Halloween Decorating Yard Craft

When it comes time to decorate the house for Halloween, keep decorating until you have covered everything including the front yard! It is easy to make the headstones and set up a creepy graveyard scene for your front yard. You can make as many as you want and set up the graveyard in your yard, or set up just a few headstones to line the path the trick-or-treaters will follow to your front door. These are relatively easy and inexpensive to make. As long as you store them in a safe place through the off-season, they should last you a long time. Here's what you will need to make the headstones and set up your graveyard:

MATERIALS LIST FOR THE HEADSTONES:

Styrofoam Rectangles in various sizes (You can cut these to whatever size or shape you want. Get creative and make several headstones in different Gothic shapes.)

Sharp Knife for cutting the Styrofoam (This is an adult's only task. Never give your child a sharp knife!)

Pad of Drawing Paper (Make sure the sheets are bigger than the Styrofoam. You will free-hand your headstone shapes on this, making an outline for cutting them out. Also make sure that the paper is heavy enough because you will be cutting through it to transfer the design, and you don't want it to rip to shreds for this step.)

Craft Knife for scoring the design onto the Styrofoam

Spray Paint that can be used on Styrofoam in Grey

Dowel Rods small enough to go up through the bottom of the headstone without showing (You will need to cut the dowel rods into no less than six inch lengths.) Make two for each headstone.

Black Permanent Marker (You will use this to label each headstone)

List of names to go onto the headstones (Again, get creative with this. You can use the old stand-bys like Frankenstein's Monster, or Count Dracula; or you can come up with some funny ones too like "Here lies a body without a head. He can't say his name, so we call him Fred". The possibilities are limitless!

MATERIALS LIST FOR SETTING UP THE GRAVEYARD

Several Bags of Fake Spider Webs

Spotlights (If you want to make your graveyard really stand out at night.)

Rake up several piles of leaves to go around the headstones

If you would like, you can buy fake body parts like hands and such to stick in the ground around the headstones. Just stick a dowel rod up through the bottom and shove the end into the ground.

STEP #1: HOW TO MAKE HEADSTONES FOR HALLOWEEN YARD DECORATIONS

Begin by drawing out the different designs for each headstone on the drawing paper. Once you get them drawn, lay the sheet over the Styrofoam and use a craft knife to score the outline onto the surface. To make this step easier you can use strips of tape to hold the design in place. Take your time on this step and be careful. Those craft knives are very sharp! Once you get the design transferred to the Styrofoam then you can use a sharp knife and carefully cut out the headstone.

STEP #2: HOW TO MAKE HEADSTONES FOR HALLOWEEN YARD DECORATIONS

Now that you have them cut out, give them a slight brush-off to dislodge any "crumbs" of Styrofoam to give them a cleaner edge. Take them outside and lay them down on sheets of newspaper. Using the Styrofoam-approved grey spray paint, give them a quick coat. It doesn't have to be perfect. Remember these are supposed to be old and spooky-looking. Allow the front to dry completely and then flip them over and spray-paint the back. Let them dry thoroughly before you go to the next step.

STEP #3: HOW TO MAKE HEADSTONES FOR HALLOWEEN YARD DECORATIONS

Now that you have the headstones made, it's time to add the details to the front. Using your list of names, just write them on the front. Be sure to add in the dates. If you would like you can use the permanent marker to draw in some large cracks or other details. Again, the possibilities are endless!

STEP #4: HOW TO MAKE HEADSTONES FOR HALLOWEEN YARD DECORATIONS

Once you have the headstones finished, you need to get them ready to go in the ground. Take each section of the dowel rods that you cut and slowly push them up through the bottom, putting one on each side. When it comes time to stick them in the ground, you can use a sharpened stick to make the hole in the ground and just stand them up where you want them to go. The dowel rods will keep the lightweight Styrofoam headstones from blowing away with the Fall winds.

STEP #5: SETTING UP YOUR GRAVEYARD

Decide on the layout of your graveyard and place the headstones in the ground accordingly. String the fake spider web between a few of them, or just place it randomly around each headstone. Take the leaves and pile them up around the base of each headstone. Try placing them in the spider web too for an eerie effect. If you choose to do so, place the body parts into the ground around the headstones.

STEP #6: SETTING UP YOUR GRAVEYARD

When the headstones and decorations are set up, you might want to wait until dusk to do this next step. You can prepare by having any outdoor extension cords readily available to hook up the spotlights. At dusk, position the spotlight or spotlights to cast eerie shadows on the headstones. Don't put them too close to the headstones though because they can get very warm when you have them turned on. Try and set them up to take in the entire graveyard scene and bring it to life for your visiting trick-or-treaters. Have fun making and setting up your headstones and graveyard. With proper care and storage, you will have it to set up for a lot of Halloweens down through the years.