When you’re on a budget, celebratory occasions can be difficult to fund, let alone when they’re just a few months before Christmas. Halloween is a time of year that’s often dreaded by parents doing their best to save up for Santa’s loot, but of course, you don’t want to disappoint the kids by not getting into the spirit of the occasion. Decorations bought from the store can be extortionately priced, so we’ve put together a guide to creating your very own haunted Halloween house on a budget with a few clever DIY projects.
Spooky Shadow Puppets
Encourage a bit of family fun by getting the kids together to make your own Halloween shadow puppets. All you’ll need is some paper, sticky tape, a packet of Sharpies and some lolly sticks or straws. You could create some card templates using old cereal boxes for younger kids to draw around, including bats, witches and pumpkins. Once the shapes have been cut out, stick them to the tip of the lolly sticks or straws to create a handle and you’ll be left with Halloween toys that will provide hours of entertainment.
Horrifying Halloween Mobile
Whilst you’re creating your shadow puppets, make a few extra spooky silhouettes for a hanging Halloween mobile to place in the entryway. Take a small fallen branch from the garden or your local park and spray paint it black. Next, attach a piece of string and hang it from a light fitting or drill it to a beam using power tools from somewhere like Elcocks.
Then, make small holes in the top of your paper bats, witches and pumpkins and thread some string through them. Tie them sporadically onto your branch to create a horrifying Halloween mobile like this one. If you wanted to go the extra mile, you could spray your paper figures with a glow-in-the-dark paint to make them look extra spooky when the lights are switched off.
Ghoulish Garden Ghosts
If you want to try something that will shock anybody that enters your home at Halloween, then stock up on chicken wire and glow-in-the-dark spray paint and create your very own garden ghosts. Mould the chicken wire into human-like shapes and spray paint them so they glow in the dark. Place them in the garden and turn off any outdoor lights to create the illusion that you have ghastly ghouls visiting for Halloween. If you’re hosting a Halloween party, this DIY project is sure to impress your guests.
