Most of the year, your windows and doors are just another part of your home. But when Halloween rolls around, they play an important role in Halloween decorations. With just a few seasonal decorations, you can turn your home from drab and ordinary into a haunted spectacle. Read on to learn about seven window and door decorations and how they can get your home ready for Halloween.
1. Wreaths
Wreaths are a simple way to make any home feel a little more festive around Halloween time. One of the best things about wreaths is the variety of styles. Some wreaths are simple, traditional, and fall-colored in nature, while others are ornate and creative-even dark and spooky.
Whatever your Halloween style, you can find a wreath that matches your outside home décor and entry door. You can make your own wreath or you can buy Halloween wreaths at your local hobby store.
2. Jack-o-Lanterns
Pumpkin jack-o-lanterns are classic Halloween decorations. They can sit inside, outside, or on your windowsill. Follow these steps to make your Halloween jack-o-lantern:
1. Find a pumpkin at a pumpkin patch or your local grocery store. 2. Cut a hole in the top or bottom of your pumpkin to hollow it out. 3. Scoop out the flesh, pulp, and seeds with your hands or a plastic scraper. 4. Attach your pumpkin carving template to your pumpkin. You can choose from pre-made carving templates or you can design your own. 5. Trace the design by poking spaced-out holes with a needle tool or T-Pin. 6. Remove your design template and carve out your design with a knife or miniature saw. You can also use custom pumpkin-carving tools to create a unique look. 7. Light up your pumpkin. Put a candle or a string of lights inside your pumpkin to make your jack-olantern come to life.
Carving jack-o-lanterns is a fun way to decorate your house and a great activity to do with family and friends.
3. Spider and Bat Decorations
Send chills up the spines of passersby with a cluster of spiders or a flock of bats on your window or doorstep. These decorations are fairly easy to make and are sure to spook a few people.
For a web of spiders, you will need Halloween webbing, black cardstock, and tape. Place the webbing around your front door and secure it with tape. Create a template of a spider and use it to trace over the black cardstock. Complete your spider web with cut-out spiders and tape them in the web.
To create your flock of bats, you will first need a bat template. You can use a premade template or create your own. Trace your bat template over black cardstock and cut out as many bats as you would like. Next, poke a hole at the bottom of the bats’ bodies. Thread fishing line through these holes and hang them from your porch overhang or nearby tree limbs.
4. Skeletons
Unlike other decorations, you can’t easily make skeletons, but you can buy them at almost any store with Halloween decorations.
Skeletons can spark all kinds of feelings. You can seat them innocently with a pumpkin in their lap or position them in a more frightening pose near your front entryway. Whatever mood you try to set with your decorations, a skeleton can help create the spooky atmosphere you want.
5. Witches
Witch-themed decorations are a Halloween favorite. With their pointy black hats, broomsticks, and cauldrons, witches can be incorporated into your Halloween decorations with blow-ups, window silhouettes, and other creative designs.
For an easy witch silhouette, create a large witch template that can fit on your window. Trace it over black cardstock and cut it out. Tape the cutout on your window. Put a light behind your witch cutout to create a clear witch silhouette.
6. Ghosts
Ghosts are one of the easiest Halloween decorations to make. All you need is an old white sheet, a balloon, and a black marker. Fold a sheet diagonally across itself and draw two big black eyes in the middle of the sheet towards the top. Put a balloon underneath the sheet and cut a small hole in the top of your sheet to string up your balloon ghost to a tree or from your porch overhang.
7. Graves and Headstones
Greet visitors to your home with eerie tombstones in your front yard or porch. These are very easy to construct and make a great addition to your other outdoor decorations. To make these tombstones, you’ll need foam insulation, stone-colored paint, black paint, a paintbrush, and a utility knife.
With your utility knife, cut the foam insulation into the shape of a tombstone. After you cut the foam, carve the letters into your tombstone and paint the letters with your black paint. Finally, paint the rest of your tombstone with your stone-colored paint and prop it up.
Get Creative With Halloween Decorations
Halloween is a great time to put your imagination to work and use your doors and windows to transform your home into a spooky haunt. With your creativity and these decoration ideas, your Halloween scene will be the talk of the neighborhood.
Alexandra 10/28/2015