Impress the Neighbors with These DIY Outdoor Halloween Decorations (2024)

You've stolen the Wicked Witch of the West's boots now it's time to proudly display her demise by hanging them on your front door.

To make: Hammer a nail into your door. Hang vintage or new Victorian era style boots from their laces. Hang a bow (ours is made from jute upholstery tape) just above the nail with heavy duty double-sided tape.

Spooky but sweet these ghosts are made from easy to access craft materials.

To make: Place 6-inch craft foam or styrofoam balls on long wooden dowels. Cover balls with metallic mesh ribbon, layering if necessary to cover completely. Secure mesh with thin ribbon or string. Tie black-and-white striped ribbon into a bow around the ghost "neck," covering thin ribbon.

A cat with a bow tie! Silly and sweet and perfect for decorating your front door this season.

To make: Wrap 14-inch foam wreath form with wide black ribbon, securing with floral pins as you go, until completely covered. Cut two 10-inch lengths of 18-gauge craft wire. Poke holes in top of wreath for ears. Bend wire to make ear shapes, and insert into wreath form. Wrap wire ears with ribbon, using hot glue to secure. Add orange burlap bow.

Related: DIY Halloween Wreath Ideas

Step it up. Display flat and wide pumpkins (lMusquee de Provence, Jarrahdale, and Cindarella are ideal varieties) on top an assortment of crocks places on a stoop or front stairs. Add texture and color by mixing in potted mums.

RELATED: 100+ Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Little hands will love helping create and keeping and eye out for the gnomes that are surely going to move into this sweet little gourd cottage. To display, try setting on a table on a soft bed of moss.

Get the tutorial.

Great trick-treaters and well-wishers with a wheelbarrow stuffed full of painted on and decoupaged leaf motif pumpkins. Bulk up the display with no extra work by including loads of varying size and color pumpkins

To make:

Decoupage Leaves: Cut out leaves and flowers from new or vintage wallpaper or wrapping paper. Decoupage to pumpkins using Mod Podge.

Outlined Painted Leaves: Use a leaf shaped stencil to paint fall colored leaves on green, blue or white pumpkins. Once dry use a white paint pen to outline the leaves, add veining, and decorative details.

Nestled in the crook of a covered front porch, these simple and elegant gourds are decorated with leaves and a few easy-to-find craft supplies.

To make:

Fall Lettering: Attach leaves, in a wreath shape, to a pumpkin with flat head push pins. Use a pencil to lightly draw the word "fall" on a small wood round. Attach thin leather cording or twine over the drawing with hot glue. Hot glue wood round to the pumpkin over the center of the leaves.

Leaf Covered: For one-season pumpkins, attach leaves from the yard with spray adhesive in a loose pattern. If you want to keep the pumpkin from year to year, attach preserved leaves to a fake pumpkin.

Adding paint to an etched faux bois (the artistic imitation of wood) pumpkin helps the colors pop adding fun flair to this sophisticated pumpkin. Display on a covered porch next to the door or on a table.

To make: Lightly sketch a faux bois pattern on a pumpkin with a pencil. Use a linoleum carving tool to etch out the pattern. Once complete paint unetched part of the pumpkin with acrylic paint. If you get any paint in the etched grain you can remove it up with the carving tool once dry.

RELATED: Painted Pumpkin Ideas

The perfect sophisticated decor for greeting guests to your front door. Place directly on the porch or layer on a vintage ladderback chair with different color plaid blankets.

To make: Purchase one large, one medium, and one small pumpkin (any color combo works) that stack nicely. Remove the stems from the large and medium pumpkin. Lightly sketch a vine pattern on a pumpkin with a pencil. Use a linoleum carving tool to etch out the pattern. Once complete attach red berries or beads with hot glue.

These DIY shimmering leaves look great on blue-hued or green pumpkins such as Jarrahdale, Blue Doll, Blue Moon, and Fairytale.

To make: Attach silver leaf with sizing to one side of fake or real leaves (alternatively, you can spray paint leaves silver). Once dry, spray adhesive spray on the back of the leaves and attach to pumpkins.

RELATED: No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas

This simple craft, which is perfect for decorating your fall table or front porch, only takes three supplies and just a few minutes to make. If you can’t find bittersweet vine, try using grapevine and attaching berries with hot glue.

To make: Wrap white pumpkins with bittersweet vine, holding it in place with t-pins and hot glue.

Creepy crawly spiders make a home on this white burlap covered wreath.

Make the wreath: Tie six pieces of white string across a 14-inch foam wreath form, making sure to loop each one at the midway point of the first piece attached to create a central point. (This is the base of the web and should have 12 “spokes.”) Tie a long piece of
string to the center point; weave and loop from the center out to create the web. If you run out of string, tie another piece to the end and continue weaving. When you reach the wreath form, tie off at
your ending point. Move the twine up and down to create uneven gaps in the web. Wrap the wreath form with white burlap ribbon and attach faux spiders with hot-glue. Loop a piece of white burlap
ribbon around the form to hang.

Fill these cutie pumpkin baskets with mini pumpkins or candy for kiddos.

Cut off the top quarter of a flat pumpkin (this is a Musquee de Provence variety); scoop out pulp and seeds. Attach lengths of grapevine just below the opening with T-pins. Attach a grapevine handle just inside the opening with T-pins. Nestle mini pumpkins in the basket.

Make a cluster of these creepy-crawlies in different sizes to hang outside.

Make the body: Blow up one large black balloon for the body and one smaller black balloon for the head. Tie the two balloon knots together to form the spider.

Make the legs: Wrap eight lengths of unfurled wire hanger or 12-gauge craft wire with black faux fur, holding in place with hot-glue. Twist ends of four lengths together, creating bundles of legs. Repeat with remaining four lengths.

Assemble the spider: Wrap a black pipe cleaner around twisted ends of leg bundles. Wrap pipe cleaner around “neck” of spider where balloons are tied together. Wrap fishing wire around leg to hang.

Hang on the door for decoration or let trick-or-treaters help themselves to a sweet treat.

Gather an assortmentof old-fashioned candies in autumnal shades such as yellow, orange, and magenta. Wrap a 14-inch foam wreath form in white ribbon. Attach candy with hot-glue, layering and overlapping as you go. Finish with a yellow burlap bow.

Haunting book jackets make for a spine-chilling entrance. You can easily make these yourself using construction paper, some letter stencils, and a bit of gold craft paint.

Make the Books: Cut long, thin rectangular pieces of differing colored kraft paper or construction paper (we used red, gray, and black). Draw titles of books on the paper. Outline letters with gold paint pens. Fill in outline with paint pen or gold acrylic paint. Attach to door with double- sided tape.

Invite people to sit and stay for a friendly game of checkers with pumpkin game pieces of course!

Make Pumpkin Checkers: Paint 32 squares on a large (roughly 30-inch) wood board with burnt orange craft paint. Use mini white and orange pumpkins as game pieces.