39 spook-tacular DIY Halloween decorating ideas

How to dress your home for All Hallows' Eve

It's Halloween decorating time! With spooky season just around the corner, the bewitching hour is upon us to dress up our homes in preparation for 31 October.

From creepy colour schemes to petrifying props, these hair-raising DIY Halloween decorating ideas will transform your home into a haunted house of horrors.

Read on for some fright night inspiration...

Have a go at candle painting

DIY taper candle painting is becoming extremely popular but we haven't seen many Halloween-inspired designs – until now! These spookily adorable candles have clearly been created by a skilled artist.

But, why not be inspired and have a go at home by hand painting simple ghost shapes and pumpkins on your own taper candles? For safety reasons only use water-based non-toxic acrylic paint sparingly on plain, good-quality taper candles.

Give pumpkins a hair-raising twist

Ensure your Halloween pumpkin has the best hair-do on your street by popping a pretty poinsettia in a Jack-o'-lantern-style plant pot.

This more sophisticated DIY Halloween decoration makes a fabulous autumnal addition that can stay through fall. Warm leaf colours such as salmon, cinnamon or apricot will look the part before the more common red versions make an appearance at Christmastime.

Have fun with sweet treats

Make 'trick or treat' sweets all the more exciting with a little spooky imagination. These individually wrapped chocolates are adorable and double as hanging decorations.

To make, cut out bat shapes on a good quality black card and add stick-on eyes. Punch a hole in the top and tie on some ribbon to hang on a spindly Halloween tree. Stick a sweet on the bat's belly and wrap the wings around with mini glue dots. Cute and spooky!

Cut out spiderwebs

Make a creepy-crawly scene above the mantel or on a shelf with a homemade spider's web.

There are various ways to do this, from painting the back of an empty picture frame with chalkboard paint, then drawing a web shape with white chalk. Alternatively, cut out large bin liner webs like Crystal from Simply Being Mommy or make mini versions with black paper or card.

Lay a devilish table

Decorate the dining room with black and white tableware for a classic, monochrome look, or with white and gold for an elegant take on a Halloween table scheme.

If you're hosting a dinner party for just the grown-ups, create an elegant soirée, by weaving fake spiderwebs over the tablecloth and around moody blue and black shades of tableware. Finish with fun, witchy props and smoked glassware to fill with spellbinding cocktails and refreshments.

Count down with cosy nights in

Looking to make your home cosy? Celebrate the season by introducing a few soft furnishings that honour Halloween but are a temporary solution.

Plush pumpkins, cute ghost-shaped pillows, themed mugs and fun Halloween countdown decorations will complement more permanent decor such as blankets and cushions in warm colours.

Make magic candles

Cast ghostly shadows with a row of eerie floating candles. Spray paint battery-operated candles in black and gold and tie them with fishing wire.

Hang them from the ceiling or branches in a row at different levels and watch them splutter and flicker just like a Hogwarts feast.

Style up pumpkins with stickers

If the thought of scooping out a pumpkin and painstakingly carving a scary face or creepy scene is too time-consuming. Skip the mess by sticking embellishments on pumpkins instead.

This idea is a safe and easy option for little ones who perhaps aren't ready to carve pumpkins with sharp knives just yet. There are plenty of designs available to buy online or design and cut out your own with sticky-back craft paper.

String up ghoulish garlands

Hosting a bash? Dress a mantelpiece or doorway with plenty of Halloween colour by hanging an array of novelty paperchains.

If you'd rather have a go at making them yourself, create a card template then use it to trace and cut out shapes in black and orange craft paper. Try pumpkin faces and spiders in alternating shades, or any other shapes you fancy.

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Shrink down the fun with mini squash

Here's a Halloween decorating idea that is simple yet so effective – plus thrifty too.

Introduce a family of tiny spooks by dressing up a selection of mixed mini squash with googly stick-on eyes and teeny paper witches' hats. Complete the scene with a few tealights.

Paint your walls

If you're brave enough, paint your home in a rebellious shade such as black. You can always return it to the old colour at a later date – but be sure to get your landlord's permission if you live in a rental.

Once the paint has dried, dress the room around it by adding plenty of eye-popping green foliage and a pumpkin or two. These tones will jump out from the bold backdrop. If you fall in love with the iconic shade balance the heavy hue with an injection of white to complete the scheme.

Bring in twigs and branches

Twigs and branches are useful tools when creating DIY Halloween decor as their natural leafless shapes create an authentic spooky vibe.

Forage woodlands for fallen twigs or look in craft shops for faux versions to embellish with Halloween motif wire lights. Alternatively, place branches in a vase and use the spindly offshoots to hang seasonal decs from.

