Eerie Outdoor Halloween Decorations

You've heard of cold feet, but how about cold hands? This wreath is simple to make but stands out amongst other Halloween door decorations. Paint a collection of plastic skeleton hands with metallic spray paint, then mount to the edges of a chalkboard base. If desired, write a spooky message in the middle. 

Spell it out! This Halloween pumpkin decoration is made with string art, faux pumpkins, and glittery spiders. Create your string art and add faux spiders to a trio of pumpkins. Glue them together and place in a plain grapevine wreath—that's all it takes!

Black is the new orange. Make these pretty Halloween porch decorations by painting around a stencil on a real or faux pumpkin, then outline the stencil shape with crafts nails. Weave string in and around the nails to create a spiderweb effect. 

Dress up your fall front door with this easy jack-o'-lantern wrap. Made with paint and felt, this Halloween pumpkin decoration is the cutest way to celebrate the season. We used gold paint, but try making it with black or orange. 

Fall foliage looks less friendly when it's painted an unnatural shade. Black spray paint transforms basic leaf garlands into eerie Halloween outdoor decorations. Wrap them around a banister, porch rail, or pillar. 

Make a pile of pumpkins a little scarier with faux animal skeletons. This raven, for example, contrasts well with glitzy painted pumpkins. Set up your display at the base of a planter or on a porch step. 

Create a Halloween wreath that's a little cute and a little scary. Handmade yarn pom-poms are all it takes to transform a plain wreath form into a jolly Halloween monster. We used green, but try customizing it with any color you like. 

Attack of the giant spiders! These Halloween yard decorations are oversized and perfect for decking out your front porch. Made with braided yarn, these large webs can be reused year after year. 

Let your Halloween outdoor decorations talk back. These stylish pumpkins were painted a sleek black, then lettered with metallic sheets and decorative tacks. Stack pumpkins horizontally or vertically to spell out spooky sayings. 

Use our free printable stencils to create a custom doormat that's perfect for greeting trick-or-treaters. Halloween pumpkin decorations go way beyond carving with this boo-tiful fall porch decoration. 

This festive Halloween wreath is the perfect blend of spooky and stylish. Orange chevron ribbon dresses up a basic straw wreath, but the real star is a trio of glittery bats perched on the bottom. Hang using patterned burlap ribbon. 

This creepy crawly Halloween wreath is made with plain wooden beads. A quick coat of black spray paint transforms it into a scary spider. Add the spooky creature to your fall front door and prepare for the screams! 

These Halloween lights are cute and easy to make. Beat the elements with these all-weather paper lanterns. Simply coat paper bags with Mod Podge and let dry. Choose battery-operated tea lights for worry-free lighting on Fright Night.

Make a cheap Halloween wreath with supplies from your backyard! A bundle of sticks creates the base for this spooky door decoration. Finish it with stretched spider web and creepy plastic spiders. 

One bird: Not a big deal. A whole flock of them? Well, that's a scary Halloween yard decoration. Assemble a collection of faux ravens arranged in a variety of poses on your fence, porch banister, deck railing—even your roof line! Secure with cable ties and black duct tape.

Think of the spooked responses from passersby when a crowd of whiskered pests marches up your front walk. Enlarge rat patterns, then transfer to plywood. Cut out the rats, sand, and paint them black. Screw vertically aligned U-brackets to the back of each rat. Prop up each rat by slipping the U-bracket over a plant stake pushed into the ground.

Ominously animate your Halloween yard with colonies of airborne bats. Enlarge and trace our bat patterns onto black foam-core board and cut out; poke two holes into each bat for black cable ties to hold it onto a branch. Stick tall limbs into the ground or into sand-filled buckets. Place the largest bats high on the branches and smaller ones toward the bottom, making sure each cable tie is tight.

Ensnare trick-or-treaters with this crafty Halloween porch decoration 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 over the chalk lines.

You can display outside Halloween decorations without going to great lengths to be scary. Pumpkins—the most treasured symbol of the season—used to be bland and basic, but new types and shapes add visual and graphic texture. Stack several pumpkins on top of each other to create a sculpture; accent with potted seasonal flowers and tall dried cornstalks. For a little bit of an eerie vibe, add a faux raven or large spider.

Play with all the colors of Halloween with neon painted luminarias. To make these Halloween lights, dab glass paint onto clean glass jars using a sponge. Use a few coats, smoothing the final coat with a paintbrush. Draw or print skull clip art onto contact paper, remove the backing, and adhere to the dry jars. Dab on a few thin coats of black paint and remove the stencils when done. Insert tea lights and line your walkway come trick-or-treat time.

Looking for Halloween door decorations that are a wee bit scary but mostly just fun? Try this colorful, ever-so-slightly creepy wreath, festooned with lacy, dotted fabric and faux rats. To start, cut 18 to 20, 8x2-1/2-inch strips from lime green cotton fabric. Apply crafts glue thinned with water to the back of the strips using a foam brush. Cover a 12-inch plastic-foam wreath form with the fabric, smoothing the ends to the back and securing with T pins. Overlap fabric strips to cover the whole form and let dry.

Next, lay a piece of lace fabric with 1-inch-diameter dots or other pattern over the fabric-wrapped wreath; cut an X in the center so the center fabric wraps easily to the back. Secure with T pins. Trim excess fabric. Hot-glue rubber rats to the wreath. Tie a sheer black ribbon into a bow and glue in place.

This easy-to-make Halloween porch decoration looks like a wayward witch landed headfirst in a moss-filled urn. To recreate the look, dress bendable mannequin legs in striped hose and buckled shoes. Place upside down in a tall urn filled with moss by your front door.

