Want cheap DIY Halloween decorations that do not look cheap? I am super excited that one of my favorite holidays is only a few weeks away, but I realized I do not have enough decorations, and I simply love making DIY Halloween decor. Without a huge decorating budget or a lot of time, I scoured Pinterest for some of the fastest, least expensive options. There are dollar store Halloween decoration ideas in here too, which is where a budget really stretches. I simply love what I found and think you will, too. From yard decor to table centerpieces, these budget friendly Halloween decorations look far more expensive than they are.
Ready for that Halloween party? If you still need some cool ideas for DIY Halloween costumes, so you have the perfect attire to match that amazing decor, we have you covered. Check out our last minute costume ideas and the super fun DIY costumes for couples, so many to choose from, deciding will be the only hard part.
These witches hats were perfect for my daughter’s Halloween goblin party. I found these witches hats at Michael’s craft store and attached some glow sticks from our big Fourth Of July bash and attached them with fishing line. I always keep plenty of Command Hooks on hand, so stuck them on the ceiling of the porch and attached the Halloween luminaries. They really added to our spooky haunted display and all the party goers were very impressed, no one could have guessed it was so cheap and easy.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Happy Halloween Banner From Toilet Rolls. (Image credit: DIY JOY)
Flatten the tubes, paint a letter on each and thread them onto ribbon. That is the whole thing, and it costs whatever the paint costs. I use a Posca marker for the letters because it sits on top of the acrylic without dragging, and the finished banner is stiff enough to hang straight rather than curling in on itself the way paper does.
Spooky Halloween party decoration: Floral Skull Centerpiece. (Image credit: honestlyyum.com)
I love getting into the ghoulish spirit for Halloween as so many I love Halloween almost as much as Thanksgiving. We needed a centerpiece for my annual party table so I made an arrangement of my favorite Autumn flowers and leaves and fastened them into my skull, I got at Hobby Lobby with a removable top. I arranged the table with some gorgeous candles and Autumn harvest vegetables and the results were phenomenal. I could not make anyone believe it was a simple DIY craft, it looked so elegant in my Halloween melange.
4. Dripping Blood Candles
The Navage Patch Budget Halloween craft featuring Dripping Blood Candles. (Image credit: The Navage Patch)
These are the creepiest thing on my mantel every October. Red wax runs down the sides so it looks as though the candles have been burning through something unpleasant, and the effect in low light is genuinely unsettling. The Navage Patch has the tutorial.
This looked so good on the front of my haunted porch in the backyard. I found it at the Dollar Store and threw a coat of white spray paint on it and decorated it with craft paint and covered my art with a coat of decoupage. It looked fantastic when I glued the flowers on top. On Halloween night when our guests came in, they loved their spooky knocker.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Wall Of Bats. (Image credit: marvelousmommy.com)
My son’s 3rd-grade teacher did this in her classroom so all the students got to lend a helping hand. They all drew their bats, ever so carefully and cut them out with their safety scissors. The teacher fastened them to the wall in a beautiful flying flock formation with some double-sided tape, single-sided works as well just make sure and do a neat loop on the back of the bat.
Spooky Halloween party decoration: Yarn Pumpkins From Toilet Rolls. (Image credit: DIY JOY)
Cut a toilet roll into rings, wrap each one in orange yarn and push them together and you have a pumpkin that costs nothing at all. String a row of them and it is a garland. They squash flat into a shoebox afterwards, which is the part I appreciate in November when everything else needs somewhere to live.
I saw this idea for DIY Halloween candlesticks on Pinterest and I knew they were perfect for the mini haunted house I made in my dining room. I got some mini plastic skulls from Michael’s craft store and used some terracotta plant saucers as stabilizing pedestals at each end. I glued all of them together and used some grey metal colored spray paint I had from painting the railing on my new deck and it gave them a very rich polished look. I arranged them on what I called Dracula’s dining table with some other Halloween decorations and lovely treats that thrilled and chilled my guests, all for under the ten dollar mark.
