Do-it-yourself Halloween decoration ideas

Halloween is big business, but you don’t have to spend big money on decorations. Here are 10 low-budget, do-it-yourself decorating ideas.

1. “Keep out” banner: Painter’s plastic drop cloths can be stapled to the front of your porch. Change the bulbs in your porch light for a creepy effect.

2. Silhouette in window: Cut the shape of a torso out of cardboard and tape it to a window. From the street at night, it will look like a boy or girl is staring out of the window.

3. Glowing eyes: Cut eye shapes out of used toilet paper rolls. Put a glow stick inside, and you’ll have glowing eyes.

4. Ghostly outlines: Assemble chicken wire into ghostly, human-like shapes for your yard and spray paint with glow-in-the-dark paint.

5. Frankenstein’s monster front door: Cut black construction paper into the monster’s hairline shape. Cut out a stitch and mouth shape and tape to door. Cut eyes out of white construction paper. Assemble and tape to door.

6. Mummy graveyard: Spray-paint styrofoam planks for headstones, and wrap medical gauze around balloons or balls for mummy body and head.

7. Monster eyes: Use a permanent marker to color eyeball shapes onto ping-pong balls. Scatter throughout the yard.

8. Box robot: Spray-paint empty boxes silver and use auto reflector lights as eyes. Tape together and form robot body, head and arms.

9. Creepy baby snack tray: Use the head, arms and legs of a large doll. Assemble on plate. Form body shape with food, chips, cheese, etc.

10. Creepy handprints: Dip hands in hobby paint and apply multiple times to plastic drop cloth.

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This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Do-it-yourself Halloween decoration ideas."