Budget-Friendly Outdoor Halloween Decorations

Don't waste money on inflatable Halloween decorations for your front yard. Use our ideas and your crafty skills to make one-of-a-kind decorations. You'll be the envy of the neighborhood and save a lot of money.

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August 20, 2015

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Mascot

Greet trick-or-treaters with a scarecrow mascot. Give it a personality to match your style: scary or friendly, male or female, casual or formal. Use lumber to create the body: a 2x4 for the main post, a 1x4 for the shoulders and four more 1x4s for the arms. Use wood glue and fasteners to secure the elbow joints. A dried or plastic gourd will last longer than a fresh one and a scarf is the perfect accessory to cover up any unsightly handiwork.

Flying Ghosts

Fill your trees or front porch with free-flying ghosts. Made inexpensively from balloons and gauze fabric, these little Caspers catch the wind to add movement to your outdoor decor.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Halloween Pumpkin Faux Bonfire

Pumpkin Bonfire

Don’t want to be bothered with a real bonfire because it's too dangerous for kids and too much of a pain to keep lit? Create a low-maintenance fire pit with faux pumpkins, battery-operated candles and a few logs.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Halloween Pumpkin Faux Bonfire

Eyeball Wreath

Add a little Cruella Deville style to your front door by wrapping a black feather boa around a wreath form then adorning it with some bloodshot eyeballs.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Wreath with Scary Googly Eyes

Haunted Hotel Sign

Keep away unexpected guests by making your home look like a haunted bed and breakfast. Go to a salvage yard to get an old post and corbel — they’ll already be aged and weathered. Then add your personal welcome sign.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Haunted Hotel Sign for Halloween

Spider Wreath

This fabric wreath is simple to make and can be used for many occasions by changing the embellishments. The mini black-glitter spider clips contrast perfectly with the bright white fabric. With just a few basic materials and tools from the craft store, you can dress up your front door for Halloween.

Get the How-To: DIY Halloween Wreath

Halloween Spell

Add a some elegance to your entry by creating a nature-inspired topiary.

Get the How-To: 6 Ways to Make a Pumpkin Topiary

Bloody Footprints

Lead trick-or-treaters to your door with a trail of bloody footprints. Simply step into washable red paint with bare feet, then carefully walk towards the front door. Make sure to carry your paint supply with you, should you need to redo your feet, and don't forget to have a towel waiting for you at the end of your walk for easy cleanup.

Halloween Tree + Teal Pumpkins

Be diiferent this year by decorating a Christmas tree for Halloween. Use black and orange ornaments or make little jack o'lantern faces from paper honeycomb balls. If you're giving trick-or-treaters non-food items, place a teal pumpkin on your doorstep. This signifies to kids with food allergies that your treats are safe for them.

Get the How-To: Decorate a Teal Pumpkin For an Allergy-Free Halloween

Window Silhouettes

This is more of an indoor/outdoor decoration. Cut out popular Halloween shapes in black paper and adhere them to your windows. When the indoor lights are lit, the shapes will come to life.

Get the How-To: How to Make Halloween Window Silhouettes

Punny Graveyard

Set up a fun and spooky graveyard. Get the instructions to make simple plywood tombstones below then download a template of one of our pun-filled names or epitaphs.

Get the Instructions: Halloween Decoration: How to Make a Wooden Tombstone

Lawn Skeleton

Build a few of these creepy skeletons to place in front of your tombstones.

Get the How-To: Halloween Decoration: How to Make a Lawn Skeleton

Glowing Eyes Hiding in the Bushes

These spooky eyes are reminiscent of every Scooby Doo episode ever made. They're extremely easy to make, simply cut the eye shapes out of paper towel rolls then place a plastic glow stick inside. Tuck a few sets of eyes in bushes around your front walkway to give the trick-or-treaters a little fright.

Get the How-To: How to Make Halloween Spooky Eyes To Hide in the Bushes

Welcome (Not) Mat

Turn an old carpet remnant into a Halloween doormat with a little paint and creativity.

Bat Mat

This doormat project uses stencils to create the batty design. This project can be done any time of the year with any design. It’s an inexpensive way to customize your front entry.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Stenciled Halloween Doormat

For Decoration or for Fun

Make a bunch of these scary eyeballs and scatter them all over your front yard. Kids are sure to get a kick out of them.

Get the How-To: How to Make Giant Bloodshot-Eye Halloween Decor

Nature in Autumn Wreath

Gather fall favorites – acorns, pinecones and leaves – to make a decorative addition to your entry.

Get the How-To: Make Your Own Thanksgiving Door Wreath

Picture-Frame Lanterns

Guide your guests to the front door with illuminated picture lanterns. To make these, four inexpensive picture frames are nailed together to make a square. Halloween drawings are printed on vellum paper then inserted into the frames, then a candle is set inside the frames.

Get the How-To: How to Make Halloween Lanterns

Burlap + Leaf Garlands

Hang garland around your doorway or entry columns to celebrate the autumn season. They take very little time and money to make, and you can leave them up until it's time to switch them with holiday lights. Get the step-by-step instructions >>

Glowing Pods

This Halloween eve, greet trick-or-treaters with illuminated paper mache lights that you can hang from the trees or your porch.

Get the How-To: How to Make Glowing Halloween Light Pods

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©Manvi Drona

©Emily Fazio

Photo By: Susan Teare

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