DIY Floating Glowing Ghosts

These floating glowing ghosts are a fun and creepy Halloween DIY that have a big impact for small price. Hang some this year for a spooky delight!

When it comes to DIY Halloween decorations (or pretty much DIY anything for that matter), The Shrimp and I often find ourselves on opposite sides of the complication spectrum. Though her brain is a wire-tangled supercomputer fueled by caffeine and cackling, she has a knack for coming up with ridiculously simple projects and crafts that only look like they’re hard because they’re so damn fabulous.

I, on the other ham-fisted hand, have a brain like a forgotten frontier town on a windy day with a solitary tumbleweed bouncing lazily down an empty dirt road. Yet despite my apparent intellectual embargo, the spoonful of oatmeal between my ears that masquerades as a brain continually dreams up the most convoluted Rube Goldberg machines whenever it wades into the waters of project planning.

Curious that so much complication can come from so much complacency.

It should come as no surprise then that this particular cheap-n-easy Halloween gem came from the brain of my babes and not The Infernal Walnut.

So if you’re in the market for some last-minute Halloween decorations that’ll pack a punch to the neighborhood, but not your wallet, these floating mask ghosts are for you!

I made these two years ago, and they were a great addition to our first Florida Halloween (not including Jacksonville). Unfortunately, I never took pictures with anything other than my phone, so I don’t have my usual glory shots. Please forgive their absence, but I think you’ll like how they turned out nevertheless!

DIY Floating Glowing Ghosts VIDEO Tutorial

Watch our short and fun video below for an overview of our floating ghosts before you read the detailed step-by-step tutorial.

DIY Floating Glowing Ghosts Tutorial

The foundation of these glowing beauties is the humble Dollar Tree generic mask – the kind favored by Hollywood slashers and a peculiar guitar shredder named Buckethead.

The only other material (besides the light) is equally-humble cheesecloth.

I determined how long I wanted the ghost’s dangly bits to be – 3 to 4 feet is a good length, but you can go however long or short you like. I folded the cloth up as shown below leaving some unfolded above.

Next I cut the folded part into strips and then unfurled and untangled the cuts.

I pinched a corner of the cheesecloth up top and hot glued it about where an ear might be on the mask.

Then I worked my way around from ear to ear, bunching and gluing the cheesecloth to the mask.

Next I hot glued the tea light onto the inner chin.

To hang this guy, I ran a fishing line through the top holes – these are different than the holes where the headstrap was located.

And that’s all there is to it!

Out in the yard, I suspended the ghosts between two tall points.

I attached a few to our stone pillars.