21 Easy Halloween Bat Decorations to Try This Year

This Halloween mantel decoration is ready to take flight! To make your own, cut bats from our free Halloween pattern, then string them together along twine. To add an extra touch of creativity, string black wooden beads between each paper bat.

Cover your mantel with swarms of Halloween bats and crows ($6, Etsy) for an eerie yet simple decoration. These all-black Halloween crafts combined with metallic candlesticks will set a minimalist mood for the season.

Related: 29 Easy Halloween Mantel Ideas to Boo-tify Your Living Room

Design a Halloween photo booth that will delight kids at your trick-or-treat gathering. Use a tension rod (a simple shower curtain rod will do the trick) to hang orange and white curtains, tie them off, then adorn the display with a black patterned banner. To complete the photo-ready look, add paper bats to the backdrop and add party props.

Send your Halloween trick-or-treaters off with a spooky DIY bat box filled with a small gift or candy. Download our paper bat favor-box template, available below, and print onto white cardstock. Fold the top of the box and interlock the bat wings in the slits to complete this Halloween gift.

Why spend a lot of money on a Halloween doormat to welcome trick-or-treaters when you can make this one quickly and inexpensively? Just embellish a coir doormat ($6, Walmart) using tape and spray paint for this easy-to-make craft.

Spooky silhouettes are illuminated by flickering candlelight in these haunting Halloween lanterns. Embellish glass lanterns with shadowy silhouette patterns. To make, create Halloween-themed silhouettes, like flying bats or a moon and stars. Trace your spooky patterns onto the backside of vinyl or self-adhesive shelf liner. Cut out the shapes and adhere to the lanterns.

Haunt your house—or at least your windows—with kid-friendly paper bats flying every which way. Cut several sizes of Halloween bats from black poster board or card stock. Tape fishing line at different spots on the backs and heads; hang the lines from a curtain rod or cup hooks.

This shelf bracket-turned-sconce will shed new light on your Halloween decor. A poster-board bat, supported by a dowel and candle holder, takes flight. Dim the lights, and let the candlelight glow set a moody vibe. Use this Halloween craft idea to inspire easy bat decorations all around your home.

Add creepy, winged creatures to your Halloween table with this easy project. Make over small white pumpkins by attaching paper bats with floral wire, then arrange them in the center of your table for a Halloween decoration that will span the whole season.

A few inexpensive card stock bats ($2 for 12, Etsy) transform even the smallest spaces into eerie Halloween haunts. To get the look, use removable adhesive dots to place the bats on the wall. Stagger them so it looks like the creatures have taken flight.

Oversize paper lanterns are the star of this Halloween front porch. Choose an assortment of sizes and colors to add visual interest. Hang several of them from the ceiling and accent them with large black paper bats ($4, Walmart).

Related: Frighteningly Fun Ideas for a Haunted Halloween Front Door

Add a warm glow to your Halloween party by attaching black paper bats to an inexpensive clear glass candle holder with double-stick tape. Then cover the entire unit with orange glassine. The spooky Halloween bats appear to be flying right at you!

Add a bat-themed paper medallion to your Halloween party to set a spooky scene. This Halloween craft is ideal as a festive wall display or as the eye-catching center of your bobbing-for-apples bucket. Ask kids to make multiple paper Halloween crafts, then hang them around the house for a crinkled decoration.

For a simple way to serve party treats to your Halloween guests, add bat wings to an orange plastic pumpkin bucket. This Halloween decoration adds a creative touch for kids’ to complete in the hours before your party!

The Halloween goodies inside these paper treat bags will help distract little guests from getting spooked by the sight of bats and ghosts hanging in tree branches. To make, simply glue glittered bats ($5, Walmart) to plain white paper bags.

Give your existing artwork a spooky seasonal makeover. Arrange bats in a variety of sizes around an existing piece of art. Gently bend the bat's wings so they appear to be lifting right off the wall!

Instead of carving a pumpkin, try making seasonal string art! Paint an orange bat on a white pumpkin. Once dry, outline the shape with small nails. Wrap the string around the nails in random patterns until the design is full.

This hanging bat wreath adds an extra creep factor to your front door. To make, simply use our free template to fold black paper into flying bat shapes. Attach them to a simple grapevine wreath form using hot glue.

Perch these carved pumpkin bats on the front porch and prepare for the screams. To make, secure cut felt wings and ears with toothpicks. Etch out eyes and stick with red pins ($6, Michaels) to finish the look. Up the scare factor even more with a coat of black paint.

Give a handful of white pumpkins an eerie makeover with painted black bats. Starting with the largest bats, paint a few on the foremost pumpkin. Gradually decrease the painted bat size and arrange the pumpkins so the smallest bats are in the back.

Related: 48 Easy Pumpkin Painting Ideas to Try This Year

A handful of gold screws from the hardware store are all you need to create this bat pumpkin. Trace a simple bat pattern on a pumpkin. Instead of carving, drill in screws until the outline is filled.