Looking for Halloween party decor ideas? This post shares 31 spooky Halloween decorations you can make or grab on a budget – from creative DIY projects to affordable finds that look seriously impressive.
After ten years of hosting Halloween parties, nothing beats watching friends’ faces when they see what we’ve put together. Last year, I had guests taking photos in every corner because we’d hidden surprises in every room with Halloween decorations.
Want to keep it cheap with DIY Halloween decorations? Or maybe go all-out horror movie style? I’ve got ideas for both! These 31 Halloween party decor ideas will give you a Halloween party your friends won’t stop talking about, and most won’t cost you much either.
DIY Halloween Decorations
1. Paper Bats on Wall
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Cut a bunch of black paper bats and stick them on your walls – looks amazing and costs almost nothing. This cheap trick turns any blank wall into something spooky using only scissors and some imagination. Stick a few here and there for a hint of Halloween, or cover the whole wall if you want that wild swarm effect.
2. Hanging Witch Hats
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Hang black witch hats at different heights with fishing line – the swaying motion naturally makes people look up. Pick up ready-made hats at Halloween stores, or make your own from construction paper to save money. Guests love walking underneath – it really feels like stepping into a witch’s lair – and the different heights make it genuinely magical.
3. Fake Boarded Windows with Hands
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Here’s what to do: make fake wooden boards from cardboard over your windows, then add skeleton hands poking through like something’s trying to get out. It takes more work, but it looks like something’s desperately clawing its way out. Guests will literally jump back when they spot it from across the room.
4. Shadow Lamps
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Place paper cutouts of bats or spiders inside lampshades to cast moving shadows when they’re lit. This turns ordinary lamps into spooky Halloween lights using only paper and scissors. The shadows dancing around as people walk by really makes your room feel creepy.
Halloween Party Lighting Ideas
5. Black and White Candles
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Place candles at different heights in vintage holders so they create flickering light without blocking conversation. Hunt for unique holders at thrift stores or order vintage-style ones online for a gothic look. The different heights create a dramatic cathedral effect – even simple Halloween parties look elegant and spooky.
6. Dripping Blood Candles
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Melt red candles over thick white ones to create realistic blood-dripping effects for your centerpieces. You’ll need patience and a heat source, but it costs almost nothing. Every candle comes out unique, giving your display that unsettling, handmade feel.
7. Fake Candles
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Put battery-operated candles on stairs, in corners, or anywhere real flames might be risky. These battery versions at Target, Home Depot, or pretty much anywhere give you that flickering ambiance without fire hazards or wax cleanup. You can stick them anywhere – stairs, dark corners, wherever – and they’ll flicker away until morning.
8. Floating Candles
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Want to recreate Hogwarts in your living room? Hang fake candles from fishing line or stick them on walls for floating magic everywhere. You’ll need to get crafty with the setup, but it’s totally worth it. Watching guests notice them and try to figure out your trick is hilarious.
9. Blacklight Effects
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Get some purple-blue blacklight bulbs to make your white decorations glow with an eerie, otherworldly effect. You can buy these blacklight bulbs online or at party stores for instant transformation. Plus everyone’s teeth and white clothes glow too – your guests become part of the show without even trying.
10. Glowing Faceless Portraits
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Hang white plastic masks on your walls and stick LED lights inside them – instant creepy gallery vibes. Grab masks from any Halloween store and pop in some battery-operated tea lights. Something about identical blank faces just freaks people out and gets them talking.
Halloween Party Decor with Fabric
11. Black Fabric Drapes
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Hang sheer black fabric from ceilings and doorways to make rooms feel dramatic and alive. Pick up cheap cheesecloth or tulle from any craft store – it’s easy to work with and won’t break the bank. It sways beautifully with any breeze, giving your whole party this eerie, living feel.
12. Metallic Door Curtains
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Looking to spice up your doorways? Hang metallic fringe curtains for that retro vibe people can walk through. You can buy them online and just hang them up. The sound and movement when people pass through makes them curious about what’s behind the curtain.
Halloween Party Table Decor
13. Skeleton Centerpieces
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Scatter plastic skulls, hands, and feet across your tables to create spooky centerpieces. Pick up these cheap props at Halloween stores and scatter them across your table – takes two seconds. Everyone ends up picking them up and examining them – it’s a great conversation starter.
14. Glass Display Cases
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Put your spooky stuff under glass domes – it turns cheap Halloween decorations into something that looks way more sophisticated, like museum displays. Buy glass cloches online or at home stores for this trick. They make dollar store junk look like preserved specimens in a mad scientist’s lab.
15. Moss Table Cover
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Scatter moss across your tables to create that wild, overgrown look. You can find preserved moss online or pick up fake moss at any craft store. What’s cool is how it contrasts with plastic decorations – the realistic moss makes cheap Halloween props look upscale.
16. Tarot Cards
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For some mystical vibes, scatter tarot cards on tables or hang them with fishing line for that fortune-teller feel. Buy inexpensive decks online or print your own for this without spending much. It becomes interactive too – guests end up reading them throughout the party.
