Cheap and Easy Halloween Decoration Ideas

These cheap & easy Halloween decoration ideas are perfect for the seasonal decorator on a budget, and most of them can be made with Dollar Store materials!

Cheap and Easy Halloween Decoration Ideas

Black Cat-O-Lanterns

We love these Cat-O-Lanterns! This is one of the most original carved-pumpkin projects we’ve seen in a while, and if you’re a cat person, this one’s for you! Heck, even if you’re not a cat person, this is a great little project. Just look at those little jerks – judging you with their piercing orange eyes just like real cats! 😆

You can find the tutorial for these awesome black Cat-O-Lanterns here.

Hanging Cage Halloween Prop

We love cheap and easy Dollar Store Halloween projects. Why spend a ton of money on something that you’ll only use a few weeks each year? This hanging cage Halloween prop only cost us a few dollars to make a couple of years ago, and it’s now hanging for its third Halloween and still going strong! This is one of our favorites – both the project and the post – so if you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, we encourage you to do it now. You’ll be introduced to our favorite Halloween rascals – Skully and Ratface – two hapless schmucks who wound up on the wrong side of the law and now spend their days telling bad jokes and bitching at each other!

You can find the tutorial for the Hanging Cage Halloween Prop here.

Skull Sunflowers

We were blown away when we stumbled upon some pictures of these incredible skull sunflowers in a Facebook group named “Halloween DIY Projects”! Turns out they were made by a Chicago artist/brewmaster (yep, he owns a brewery) named Beejay Oslon. When he’s not busy brewing up batches of delicious craft beers, he’s making awesome art like the skullflowers below!

Looking at his amazing creation, you may think these Halloween decorations would be expensive or beyond your skill level, but they’re really quite easy. I’ll give you the broad strokes, and you can take it from there.

You’ll need some large fake sunflowers (or any other large flower of your choice). Hobby Lobby and Michaels are your best bets for this.

Plastic skulls can be found almost everywhere, from Home Depot to the Dollar Store. Just make sure they’ll fit in the flowers. No need to get fancy ones, as you can “age” them yourself with shoe polish, stain or paint.

After cutting away the back of the skull, hot glue some dried spanish moss (you can find it at the dollar store, Michaels, or Amazon) around the cut edge of the skull, then hot glue the skull/moss to the sunflower. The moss not only conceals the cut edge when you glue the skull to the flower, but it adds a bit of creepy texture to the skullfower as well.

For the smaller flowers, Beejay removed the lower jaws of the skulls. I love that little touch, and I think the whole bouquet looks so much better with that little variation thrown in the mix.

If you’d rather have a smaller version of these skull sunflowers, you can always use fall flower picks and smaller skulls from the Dollar Store.

DIY Carnivorous Plants

Om nom nom nom! Here’s another super cheap and easy Halloween decoration idea! To make these carnivorous plants, you’ll need a few Dollar Store Styrofoam balls, a bit of green Dollar Store craft paint and a few toothpicks. How easy is that? I love that they’re staged with a corkscrew rush – I can’t think of a more perfect plant to complement those little green monsters!

You can find the tutorial for these creepy little carnivorous plants here.

DIY Witch Legs (Grandin Road Inspired)

It’s Halloween – do you think you’ll only be seeing creepy little carnivorous plants or skull sunflowers planted in pots?

Of course not!

I’m married to the Wickedly Fun Witch of the Patch, and she’s been dying to have some potted witch legs after ogling them in the Grandin Road catalog.

Well, the witch got her wish this year, and now we have our very own DIY witch legs, and I have to say, I think they look even better than Grandin’s!

You can find the tutorial for the DIY Witch Legs here.

Trick or Treat Pumpkin Greeting

Here’s a great way to greet your trick-or-treaters!

After hollowing the pumpkins, lightly pencil the letters of your greeting. Then, using a drill bore holes in the pumpkins to form the letters.

To illuminate the greeting you can either use a string of Christmas lights (just put a handful of lights in each pumpkin) or led candles. If you’re using Christmas lights, make sure to unscrew any exposed bulbs where the light string runs between pumpkins or between rows.

Simple and gorgeous, especially in the setting below. Of course, ravens and cornstalks make pretty much everything better when it comes to Halloween decor!

Pumpkin Candy Holder

Speaking of carved pumpkins, we love with this pumpkin candy holder from Navage Patch reader, Wendy Gebhardt! It’s got creep, it’s got class, and the kiddos will love sticking their little hands in its mouth to fish out their goodies!

To make this cheap and easy halloween decoration, simply cut a funkin in half, then age the surface with dark brown wax or brown glaze. Next, carve a creepy Jack-O-Lantern face and add some rusty metal leaves and top it with a painted pumpkin stem. Hot glue it to a thrift store frame and voila!

Leave the candy out, and this would be an awesome Halloween wall decoration!

Easy Lighted Hanging Ghosts (A Dollar Store DIY)

If you’re not into creepy, then these cute lighted hanging ghosts are for you. This is another cheap and easy Halloween decoration that can be made with all Dollar Store materials—perfect outdoors or inside your home!

