If you have ghosts and ghouls coming to play on October’s final day, it’s time to decorate! Halloween house decor is the most fun when you embrace the season, whether you want to transform your space into a spooky haunted house or prefer a natural harvest theme.
Discover six easy DIY Halloween house decor ideas to help you get in the spirit. We’ve included something for everyone so you can prepare your house for a very happy Halloween.
6 Halloween house decor ideas for every home
It’s easy to bring the season’s vibes into your home with these fun Halloween house decor ideas. Try combining your favorites to create something as unique as you are. And don’t worry, it’s nearly impossible to go overboard with Halloween decorations.
To help you determine how far you want to take your monster makeover, we’ve included a “fright level” with each idea and several optional add-ons for Halloween enthusiasts. Soon, you’ll be ready to head to the nearest Halloween prop store and stock up on spooky (and even sophisticated) must-haves.
1. Bring on the spiders
Fright level: Medium
If you want your Halloween house decor to be a little icky, spiders and creepy crawlies will do the trick. Whether you’re just decorating the entryway or the entire house, this idea is easy to pull off.
All you need is a bag of stretchy faux spider webs, clear hooks or stick pins, and maybe a handful of toy spiders. And if you can’t find fake spiderwebs, cotton balls make a good substitute.
Using hooks or stick pins, hang the webs in corners, doorways, nooks, closets, and windows. Here are some more ideas:
- Frightful furniture: Try stretching your spider webs across a few pieces of furniture, like the backs of your dining chairs or the corners of your entertainment center.
- Spiders everywhere: If cobwebs aren’t creepy enough, add cleverly-hidden fake spiders for a realistic effect.
- Bloody fun: For bonus fright points, smear fake blood or red paint on some webbing before hanging it (be sure to let the blood dry first).
- Outdoor decor: Hang spider webs around your front door, windows, and entryway for easy outdoor Halloween decorations. You can also stretch them across trees, bushes, plants, and carved pumpkins.
- Creepy crawlies: Up the creep factor with props like centipedes, cockroaches, ants, flies, and scorpions around or in some of your cobweb decorations.
2. Brighten up the season
Fright level: Low
If you prefer a more light-hearted take on the spooky holiday, brighten the season with lights and colorful props. Spook-free Halloween house decor is a fun way to embrace the season with little ones and family, and it’s anything but boring.
Simply add string lights or light-up Halloween decorations around your home. The possibilities are endless, so don’t be afraid to browse your local home decor or Halloween prop shop to find your favorites. Here are some ideas:
- Halloween pumpkins: Whether you carve your own pumpkins, decorate with seasonal gourds, or use plastic jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins look beautiful with lights. Battery-operated candles, string lights, glow-in-the-dark cut-outs, and light-up inflatables can brighten your home inside and out.
- Candlelight: Candles are a bit eerie with their flickering glow and make the perfect indoor Halloween decorations. Set up window, mantle, and tabletop arrangements with your favorite candles, and consider some themed candle holders or sconces for extra ambiance.
- In the dark of night: For a spookier take on this idea, light up your Halloween house decor with glow-in-the-dark eyes, ghosts, and cauldrons. If you have decorations already, you can paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint instead of buying new ones.
3. Embrace the macabre
Fright level: High
Halloween brings out the macabre in many of us, so why not embrace it this season? It’s up to you to decide how eerie you’d like your Halloween house decor to be, and the options are nearly endless. Here are some ideas:
- Stick-on decals: Most Halloween prop stores sell stick-on decals that look like bloody splatters, hand prints, and other spooky motifs. Use these on your windows, stairs, doors, and anywhere else that could use a scary vibe.
- Creepy candles: To lower the fear factor, try “bloody” candles around your windows and front door decorations. Melt red wax around the edges and on top of white candles, allowing it to drip down the sides. You can also use red wax for bloody pumpkins, sidewalks, windows, mirrors, and the rims of drinking glasses — just be sure the wax won’t ruin the surface!
- Bloody knives: If you can find prop knives, axes, and cleavers at your Halloween store, try splattering and smearing them with red paint. Place them strategically around your house and yard. For example, you might hang them from a clothesline outside, stick a few bloody knives in the ground, or make a horror-style centerpiece for your table.
- Shivering sheets: Splatter and smear red paint on some white sheets or strips of fabric and hang them around your home and yard. This is an excellent option if you don’t want to risk ruining any surfaces with fake blood or wax. Alternatively, wrap the bloody fabric around a life-size skeleton or moving animatronic in your yard to greet passing trick-or-treaters.
