32 DIY Halloween Decorations 2025 Easy Cheap Indoor Outdoor Ideas with Kids and Dollar Tree

If Halloween has crept up on you again, you’re not alone. The good news? Halloween homemade decorations in this year are easier to make, cheaper, and more creative. Whatever you are doing to your outdoor yard, to your indoor area, to something you want to have fun and cute to do with the kids, all of these ideas are right in zone between scary and hip. We’ve gathered unique ideas perfect for transforming your home without haunting your wallet.

1. Toilet Paper Roll Bats

Here’s a cheap easy craft that’s become a cult favorite on Pinterest: toilet paper roll bats. Just flatten the rolls, turn the ends in and paint black. Put on paper wings and googly eyes to complete that sense of batty perfectness. These are perfect when used indoors in such simple installations like those that hang on walls or ceilings taped. Kids love making them, and adults love how they can fill empty corners in a flash.

2. Outdoor Pallet Pumpkin Patch

Repurpose old wood pallets into a cute outdoor pallet pumpkin patch by painting orange pumpkin faces or even creepy Jack-o’-lanterns on each slat. Put them out in your outside yard or against your front porch to their rustic Halloween decoration. Put in hay bales, artificial vines, or solar lights to finish the appearance. It’s rustic, easy, and impressively cheap.

3. Cardboard Haunted House Centerpiece

Turn basic cardboard boxes into a miniature haunted mansion. Cut windows, use paper bent shutters and light the interior with flickering LED tea lights. It is a great mantelpiece or dining table centerpiece as the indoors decoration. It’s a fun family project that also teaches kids about upcycling.

4. Pool Noodle Graveyard

Use pool noodles as faux tombstones by bending them into arch shapes and spray painting them gray. There could be detail for this, like adding foam letters, skull stickers, or faux moss. Plant them in your backyard garden to make a cheap cemetery. The noodles are lightweight but surprisingly sturdy once planted.

5. Plastic Pumpkin Tower

Stack plastic pumpkins vertically on a wooden dowel to make a glowing Halloween totem. These vintage treasures in Dollar Tree can be lit up using LED candles or fairy lights easily. Put them next to your front porch or driveway to make a daring statement in your yards simple terms. Add witch hats or spooky eyes for flair.

6. Paper Bag Ghost Lanterns

Fold white paper lunch bags into ghost shapes, cut out spooky faces, and pop in a battery-operated tea light. It is stapled as ready-to-use indoor decor, or as a walkway liner. Inspired by blogger Liz Marie Galvan’s soft spooky aesthetic, these lanterns add instant charm with minimal effort.

7. Beetlejuice-Inspired Striped Decor

Inspired by the cult classic, go bold with black-and-white Beetlejuice stripes using streamers, painted pumpkins, or fabric table runners. Pair it with green or purple lights to have a dramatic and playful effect. This works both inside and outdoor yards, depending on how wild you want to go.

8. Giant Spider with Trash Bags

Make a DIY outdoor giant spider using trash bags stuffed with leaves or old paper for the body and pool noodles for the legs. Paint it black (with spray) and use red eyes to be more dramatic. This massive spider perched on your front porch or crawling down your roof is unforgettable.

9. Dollar Tree Creepy Mirror

Pick up a cheap frame from Dollar Tree, spray-paint it matte black, and add a distressed mirror using foil and Mod Podge. Hang it in your indoor entryway or hallway. This “haunted mirror” gives serious Victorian ghost vibes. Inspired by the look of gothic home influencers like The Sorry Girls.

10. Floating Candles from Paper Towel Rolls

Create floating candles using empty toilet paper rolls or paper towel tubes. Put drops of glue on the tops, paint it white or yellow and place battery tea lights on it. Suspend them with fishing line from the ceiling. Perfect for an aesthetic indoor Harry Potter-style Halloween feel.

11. Cheesecloth Ghosts

Create spooky floating ghosts by soaking cheesecloth in liquid starch and draping it over balloons or bottles. When dry they are in form, and when standing in a dark place or in a yard in front porch easy setups they appear scary. Add black felt eyes and cut small LED lights inside it to appear with a glow. This idea is cheap easy, fun to make, and looks straight out of a haunted movie.

12. Hanging Witch Hats with Lights

Suspended cute witch hats with battery-operated fairy lights inside are a charming and easy way to decorate both indoor spaces and outdoor yards front porches. Tie them to the fishing line to present the impression that they are in the air. This trick is loved by lifestyle bloggers like Sarah Joy Blog and adds magical ambiance to Halloween nights.

13. Painted Monster Rocks

Gather smooth stones from your garden and paint them into silly or spooky monster faces using acrylics. These are inexpensive and silly crafts, which are suitable to anyone who has children, to use as a garden bed or path border. They can even double as Halloween party favors or tabletop decorations inside.

14. DIY Beetlejuice Grave Sign

Create a humorous Beetlejuice grave marker using foam board or wood and paint it with distressed gray tones. Use such phrases as Here Lies Beetlejuice or Say my Name. Plant it in outdoor yards with moss and flickering lights for a Halloween-movie-style vibe.

15. Black Cat Paper Garland

Cut black cats from cardstock or felt to create a long paper garland. Use it to cover any mantel, mirror or shelving in basic arrangements. This cute and easy decoration is kid-friendly and looks especially charming when paired with orange string lights or mini pumpkins.

16. Window Silhouettes from Cardboard

Cut eerie shapes like witches, bats, or creepy hands out of cardboard and tape them inside your windows for dramatic indoor nighttime displays. Backlight them with lamps or string lights. These cheap easy silhouettes are especially effective for apartment dwellers or townhouses.

17. Spooky Mummy Front Door

Wrap your entire front door in white crepe paper or gauze to make it look like a giant mummy face. Cap it with big googly eyes or cut outs. It’s one of the most fun, cheap, and easy outdoor yards front porches decorations that instantly turns heads in your neighborhood.

18. Indoor Spider Web Wall

Using white yarn or string, create a giant spider web design on a living room or hallway wall. Add plastic or homemade and made out of toilet paper roll spiders for a creepy effect. Great for inside easy decorating, especially when combined with dim lighting and flickering candles.

19. Potion Bottles from Recycled Jars

Turn empty jars into eerie potion bottles using food coloring, glitter, and spooky labels. Put dyed water in them and write down stuff like, Witchâ‚~산 Geezy Brew or Zombie Tonic, on them. This is a favorite indoor craft among fans of the aesthetic gothic Halloween style.

20. Floating Ghost Balloons

Inflate white helium balloons and draw ghost faces with black marker. To create an illusion of floating ghost, cover the top with thin fabric. Perfect for inside dollar tree or cheap easy decorating — especially parties where kids can help make them.

21. Upside-Down Witch Legs in Planter

Stick striped tights stuffed with paper into your porch planters and add old shoes at the bottom — it’ll look like a witch crash-landed. This fun outdoor yards simple decoration always gets a laugh and is ideal for larger front porch setups.

Conclusion

We hope these DIY Halloween decorations inspire you to get creative with what you already have at home. Whether you’re transforming your outdoor yard into a haunted graveyard or adding easy indoor touches for your next Halloween party, there’s something here for every budget and style. Share your favorite ideas or your own Halloween hacks in the comments below—we’d love to see what you come up with!