Every time Handan sees these guys, she throws her hands in the air and goes, “WOOOOooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOO!”

You can find the tutorial for these Easy Lighted Hanging Ghosts here, and you can learn why my babes has been acting like a ghost lately.

Spirit Jugs

If you’d rather have your ghoulish ghosts light a path for your trick-or-treaters rather than float in your front yard, then you may want to try this cheap and easy spirit jugs Halloween project. Use a Sharpie to draw fun faces on some plastic gallon jugs, cut a hole in the backs of the jugs and insert string lights into the holes. It is as easy as that!

Easy Halloween Coach Lights

Speaking of cheap and easy Halloween decorations, it’s not gonna get any cheaper and easier than this! Using dollar store Jack-O-Lantern candy buckets, you can make some brilliant Halloween porch lights! No need for my yapping on this one—the following pictures explain it all!

Skeleton Entryway Pots

Here’s another great way to greet your trick-or-treaters and another awesome cheap and easy dollar store Halloween decoration!

I’m a sucker for ravens, crows and all birds black-of-feather, so this one really speaks to me.

You can find the tutorial for these awesome Skeleton Entryway Pots here.

The 3B Porch – Black Birds and Branches

Speaking of black-feathered birds – this front porch is AWESOME!! This is what our neighborhood looks like on any given day – we’ve got ravens and crows galore up on our hilltop. Oh how I wish they’d hang out on our front portico in October! But hey, if you can’t have the real deal (and honestly, who wants all that bird crap on their porch), then these black birds and branches are just the thing to add some spooky atmosphere to your entryway!

Floating Witch Hat Luminaries

‘Tis the Season of the Witch, and my babes loves it! She really loves all things witchy! If our portico ceiling weren’t so absurdly high (seriously, if the light up there ever goes out, I’m going to need some mountaineering gear to change it), I’d definitely make these floating witch hats for her. I especially love how they look at night.

You can find the tutorial for the Floating Witch Hat Luminaries here.

DIY Witch Hat

As I mentioned, my babes has a thing for witches (if you hadn’t figured it out already) and she told me that this witch hat “speaks to all her senses.” So guess what we may or may not be making next year! (hint hint)

Tomato Cage Witch Hat

If you want an easier 10-minute version of the witch hat shown above, then this jumbo witch hat made from a tomato cage and a black contractor garbage bag is perfect for you! Can you guess what the brim is made of? No? Well, hop over to Smart School House and check out the tutorial for this easy Tomato Cage Witch Hat.

Milk Jug and Tomato Cage Witch

I told you Handan was into witches!

So not only can you use tomato cages and contractor bags to make a witch hat, but you can also use them to make the whole damn witch!

You can find the tutorial for the Milk Jug & Tomato Cage Witch here.

Hey, when did my wife find the time to pose for this photo?

Oh crap. She heard me.

RUN!

DIY 3 Witches Outdoor Halloween Decoration

Again with the witches!

I wonder if I should be worried. I mean, I recently found an eye of newt in my stew and batwing powder on a chicken wing.

Think it means anything?

Nah, I’m sure I’m good.

Right??

Anyway, there’s no hiding Handan’s love of Grandin Road Halloween decorations, but rather than forking over our paychecks, we always try to find a way to DIY them.

And it seems that we’re not the only ones! Look at these 3 Witches made by Scratch and Stitch—simple and perfect, cheap and easy outdoor Halloween decoration!

You can find the tutorial for the DIY 3 Witches Outdoor Halloween Decoration here.

Easy Halloween Scarecrow

Speaking of cheap and easy outdoor Halloween decorations, here’s another great one. There’s no tutorial, but it’s pretty easy to see how they made it. Hammer a stake into the ground, add 2 small witch-broom arms, hang a fringed black cloth or black contractor bag from the brooms and plop a creepy carved pumpkin on top. Presto! A cheap and easy Halloween scarecrow!

(That fringed cloth makes the whole thing creepier, wouldn’t you agree?)

DIY Fringed Trash Bag Curtains

Speaking of fringed, trash bags or plastic sheeting can help add a little creep to any room in the house!

This is about as cheap and easy as Halloween decorations get!

Graveyard Boober

If you have to rake leaves, you may as well make it fun!

Hey, how do skeletons get around the graveyard?

They request a ride from Boober on their skell phone, of course!

I hear groaning.

Must be a ghost!

Bubble Bath Bones

Why did the skeleton take a warm bubble bath?

He was chilled to the bone!

Oh boy, here we go! These jokes are getting as bad as Skully’s, and that’s saying something!

Anyway, corny jokes aside, to make this cheap and easy Halloween decoration, all you’ll need is a plastic caldron or a black plastic tub from the dollar store, fiber fill, clear plastic ornaments (also dollar store), and of course a skeleton!

We hope you enjoyed our little roundup of the best cheap and easy Halloween decorations!

Which ones did you like best?

Will you be making any of these this year?

Let us know in the comments!