Handmade Halloween Yard Decorations
Halloween is coming fast. Many people want to decorate their yards for this holiday, but do not have a lot of money to go out and buy expensive yard decorations. There are many spooky outdoor decorations that can be created inexpensively.
Grave Markers
If the weather permits, gravestones can be made from cardboard. Many businesses will let you have cardboard boxes for free. Cut the cardboard into gravestone shapes, any size you want. Paint the stones grey. Use black paint to put words on the gravestones. Rest in peace, R.I.P., names, and spooky sayings are suitable. You can bury the bottoms of the boxes in the dirt on your front lawn. Another way to prevent the cardboard gravestones from falling over is to duct-tape another piece of cardboard to the back to make a stand.
If it rains a lot in your area, wooden crosses can be used as grave markers. Making handmade crosses is easy. You can recycle leftover wood from old household projects or branches from trees. You don’t have to cut them in a fancy way. The least fancy and uneven the cross, the more spooky the grave marker is. All you have to do is lay one piece of wood over another to form a cross and nail them together. You can paint them if you want. Stick the bottoms of the crosses in the ground throughout the yard.
Burning Cauldron
Make a wooden tripod to place on your front lawn. Find 3 hardwood branches about 4 to 4 and a-half feet long. Make sure the branches are almost straight. Remove the bark from the branches and soak them in water for about an hour. Use a sharp knife to make a point on one end of each branch. Place the pointed ends of two of the branches in the ground far enough away from each other so that when the tops touch they form an X. Tie the top ends together using a sturdy rope. The tops can also be bound together with wire. Place the top of the third branch in the V shaped groove where the other branches meet. Push the sharpened end in to the ground and tie the top to the other branches. Attach a wire or strong rope to the top of the tripod. The rope will be tied to the handle of a cauldron, so make sure it will hang at a proper length and the cauldron won’t be placed in the fire.
A cauldron can be made by using and old black or silver pot. The pot probably won’t have a proper cauldron handle, but a handle can easily be made. If the pot has plastic handles, unscrew and remove them. You can thread wire through the holes of the old handle to make a cauldron handle. If the pot has metal handles you can thread the wire through those. Make sure to tie or twist the ends of the wire together. If you decide to light a fire under the cauldron, make sure to keep an eye on it when it is lit.
Scarecrow
A scarecrow is very inexpensive to make. All you need is old clothes. Tie the sleeve ends and the bottom of an old shirt closed using rope or twine. Also tie the pant leg ends of an old pair of jeans closed. Stuff both pieces of clothing with leaves. Place the pants in sitting position on the steps or another area of your yard. Place the stuffed shirt on top of the pants. You can use a pumpkin with a scary face drawn on it as a head.
Grim Reaper
Place a large cross made from two long branches on the front lawn. Paint a used, plastic milk jug white and paint black marks to put a face on the jug. Put the jug over the top of the cross. Cover the cross with a used black robe with a hood. Place a plastic scythe leaning against the grim reaper. You could also use rope to tie the scythe to the reaper’s hand.
