Save Money on Halloween Décor

By Lauralynn Mangis
As Halloween approaches, you may be scrambling to find spooky decor that doesn’t cost a fortune. After all, you’ve still got to buy costumes for the kids and spend a little money on the candy and treats that you’ll present to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. However, if you plan on having a Halloween party at your home, or you simply want to make your home stylishly scary, here are a few cost-effective ideas.
Ghost Décor
Ghosts are some of the easiest costumes for Halloween, but you can also use a ghost decor theme to adorn your home for Halloween. Use old white sheets and black paint to add a mouth and eyes to the ghost. You can hang these decorations over your lamps or from your light fixtures to make your room extra spooky. If you’re putting the “ghosts” outside, fill white garbage bags with crumbled newspaper. Then, paint the mouth and eyes on the ghosts using black paint. You can also hang the ghosts from the trees in your front yard. To make sure the ghosts sway eerily in the wind cut the bottom of the trash bag into strips.
Scarecrow Décor
If you want to go with a scarecrow theme this Halloween, you can use some of your old clothes to create a scarecrow. Plaid shirts, matted old jeans, and old work boots should do the trick. Stuff the clothing with wadded paper and tape or tie the clothing to a broomstick to create a scarecrow. You can post the scarecrow at the front of your home, or use it as a centerpiece in the main room of your home if you’re having a party. The head of the scarecrow can be made out of muslin, and you can draw the face of the scarecrow with markers. If you want to hang the scarecrow from a tree, you can accompany it with a toy crow for a spooky effect.
Pumpkin Decorations
For this decorative theme, the pumpkins will likely be the most expensive part. You can find the pumpkins on sale at your local grocery store, or you can get them from the nearest pumpkin patch. Buy pumpkins of various sizes, and if you want to carve a few, you can put a candle inside and place them on your front porch. For a more glamorous Halloween look, paint glue on the pumpkins and roll them in orange, silver or black glitter. You can also spray paint the pumpkins in these colors, and use stencils of the mouth and eyes of the pumpkin or you can use stencils of your family initials. Check out these 60 new ways to decorate your pumpkins this year.
Graveyard Decorations
Headstones for the graveyard can be cut out of cardboard. You can spray paint the cardboard black or silver, and attach a garden stake to the cardboard so you can stick the gravestone into the ground. You can also use white marker or paint to add a ghost or spider web to the gravestones. If you want to use the graveyard decor in your home, tape the grave markers to the wall and cut holes in cheesecloth to resemble a spider web that you can hang on the cheesecloth.
Jar Decorations
If you already have a few mason jars lying around, it won’t cost you much too great these decorations. Spray paint the inside of the jars with a thin coat of white paint and add a piece of tape to a long string. On the other end of the string, attach a plastic spider. Place the string in the mason jar, and it will look like a spider in a web. You can also spray paint the inside of the jar with black or dark red paint, and add small plastic skeletons or bats to the ends of strings before attaching the string to the base of the jar. Display the jars upside as a fun Halloween centerpiece.
Conclusion
Of course, candy should always be a part of your Halloween decor. You can cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the flesh, and line it with a black garbage bag. Add small flashlights, along with the candies of your choice, and place it in the center of the table so your guests can get the treats they want. You don’t have to spend a small fortune to decorate for this fun holiday. It’s all about being creative and trying to re-use what you already have on hand. Happy Halloween!
Lauralynn Mangis is the Online Marketing Specialist at Advantage Credit Counseling Service. She is the author for Advantage CCS’s Blog called Dollars & Sense. Advantage Credit Counseling Service is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Contact Advantage Credit Counseling at 866.699.2227, or visit them online at www.advantageccs.org.
Views expressed are the personal views of the author, and do not represent the views of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, its employees, its members, or its clients.