Give your visitors a frightful hello with a welcome from these bare-boned greeters. Pose several Halloween skeletons on the porch and on the roof, securing them with fishing line. Add props as appropriate to your Halloween aesthetic—scary or whimsical. 

Poisonous it is not: This "puddle"—meant to look like a toxic spill—is actually hardened white glue. Outline a desired shape on a melamine sheet; fill in with glue and let dry. Using a font of your choice, create a "poison" label and attach to an empty bottle. Remove the dried glue puddle from the melamine, place it and the bottle where desired. Attach plastic insects with more glue. Add this scary Halloween decoration to your front porch, deck, or stairs. 

Scary Halloween decorations should start with your garage door! The key to creating this scary scene is a combination of black vinyl and card stock. Turn on your Halloween lights so the zombies glow during the night.  

Halloween wreaths don't have to be complicated to make! A simple masking tape technique is all it takes to create a pair of spooky mummy hands. Add them to a plain grapevine wreath and finish with faux spiders and webbing. 

This overflowing cauldron is full of spooky potion ingredients, including spiders, rats, eyeballs, and bat wings. Fill two plastic cauldrons (found at Halloween supply 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.

To create your own ghoulish spinning mobile, you'll need large plastic Christmas ornaments, lace fabric, white and black yarn, black felt, an embroidery hoop, white string, and fishing line. Although the supply list seems extensive, it's a straightforward project. To start, wrap the ornaments with the lace and tie with yarn. Adhere felt eyes. Wrap the embroidery hoop with black yarn and add enough string to hang it from your porch ceiling, an overhang, or a tree. Attach the ghosts with fishing line.

Guests will step back in fear, thanks to a slithering mass of snakes. Spray-paint rubber snakes glossy black. Create various lengths of snakes by cutting them in two; arrange at the edge of a thick plastic-foam board and glue to the edges. Set the board underneath a doormat.

Easy-to-find supplies and a few minutes are all it takes to create this elegant, holiday-theme wreath. Cut enough spiderweb fabric to cover an embroidery hoop; secure with hot glue. Attach a plastic spider with another dab of hot glue; tie a bow made from black ribbon and hang.

Think of your garage door as a giant canvas on which you can place a multitude of outdoor Halloween decorations. This temporary artwork is made from removable black cloth tape (in 2- 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.

Kids can help create this whimsical, colorful wreath with a hidden surprise—spiders! Start by assembling materials: 40 to 50 plastic-foam balls (1 inch, 1-1/2 inches, and 2 inches wide); fuzzy black and plain black, green, purple, and orange yarn; a 12-inch medium-density fiberboard (MDF) wreath form; seven 12-inch-long black chenille stems; and googly eyes. Wrap and cover one large, two medium, and two small plastic-foam balls with fuzzy black yarn, using hot glue to secure. (These will be your spiders.) Wrap the remaining plastic-foam balls with the black, green, purple, and orange yarn. Tie four lengths of black yarn to the wreath, spaced evenly, to create eight spokes. Weave a continuous spiral with a long length of black yarn to create a spiderweb. Hot-glue the yarn-covered balls to the wreath, then attach the fuzzy yarn balls. Cut the chenille to create legs (eight 3-inch pieces for the large spider, sixteen 2-inch pieces for the medium spiders, and sixteen 1-1/2-inch pieces for the small spiders); insert into the yarn balls and bend to form legs and feet. Hot-glue the spiders to the yarn balls and hot-glue eyes to the spiders.

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 pairs together. Attach the pairs of eyes to a dark bench or fence so they pop.

Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween, Boo: Whatever your Halloween sentiments, use pretty pumpkins to spell it out. Use painters tape to mark off stripes; paint with black acrylic paint. Trace letters or words with stencils; use a small brush to paint them with more black paint; let dry. Using a large drill bit, cut out evenly spaced holes.

Turn a tree into a frightening spider nest with stringy white weblike 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 less scary Halloween yard decorations, cut out some costumed trick-or-treaters. This ghost and witch fit right into the Halloween scene with their candy-filled buckets. This is also a great way to leave candy out for real trick-or-treaters who may stop by when you're not home.

Simplify the window silhouette concept by crafting just one shape and placing it in a prominent spot: your front door. All who ring your doorbell will be greeted by this chilling display, perfect for trick-or-treat night.

Pay homage to the spooky bird mascot of the season with this easy weekend DIY project! Assemble your planter box using wood from the hardware store (or purchase a premade planter) and trace a cutout crow shape onto a finished side. Finally, fill in the silhouette using black paint and let dry before placing outside and filling with mums.

Put your wheelbarrow to work during the graveyard shift. Punctuate a heap of dirt with plastic bones and watch the trick-or-treaters' reactions. Look for individual bones at Halloween supply stores, or take apart a plastic Halloween skeleton. 

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.

Light your sidewalk with a lineup of Halloween pumpkin decorations. Hang carved jack-o'-lanterns from shepherds hooks using hangers crafted from heavy-gauge wire. Battery-powered candles keep the pumpkin Halloween lights illuminated without risk of fire.

Give giant spiders (created from plastic-foam balls) a place to call home with window webs spun from a few crafts store supplies. These Halloween window decorations are sure to spook even the bravest of visitors.

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 also could use rub-on or sticker numbers.) Use your fingers to smooth wrinkles and decoupage medium. Let dry, then coat the plate with decoupage medium 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.

Gather a group of Halloween 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.

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.