Halloween Craft Supplies: A Short Starter List

A long shopping list is the fastest way to talk yourself out of making anything. The truth is that a small set of Halloween craft supplies, most of them ordinary and inexpensive, covers nearly every project on DIY Halloween Decorations.

This list is sorted by priority: what to pick up first, what can wait until a project asks for it, and what you can borrow from your own kitchen drawer or recycling bin. A table near the end gives a substitute for each item in case you cannot find the exact thing.

The Core Kit at a Glance

Almost everything falls into three groups: flat materials you cut, tools that cut and join, and supplies that hang the finished piece. If you have something from each group, you can make a project today.

Buy First: The Everyday Essentials

These are the supplies you will reach for in project after project. Start here.

• Cardstock in black, orange and white. Heavier than printer paper, so shapes hold their edge and do not curl on the wall. Black gets used fastest, so buy more of it than the other two.
• Sharp scissors. One medium pair for general cutting. If you plan to work with felt, keep a second pair just for fabric, because paper dulls blades quickly.
• A pencil and a white pencil or chalk marker. Ordinary pencil disappears on black cardstock; a light-colored one does not.
• Craft glue. A white glue that dries clear handles paper, felt and light embellishments.
• Twine. Natural jute or cotton twine strings garlands, wraps pumpkins, ties bows and makes hanging loops.
• Removable adhesive putty and removable adhesive hooks. Putty holds paper shapes on walls; hooks carry garlands and light wreaths. Check the weight rating on the pack and test on a hidden spot first.

With only these six, you can make bat walls, paper garlands, window shapes and simple banners. Clean cutting matters more than any tool you could add, and the guide on how to cut clean Halloween shapes walks through drawing your own templates and getting smooth curves.

Buy Next: When a Project Calls for It

Hold off on these until you have a specific make in mind. They open up more projects, but none is needed on day one.

• Felt sheets. Black, orange, white and one accent color. Felt does not fray, so cut edges stay neat without sewing, and the pieces store flat for next year.
• Acrylic paint and brushes. Small pots of black, white and orange, plus one flat brush about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and one fine round brush for details.
• A low-temp glue gun. Faster than craft glue for wreaths, cheesecloth and anything three-dimensional. It is an adult tool: the tip and the glue are hot enough to hurt, even on the low setting.
• Decoupage glue. For sticking tissue or paper to jars and sealing the surface.
• Battery tea lights. The flameless glow inside jar lanterns, paper luminaries and tabletop displays.

Lighting deserves a little thought before you buy, since color temperature, flicker and battery type all change how a display looks after dark. The guide to battery and LED lights for Halloween decor compares the common types.

Reuse from Home: Free Supplies

A good share of a craft kit is already in the house. Before you shop, look for:

• Clean glass jars with the labels soaked off, for lanterns and displays. Decorated jars are for decoration only.
• Cereal boxes and shipping cardboard for sturdy, reusable templates.
• Old newspaper or a flattened box to protect the table when painting or gluing.
• Clothespins and binder clips to hold glued pieces while they dry.
• Clear tape and a hole punch from the desk drawer.
• Fabric scraps, ribbon ends and stray buttons for bows and small details.

Supplies, Uses and Substitutes

If a shop is out of something, or you would rather use what you have, most supplies have a workable stand-in.

Supply	Used for	Substitute
Black cardstock	Bats, silhouettes, garlands	Construction paper, or a cereal box painted black
Felt sheets	Garlands, wreath shapes, pumpkin faces	Craft foam or sturdy fabric scraps
Craft glue	Paper and felt joins	Glue stick for paper; double-sided tape for felt
Low-temp glue gun	Wreaths, bulky pieces	Thick craft glue and clothespins, with longer drying
Twine	Stringing, wrapping, hanging loops	Yarn, ribbon or kitchen string
Removable adhesive hooks	Hanging garlands and wreaths	Ribbon tied over a door or around a shelf bracket
Battery tea lights	Glow in jars and luminaries	A short string of battery LED lights

A substitute rarely behaves exactly like the original. Construction paper fades and curls sooner than cardstock, and a glue stick will not hold felt for long, so test on a scrap before you commit.

What You Can Skip for Now

Craft aisles are full of tempting extras. A die-cutting machine, specialty punches, glitter in ten shades and pre-cut shape packs are all pleasant to have, but none of them makes a first project better. Scissors and a hand-drawn template do the same job, and you learn more doing it.

Storing Your Kit Between Projects

One lidded box about the size of a shoebox holds the whole starter kit. Keeping it together means a project can start in a couple of minutes, which matters more than it sounds when you only have a spare half hour.

• Store cardstock and felt flat or loosely rolled so they do not crease.
• Stand glue bottles upright and wipe the nozzles before closing them.
• Wash brushes straight after use and dry them with the bristles pointing up.
• Keep a small envelope of your favorite templates in the box.
• Switch battery lights off before storing, and remove the batteries at the end of the season.

Putting the Kit to Work

Supplies only earn their place once you use them. If you are not sure which project to try first, the guide to easy Halloween decorations for beginners pairs starter makes with the time and mess you can spare, and nearly all of them need nothing beyond the buy-first list above.