Can you believe it? The spookiest season of the year is upon us… again! How quickly did that come around? It feels like only yesterday that we were celebrating! I’ve done plenty of Halloween DIYs over the years, but this year I’m sharing my simplest one yet! Especially for all of us who have had Halloween creep up on us all of a sudden. It’s a last minute decoration idea that is easy to create and perfect for your front window, or any window for that matter. Queue ghosts, ghoulies and trick or treaters!
What Will You Need
A Branch | White Paper | String | Needle or Sharp Pencil | Black Pen | Bat Decorations | Paper Pumpkin Decorations
So, the first thing we need to do is find a branch. Ideally, you want to measure the window where you want your decoration to sit so you can find a branch the right size, or if it is a large window then two branches. Once you have your measurements it is time to hunt. I live near some local woods in the countryside so it was easy for me to pick up a branch of the perfect size on my last walk. Be sure to only take fallen wood and not chop it off any trees or hedges. We’ve got to respect mother nature. If you have a garden this will be the perfect spot to pick some up or why not ask your friends and family who have gardens if they have any spare.
The next thing we’re going to do is make some hanging decorations, these will sit on our branch. For this DIY I used some shop bought bats, which come out every year as part of my decorations, and some cheap and cheerful paper pumpkin decorations, you can pick these up so easily. Alongside these there are some spooky ghosts in my display, which we can make together in the next step – so simple but so effective.
To make your hanging ghost, take a piece of white paper or tissue. I reused mine from some packaging I got recently. Find the middle of the square/rectangle and pinch it, then hold this up and pull all the tissue down around the pinch point. This doesn’t need to be accurate as ghosts are raggedy lads and it will only take a couple of pulls as you don’t want it to be too tight.
Next slightly descrunch your pulled tissue, to create a flat area and draw a face onto your ghost about 3-4cm down from the pinch point. I just drew eyes, but go wild and add any decoration you want! I think these would also be super cute in patterned tissue or paper too – imagine floral ones!
Now you’ve got your ghost, we need to be able to hang him. Thread your needle with a piece of wool approximately 30-40cm long. The from the top of the ghost’s head punch you needle down and through the pinch point and tie a big knot on the inside of the ghost and there you have it – now they can float!
Now you’ve got all of your decorations (homemade or shop bought) you can begin to hang them on, or attach them to your branch. I alternated the type of decoration and if you can hang them at varying heights too, that will make this look extra halloweeny! If you have a lot of decorations on a long branch, try vaguely grouping them in threes for the best random placement look. Note: I left the excess ghost hanging string hanging alongside them for a bit of texture and to add more interest to the decoration.
The final touch is to use more wool, string or ribbon, to make two hanging loops from your branch to the hanging point. I luckily had a window where the curtain is attached on hooks, so I just took this off and attached with wool at two points. You can similarly add temporary stick on hooks to your window if you want this effect – or simply attach your branch to the curtain pole and let it hang!
For a little extra something, and particularly if your display is in a window viewable to trick or treaters, you might want to add fairy lights/ halloween lights to illuminate your spooky display at night. Let the people see it!
I had so much fun making this one and it really is a base for you to let your imagination go wild from this Halloween. As always, let me know if you try this DIY and you can email me a picture via. my contact page – I’d just love to see!
Happy Halloween!
Check out some of my other Halloween posts! Why not try making paper pumpkins filled with sweet treats, or read my five halloween essentials for the ultimate dress up look – including how to backcomb your hair like a professional!