4. Celebrate the elegance of the harvest
Fright level: Low
If you’re more into the harvest season side of Halloween, you might prefer elegant decorations. Most of these ideas are also perfect for fall decor, so you can decide just how “Halloween” you want things to be. Here are some ideas:
- Straw bales: Buy some straw bales and stack them in your entryway, or place them in your yard. Then, use them as a gathering point for other pieces, like seasonal gourds, light-up pumpkin decor, lanterns, and Halloween lights.
- Halloween wreath: Wreaths are a great way to keep your Halloween decor low-key. You can make your own fake leaves, gauze, or black and orange ribbon wrapped around a wreath frame from your local craft store. Or if you don’t have time for a DIY project, check your local Halloween store or home decor shop for something pre-made.
- Scarecrows: There’s something fun about seeing scarecrows in the yard. Whether you make a DIY scarecrow or buy one from the store, they’re easy to place around your yard for a seasonal vibe. Try sticking one in a straw bale by your front door. And if you’d like to step up the fright factor, consider adding a bit of fake blood splatter or wrapping the scarecrows with a bit of gauze.
- Gourds everywhere: Fall brings out seasonal gourds that you can find at most grocery stores. Use them as end table decor, arrange them on your porch, or place them in the window alongside candles. If you don’t want to deal with actual pumpkins that’ll eventually go bad, use faux versions from your local prop store.
5. Create a welcoming space for trick-or-treaters
Fright level: Medium
Some neighborhoods get a lot of trick-or-treaters, and good decorations make your yard welcoming to the night’s ghouls, ghosts, vampires, and princesses. It’s up to you how spooky to make it, but you can usually skip decorating inside your house for this one.
If you plan to open the door to hand out candy (instead of leaving a bowl outside), consider picking a Halloween costume that fits the theme of your decor. And don’t forget to make the walk through your yard spooky. Here are some ideas:
- Graveyard shift: Line your walkway with tombstone and skeleton Halloween decorations so the little ones feel like they’re walking through a graveyard. For an extra scream factor, consider placing a life-size reaper or ghost by the doorway.
- Special effects: Frightful music, strobe lights, fog machines, and motion-activated animatronics are an excellent way to create an immersive ambiance for trick-or-treaters. Pair them with pumpkins, tombstones, and cobwebs for an extra creepy vibe.
- Haunted archway: An arched trellis or garden archway can be super scary on Halloween night. Try hanging bloody gauze, spiderwebs, fake knives, or skeleton hands that trick-or-treaters have to pass through to reach your door.
6. Set the scene with an epic Halloween party
Fright level: Low
If you’re hosting a monster’s ball or kid’s Halloween party, add fun party decorations to your Halloween house decor. Depending on the age of your guests, you’ll want to tone down (or amp up) the fear factor. The same is true for the vibe of your party — if it’s meant to be a bit terrifying, try adding in some of the scarier ideas from our list.
Here are a few more options:
- Fun and simple: Hosting a party takes work, and there’s no shame in simple decorations. Try wall decor like fake bats or ghoulish welcome signs, and toss some snacks in a creepy trick-or-treat bowl.
- Foggy fun: A fog machine is a great way to create a spooky scene. You could also try some dry ice in a punch bowl for a haunted drink. Fog machines work well with any of the other ideas on this list too.
- Themed excitement: Themed parties are always fun. For example, you could go the Disney route with “The Nightmare Before Christmas” or “The Haunted Mansion” decorations. Or you might go with a witchy theme, adding broomsticks and cauldrons throughout your home and maybe some witch feet sticking up from the ground in your yard.
- Sensory experience: A sensory experience isn’t really Halloween house decor, but it can certainly make a kids’ party more frightfully fun. Fill bowls with peeled grapes (eyeballs), cooked pasta (worms), oily banana peel chunks (tongues), and dried corn silk (hair). You can place blindfolds on the kids as they try feeling their way through the experience, or you can put the bowls in a box with hand-sized holes. Either way, it’ll add to the creepy ambiance.
Give ’em pumpkin to talk about
We hope these ideas have inspired you to make your Halloween house decor stand out this year. Whether you’re going for something scary or fun, embrace the season and don’t hold back. And if you have black furniture, now’s the time to use it!
Are you missing some essential furniture to complete your Halloween house decor? Head to Coaster Furniture to find what you need, and use our store locator to find a convenient retail location near you.