Thrifty Ideas for Creating a Spooky Halloween Home

Create a spooky Halloween home with these simple and inexpensive ideas!

Do you decorate for Halloween? It's one of my favorite holiday's to decorate for and I love to have a little fun with my decor. The best part? It's super easy to DIY inexpensive decor for Halloween and get a spooky look with Dollar Tree and other affordable items.

Spooky and thrifty Halloween decorating ideas

I didn't decorate our mudroom last year, but since my office is adjacent to this space I thought it would be fun to decorate for Halloween. I walk in and out of this area multiple times a day and it makes me smile every time I pass by and see the festive Halloween decor.

A lot of the items I used were from Dollar Tree, easy DIY projects or found on sale. My favorite Dollar Tree must-haves to use for Halloween are cobwebs, black spider rings (I cut the ring part off), small skeleton garland, cheesecloth, spooky lenticular family pictures and black poster board paired with wood grain shelf liner to make bats and broken lathe and plaster walls.

Cheesecloth and cobwebs are great for draping over furniture and plants or hanging from ceilings, curtain rods or shelves. Add a few black plastic spiders and for just a few dollars you have simple Halloween decor that creates the perfect spooky vibe.

Halloween decorating with cheesecloth and cobwebs

The Halloween lenticular pictures from Dollar Tree are probably my favorite. Last year, they only had the man and women, but this year they have two new family pictures. I like to cut them out and pop them in thrifted frames for easy and affordable wall decor.

DIY Halloween lenticular art from Dollar Tree

Another simple idea is to cover old books with Halloween scrapbook paper. I made a couple a few years ago and they are a Halloween staple every year.

Easy, thrifty and spooky Halloween decor

I also reuse the faux busted out lathe and plaster wall art. You just need black poster board, wood grain shelf liner, and black craft paint. Simply cut the shelf liner in strips, stick the strips to the poster board, add a bit of black paint to tone down the wood grain then cut them into random shapes to resemble broken walls.

You can also use the black poster board or black cardstock to make multiple size bats. I use painters tape to stick them to the wall to avoid damage, but you can also use poster putty.

I did buy a new skeleton this year (70% off at Joann Fabrics) as well as a cool elevator sign and festive skull pillow (you can find a similar one HERE) from another vendor at Sweet Clover. They were both affordable additions that I can use year after year.

Creating a spooky halloween mudroom for less

Thrifty and spooky Halloween decorating ideas

Another affordable Halloween decorating idea I love is to make DIY apothecary jars. Over time, I collected a bunch of clear jars from various thrift stores then added simple clear bottle labels that I found at Michaels. You can also use free printables for an even more affordable option.