This Halloween Decorations post originally ran in October, 2022.
At three years old, my son already has a favorite holiday, Halloween. Maybe it’s because his birthday is in October, or because he has a weird love of anything monster, or maybe it’s because it’s also my favorite holiday. Whatever the reason, he is in love with Halloween and insists on getting out the decorations as soon as possible. The key is that those decorations aren’t too spooky.
Over the last couple of years, I have toned down the scary factor in my decorations and found some great easy-to-make, toddler-appropriate Halloween decorations.
Dollar Tree Tablecloth Ghosts
These ghosts by @luckyspilledmilk are super easy to make, kids love them, and you can get everything you need for them from Dollar Tree. Take a round plastic tablecloth, grab it in the center, and cut a small hole in it. Blow up a medium size balloon and push the tied-off end through the hole in the tablecloth. Tie clear fishing line around the knotted end of the balloon, attach a 3M Command Strip hook to the ceiling and tie the line to it, making the ghost float from the ceiling. Cut out eyes and a mouth from black construction paper and stick them to the front of the ghost for the face, and you have a fabulous statement piece for a Halloween decoration.
Plant Eyeballs
I tried these this year after seeing them in Better Homes and Gardens Halloween magazine. Take Floracraft Smoothfom balls from Michaels in various sizes based on your plants or bushes. Draw on eyes with black Sharpie Marker. Push the pointed end of a wooden kabob skewer through the ball and position the skewer in the dirt so that it looks like eyeballs coming out of the top of the plant. For larger plants, you may need to use packing or Duct tape to affix a few skewers together, overlapping the ends by a couple of inches to keep them sturdy.
Pom-Pom Spider and Yarn Tassel Ghost Garlands
These garlands by Laura Gummerman are great kid-friendly decorations, and for bigger kids, they are a great Halloween craft project.
For the spiders, take four black pipe cleaners and twist them together in the center to make four legs on each side. Hot glue a large black pom-pom in the center, and attach two small google eyes to the front of the pom-pom for the eyes. Once it’s cool, bend the legs to form spider legs. Repeat for as many spiders as you need. Thread clear fishing line through the center of each pom-pom to make the garland.
See Laura’s post on A Beautiful Mess for the ghost instructions.
Googly Eye Door Decorations
I decided to try this door decoration from Craftaholics Anonymous this year and loved it. Simply use removable glue dots to affix sets of googly eyes to your door, and you’re done.
Door to Halloween Town
If you are a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas and have a tree in your front yard, this is the perfect decoration for you. It just takes some 2mm foam, paint, and some fishing line to affix it to the tree. You can find the full tutorial here from Studio DIY.
