13 Terrifying Halloween Decorations Made from Trash

With Halloween around the corner, it’s time to get creative with decorating your space using budget-friendly ideas. Many of the materials required for these projects can be salvaged from your recycling bin or junk drawer. (Check out: 12 Incredible Ways to Transform Trash into Treasures)

1. Ghosts from Milk Jugs

These ghostly milk jugs are a breeze to create! Just clean the jugs, draw spooky faces with a Sharpie, place tiny LED lights inside, and arrange them along your pathway. Make sure to add some pebbles inside to keep them steady.

2. Skeleton Made from Milk Jugs

Milk jugs can also be used to craft an eerie skeleton. You’ll need seven jugs, some string, and a dash of patience to follow a detailed guide on which parts to cut out. Once everything is prepped, simply punch holes for the string to hold the bones together. For an extra spooky effect, spray paint it with glow-in-the-dark paint.

3. Creepy Acid Bath

If you’re fortunate enough to have an empty oil drum, this creepy acid bath decoration will surely terrify your neighbors. You can place a dummy or even yourself inside the drum wearing a terrifying mask and use spray foam to imitate bubbling skin.

4. Monster Yard Lights

Transform a few plastic jugs into monster yard lights by decorating them to your liking and placing a tap light inside for illumination. To complete the look, insert a sturdy stick or broom handle into the spout, placing these frightful creations wherever you want to add some scare factor outdoors.

5. Creepy Potion Bottles

Turn old jars, bottles, and boxes into eerie potion bottles for your Halloween decor. Design spooky labels and words on recycled containers, then paint over them with multiple layers of chalk paint. You can either leave them as is or add an extra color coat for a distressed appearance.

6. Paper Mache Jack O’Lanterns

For those seeking an alternative to traditional pumpkin carving, consider using leftover newspaper for a giant papier mache jack o’lantern. A vintage plastic pumpkin can serve as your mold, though you’re welcome to build one from chicken wire or other materials. Tear the paper into 10-inch strips, coat them in glue, apply them to the form, and let dry. Afterwards, you can unleash your creativity with cutting or painting the faces.

7. Disturbing Specimen Jars

These specimen jars might be too unsettling for some. Start by disassembling an old doll and put its dismembered parts into recycled pickle jars. Fill the jars with water, adding a drop of red and green food coloring for effect.

8. Wine Bottle Lanterns

Give your wine-loving friends a festive fright with these wine bottle jack o’ lanterns. Enjoy some budget-friendly wine, clean the empty bottles, spray paint the lower section orange, and draw faces on them using a Sharpie.

9. Bulb Spiders

Repurpose those burnt-out Christmas lights into bulb spiders! Wrap some metal wire around the bulbs to form legs. The original project features colorful bulbs, but a matte black spray paint finish could enhance the eerie look.

10. Haunting Eyes

Create spooky eyes using empty toilet paper rolls. Draw eerie eyes on each roll, cut them out with a hobby knife, and insert LED lights inside. Position these in dark corners for a frightful touch.

11. Living Dead Dolls

If you have broken Barbie dolls cluttering your playroom, gather them up, spray paint them white, and transform them into Living Dead Dolls. Once dry, add details to their eyes with a fine-tip Sharpie. Vintage dolls can also be used for an even creepier effect.

12. Trash Bag Corpse

While you’re taking out the trash, grab an extra black bag to create a trash bag corpse. Stuff the bag with crumpled newspaper and tie it off at various points to shape it like a body. For added creepiness, use caution tape to mark the area as a creepy crime scene.

13. Garbage Bag Ghosts

If you only have white or clear trash bags, you can still create convincing ghosts. Use a dress form or a friend to shape the bags using packing tape, then gently remove them and tape the head and body pieces together. Distress and decorate to your taste, then hang with fishing wire.

What unique decorations are you planning to use for Halloween this year?