Eerie Outdoor Halloween Decorations
Decorate your front door, porch, sidewalk, and yard with eerie Halloween designs that cast a spooky spell over the whole neighborhood.
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Ensnare trick-or-treaters with this crafty doormat that resembles a spiderweb. To make, cut a 3x4-foot lightweight black mat into a 36-inch diameter circle using heavy shears. With chalk, draw a spiderweb design onto the mat. Cut clothesline into pieces to fit your design and singe the ends of each piece to prevent fraying. Use heavy-duty white glue to attach the clothesline pieces to the mat, covering the chalk lines.
Light up your front stairs for Halloween with white paper lanterns adorned with black spider and letter stickers. Gather several lunch-size white paper bags and add various sticker embellishments, from spiders and decorative trim to spooky messages like "beware" and "eek." Fill each bag with one to two inches of sand to weigh it down; nestle a votive candle into the center and light when you're ready to use. Add a few pumpkins to the light display for pops of color.
Editor's Tip: Only keep the luminarias lit for a few hours; make sure the bag is open wide enough so the lit candle won't touch the sides of the bag.
This overflowing cauldron is full of spooky potion ingredients, including spiders, rats, eyeballs, and bat wings. Fill two plastic cauldrons (found at Halloween stores) with spray-foam insulation; let dry. Use spray paint to add a yellow-green tint to the dried insulation. Tip one cauldron on its side and adorn with creepy-crawly items.
Editor's Tip: Wear gloves and always direct the spray-foam application away from you. Don't let small children near the display until the spray-foam has dried.
Watch this ingenious no-carve technique for turning a small pumpkin into a creepy-crawly spider.
This easy-to-make Halloween decoration looks like a wayward witch landed headfirst in a moss-filled urn. To re-create the look, dress bendable mannequin legs (available online) in striped hose and buckled shoes. Place upside down in a tall urn filled with moss by your front door.
Give Halloween passersby a fright with larger-than-life black spiders that hang from your porch. To create the spider, spray-paint a large and a small plastic foam ball black; let dry. Attach the two balls using a wooden dowel. Insert four chenille stems into each side of the large foam ball to form eight legs. Hang and secure the oversize spider from the porch on store-bought spiderweb material using lightweight wire.
This life-size outdoor witch statue stirring a cauldron full of pumpkin heads is sure to draw attention to your yard on Halloween. Get our free witch pattern, available below, and then learn more about how to make the statue from plywood and black paint.
Gather a group of skeletons to act as spooky yard greeters. Perch the gang on a bench or ledge, and add top hats and bow ties. These guys are sure to create a bone-chilling Halloween.
Think of your garage door as a giant canvas on which you can place a multitude of Halloween images. This temporary artwork is made from removable black cloth tape (in 2-inch and 3-inch widths) and black crafts-foam sheets cut into spooky shapes. Simply use loops of tape to press the silhouettes into place on the garage door.
Simplify the window silhouette concept by crafting just one shape and placing it in a prominent spot: your front door. All who ring your front doorbell will be greeted by this chilling display, perfect for trick-or-treat night.
These unblinking eyes are sure to make guests do a double take. Select plastic-foam balls in varying sizes and draw large pupils using a permanent marker. Use a toothpick or stick to hold eyes together. Attach the pairs of eyes to a dark-colored bench or fence to help them pop
Every high-quality Halloween display requires a few creepy-crawlies. Sculpt a parade of scarab beetles from plastic-foam eggs enhanced with dimensional paint, chenille-stem legs, and antennae bent to simulate motion. Then learn to make a foam crypt to give these beetles a place to crawl.
Turn a tree into a frightening spider nest with stringy white "spiderweb" material. String material around tree branches to create the illusion of a massive spiderweb. Fashion some of the material into balls and add small plastic spiders for a spooky spider tree.
For a less scary approach, cut out some costumed trick-or-treaters for your yard. This ghost and witch fit right into the Halloween scene with their candy-filled buckets.
Put your wheelbarrow to work during the graveyard shift. Punctuate a heap of dirt with plastic bones and watch the trick-or-treaters' reactions.
Show the neighborhood your Halloween spirit with a facade of sinister decor. Copy, enlarge, print, and cut out our silhouette patterns. Trace onto black paper. Cut out the silhouettes and tape onto the inside of indoor windowpanes. Illuminate your display from the inside with a few strategically placed lamps.
Pay tribute to those who have gone before with tombstones cut from plastic-foam planks. Finish the markers with specialty stone paints and add humorous epitaphs to curb the fear factor.
Light your sidewalk with a lineup of petite pumpkins. Hang carved jack-o'-lanterns from shepherd's hooks, using hangers crafted from heavy-gauge wire. Battery-powered candles will keep the pumpkins illuminated without risk of fire.
Give giant spiders (created from crafts-foam balls) a place to call home with window webs spun from a few crafts store supplies.
Skip the standard jack-o'-lantern and step it up a Halloween notch with pumpkin-face silhouettes. The scary stack gets some company from a pack of black cats.
A natural twig wreath and a gazing ball transform an ordinary birdbath into a crystal ball on a stand.
A simple leaf garland turns into a haunting decoration when sinister eyes are added. Paint real leaves a solid color or trace and cut leaves from cardstock. Add evil eyes with permanent marker; then tie the leaves to twine and hang them on a railing to stare down visitors.
Designate a spot on your front porch as a witches' parking lot. Wrap twigs and grasses around wooden dowels and bind with rope. Hang a sign to warn those who may be tempted to park illegally. Our sign reads "Witch parking only! Violators will be toad!" Type your sign on the computer using fun fonts. Print the sign on iron-on transfer paper and iron it onto a painted artist's canvas.
A bony figure sets a spooky scene in your grassy front yard. Set up a skeleton head, arms, and legs as if he's relaxing on his final resting spot. Plastic posts and a headstone (from a party-supply store, such as Party City) provide the atmosphere.
White plates adorned with skeletons display house numbers in a way that gives guests a glimpse of spooky things to come. Simply decoupage computer-printed numbers and Halloween graphics to clean, dry plates. (You could also use rub-on numbers or number stickers.) Use your fingers to push out any extra wrinkles and decoupage medium. Let dry, then completely coat the plate with decoupage medium again and let dry. Display in a plate rack or by using multiple plate hangers.
Editor's Tip: These plates are for decorative use only and should not be put in the dishwasher. Simply wipe them clean with a damp cloth.
Adorn your front stoop with a tangle of lifeless branches and vines hung from porch rafters. Paint gourds white and add ghostly expressions with black paint. Suspend gourds from the rafters so they hang down among the vines. When darkness comes, the apparitions will be illuminated by shifting shadows, a scene guaranteed to frighten and chill.
These creepy cutouts made from painted plywood lend an eerie vibe sure to scare the neighborhood on Halloween night.
Scare the pants off passersby with a front yard featuring zombielike mummies that eerily rise to haunt the twilight landscape.
Brighten your walkway for trick-or-treaters with extra lighting to safely guide their way. A garden lantern hung from an illusionary lamppost will do the trick.
