Want to level up your venue with some new Halloween event decorations that are sure to impress? During haunt season, many event organizers are on the lookout for spooky Halloween decorating ideas that'll also save them some money. Here are a few DIY Halloween decorations that are simple and perfect for your haunted attraction!

1. Creepy coffin

For this spooky Halloween decoration, outline the pieces of your coffin on cardboard, foam board, or wood to cut out (templates are super helpful here!). Then, use tape, nails, or spray-on adhesive to secure the pieces together. Once everything is glued and dried, select a color to spray paint your coffin with. After your paint is done drying, here comes the fun part! Decorate your creepy coffin with chains, skulls, or any other scary item that comes to mind. Take it up a notch by adding LED lights on the inside to make your coffin glow from within! 

2. Ghastly candle centerpieces 

Gather up some pool noodles and cut them at varying lengths. The longest piece will determine how tall your ghastly candle centerpiece is. Depending on how large you want your centerpiece to be, group together between 3-5 pieces at a time, and use a hot glue gun on a low setting to glue your pieces together. Then, once they're dry, use your glue gun to add droplets running down the outer room of your pool noodles to recreate the look of candle wax dripping. When that's all squared away, spray-paint your pool noodles in the color of your choosing and even spice it up with some glitter that matches your event's theme. Finally, top off your candles with small LED flameless candles to bring your candle centerpiece to life! 

3. Petrifying pumpkin doorway

First, measure how long and wide you want your pumpkin-covered entryway to be. Using those measurements, piece together PVC pipes and their connectors to build the outline of your doorway. Then, secure the arch you've just built to the actual doorway of your event using zip ties or heavy-duty clear tape. Next, buy some hollow plastic pumpkins in varying colors and cut out two holes in the back on opposite sides of each pumpkin. Use zip ties to loop through those holes and secure your pumpkins around the arch until it's completely covered. Lastly, loop through some LED lights and fill in any sparse areas of the archway with dark-colored garland to complete the final look.

4. Bone-chilling spider webs 

What's more spine-tingling than being surrounded by spiderwebs? To give your attendees the creepy crawlies, start by placing clear thumbtacks in the wall in the shape of a spider web. These will be the spokes for your web. Use orange, white, or black yarn found in your local craft store and hook around the spokes to weave a spider web. Be sure to add a plastic spider on each web as a finishing touch. If you're looking to really give your attendees the willies, get some stretchy fake cobwebs to cover your venue from top to bottom with!

5. Perilous potion bottles

This decoration idea is a perfect way to reuse some simple household items for your spooky Halloween decorating while also practicing sustainability! To start, gather up some glass jars or bottles in different sizes. Fill your “potion bottles” with water and add food coloring in various colors to each. If you want to make your potions look extra convincing, add some extra elements like sprinkling glitter or bits of colored styrofoam into each bottle. You could also put herbs or other plants in jars that'll look like mysterious ingredients for your potions. Lastly, get creative and label your bottles with clever names like “Vicious Venom” or “Immortal Elixir”. Considering how simple they are to make, feel free to create as many of these spooky Halloween decorations as you'd like!

6. Wicked witch parking 

This one is super simple and hilarious! All you need to do is gather up a few brooms (and a witch hat or two!) and find an area in your venue's parking lot to place them. To add to the fun, label the area “Wicked Witch Parking,” “Designated Witch Parking,” or another creative name. Rather than use a parking space, you could also hang some brooms on a wall with a sign saying “Broom Parking Only.” It'll be sure to get a laugh out of your attendees after spooking them all night long! Pro tip: Snap some candid photos of attendees' reactions throughout your event to include in your haunt marketing materials.

7. Lifeless flower bouquets

Purchase a few bouquets of flowers with varieties (like roses, hydrangeas, or lavender) that don't drop their petals easily. Wrap your flowers in bundles of 8-10 using a twist tie or rubber band, then hang them upside down from either a clothes hanger or hook to dry. Next, place them in a dark, dry location away from sunlight. A closet or garage will do the trick! After 2-3 weeks, your dried flowers will be ready to place in your vases. As an idea, you can try spray-painting your flowers black if you want, especially on the stems and leaves. Finally, to make your elegant Halloween decorations fit in more with your event's theme, finish your bouquets off with unconventional items like cobwebs or twigs.  

8. Ominous old pictures

Like in most horror movies, ominous old family pictures hang from the walls that'll give you the chills! Recreate this feeling with your Halloween event decorations by looking up some vintage family pictures online and printing them in black and white. Get a few dusty frames to place them in and cover them with cobwebs or a splatter of red paint to give the illusion of blood. Who knew scary Halloween decorations could be so easy!

9. Ghoulish ghosts

For this haunting decoration, pick up a ton of styrofoam heads and cheesecloth at your local craft store. To turn them into ghosts, simply drape the long, flowing pieces of cloth over each head and hang them from the ceiling. There you have it, ghoulish ghosts in a matter of seconds! One more thing: as part of keeping your haunted attraction safe, remember to hang your ghosts high enough to ensure a clear path for your attendees to walk through.

Now that we've got your creative juices flowing, let's get a jump start on planning your haunted attraction! Sign up with a ticketing platform like TicketLeap, that'll equip you with a full suite of haunt ticketing features for your next event. Create a free account within minutes and start selling tickets online today!