Make room for spooky doormat

Transform your entrance with a fun doormat using a stencil and black spray paint to create your own spooky design.

Instead of the usual spiders or ghosts, why not go for something a little different like a creepy crow or a spiky tree? Alternatively, typography is fun too – we love the simplicity of this statement that makes a wicked and wonderful welcome.

Bring out the bunting

Brighten up your Halloween decorating scheme with worded bunting. The classic celebration statement is more cheery than chilling, so this look might be less frightening for little ones.

Use pops of vibrant orange and endearing motifs with fun faces to lift the whole scheme.

Hang pastel toned decorations

If you've embraced an on-trend dark decorating look in the past but fancy a change, use pretty pastels instead. These honeycomb ghosts in pink and orange add a soft alternative and perhaps a more toddler-friendly tablescape for an afternoon Halloween tea party.

Alternatively, why not have a go at making your own pom-poms with tissue paper?

Enjoy a witch's brew

If this year is not your turn to chaperone little trick-or-treaters, enjoy some peace and quiet by enjoying a DIY Halloween-themed witch's brew. Or, have warm drinks ready for the kids' return.

Boil a brew in a speckle-glazed, pumpkin-shaped teapot and whip up mugs of comforting yet creepy hot chocolate complete with melting marshmallow ghosts. The sweet ghosts are so simple to make: simply draw black eyes and a mouth onto mini marshmallows with an edible marker pen. These are available from craft shops that sell cake and baking supplies and the pens work on white chocolate drops too.

Set up a candy station

Be ready for when trick-or-treaters arrive by setting up a candy station that screams with delicious delight.

It's not Halloween without copious amounts of sweets, chocolates and cakes! Bright bowls are perfect vessels for treats. Little orange and black bags filled with a mixture of confectionary is exciting and why not customise your home-baked cupcakes with pumpkin cake-toppers?

Make balloon ghosts

Take inspiration from 'mumfluencer' Casey Major-Bunce aka @majormumhacks. The mum of four has plenty of quick and easy Halloween-themed DIY decorating tricks to steal.

We love Casey's thrifty Halloween balloon ghosts. You will need: white balloons, fishing or craft wire, an embroidery needle, white fabric, black paper for the eyes (or a black Sharpie pen) and hooks. To make, tie the fishing wire around the knot of a blown-up balloon. Thread the wire through the fabric with the needle. Then, stick on the eyes, or draw them on with a black Sharpie pen. Hang your ghoulish ghosts from the ceiling with hooks for spooky fun!

Hang Halloween baubles

Who says baubles and hanging decs are just for Christmas?

Invest in a pre-lit Halloween tree or spray paint twigs black or purple. Then, use it as a 'wildwood' backdrop to hang decorative ghosts, tombstones and spooky sign ornaments. Remember the balloon ghosts? Why not make mini versions with table tennis balls as well?

Mount a frightful family tree

Love an upcycling project? Take inspiration from old haunted houses by temporarily replacing family photos with terrifying updates. Look online for free printables or get clever with software like Adobe Photoshop.

Better yet, have some fun with the digital camera and create tongue-in-cheek versions of your own with face paints, costumes and ghostly lighting. To complete the look, frame your shots in eerie surroundings by spraying second-hand frames black.

Enjoy a movie night

Turn your living room into a seriously scary home cinema for Halloween. Layer up the sofa with dark velvet cushions and hang vintage net curtains and cardboard cut-out bats at the window. Then, dress the sideboard or fireplace with haunted house-style props such as scary photo frames and bewitched candles.

This scene has a vintage-style television for an authentic horror-movie vibe, but if you can't lay your hands on one of those simply turn out the electric lamps, light the candles, serve the popcorn and let the 'fright night' movie marathon begin.

Hunt for vintage finds

Discount stores, flea markets and charity shops are spooky treasure troves when you look hard enough. Keep an eye out for old books with spooky titles, odd-looking ornaments and statures and vintage candelabras.

Take home your fiendish finds and curate a Halloween display with real props for that ultra-creepy vibe. You never know you may have struck lucky and purchased a pre-loved item that once resided in an actual haunted house!

Display neon signs

Neon lamps in spooky shapes make an easy last-minute Halloween update and will instantly ignite your home with an eerie atmosphere.

Pop battery-operated bats, pumpkins and word signs in windows and among Halloween displays, then dim the lights to let the neon signs take centre stage.

Plant harrowing hangers

If you are looking for Halloween decorations that incorporate houseplants look no further. Macrame plant hangers with a spooky twist look the part and are fun to make.

To create a fun spooky bat or a ghoulish ghost follow the instructions at Hobbycraft.com. Once finished fill with plants that look the part such as tradescantia with purple foliage or snake plants with spiky leaves.

