by Grace Shellito

Created on: September 19, 2010   Last Updated: September 28, 2010

Decorating for Halloween does not have to mean spending a lot of money to create unique decor that no one else has. It can be done using cardboard boxes, discarded clothing, duck tape and other items that you probably have in the house. Old torn sheets can be bandages rather than buying gauze. A bottle of liquid acrylic craft paint can be purchased for less than a dollar or you can use red food coloring.

Decorating the House Front

Here’s a great way to recycle those quart size juice and coffee cans. Turn them into sidewalk lights. Use an old strand of Christmas lights with clear bulbs. Connect the lights to an electric socket and run the light strand down the sides of the sidewalk leading up to the door. Cover each light with a can in which you have punched a scary pumpkin face. Have a family painting party and paint them orange.

To use the cans without lights, paint scary pumpkin faces on the cans. Leave the tops open. Fill them with dirt, rocks and gravel. Create cardboard fingers, toes and other body parts and "plant " them in the cans. These can be cut and painted during the family painting party. Line the walkway or porch steps with the decorated cans.

Adult Size Card Board Paper Doll Characters

Create adult size card board figures from large size boxes. Cut out straight figures. Use wigs, yarn, bandages, gauze and red food coloring to make them look authentic. Knives, pitch forks and so forth can be cut from card board and painted using silver, black and red craft paint. Dress the cardboard dolls in old clothing. Use hats and masks to cover the faces. Create blood stains with red colored water or red craft paint. Use black and brown paint to create dirt smears and splotches. Apply black paint to an old tire and roll the tire over a clothing item to create tread marks, making the item look like it has been run over by a vehicle.

Attach tomato stakes which you can get cheaply from any garden supply store to the back of the figures and push them into the ground around the sidewalk.

 The Nutty Professor Party

Wild unkempt teased hair, dirty lab coats and sloppy clothing will create a nutty professor. Use plastic beakers and new plastic tubs as serving dishes. Tear napkins from a new white sheet, make lip prints and dirty finger prints with craft paint. A white sheet can be a table cloth. Indicate the theme on the party invitations.

 Minnie Pearl Party (For the Older Generation)

Everyone wears a hat with the price tag hanging down. Clothing should be 40s and 50s retro. Make the party room look as retro as possible. Use brown bags as gift bags. Use old hats turned upside down with plastic bowls inserted as serving dishes. Make a table centerpiece with a hat full of peanuts in the shell and gaudy plastic flowers. Use canning jars as drinking utensils. A pot with an enamel cup tied to the handle with twine can be the punch bowl.

Puppies and Kittens Party  (For children)

Children must dress as a puppy or kitten. Use new plastic feed bowls as dishes. Use "doggy bags" as gift bags. Have a "barking" and meowing" contest. Conduct races on a carpeted floor in which the children must go to the other side of the room on their hands and knees, retrieve a ‘Treat" and return to their master ( the starting point).. A wrapped candy can be the treat.

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