Blunder to Wonder

Make these spooky DIY Halloween decorations from your recycled materials. If you are a beginner & searching for budget-friendly ideas, scroll down!

The most amazing part of Halloween decorations is that they are spooky, creative, and fun without filling your shopping cart with new things. That old unused thing sitting around your home can become something completely different with a little imagination. And honestly, that’s what makes recycled crafts so much fun. You don’t have to start with a perfect craft supply. You can start with something ordinary and give it a second life. Here, you’ll find easy DIY Halloween decorations from recycled materials that are suitable for beginners and can be adapted to whatever you already have at home.

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What Can You Recycle for Halloween Decorations?

You probably already have plenty of useful materials at home. Give a look for:

• Empty glass jars
• Cardboard boxes
• Cereal boxes
• Toilet paper or kitchen-roll tubes
• Old newspapers
• Paper bags
• Used wrapping paper
• Scrap fabric
• Old ribbons
• Egg cartons
• Plastic bottles
• Old picture frames
• Cardboard packaging
• Leftover craft paper
• Broken or unused decorations
  You don’t need to collect everything. Pick a few materials and see what you can create.

Recycled Jar Ghost Lanterns

An empty glass jar will become a tiny glowing ghost. For this, you’ll need clean glass jars, white paper or white paint suitable for the surface, black paper or a suitable marker, and an LED tealight.

To make it clean and dry, your jar. Cover the outside with white paper or decorate it with suitable white paint. Add two eyes and a small mouth using black paper or a marker. Place an LED tealight inside. Make several ghosts with different expressions and place the jars together on your shelf or table.

Safety tip: Use LED lights rather than an open flame, especially when using paper decorations.

Cardboard Box Pumpkin Decorations

Don’t throw away your small cardboard boxes; you can create cute Halloween pumpkins. Draw a pumpkin shape on the cardboard and cut out two identical pieces. Paint or cover them with orange paper.

Draw a black face and join the pieces together so the pumpkin can stand upright. Just like this, you can make several pumpkins in different sizes.
This is particularly useful for decorating a small Halloween corner.

Cereal Box Bat Garland

An empty cereal box at your store is perfect for making sturdy paper decorations. Cut open that box and use the plain inside surface. Draw a simple bat shape and cut it out.

Use it as a template to make several bats. Paint them black, or you can cover them with black paper. Make small holes and thread them onto jute or string. Hang the finished garland across your wall, window, or shelf.

Egg Carton Spiders

If you have an old egg carton, then you can turn them into creepy little spiders. To make these spiders, you need to cut individual cups from the carton. Paint them black and allow them to dry.

Add googly eyes if you have them, and if you don’t have them, make paper eyes and detail them with white marker. Attach strips of black paper or suitable craft material for the legs. And Hola! You can make a whole family of spiders in different sizes.

Newspaper Hanging Ghosts

The stack of your old newspapers will become strikingly lightweight hanging ghosts. Crumple a small amount of newspaper into a ball. Place another sheet over it and gather the paper underneath the ball.

Tie it with string to create the ghost’s head. Draw simple eyes and a mouth. Hang several ghosts from a doorway, ceiling, or covered outdoor area. For an extra spooky effect, make them in different sizes.

Recycled Cardboard Haunted House

This one will take a little more time of yours but will become the centerpiece of your Halloween display. Use an old cardboard box and cut windows, a door, a roof, and small decorative shapes.

Cover or paint the cardboard and draw black windows along with a few spooky details. Place a small LED light behind the house to make the windows glow. For children, this can also become a fun family craft project.

Old Paper Bag Halloween Characters

If you have some old paper shopping bags, turn them into Halloween characters. Use the bag as the body and add paper details to create ghosts, witches, monsters, black cats, and pumpkins.

Draw the faces yourself or cut features from scrap paper. Hang the finished characters on your wall or door.

DIY Spider Web from Old Yarn

If you have leftover black, white, or grey yarn, don’t let it sit forgotten in your craft box. Make it into a spider web. Start by trying several pieces of yarn together to create a basic web shape.

Add more pieces across the center until you have a web pattern. Attach a small recycled-paper spider to it. Hang it in a corner, on a wall, or around a picture frame. This is particularly useful if you want a large decoration without using much material.

Cardboard Black Cat Wall Decor

Use leftover cardboard to make a simple black cat silhouette. Draw the outline of a cat with pointed ears and a curved tail. Cut the silhouette out.
Cover it with black paper or paint it black & add simple eyes using white paper. Make several cats and create a little Halloween cat family on your wall.

Recycled Bottle Ghosts

Empty plastic bottles are perfect to become Halloween ghosts. Clean the bottles and remove their labels. Cover the outside with white paper or suitable white paint and make a spooky face.

