DIY Halloween Party Decorations

What Halloween party is complete without spooky decorations? Here are some easy ideas for Do-It-Yourself decorations to delight and frighten your guests!

• Witches Cauldron - Partially fill a plastic cauldron with warm water and dry ice. Toss in some glow sticks, and your good to go! To keep your cauldron bubbling, freshen with warm water as needed.
  
• 
  
• Floating Ghosts - Use white helium filled balloons, cover with bits of white cloth (pieces of old sheets work well.) Draw faces on the cloths, and anchor balloons with small pumpkins, or little bags of candy corn.
  
• 
  
• Lighting - Black or purple lights work well to help create a creepy atmosphere. Lights should be dim enough to lend a creepy vibe, but not so dark that your guests are bumping into furniture!
  
• 
  
• Sound Effects - Use a recording of creepy organ music, or a pre-made Halloween CD. Place your boom box inside a closet, and leave the door slightly ajar. Your guests will wonder where the scary sounds are coming from!
  
• 
  
• Cobwebs - Use store-bought cobweb decorations. Place them in corners and around doorways. Mist them with water to give them a more real and sticky feel.
  
• 
  
• Grave Yard - Get some foam board from a craft store. Cut them into grave stone shapes, decorate with markers. Tape wooden stakes to the back, stake into your yard about 2 feet apart.
  
• 
  
• Candy Wall - Hang orange and black streamers from the ceiling where it meets the wall. Use double sided tape to stick pieces of wrapped candy to the streamers.
  
• 
  
• Shrouds - Cover furniture with some inexpensive black or festive material. This works to both add to the Halloween atmosphere and protect your furniture!
  
• 
  
• Go Batty - Cut-out bats from black foam board using a utility knife. Poke a hole through the center of the bat and thread a piece of black string through. Tape the string to the bottom of the bat, and the other end to the ceiling. Hang bats at varying lengths throughout the room.
  
• 
  
• Give Me a Hand - Fill rubber gloves with cotton balls and tie the bottoms. Decorate with cheese cloth, makers, plastic rings or stick-on fingernails. Place as desired in party area.
  
• 
  
• Give Me a Hand 2 - Fill rubber gloves with water, and freeze them. Once they are solid, remove the glove and float the ice hand in your bowl of punch!
  
• 
  
• Hallo-wreath - Take a regular grape-vine wreath, candy corn, other Halloween-themed candy, and craft wire. Attach the candy to wreath with the wire.
  
• 
  
• Pepp-o-Lanterns - Cut the tops off and hollow-out green, red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. With a paring knife carve spooky faces into the pepper creating a little jack-o-lantern! These can be used in centerpieces.
• 
  

Cover your windows with trash bags or tinfoil to keep out natural light, add some of the creepy ideas listed above, and Voila! You've got the mood set for a scary party!