Have a KILLER Halloween for around $20

By Rebecca Cranwell

We’ve all seen that mom down the street with her perfectly planned seasonal decorations. Every Halloween the hussy has the plumpest pumpkins on the block, the creepiest cobwebs, and her sugar cookies are simply to die for. It’s infuriating, but don’t waste valuable time being jealous of her craftiness—you too can host one of the spookiest houses on the block, have a blast decorating with your children, and do it all for about $20 (depending on the price and quantity of pumpkins you use).

If you aren’t already completely addicted to Pinterest.com, check it out. Pinterest features tons of creative ideas from ridiculously crafty people. It is a great way to share ideas, and coax your own creativity out of that dark corner where it’s been hiding.

Most of your necessities are probably lying around the house already, but for everything else, head to your local dollar store.

1. Milk jug lanterns are perfect for lining your walkway to light the way for trick or treaters. This adorable idea I found on Pinterest is what sparked my enthusiasm to decorate, your inspiration is just a click away.
   
   What you need:
   • Clean, empty milk jugs
   • Permanent markers
   • Battery powered Christmas lights (white will produce the cleanest light)
   What to do:
   • Be sure your milk jugs have been washed out properly, or you’ll be in for a smelly treat.
   • Draw jack-o-lantern faces on the jugs
   • Feed Christmas lights into the jug through the opening. If your battery pack won’t fit—cut the top off of the milk jug.
2. Jack-o-lanterns: it’s just not Halloween unless you have a pumpkin on your porch, but feel free to step out of the typical pumpkin patch. If you’re decorating with small children, I recommend painting pumpkins or buying a felt decorating kit, so you don’t get pumpkin-carving-anxiety.
   
   What you need:
   • Pumpkins
   • Carving knives (optional)
   • Paint
   • Drill (optional)
   • Felt decorating kit (found at dollar store)
   • Glue
   What to do:
   • Carve your pumpkin with knives, just like when you were a kid.
   • Paint funny faces and Halloween scenes directly on your pumpkin.
   • Drill—a drill makes an excellent pumpkin carving tool. You can drill perfect polka dots for a chic jack-o-lantern. See these awesome pumpkins.
   • Felt decorating kit—great for small kids, our felt kit only cost a dollar and was tons of fun.
3. Monsters in the bushes. There is nothing creepier than being watched—particularly by a pair of glowing eyes staring at you from the bushes.
   
   What you need:
   • Glow sticks
   • Toilet paper or paper towel cardboard tubes
   • Scissors
   What to do:
   • Cut eyes into the cardboard tubes
   • Crack glow sticks, to make them glow
   • Insert glow sticks into tubes to make the eyes glow
   • Place them all over your yard—in trees and bushes, or nestled in the shadows on the porch
     
4. Spooky windows will give trick or treaters the willies and probably cause a few cars to slow down for a glance at your haunted house.
   
   What you need:
   • Tissue paper (preferably a lighter color that light can shine through)
   • Black, or dark construction paper or punch-out shapes
   • Scissors
   • Tape
   What to do:
   • Use the construction paper to cut out your favorite Halloween shapes (pumpkins, ghosts, black cats, spooky hand prints), or buy punch out shapes—we found some cute and cheap ones at the store.
   • Tape the shapes to windows and doors.
   • Cover the entire window with the tissue paper.
   • Turn on the lights, go outside and see how spook-tacular your windows look.
5. Porch lights are just as useful for safety as for decoration. You probably have some Christmas lights stashed somewhere at home. Grab some Halloween cups from a dollar store and repurpose your Christmas lights to be Halloween lanterns.
   
   What you need:
   • Christmas lights, white or multi-color - whatever you have handy
     
   • Halloween cups (lighter colored cups work best)
   • Scissors
   What to do:
   • Punch holes in the bottoms of the cups with scissors
   • Push one Christmas light through the bottom of each cup (we put a cup on every third light)
   • String around your porch, patio, or walkway

These are just a few ideas we found online, and a few we made up on our own. Once you know what materials you have to work with at home, and you gather a few basic ideas of what you want your home to look like—take a $20 bill to the dollar store and let your creative juices flow. You’ll be surprised what all you come up with; once you get on a creative roll, great ideas seem to just pop out of nowhere.

Do you knock Halloween decorating out of the park every year? Share your supernatural secrets in the comments section below. We love new ideas.

Everyone have a safe and fun-filled Halloween!