Place an LED light near or inside an appropriately prepared bottle if the materials and container are suitable for that use. Alternatively, simply use the bottles as standing ghost decorations.

Upcycling tip: Choose different bottle shapes and sizes to make your ghost collection more interesting.

Turn an Old Picture Frame into Halloween Decor

Don’t throw away an old picture frame just because you don’t like the artwork inside it. Remove the existing picture, and you can paint or decorate the frame in a Halloween-inspired color.
Inside this add a paper bat, a spooky quote, a black cat, a pumpkin illustration, or a simple spider web. You can even use scrap cardboard as the background. Now your old frame has a completely new purpose.

Toilet Paper Roll Bats

Empty cardboard toilet-paper rolls are useful for your small Halloween crafts. Flatten the roll slightly and cut simple bat shapes from it and paint it black. Draw tiny eyes or white details.

Hang them individually or add them to a garland. Stick them around a Halloween display. They’re small, lightweight, and easy to make, so you can complete them in a few hours.

Egg Carton Pumpkin Garland

Instead of making spiders, you can use egg-carton cups to create tiny pumpkins. Cut individual cups from the carton and paint them orange. Draw little black faces.
Make small holes and thread them onto string. With the scrap paper, make green paper leaves and add them between pumpkins. This will create a cute recycled Halloween garland.

Recycled Newspaper Pumpkin

Newspaper can also be used to create a decorative pumpkin. Crumple several sheets into a roughly round shape. Wrap the outside with another sheet of newspaper and shape it into a pumpkin.

Tie string around it in sections to create pumpkin-like ridges. Cover it with orange paper or paint it orange and add a small cardboard stem. You can make pumpkins in different sizes and arrange them together at your dining table.

Recycled Jar Halloween Candle Holder

Your old glass jar can also become a simple Halloween decoration without turning it into a character. Wrap a strip of black paper around the outside and cut small shapes such as bats, stars, cats, or pumpkins.
Place an LED tealight inside. When the light shines through the uncovered areas, the shapes become visible. It’s simple, inexpensive, and looks especially nice in a darker room.

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How to Make Recycled Halloween Decorations Look Better?

Recycled doesn’t have to mean messy. A few small choices will make your decorations look much more intentional.

• Choose a color palette. Try sticking to a combination of black, orange, white, or black, purple, or white.
• You can add one metallic color if you like.
• Repeat shapes and mix sizes.
• If you make bats, use bats in a few different places around your display.
• Combine large cardboard pumpkins with smaller paper decorations.
• Don’t overdecorate the space.
• A few well-placed decorations will often look better than covering every available surface.

Where Can You Display Them?

Your recycled Halloween crafts can work in many areas. So, here are some options to try on: –

• Front door—Hang your cardboard wreath, bats, or a spooky sign.
• Living room—Decorate a shelf, wall, or coffee table.
• Dining table—Use jar lanterns, paper pumpkins, or a small haunted house.
• Windows—Hang the bats, ghosts, or spider webs.
• Entryway—Create a small spooky corner with recycled decorations.

If you’re decorating outdoors, use materials and lighting that are appropriate for outdoor conditions and follow the product instructions.

What to Do With the Decorations After Halloween

• Try making decorations that can be stored and reused.
• Paper bats, cardboard pumpkins, and fabric garlands can be packed away for next year.
• Temporary decorations can also be dismantled so the materials can potentially be reused for another craft at another upcoming festival like Thanksgiving or Christmas.
• If a decoration has become damaged, separate its components where practical and recycle the materials according to your local recycling rules.

Safety Tips for Recycled Halloween Crafts

Safety is especially important when you’re working with recycled materials because you may not know exactly how every material will react to heat or moisture.

• Use LED candles for paper, cardboard, fabric, and dried-material decorations.
• Never place open flames close to recycled paper or cardboard.
• Make sure glass jars are clean and free from cracks.
• Be careful when cutting cardboard and other stiff materials.
• Avoid sharp edges, especially if children are helping.
• Don’t use damaged electrical items in your decorations.
• Keep small parts away from young children.
• For outdoor decorations, protect materials from rain and follow any lighting manufacturer’s outdoor-use instructions.
  

Halloween doesn’t have to mean buying a whole new collection of decorations every year. That old cereal box can become a pumpkin and an empty jar can become a ghost this time. A cardboard tube is eligible to become a bat, pumpkin or a cat. And a few pieces of leftover yarn can become a spider web.
That’s the fun of DIY and upcycling—you start with something ordinary and give it a completely different purpose. So before you throw something into the recycling bin, ask yourself: “Could this become a little spooky?”