Embrace Halloween brights

Ditch the gloomy colour palette in favour of vivid tones. Velvet pumpkins are a must-have this Halloween, so line them up on your tablescape in varying shades of pink and orange or pop them on a display table.

For a sophisticated and organic look, add dried physalis and leaf garlands in similar bright colours.

Go for ghostly bedding

Hide under the covers with seasonal Halloween bed linen that will make an endearingly apt addition to spooky sleepovers.

This version which is printed with cute little ghosts is more fun than fearful to avoid any nightmares. Layer the look with matching throws and cushions.

Decorate the staircase

Continue the creepy welcome from the hallway on Halloween right up the staircase. Just as the bannister makes a useful backdrop for Christmas decorating, Halloween-inspired garlands, props and lights can add a draw-dropping scene for guests too.

Wrap autumnal garlands and fairy lights around the bannister. Hang large paper decorations from the spindles and finish with a large hairy spider and faux cobwebs.

Paint your front door

For those handy with a paintbrush, why not give your front door a dark and dramatic hue for the holidays? Painting your existing entrance is an easy idea that can also revolutionise a Halloween decorating scene.

Usually, a black or charcoal-toned front door looks smart and refined. But, throw on some faux cobwebs, a creepy knocker and a few fun-themed props to turn your house into a realistic haunted house for the night.

Burn ghost shaped candles

Create ghostly shadows with a selection of ghoulish candles. Ghost-shaped candles and votives will offer a cosy feeling of Halloween fun.

Or, the theme couldn't be easier to create yourself if you prefer. Simply paint black eyes and a mouth onto chunky white candles with water-based non-toxic paint.

Scatter bats and spiders

Give life (no pun intended) to your spooky scene with a backdrop of Halloween-inspired creepy animals and critters. Cut out a colony of black paper bats and a clutter of spiders and stick them to doors, walls and windows.

The black silhouettes look particularly striking when set against fresh white decorating ideas and schemes.

Make a ghoulish gallery

Swap out photos or prints from an existing gallery wall for Gothic-themed alternatives. There are lots of cheap PDFs online that you can print off on a home printer and frame or invest in purchasing a few of your favourite poster designs and you'll have them for years to come if stored in rigid envelopes.

Think Tarot-inspired illustrations, vintage apothecary bottles and mysterious book pages – perfect for a murder mystery evening.

Spooky can still be stylish

Create a grown-up All Hallows' Eve display by swapping bright oranges and jet black for soft terracotta and charcoal. Introduce interesting textures in the form of ribbed ceramics, and dark linen and tableware.

But, don't forget the whimsy! Pop some googly eyes on bowls of satsumas and fill a metal pail with water for apple bobbing.

Illuminate your doorstep

Give the outside of your home a spooky touch with pre-lit novelty statues.

They're sure to add character to your porch and bring a little fun to your Halloween scene when combined with pumpkins and autumnal features.

Decorate the hallway

Create an eerie welcome on Halloween by continuing the creepy décor indoors.

Piled pumpkins and lanterns arranged together with spiky twigs and large, crispy leaves can evoke a haunting atmosphere in a hallway that is super easy to achieve but looks so effective.

Work in a ghostly white theme

Orange and black not your scene? Go for a ghostly decorating theme of white instead. For a hair-raising haunted house vibe, look for vintage books, faded handwritten letters and black and white photographs, then layer them in among white church candles and antique bottles.

Finish with white roses and a sprinkling of faux cobwebs and spiders. Mottled metallic pumpkins and white will add a touch of glamour.

Conjure up a moonlit mural

Removable wall mural wallpaper will turn your room into an atmospheric werewolf's lair. Sure to add a fright all night, this eerie full-moon scene creates a super-sized backdrop that will have you looking over your shoulder.

Come morning, it can easily be peeled off and stored until next year.

Wrap fruit in bandages

It's time to raid the medicine cabinet for this one! Grab yourself rolls of bandages, googly eyes and some fruit and veggies – go for unripe ones so the display lasts longer.

Simply wrap the food pieces in gauze or bandage, then press on some playful eyes. Then, dot your new cheeky friends around your home and on the doorstep.

Draw faces on oranges

Cheap but very cheerful, the little ones will love this next project. Take some paint or pens and draw cheeky faces onto mandarins and oranges. Then, group these guys together for a fun and fruity display.

The best bit? As long as you don't pierce the skin, they can still be eaten once the festivities are over.

Add a wicked word board

Spell out some Halloween fun by adding a wooden word board to the mantel and magically changing the message each day as the 31 October draws nearer.

If you want a look that's a little less scary, opt for props in softer colours and a lantern or two.

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