Directory: Halloween Decorating

Halloween Haunted House Decorating Ideas

Halloween Haunted House Ideas

Set Up Your Own Terrifying Tour With Easy, Simple Effects

“Dead” bodies can be lying nearby, made by setting up stuffed clothing, shoes, and a full-face mask. Ketchup is a good alternative to fake blood, but it smells like you’re having a barbecue.

Dracula’s Lair

Someone dressed in a vampire costume lies in a coffin, which you can build from a large cardboard box cut and formed to a coffin-like shape and painted black. As guests walk by, the vampire suddenly opens his eyes, sits up and bares his fangs.

Lighting is your most effective special effect. Use flashlights, red light bulbs, green spotlights and night lights to create low lighting that is safe enough to move around, but which highlights the scary things on your tour.

Simple ideas for Scary Rooms in your Haunted House:

Mad Scientist’s Lab

Gather up all your old science fair equipment, beakers and tubes from the microscope set, and anything in your kitchen that resembles a scientist’s lab. The performer wears a white, wild-hair wig and a lab coat. A fake head or a full-faced mask stuffed with newspaper can sit on a table nearby.

Witch’s Room

For an eerie witch’s cauldron, fill a black, plastic Halloween cauldron with hot water and add dry ice and a glow stick. (Don’t let children handle or get near the dry ice.) Your performer, dressed in the traditional witch regalia, is at the cauldron, stirring and telling a scary story.

Frankenstein’s Workshop

Yucky body parts are easy to mimic, using spaghetti, peeled grapes and other foods. Set aside part of your haunted house to have guests put their hands in these slimy, gooey and scary things while the performer tells the story of Hal O’Ween.

Ghostly Graveyard

Set up gravestones (large cereal boxes painted gray and marked with black letters) in a dark room. Add a fog machine (available at rental stores and for sale with the fog juice for about $40) for a spooky effect. If your haunted house is outdoors, tiki torches stuck in the ground along the path will create an eerie effect.