Creating your own Haunted House is definitely a Halloween rite of passage! From little kids to teens to fully grown adults, a lot of people really enjoy haunted houses this time of the year.
There are so many ways you can design your haunted house. Of course, if you're hoping to keep it family-friendly, you'll probably end up skewing more cute than scary.
These 3 DIY Halloween decorations will make your haunted house the talk of the season (and they won't scare away your kids)!
DIY Cheesecloth Ghost
This cheesecloth ghost is a Halloween classic and definitely a must-have in any haunted house! It's also really easy to make.
Here's what you need:
- a wire coat hanger
- four strips of cheesecloth
- a mason jar
- an orange (or round object)
- a piece of black felt
- scissors
- water
- glue or Modge Podge
- a mixing bowl
How to make a DIY Cheesecloth Ghost:
- Bend the "arms" of your metal hanger so that they stick out to the side — imagine you are making shoulders
- Place your hanger hook-down into the mason jar and fold your coat hangers up at the midpoint on each "arm"
- Mix 1 part water to 2 parts glue or Modge Podge in your mixing bowl
- Dip your cheesecloth into the mixture and lightly roll it around (note: it is probably a good idea to double up on strips of cheesecloth to make sure it's thick enough)
- Drape two pieces of cheesecloth over your pumpkin vertically, and then two more horizontally over the arms (you are essentially making a lowercase "t" shape)
- Let your ghost dry for 24 hours
- Gently remove your cheesecloth ghost from the coat hanger
- Cut out two eyes and a scary mouth from your black felt and attach it to the ghost's face
- That's it! You're finished.
DIY Eyeball Wreath
This is definitely a fun Halloween decoration that is both spooky and cute!
Here's what you need:
- a metal wreath frame
- hot glue and hot glue gun
- ping pong balls
- googly eyes
- How to make a DIY eyeball wreath:
- Lay down your metal wreath frame
- Apply hot glue to the frame, popping a ping pong ball on each spot as you go
- Fill the entire frame with ping pong balls (tip: you can also glue the balls to one another to add layers)
- Add a drop of hot glue to each ball, and put a googly eye on top
- Once it's all dried, you're finished! Time to hang it up.
DIY Yarn Pumpkin
This DIY pumpkin is super cute and quite easy to make, and you don't even really need that much.
Here's what you need:
- orange yarn cut into 20" long strings
- one green pipe cleaner per pumpkin
- a brown pipe cleaner
- a mixing bowl
- water
- school glue
- one sheet of black construction paper
- scissors
- one balloon per pumpkin
- hot glue and hot glue gun
How to make a DIY yarn pumpkin:
- Add 1 part water and 1 part glue to your bowl and mix it together
- Toss your string of yarn into the mixture and make sure it's coated with the mixture
- Blow up your balloon about half full
- Wrap your balloon with the yarn
- Let everything dry for 24 hours
- Once it's dry, gently separate the yarn from the balloon by pushing down on the balloon
- Pop your balloon and pull it out
- Wrap your green pipe cleaner around a pencil to get a cute curly shape
- Wrap the brown pipe cleaner around the middle of your curly green pipe cleaner and trim it as needed
- Use the hot glue to attach the green and brown stem to the top of your pumpkin
- Cut out eyes and a mouth for your pumpkin and glue it on
- You're finished! How cute is that?
