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Hey everyone. My girlfriend and I are new to this site. We are throwing a huge halloween party here in our home town which is Northeast Arkansas. This our first year of doing this outside of a small home party. We are renting out a place that used to be a nightclub, and we want to have the place look amazing. However as we are getting into it, we are finding out how expensive things can get and we are wondering if you guys can help us out. We would love any input that you all could give us on how to make cheap decorations (that look decent). Also we would love any suggestions on websites or stores that you all have found useful and/or any suggestions on how you have made your party more economically efficient, while still enjoyable. Literally, we would love to hear any and all suggestions that are party related. Thank you all very much!

Welcome Halloween Fanatics!
Okay...I started out on a very tight budget...so here's what I did. I bought the industrial trash bags at home depot - 50 to a box for about $8 to $10. They are about 4 feet wide and when you cut the bags down the sides they fold out to be a little over 8 feet long. Hung the bags on the walls. The I started making my props. I took brown butcher paper and made door covers...Used markers and made them look like old wooden doors. Got cheap shears from goodwill and hung on the windows....you can tatter them up to make them look really old. Made tombstones out of boxes, tape and gray spray paint, extra cardboard to make fence pickets. Took paper sacks and cut leaves out of it. Threw them into another sack and crunched them up...then threw them all around the tombstones. Spider web, rubber rats, frogs, snakes and birds (try all the $ stores for these). Lights will make a big difference...If you can't afford black lights, try blue bulbs for the moon light look.

See my 2004 album here, all most all of that stuff is home made. My reaper was a pole lamp covered with a reaper costume, skelly gloves and blinkers inside for eyes. My witch was a guitar stand, some styrofoam and witch costume. There all kinds of inexpensive ways to do things when you don't have the time or funds to build/buy your props.

Hope this helps.

Elza had some really great ideas. I totally agree with the dollar stores and also look in resale/thrift shops (for sheets or other fabric or just anything creepy or useful; sometimes I find can lights there). Also check out garden department clearances--maybe you need urns that can be painted, burlap or weed block fabric. The color of an item can always be changed with paint or dye depending what material it is, tomato cages can be used as an armature and covered to make ghouls or whatever your heart desires. You can make creepy vines with paper grocery bags (cut them fully open-don't use the heavier bottom part; tape a bunch together end to end and then twist them tightly into vines of whatever length you want. The plastic party tablecloths from the dollar stores would also be good to cover walls. The stretchy spider webbing can add atmosphere and cover up a multitude of "sins." Cornstalks, pumpkins, gourds, etc. I like to use fallen tree branches to make trees where I need them. You could mount them in a large container and fill with sand/gravel/plaster or whatever is heavy that will make them stand up, then paint them or not and add webbs or whatever you like.

Think outside the box. If you see something, don't just look at it for its intended purpose, but rather what it could be: does the shape remind you of something, could it be something more sinister if it was a different color. Everything looks creepier when the lighting is dim.

Webbing! LOTS of webbing!!! It is cheap, (get it at the dollar store, not the other places... ) and a little goes a long way. The more you stretch it out and get different levels of it, the better it looks!

Cheesecloth is also super for large areas and even as table covers. This is just a Goodwill white sheet with the "bloody" cheesecloth draped over:


Like right now, Hancock Fabrics is having a sale on cheesecloth (something like 33¢ a yard or something).

I took some and shredded the edges a bit, popped some holes in and then dyed it using acrylic paint (you can use the cheap craft paint - just make sure it's acrylic and not tempra which is NOT permanent and could leave residue all over your furniture and anyone that brushes against it.

I used a very small amount of black paint in the sink filled with water, dunked the cheesecloth in for a little and then wrung it out and let it dry.

I made a "bloody" cloth too, just use red, but don't dunk it - mix up a little watery red paint and dip sections into the paint and twist the cloth around so that it gets a blotchy blood effect.

Those made great tablecloths and light covers, and would look good hanging off of any furniture, and you can drape them over curtain rods or doorways to get a creepy cobweb effect.

Lighting makes a huge difference too... darker is better, and colored lightbulbs are great. Don't get the cheap "blacklight" bulbs that look like regular incandescents - those are not real blacklights, and get super hot and pose a fire hazard! Go for the purples, reds and blues... flicker candles are really nice too, and you can pick up a 6 pack for $5 at Walgreens (they even put out some orange/black versions for the same price as the regular white ones that I found!). Putting a bunch of those into some really nice candle votives with the appropriate Halloween look would be lovely, or you could make these:
PVC Flicker Candles

I LOVE Walgreens and the Dollar Tree for cheap but nice Halloween stuff. Both of them have absolutely amazing stuff considering, and it's all pretty inexpensive!

Do the paint dip outside, or be very careful and wear clothes that you don't mind getting paint on... acrylic does not wash out of fabric!

Ok Frankie, I have to ask. What kind of dish is that in the litter box???

Welcome aboard Halloween Fanatics.

Welcome to the Board.

I made a wall of masks on black plastic. I bought cheap masks from the dollar store and Target. The Toters told me it was very scary.

Originally Posted by Spirit_In_The_Night

Ok Frankie, I have to ask. What kind of dish is that in the litter box???

It was an absolutely delicious raspberry trifle that one of our good friends made, inspired by the kitty litter cake. The "poo" was actually tootsie rolls and the "litter" top was cookies that he dyed with food coloring and spun in a food processor to get the texture.

You can find instructions for the infamous kitty litter cake here:
Kitty Litter Cake for Halloween - - FabulousLiving.com

Hardly any of the guests tried it because it looked so real... but it was fantastic!

Invest in some real blacklights. If you buy flourescent webbing you can get some cool effects on the cheap. I agree with Frankie Girl's suggestion of colored light bulbs. Battery operated strobes can be bought for a few bucks each.
A lightning/thunder machine can be bought for about 20 bucks - cheaper on sale or with a coupon. Hooked into a sound system playing storm sound effects it can be very effective.