Summer is coming to an end, which means that Halloween is just around the corner. However you choose to celebrate, it's clear that Halloween decorations can quickly add up. Fortunately, you don't have to spend a lot of money to create long-lasting, spooky memories. Whether you're hosting a Halloween bash, prepping for trick-or-treaters, or simply getting festive for the season, here are eight budget-friendly Halloween decorating ideas for your front yard.
1. Get Thrifty
Thrift stores are a great place to pick up lightly used holiday decor, including Halloween. Unlike other secondhand items like clothes or kitchenware, Halloween decor is only used for a season or two before being discarded. By perusing your local thrift store, you can potentially score like-new decorations for a fraction of the cost of buying them new.
2. Incorporate Foliage
Don't neglect the bushes and trees in your yard, which offer creative places for hanging decorations. Fake cobwebs, glow-in-the-dark eyeballs, bats, and ghosts are just a few ideas to make your landscaping a little spookier.
3. Create Mood Lighting
You can never go wrong with a hand-carved pumpkin and a battery-powered tea light. Strand lights in orange or purple are also seasonally appropriate and attractive. If you have a lot of white decorations, such as ghosts or skeletons, change your porch lightbulb to a blacklight to make those decorations pop.
4. Hang a Halloween Flag
A Halloween flag is a cost-effective way to add visual interest to an area. Halloween flags are available in a wide variety of motifs, such as jack-o-lanterns, black cats, witches, and more. After choosing your flag, hang it in a "blank" space like your front door or garage door.
5. Fake a Crime Scene
Draw a chalk outline of a body on your driveway. But instead of chalk, use masking tape to make the outline visible at night. Then, paint or draw footprints running away from the crime scene. To make it scarier, consider some strategically placed splatters of red paint.
6. Turn Your Yard Into a Graveyard
All it takes is a few gravestones. For a DIY version, cut some scrap cardboard into gravestone shapes and decorate them with paint or markers. Express your creativity with punny or creepy inscriptions. For inspiration, check out the famous tombstones in front of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. After amassing your gravestones, arrange them on your lawn with some faux bones to create the ultimate Halloween yard on a budget.
7. Turn Yard Waste Into Pumpkins
If you have to rake leaves in your yard, why not turn those leaves into more Halloween decor? Plastic jack-o-lantern bags are available during the fall, are inexpensive, and make a visual impact without harming your wallet. Simply rake up your leaves, stuff them into the bags, and place the bags in a visible spot on your property.
8. Hang White Sheets
White sheets make the ultimate lazy ghost costume for people and yards. Hang them from your trees or drape them over trash cans, umbrella stands, basketball hoops, or any other feature in your yard that needs a quick makeover.
