Boo-It-Yourself Decorations
Plympton Community Magazine, October 2023
25th September 2023
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
25th September 2023
Enhance and spookify your home with
some easy DIY Halloween decorations to get you in the spirit!
Let’s be honest, the price of Halloween decorations can be a little bit scary and I hate to say it, a bit tacky - I’m a certified Halloween lover so I feel like I can say this with conviction.
This year let’s get witch crafty and create some unique, cost friendly decor that matches your vibe, better yet, it doesn’t require abseiling off your roof top to hang decorations (the Americans don’t mess around) or conveniently have an art workshop in your home.
BAT’S ALL FOLKS!
Starting off with simple and versatile bat decorations. You can purchase or find free printable bat templates online, or simply use black paper or card and cut out bat-like shapes.
Using glue dots, create a spooky bat lamp but sticking them inside your lampshade. Or create a feature wall in your entrance hall or around your fireplace by sticking them to the wall.
SPOOKY BIRD HOUSES
A great activity to get the kids involved and let their creativity shine with halloweenifying a birdhouse.
Pop down to Hobbycraft or The Range and select your chosen birdhouses (they are only a few £’s) and paint with your desired spooky colour or opt for black acrylic paint. Once the birdhouses are completely dry you can fill them with paper ghosts or ghouls you’ve drawn or anything that takes residence in your new spooky house. Finish off by stretching over fake spider webs and place them on your fireplace or sideboard and showcase your unique creations.
Tip: Choose a couple of different sizes to create a variety.
Image from countryliving.com
WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA
With the flick of the wrist and the right words spoken, levitate your witch hats this year and create some magic in your home.
All you need is four ingredients; a broom, fishing line, command hooks and fairy lights
Simply attach the command hooks to the ceiling once you’ve decided where you’d like the broom to hang, cut your desired length of fishing line, tie and secure around the broomstick. Finally, tie a loop at the end of the fishing line on top and hang it from your hooks.
Tip: Why not try with some Witch’s Hat (inexpensive ones can be found on Amazon).
Instagram @cotty_lee
Instagram @cotty_lee
STARRY SKY
Think the dining hall in Harry Potter, but it’s your dining room.
To create this blanket of stars in your home, follow the same steps as previous but swap the witch hats for LED Candle Sticks and voila.
If you’d like to get really crafty then this is one to sink your teeth into and create your own LED Candles.
All you’ll need is empty toliet or kitchen rolls, hot glue gun, fishing line, a needle, acrylic white paint, LED or battery powered tea lights and command hooks.
Using the hot glue gun around the top of the empty roll and create drips flowing down from the top to create melted candle wax. Once dry, paint the rolls and dried glue white. Leave to dry and then glue the bottom of each roll and glue a small piece of white paper at the base. Cut off the extra paper once all has dried.
Using a needle, thread the fishing wire an inch or two from the top, through to the opposite side and then tie the ends in a knot to the desired length you’d like them to hang. Repeat this step so you have four holes in total, all the same level. This will then create a handle to hang on the command hook and support for your faux tealight which you can now slot into place.
Instagram @cotty_lee
BLEEDING CANDLES
A killer addition to any centre piece, coffee table, windowsill, front door steps and beyond are these gory bleeding candles.
Simply light the red candle and allow to melt and drip onto the white or black candles.
Tip: Give your candle a real sinister kick by pressing pins and nails into the wax giving the illusion they are bleeding. Creepy!
Halloween is undeniably an enchanting season that invites our inner child to emerge, to indulge in a playful and creative spirit. It’s the time when we transform our homes, adorning them with dark and alluring decorations that transport us to the realms of witches, ghosts, and ghouls.
One of the greatest things about Halloween is it encourages us to create costumes that blur the line between reality and fantasy, leaving others to wonder if it’s “really you in there?” The possibilities for creativity are endless, as we can draw inspiration from a vast array of sources, from classic horror films to spooky folklore.
Creating Halloween home decor and costumes doesn’t have to break the bank. There’s a wealth of cost-friendly ideas and DIY projects at our fingertips allowing us to transform our homes from peaceful sanctuaries into mystical manors, all while staying within budget.
