together.

Molding and Painting Your Bowls

Cover the outside of your bowl mold with cling wrap. Dip your newspaper strips in the paper mache solution and lay them over the bowl; criss-cross the strips to make it strong. After it dries, you can paint your bowl to look like a jack-o’-lantern, a witch’s cauldron, or anything you think is spooky!

Ideas for Using Your Bowls in Halloween Decor

You can use your creepy bowls to hold treats for trick-or-treaters or to scare your family members by filling them with fake spiders or eyeballs. You can also put a battery-powered candle inside to make it look like a glowing scary face!

Ghoulish Glow-in-the-Dark Decor

Choosing the Right Glow-in-the-Dark Paint

To make things really spooky, you need a good glow-in-the-dark paint. Look for one that says it’s super bright and long-lasting. Some paints work better on certain surfaces, like plastic or wood, so make sure you get the right kind for what you want to decorate.

Applying the Paint for Maximum Glow

When using your glow-in-the-dark paint, paint in a place that has lots of light. After it’s dry, put the painted decor in the dark, and it should glow! Sometimes, you might need a few coats to make it really bright. And remember, the paint needs to ‘charge’ in light before it can glow in the dark.

Creative Ideas for Glow-in-the-Dark Projects

There are so many fun things you can do with glow-in-the-dark paint. Paint little ghosts on rocks to hide around your yard, or make glowing footprints leading to your door for a spooky path. You can also paint a scary message on a poster that only shows up when it gets dark!

Frightful Front Door Wreaths

Basics of Wreath Making

To make a wreath, you’ll start with something round called a wreath form. You can find these at craft stores, or you can make one with twisted-up paper or a cardboard circle. Then, get materials like fake leaves, ribbon, or fabric to wrap around your form and make it look full and spooky.

Decorating Your Wreath with Halloween Themes

Once your wreath form is ready, start decorating it! Use colors like orange, black, and purple to make it look really Halloween-y. You can add fake spiders, miniature pumpkins, or bats to make your wreath extra frightful. Use a hot glue gun to stick them on, but make sure you ask an adult to help because it can get really hot.

Attaching Your Wreath Securely to the Door

When your wreath is all decorated, you’ll want to hang it up for everyone to see! Use a sturdy ribbon or a wreath hanger to put it on your door. Make sure it’s not going to fall off by giving it a little tug to test it out. You wouldn’t want your beautiful wreath to get ruined!

Macabre Mason Jar Mummies

Materials Needed for Mummy Jars

To make mason jar mummies, you’ll need some clear mason jars, white bandages or gauze, googly eyes, and glue. Get everything together before you start, so you don’t have to stop in the middle of crafting.

Wrapping Technique for the Perfect Mummy Effect

First, dab some glue onto your jar, and stick the end of the bandage onto it. Gently wrap the bandages around the jar, overlapping a little bit so it looks like mummy wrapping. Leave some spaces so you can see a bit of the jar through the bandages. When you’re done wrapping, glue on a pair of googly eyes to give your mummy personality!

Lighting Your Mason Jar Mummies Safely

Put a battery-operated tea light or a small flashlight inside your mummy jar to make it glow. Remember not to use real candles in these, because the bandages could catch fire and that would be very dangerous.

Eerie Haunted House Silhouettes

Designing Your Haunted House Template

To create a haunted house silhouette, you need to first draw a picture of a spooky house. You can make it as big or small as you want, and add creepy details like broken windows, a crooked chimney, and ghostly figures in the doorway.

Cutting and Mounting the Silhouettes

Once you’re happy with your drawing, carefully cut out your haunted house using scissors. Then, use some tape to stick your haunted house onto a window or a wall. Make sure it lays flat so that it looks just right.

Backlighting for an Extra Spooky Effect

If you want your haunted house to stand out at night, you can put a lamp or a flashlight behind it. The light will make the silhouette pop out, and it will look like there’s a creepy haunted house right in your room!

DIY Monster Door

Materials for Creating Your Monster Door

For your monster door, you’ll need things like large sheets of paper or poster board, tape or sticky tack, and markers or paints. Think about what color your monster will be and if you want it to be funny or really scary.

Steps to Transform Your Door into a Monster Face

Cut out two big circles for eyes and a big, wavy line for a mouth. You might want to cut out some teeth or a tongue to add to the mouth. Stick everything onto your door to make a face. You can even add streamers or paper chains for hair.

Adjusting the Design for Different Door Sizes

Depending on how big or small your door is, you might need to make your monster features bigger or smaller. Just make sure that everything looks right together. If your door is really tall, maybe your monster has a long face; if it’s short, your monster might look squished and funny!

Halloween Character Pebbles

Selecting and Preparing Your Pebbles

Find some smooth pebbles or small rocks; it’s better if they’re not too bumpy. Wash them with soap and water to get any dirt off, and then let them dry completely. That way, your paint will stick to them much better.

Painting Techniques for Halloween Characters

Once your pebbles are dry, you can start painting! Use acrylic paints because they stick to rocks well. You can paint them to look like jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, or even little vampires. Use a small paintbrush for details like faces.

Sealing and Protecting Your Painted Pebbles

After your painted pebbles are completely dry, you should protect them with a clear sealant. This keeps the paint from chipping or washing away if they get wet. Spray the sealant on, or ask an adult to help you brush it on.

Terrifying Toilet Paper Roll Bats

Collecting and Preparing Rolls for Crafts

Start by saving the cardboard rolls from inside your toilet paper or paper towels. Make sure they’re clean and not squished. You’ll need quite a few depending on how many bats you want to make for Halloween.

Crafting Your Bats with Simple Supplies

To make your cardboard roll into a bat, paint it black and let it dry. Then, cut out some wings from black paper or cardstock and stick them to the back of the roll with tape or glue. Add some googly eyes to the front, and maybe some fangs with white paper or a marker.

Hanging and Displaying Your Bat Creations

You can hang your bats around your house by tying a string around the middle and hanging them from the ceiling, on door handles, or anywhere they would look spooky. You could also just set them around on shelves or tables.

Zombie Planters

Selecting Appropriate Plants and Containers

Choose some plants that look a bit like they’d be in a zombie garden – maybe ones with droopy leaves or that look a bit wild. Then, find some old pots or containers that you can decorate to look scary. They don’t have to match; zombies are all different, after all!

Zombifying Your Planters with Paint and Accessories

Paint your pots with gray or green to make them look like zombie skin. You can draw on some stitching