About
DIY Halloween Decorations is a free resource for handmade Halloween decor. The guides are written for people starting with scissors, glue and a few sheets of paper or felt, and for anyone who would rather make a decoration than buy one.
What the site covers
- Easy Halloween decorations: quick first projects such as paper bats, cheesecloth ghosts, jar lanterns and yarn webs.
- Pumpkin decorations: no-carve ideas, painted patterns, paper mache and fabric pumpkins, and ways to display them.
- Halloween wreaths: bases, wiring and layout, then ribbon, spider web and fall leaf designs.
- Spooky home decor: mantels, entryways, window silhouettes and decorated jars for a shelf.
- Halloween garlands: felt and paper garlands and fabric banners.
- Halloween party decor: table settings, centerpieces, paper fans and a photo backdrop.
- Halloween craft techniques: a short supplies list, cutting clean shapes and choosing battery lights.
- Outdoor Halloween decor: beginner pieces for a porch or yard.
If you are new, the best place to begin is Easy Halloween Decorations for Beginners, followed by the starter list of craft supplies and the no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas. The full list of guides is on the Tutorials page.
How the guides are written
Each guide covers one project, one styling idea or one skill. Materials are described by type, not by brand, so you can use what you already own or what your local craft store carries. Sizes are given in inches or feet with metric equivalents, and both sizes and times are approximate: paper weights, fabrics, glue and drying conditions all vary.
The designs are original and generic. They use the shared shapes of the season, such as pumpkins, sheet ghosts, bats, black cats, spiders, webs, moons and bare trees, and they never recreate characters from films, TV shows, books or games.
The illustrations on this site are simplified drawings made for the site. They show the structure of a project and the order of its steps. They are not photographs, and a finished piece made by hand will look a little different from the drawing.
We do not publish invented reviews, ratings or testimonials, and we make no promises about how long a decoration or a real pumpkin will last. Where a guide refers to background information, it links to the source.
Safety approach
- Flameless lighting only. Every lit project uses battery or solar LED lights. Paper, fabric, dried leaves and branches are never paired with an open flame.
- No mains-powered outdoor instructions. Outdoor lighting on this site is solar or battery powered.
- Nothing installed at height. Decorations are placed where you can reach them from the ground.
- Sharp tools and glue guns are for adults. Craft knives, sharp scissors and glue guns should be handled by an adult, and small parts kept away from young children and pets.
- Decoration only. Decorated jars and painted pumpkins are for display. They are not for food or drink.
Corrections and suggestions
If a step is unclear, a measurement looks wrong or a link is broken, please tell us through the Contact page. Clear instructions matter more to us than anything else on the site, and corrections are always welcome.