Halloween Party Food & Drinks
17. Poison Drink Signs
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Make some vintage signs for your drink station – add spooky phrases to picture frames or write them on chalkboards. You can either print out designs or write them by hand to personalize your bar area. The clever wordplay will make your guests laugh while keeping things spooky but not scary-serious for your Halloween spread.
18. Spooky Food Display
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Turn your food table into part of the decor by arranging fall appetizers like a medieval feast. This kills two birds with one stone – takes some planning but saves space and money by making your food part of the decorations. Your guests will feel like they’re dining in a haunted castle, and honestly, it looks incredible.
19. Vintage Bottle Display
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Create your bar with old bottles full of colorful drinks, candles, and creepy decorations. Check thrift stores for cool old bottles, or just buy vintage-looking ones online. The apothecary look makes guests feel like they’re sipping witch potions.
Halloween Party Photo Ideas
20. Cardboard Coffin Photo Booth
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Build a full-size cardboard coffin that leans against the wall – perfect for photo ops. This DIY Halloween project takes some building skills and time, but it’ll be the hit of your party – everyone will want to check it out. Your guests will love it – everyone will want Instagram photos inside it.
21. Suspects Board
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Create a police investigation board that fills with instant photos of guests as the Halloween party goes on. Set up a Polaroid camera and watch your display grow throughout the night. Watching it fill up throughout the night is wild – by midnight you’ll have a whole wall of party snapshots.
22. Missing Person Posters
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Make fake missing person posters with your friends’ photos and names – you can use online templates or design apps. It takes some work to set up, but everyone gets a kick out of seeing their face on a missing person poster at your Halloween party. The dark humor hits just right for adult Halloween parties and people end up asking for copies to take home.
Vintage Halloween Party Decor
23. Bloody Mirror Messages
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Write spooky messages like “Something Wicked This Way Comes” in fake blood on tall vintage Halloween mirrors. Pick up some mirrors from thrift shops and grab washable fake blood to splatter on them. The reflections make it even spookier and horror fans will love the classic references.
24. Horror Picture Frames
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Grab spooky pictures and display them in thrifted vintage frames around your home for that haunting antique atmosphere. Download creepy photos from the internet and put them in flea market frames – it’s a cheap way to get that old-school Halloween look. Those frames instantly age modern printouts, making them look like real vintage photos.
25. Wine Bottle Candles
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Turn empty wine bottles into cool candle holders using tall black candles, old wine labels, and some twine wrapped around them. It’s a simple way to repurpose materials you already have around the house and make some really nice lighting. You can customize them however you want – write inside jokes or spooky messages just for your friends.
Halloween Party Room Ideas
26. Red Horror Room
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Turn your bathroom into a creepy nightmare with red lighting and fake blood smeared across the mirrors. You’ll need red bulbs and washable fake blood for this one, but trust me – it’ll scare the hell out of people. The small space makes everything feel ten times scarier and gets your friends’ hearts pounding.
27. Horror Movie Projections
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Project horror movies, spooky scenes, or ambient visuals onto walls, fabric, or your TV for moving backgrounds. You’ll need a projector or laptop, but it transforms the whole room without much effort. The moving images create a backdrop that shifts and changes all night long – it’s like live wallpaper that transforms your whole party space.
28. Crime Scene Tape
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Wrap yellow caution tape around doors, furniture, or wherever you want to block off areas for that crime scene vibe. Pick it up at any party store for a few bucks – zero skills required. Suddenly those areas feel totally off-limits and mysterious.
Halloween Party Decor Characters
29. Plastic Spiders
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Scatter fake spiders from room to room and through doorways so guests stumble across them unexpectedly. Buy bags of fake spiders at any store in October and sprinkle them everywhere. The creepy part is how it suggests movement – guests start wondering where they’re all coming from.
30. Skeleton Guest
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Set up a full skeleton like an actual party guest – have it lounging in a chair, dangling from the staircase, or just hanging around with everyone else. You can pick up a life-size skeleton online or at any Halloween store. It’s hilarious but still creepy, and everyone will want photos with your bony buddy.
31. Faces in Jars
From Pinterest. Click the image to check the source.
Drop waterproof photos into water-filled mason jars to create an eerie preservation effect. This project requires waterproof photo printing but looks like something from a mad scientist’s lab. Perfect for people who want genuinely creepy stuff instead of cheesy Halloween junk.
Making Your Halloween Party Decor Come Together
The secret to great Halloween party decor isn’t spending tons of money – it’s creating unexpected touches that surprise your guests throughout your space. Mix easy DIY Halloween decorations with store-bought pieces, and simply repurpose things you already have around the house for Halloween decorations indoor that tell a story.
What really matters is that your guests feel like they’ve transported when they walk through your door. Whether you choose three of these Halloween party decor ideas or go all out with fifteen, you’re going to give your guests a Halloween they won’t forget way beyond happy Halloween night.
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