Water Cooler: DIY Halloween decorations

October is here. For Halloween fanatics anyway, it’s time to get spooky. Since being stuck in quarantine this long already feels like living in a mausoleum, you might as well embrace it with creepy decorations galore. There are a ton of DIY ideas out there, so you don’t have to break the bank to celebrate. Check out some of these ideas to get started and use your imagination to put your own twist on them.

Monster face archway

This one is simple and endlessly customizable. Use poster board to cut out some scary or silly teeth to put inside the archway for the monster’s mouth. On the outside, of the archway cut out two big eyes – or maybe, three, five or even 10. Make it a cyclops monster with one giant eye if that’s your style. If you feel like going the extra mile, some gnarly eyebrows make a great touch.

Silhouette window display

This can be as simple or complicated as you’d like depending on what kind of production value you’re going for. The most basic way to go about it is to use black poster board and simply cut out the shapes of your silhouette. This can be a spooky forest setting with eerie tree branches, pumpkins, owls and bats, or maybe a giant spider. For a ghostly window treatment, cut out the shape of a person in some sort of Victorian-inspired dress, like a top hat or full-skirted dress. You could also cut out an unraveling mummy or Frankenstein’s monster.

Tape the black poster board directly to the window. For added effect, use a somewhat transparent shade or curtain over the window and when it gets dark, point a light toward the window so the silhouettes really pop. You can use a white light or get creative with colored lighting, with a menacing orange or red being the classic choices.

For a more complex and realistic approach, you can use freestanding cutouts and other objects in the display, placed behind a sheer curtain. This will be less effective in the daytime, but it makes for an extra spooky effect at night.

Pumpkin light fixture

Put a spin on the plastic candy basket shaped like a jack-o-lantern. They’re easy to find this time of year at dollar stores or big box stores and are usually pretty inexpensive. Cut down the backside of the basket and remove the entire bottom. Then wrap it around a lighting fixture, like your front porch light, and you have a quick and simple Halloween decoration. You can also leave the bottom intact and put a flameless candle inside for a pumpkin porch decoration that will last the entire month.

Floating witch hats

All this craft requires is a bit of black construction paper and whatever special touches you would like to add. Get a large piece of construction paper and draw a half circle with the edge of the paper as the diameter. To make an even half circle, measure the diameter and make a mark at its half point. Half the measurement of the diameter to get the radius, and draw a vertical line of that length at the halfway mark. This will give you a better idea of the circle curve, or make the job a lot easier and use a compass if you have one.

Bring the two ends of the half circle together to form a cone and staple or tape the seam to hold it in place. Next make about ½ inch cuts all around the base to create a fringe. Fold the fringe out so the cone stands upright. Measure the diameter of the cone. Mark that measurement out on another piece of construction paper and use it to draw a circle. Draw a bigger circle around this one to create the brim of the hat. Cut out the inside circle and around the larger circle. Slide the brim over the cone and apply glue on the fringe to hold it in place. Add accents if you like. Knot a piece of fishing line or string and thread it through the inside of the hat and through the point. You may already have a space in the seam to do this, but if not poke a small hole in the point. Now your hat is ready to hang.

Simple cloth ghosts

Perhaps the most classic Halloween decoration that has been the subject of classroom crafts for years is the cloth ghost. All you need is a round object like a small balloon or a foam ball and some sort of white fabric, like cheesecloth, old lace or even tissue paper. Drape your fabric over the ball and tie in place to create the ghost’s head. Use enough fabric so a few inches drapes down to create the body. Stitch or glue a string at the top of the head to hang your ghosts around the house or from a tree. Make sure to use weather-resistant materials if you choose to hang them outside.