I needed some cheap Halloween party favors and I had all these glow sticks left over from the Fourth Of July I wanted to use. I shredded a brown paper bag and glued the little bunches at the bottom of each stick, then tied a little Halloween greeting to them. The kids at the party were so happy to get these and could not put them down, best part they were free so I had enough funds left to buy pizza for everyone.
Balloons cost almost nothing and they fill a porch faster than anything else I have tried, which is the whole point the week before Halloween. Black and orange clustered around the doorframe reads as decorated from the street, and it comes down in five minutes on the first of November. Design Improvised shows how to group them so the shape holds instead of sagging.
Spooky Halloween party decoration: Spider Web Mason Jar. (Image credit: momdot.com)
White paint, a jar, and a steady-ish hand. The web goes on in rings working out from the centre, and the wobbles help rather than hurt, because no real web is neat either. MomDot turns the jar instead of moving the brush, which is what keeps the spokes even.
Those wicker paper plate holders sit unused in a drawer eleven months of the year. Painted orange with a face cut from black card, a stack of them becomes a row of jack o lanterns for pennies. Sadie Season Goods found hers in a thrift store, which is where every kitchen drawer’s worth of them eventually ends up.
Bunting is the quickest way to make a room look like someone made an effort. Triangles cut from black and orange card, two holes punched in each, threaded onto string. My lot do the threading while I cut, and it is hanging before the sweets are unpacked. Popcorn and Chocolate has a template worth tracing.
The cheapest scare here by a distance, and because they are clings they peel off in November without marking the glass. Red glue spread on a plastic sheet, left to dry properly, then lifted off. Felt Magnet says make them thicker than feels right, and that is correct: the thin ones tear as you peel them.
This is the one that stops people on my sidewalk. A plain craft pumpkin gets a mystical eye that glows from the inside, and at night I think it lands somewhere between spooky and genuinely beautiful. Persia Lou even includes free cut files, so the design work is done before you start. Her step by step is waiting over there.
Painted ghost faces on the outside of a jar with a light dropped in glow properly once the room goes dark, and the jars were already in the cupboard. I like these on a windowsill where they read from the street. Mason Jar Crafts Love keeps the faces simple, which is what stops them looking fussy.
Cheap DIY Halloween decoration: Easy Black and White Halloween Topiary. (Image credit: tatertotsandjello.com)
Striped topiary balls give a doorway that slightly formal, slightly wrong look I like at this time of year. Foam balls, two colours of paint, and a pot to stack them in. Tater Tots and Jello leaves the stripes deliberately uneven, which reads far better than a failed attempt at perfect.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Halloween mason jar decorations. (Image credit: merakilane.com)
One shape, several characters. The same jar becomes a ghost, a mummy or a monster depending on what goes on the front, so a row of them looks planned rather than repetitive. Meraki Lane covers the full set, and they stack back into the same box afterwards and come out again next year.
Spooky Halloween party decoration: Halloween Mason Jar Mummy. (Image credit: weekendcraft.com)
Gauze wound round a jar, crossing over itself, with two eyes looking out through a gap. A tea light behind it makes the layers glow properly. Weekend Craft leaves the wrapping loose on purpose so the light comes through, and that looseness is the entire effect.
If there is a pod machine in the house then the materials are already in the bin. Rinse them, draw a face on each, then push them onto a string of lights so every bulb sits inside a little ghost. The Kim Six Fix gets the hole size right, and it matters, because too big and they slide straight off.
Black paper, a few folds and nothing else. The wings actually flap when you pull the tail, so the children will make a dozen before you have finished the first, and a dozen strung along a doorway is a wall of bats for the price of a pad of paper.
23. La Catrina Ofrenda Craft
DIY JOY Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring La Catrina Ofrenda Craft. (Image credit: DIY JOY)
Day of the Dead is one of my favorite celebrations to craft for, because it is colorful and warm rather than gloomy and every piece honors someone loved. My La Catrina sits among papel picado banners, marigolds and candles, and she comes together from simple supplies you probably already have. I walk you through building her in the tutorial.
