How to Make a Coffin for Decoration
Halloween is a time to live it up in your home with decorations adorning every room. Anything creepy, from skulls and ghosts to cornstalks and coffins will add to the mood. Create imaginative decor for your Halloween party or just do it to add some horror and thrills to the season. Make a coffin to display and be prepared to hear some genuine screams.
Things You'll Need
- Pattern paper
- Ruler or measuring tape
- 6 large sheets of cardboard
- Spray paint (spooky color of your choice)
- Tape
- Scissors
Instructions
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1
Get together a lot of pieces of cardboard, or gather some old moving boxes. Tear down the moving boxes until you have strips of cardboard in front of you.
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2
Design the coffin. It's best to avoid making it human size (not to mention the effort, work and horror that would bring). A doll-sized coffin is perfect for Halloween decor.
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3
Use a tape measure or ruler to mark 16 inches long for the coffin and 7 inches wide. Draw this on the pattern paper.
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4
Take a new sheet of pattern paper, and make the sides of your coffin as the coffin is more than just a top and bottom. Make it 5 inches tall and make sure you have one side that runs the 16 inches long. Remember you will need a 5-inch tall side that runs the 7 inches in width. You will be making two of each ultimately, but you only need one pattern for each size.
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Cut out the pattern paper and make sure that the coffin is perfect in size and shape. Try again if there are any errors in measurement or cutting. This is going to be the base design of the coffin.
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Lay the pattern on top of a piece of cardboard. Do this twice as you need a bottom and a top for your coffin. Do the same for the sides of the coffin.
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Cut out all the drawn patterns on the cardboard. You will end up with 6 pieces of coffin: a top, bottom, vertical front, vertical bottom, left side and right side.
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Tape the coffin together from the inside out. Start with the bottom and align the vertical top to the bottom of the coffin. Tape the pieces together and secure it with your fingers before moving on. Continue all around the rectangle of the coffin. You should end up with a coffin that only needs a top. Leave the top lying to the side for the moment.
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Get creative. You want to create some spooks with this coffin. Perhaps you want to add a ghost out of a white cloth napkin to be peeking out of the coffin. Buttons for eyes and a little smile could make this decoration a little less scary for the younger set. You could really go all out for the older set by placing a truly creepy little Chucky doll awaiting visitors in your miniature coffin. For a more simply touch, simply tape the top of the coffin to the rest of the display.
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10
Spray paint the cardboard coffin in the color of your choice. Bright orange certainly makes a Halloween statement, but black is much more creepy. It's your call, so let your imagination run wild.
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Set the coffin amidst other spooky decor for successful scaring on Halloween night.
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Tips & Warnings
Be sure to add fun and spooky accents to the coffin decoration.
Make sure to talk to your children about the decoration. You should be certain it doesn't truly scare them.
Don't sit this decoration out at your Halloween party if any of your guests have recently lost a loved one. Yes, it is just for play, but it can be a painful reminder if someone has just endured a death.
