You don’t have to break the bank to decorate for All Hallow’s Eve. I’ll show you how to use dollar store Halloween decorations to haunt your house on the cheap.
When it comes to Halloween, I’m very much a budget decorator. Our trick or treat decor is a mix of vintage items and dollar store Halloween decorations. It’s all about the cheap scares!
In this post, I’ll provide some examples of how I’ve used these inexpensive Halloween decorations in the past, share my favorite scary things to buy at the dollar store and link to other bloggers who have great budget Halloween style.
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Best Dollar Tree Halloween Decorations
Dollar Tree, in particular, is a great place to buy Halloween decor, as well as party and craft supplies. Some of my favorite items to buy there include:
- foam gravestones
- tealight lanterns
- rats
- bats
- skulls
- creepy cloth
- holographic portraits that can be transformed into creepy DIY art
- zombie masks
- gory plastic hands and feet
- animal skeletons
- oversized spiders
- rubber bugs and creepy crawlies
- lights
- spider webbing
- crime scene tape
- bony hands
- Halloween ice cube molds
- skull goblets
- plastic eyeballs (You could make a great eyeball wreath like this one from No. 2 Pencil)
- plastic beakers and test tubes
- jack-o’-lantern treat buckets (Charleston Crafted used dozens to line their porch stairs and create a pumpkin topiary)
Because everything only costs a buck (or $1.25 nowadays), I tend to buy these items in bulk and use them to create spooky vignettes. The more the scarier!
These plastic skulls are a great example. I bought as many as I could find last year to fill the rustic wooden lanterns on our porch.
Even buying multiples of these items, I don’t break the bank. I tend to reuse the same Halloween decor year after year, in slightly different ways. So, I consider these dollar store buys an investment in our Halloween decor for years to come.
Cheap Scares for Halloween
Here are a few of my favorite ways to decorate for Halloween with different inexpensive items from the dollar store.
Plastic Skulls
Plastic skulls come in a vareity of sizes.
They look great massed in lanterns, vases and baskets.
Same lantern, different skulls.
Is there anything scarier than a skull under glass?
I also like putting them on top of pumpkins with other creepy crawliews or creatures nearby.
Stack two or tree foam skulls, secured with wooden skewers, or glue plastic ones together to create a terrifying topiary.
These creepy crystal balls are one of my most popular Halloween crafts.
They’re made using candle holders, skulls, glass globes and other items from Dollar Tree. Click here for the tutorial.
Creepy Cloth
Creepy Cloth is one of my favorite things to buy at the dollar store. They usually carry it in black, white, gray and natural colors for much cheaper than you can find it online or in other stores.
I use yards and yards of the stuff every year, draping it over furniture, lamps, chandeliers and windows.
It also makes a wonderfully spooky tablecloth. (See how I made these Spooky Specimen Jars.)
Skeletons
You can find all different sorts of skeletons at the dollar store: hands, feet, miniature complete skeletons and animal skeletons.
Place them anywhere you want to create a scary vibe.
This rat met a most unfortunate end.
Maybe the cat had something to do with it.
Use fishing line to hang bird and bat skeletons.
I used an assortment of miniature skeletons to make this macabre Halloween wreath.
Spiders & Spiderwebs
As with creepy cloth, you get a lot of bang for your buck when you buy artificial spider webbing from the dollar store.
Stretch the stuff across windows and doors, inside and out, as a backdrop for wreaths and clingy creatures.
Giant spiders add a nightmarish touch whenever you place them.
Birds, Rats, Bats & Creepy Crawlies
A bag of rubber rats, bugs or scorpions will set you back $1. But the scares are worth so much more than that.
They look so creepy crawling out of the eye holes on a skull or perched a top a pile of pumpkins.
They’re even scarier keeping company with bats and birds and other creatures of the night.
If a single bird is merely scary, a murder of crows is terrifying.
A flock of bats clustered on the front door is not the kind of greeting most guests would expect.
Hang them from windows or dead branches. Again more is always better.
There’s no such thing as “too many damn” vampire bats, no matter what the grandfather in “The Lost Boys” said.
Other Dollar Store Halloween Items
I used quick-setting resin and skeleton ice trays to make these spooky Halloween plaques. You can also use them to make spooky resin swizzle sticks.
Grab a bag of bloodshot plastic eyeballs and you’ll feel like somebody is always watching you.
Fill a jar with them to keep an eye on your Halloween guests.
Float one in a glass of Purple People Eater Punch that is served in a Dollar Store plastic skull goblet.
Use plastic hands, feet and masks from the dollar store and an old pallet to create this zombie Halloween decor, inspired by the Walking Dead.
More Dollar Store Halloween Inspiration
Don’t just stick to the seasonal aise when shopping for Halloween decor at the dollar store. Dollar Tree and the 99 Cent Store are treasture troves. With a little creativity, you can make all kinds of scary decorations using items purchased for a buck.
Check out these creative projects, for inspiration:
- Dollar Store Man Eating Alien Plant – This Southern Girl Can used footballs and faux fingernails to recreate Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors
Hanging Cage Halloween Prop – The Navage Patch used round laundry baskets to make these creepy cages
Faux Chains – Ribbons and Glue used pool noodles to make oversized chain shackles.
DIY Spiderwebs – Fast Forward Fun used black trashbags to make spiderwebs
Pin This! Dollar Store Halloween Decorating Ideas
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