Decorating your home both inside and out is a fun way to celebrate Halloween. Whether you’re planning a Halloween party, preparing your home for trick-or-treaters, or you just want to have the most impressive-looking “haunted house” in your neighborhood, a few well-placed decorations can make a big difference.
However, one key aspect of completely transforming your home into a true haunted house is decorating and dressing up your windows. While you can’t leave out the all-important spider webs in trees, fake headstones on your lawn, and spooky Jack-o-Lanterns on your porch, choosing the right props for your windows is an easy way to take your Halloween décor from good to great.
- Cover your windows with spider webs.
Fake spider webs make a great Halloween decoration for your trees and the eaves in your front porch, but they’re also perfect for windows as well. Most fake spider webs are sold in large rolls, which means you’ll have plenty to spare after you’ve decorated the rest of your home. After you’ve attached the webs to your windows, be sure to add a few fake spiders for the finishing touches.
- Smear “bloody” handprints on the window glass.
Every cheesy horror movie includes at least one scene involving a bloody handprint, so why not incorporate that tried-and-true cliché into your own Halloween decorations? Just buy a small amount of fake blood and pour a quarter-sized amount into your palm. Place your hand against the window and move it back and forth until the liquid makes a distinct red hand print on the glass. If you’re wary of using fake blood on your windows, you can also purchase window clings that accomplish the same effect.
- Place black lights or strobe lights in your windows.
Lighting has a huge effect on the appearance of your home from the street—especially at night when all the windows are lit up. Take advantage of that fact by placing black lights just inside each window. The eerie blue, green, or orange glow produced by the lights will give your home a unique appearance and make your other outdoor decorations stand out even more. You can also use strobe lights just behind your windows to achieve a true horror-film inspired look that will draw the attention of everyone who passes your home.
- Hang caution tape across your windows.
Like fake spider webs, novelty caution tape is an inexpensive purchase that can create a dramatic effect on your home’s Halloween décor. Nothing says “gory crime scene” quite like the infamous yellow plastic tape, and stringing it up across your home, including your windows, can make your home look like it’s straight out of a classic zombie or slasher horror film.
- Play classic horror films in your windows.
If you have a few spare TVs in your home, put them to good use this Halloween season. Place them facing outward in your windows and play classic horror films on repeat. Alternatively, you can purchase special DVDs that play creepy animations of everything ghosts and monsters to zombies and giant spiders.
- “Board up” your windows.
No, you don’t have to actually board up your windows to accomplish this effect. Fake window boards are available at many Halloween stores, but you can also make your own at home if you have some spare cardboard or Styrofoam. First, cut the pieces into traditional 2×4’ planks that will cover your windows. Then, use a brown paint or wood stain to get a realistic wood look, and then use a heavy-duty double sided-tape to attach each plank to your windows. For an added effect, wrap them in fake spider webs or place bloody handprints on a few planks.
- Add ghostly faces to your windows.
What’s a haunted house without menacing ghosts flying around inside? To make your home look truly spooky, buy a few “ghost” masks at your local Halloween store or supermarket. Then, wrap them cheesecloth to create a long “tail” that falls several feet below the mask itself. When you hang them in your window, it will look like your home has been taken over by flying apparitions.
- Create a flame or blood effect with orange or red tissue paper.
If you want your windows to merely enhance your décor rather than be the center of attention, this tip may be perfect for your home. Tape several layers of orange or red tissue paper in your windows, and make sure you cover up all gaps to prevent light leaks. Then, place lights directly behind each window to create a striking colorful display. You can also glue black construction paper to the tissue paper in the shapes of eyes and mouths to create a Jack-o-Lantern effect in your windows.
- Create your own spooky silhouettes and place them in your windows.
One of the most inexpensive ways to dress up your windows for Halloween is to create silhouettes and place them directly against the glass. This tip requires nothing more than a large roll of black paper, which you can find at most arts and crafts stores, a white pen or pencil, scissors, and any of the countless silhouette templates you can find online.
After you’ve found the silhouettes you want to display in your windows, do your best to sketch them on the paper using the white pen or chalk. Don’t worry about drawing perfectly, as the silhouettes are meant to represent shadows. Once you’re satisfied with the drawings, cut out the silhouettes and tape them to the insides of your windows.