24. Painted Skull Mason Jar
Mad in Crafts Spooky Halloween party decoration: Painted Skull Mason Jar. (Image credit: Mad in Crafts)
I love a Halloween craft that takes an afternoon and still looks deliberate. A plain mason jar turns into a painted skull, and you can take it glam or take it gruesome depending on how you finish it off. Mine sit on a shelf the whole of October. Mad in Crafts runs through every step and a few different ways to decorate yours.
For anyone in the house who watches that film on repeat from September onwards. The faces are printed, cut out and strung along a length of twine, so the whole project is a printer and a pair of scissors. Disney Family has the printable, which saves the drawing.
Cheap DIY Halloween decoration: Toilet Roll Ghosts. (Image credit: littlebinsforlittlehands.com)
Another one out of the recycling. Paint the tubes white, draw a face on each with a marker, and stand a row of them along a shelf or a windowsill. The children can do the whole thing unsupervised, which on the day before a party matters more than how it looks. Little Bins for Little Hands has the face shapes.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Floating Head Hanging Ghosts. (Image credit: simplydesigning.net)
Hung at different heights in a dark porch these read as figures rather than sheets, which is what makes them work. The heads hold their shape so the faces stay visible instead of collapsing into folds. Simply Designing shows the forming step, and that is where a floppy one goes wrong.
Spooky Halloween party decoration: Spiderweb Wall Decorations. (Image credit: theartofdoingstuff.com)
A web spun corner to corner across a wall costs a ball of string and an hour. Anchor the spokes first, then work round in a spiral, keeping the tension slightly loose so it sags the way a real one does. The Art of Doing Stuff has the anchoring order, which is the only fiddly part of it.
A wreath packed edge to edge with plastic eyeballs, all of them looking at whoever knocks. It is silly, and on a front door after dark it is genuinely unsettling. A Pretty Life in the Suburbs buys the eyes in bulk, which costs a fraction of the bagged Halloween ones.
Black bin bags, folded and cut the way you would cut a paper snowflake, opening out into a web big enough to fill a window. One packet does several. How About Orange has the folding diagram and it is worth following exactly, because cutting freehand gives you a lopsided one every time.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Bat Lantern. (Image credit: rebekahgough.blogspot.sk)
A paper lantern, black card wings, and a face. Hung in a cluster at different heights they look like something roosting rather than decorations. Rebekah Gough weights the bottom slightly so they hang straight instead of spinning in the draught from the door.
I saw the Pottery Barn version of this and could not make peace with the price tag. These glowing ghosts come in at less than half, and honestly I like them better sitting on my own Halloween table. It is an easy craft aimed at grown ups, which makes a nice change in October. It’s Always Autumn has the complete how to.
Budget Halloween craft featuring A second view of Light-Up Ghost Centerpiece. (Image credit: It’s Always Autumn)
Sugar skulls are the heart of this holiday’s decor, and I make mine out of an egg tray of all things. It costs me almost nothing, it is genuinely dramatic once it is up on the wall, and not one person has guessed what it started life as. If you want a piece that stands out without a pile of supplies, this is the one. Here is my full how to.
Homemade Halloween decor idea featuring Wooden Black Cat. (Image credit: dododsondesigns.com)
This one came out of the offcut pile, which is the best kind of decoration. A cat silhouette cut from scrap and painted flat black sits on a shelf or a step and lasts years, unlike the paper things that go soft the first wet night. Do Dodson Designs has the shape to trace.
Since I lover experiments, I’ve alwaysnloved to create, paint, as well as cook and style food. I feel in love with DIY as soon as I discovered it and could not have been more excited when I learned I could share projects with people around the world. Taking photos is a passion of mine, as is design and painting with oils. I love holidays and celebrations, crafting cute little gifts and serving up at least one new recipe I am excited about.
