How to Decorate for Halloween Inexpensively with Found and Purchased Items

Halloween is one of the easiest Holiday's to throw a party for. There are lots of Halloween decorations on the market for purchase but some of the best decorations are made by you and your children. Search out the local thrift stores for bargain old clothes and "creepy" looking items, also garage and yard sales are excellent places to find inexpensive items that can be used to decorate with.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Any Halloween Decoration you already have.
• A little ingeniuty and a little time.
• Kids and/or family members to help you decorate and to invite to the party.

1. Halloween Cat One of the best and funniest decorations to make for a Halloween Party is stuffed dummies. All that is needed for any dummy is some old clothes, (jeans, plaid shirt, old boots or shoes, gloves, hats, scarf, etc.), a few safety pins, some stuffing you can use leaves (in plastic bags for easier stuffing), old clothes, packing peanuts, balled up newspapers, bubble wrap, straw, old blankets or pillows, etc, a mask or a head of some kind.
2. Stuffed Devil on an Old Lawn Tractor Stuffing a dummy is easy and very inexpensive. Just stuff an old shirt and pants and pin them together, use suspenders if you have them, which will give a nice look plus help hold the torso to the legs, pin on some shoes and stuff some gloves and pin those on.
3. If you have an old full face mask, you can stuff this to make it full and pin to the neck of the shirt or if you have a half mask, pin the mask to a white plastic bag stuffed for fullness and then cover with a handkerchief, hat or scarf. Or if you want to use a pumpkin or carved jack-o-lantern simply insert a stick up into the bottom of the pumpkin and set on top of the neck area after you have placed your dummy where you are going to display it. (you should make sure your stick is long enough to give support to the pumpkin so it won't crush the torso of your dummy).
4. A Haunted Wedding Party Setting a dummy on something unusual like the above picture of a stuffed devil sitting on an old lawn tractor that has long since seen its useful days. Using some green or red up-lighting (or diffused lighting) to light the scene at night gives an eerie glow to the magic of a Halloween night.
5. Setting up a scene in a corner of the party room is great fun for the kids and adults alike and also provides a great backdrop for a keepsake photo.
   
   Here a Haunted Wedding Party has been set up. The Bride is simply a 4-5 foot plastic skeleton with a white dress and veil pinned to her head, add some bright red lipstick or black if you prefer and sit her on a chair. Give her a bouquet, (this bouquet was made from spray painting some old silk flowers with black spray paint, some real barbed wire was wound around (cut off the sharp barbs with wire cutters). Add some fake nails glued to her plastic fingers by using glue and painted with black fingernail polish and perhaps add a gaudy necklace or two to dress up her neckline.
6. The Groom was made by using an old black overcoat, an old white dress shirt, an old tie, an old cummerbund and suspenders(found at the local thrift store) a plastic flocked hat and a plastic black ball and chain (tied to his foot) (purchased at the local department store decoration department) and some black shoes, and a plastic skull. The body is simply a large "T" shaped wood slat structure nailed together with a "V" shape to get him to stand up straight. Wires were used for the arms (stapled with a staple gun to the wood slat) to give him a minimal look. Glue on a few black plastic spiders here and there and add some fake spider web.
7. The Best Man was created by stuffing a pair of black pants and black shirt, sticking some sticks in the pants legs for added support and nailing them together in a "V" shape, and adding small feet to insert into the black shoes, stuffing a plastic bag for the head, pinning on some white gloves and then covering the head with a long black wig. The hands were pinned in place to keep them from moving and there you have your very own "Cousin IT" to add to your family tree.
8. The Maid of Honor was simply created by painting a face on Styrofoam head found at a local flea market, using white gauze/cheese cloth from the local supermarket as her veil and flowing dress form and adding a knife handle glued to the head for some added affect. She is simply hanging from a piece of fishing line from the ceiling and floats and blows around at will as any small breeze hits her.
9. Little Demon The backdrop for this scene is simply a silver/gray tarp purchased inexpensively at the local salvage store. But you could use strips of tin foil as a wall covering as well and when using some added colored lighting it will reflect and give an eerie glow at night.
10. Immortal Soul The Little Demon above was created by simply using cardboard tubes (from floor covering rolls or sturdy party paper wrapping rolls) inserted into the legs of a pair of child's pants that have been pinned to a pair of old shoes. The mask was simply filled out by using stuffing inside the plastic bag and inserted into the mask with the white of the bag being used for the white of the demon eyes. This little guy was up-lighted from behind with a black light while he guarded a side entrance door at the party. Very eerie looking when it is dark outside.
11. Skeleton Tree This effect was created by simply using a purchased plastic torso (from Spencer Gift and sturdy and reusable) and putting it on a black background. Printed lighting bolts were used to give a dramatic effect and hung in a dark area with a black light for lighting.
12. This little skeleton tree was used on the food table as a centerpiece. It is simply a black tree purchased at a party goods sections with some small glow-in-the-dark rubbery skeletons hung on it and lit with a lighting color of any choice.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use bales of hay to set around the party area or on your porch and stuff a pair of pants with a pair of shoes attached and sit the bale of hay on top if them (like the bale of hay flattened your dummy). You can add a stuffed shirt with stuffed gloves to increase the effect.
• Hang a dummy or two from your trees, just add a mask to a dummy stuffed with balled up newspaper (so they stay light and float in the breeze), make sure you pin or sew the shirts and pants together or put a witch mask attached to the neck of a dress and hang to float free in the breeze.
• See my other articles on different ways to decorate and food to serve for Halloween and other parties.
• Also using some photos of a black cat or creating pictures on your computer or printing them out from the internet to frame and tape to the walls are also great and inexpensive ways to get a great creepy look.
• Just make sure that you keep all dummies well away from any open flame (such as candles or hot lights).