Cheap Halloween Decoration Ideas For Home

One of the best parts of Halloween, in my opinion, is the decorations! I love to drive by homes and see the fake graveyards and the demons and the ghosts filling their yards. If you don't have the space for Halloween yard décor, you can still deck out your front porch in Autumn and Halloween decorations.

But all of this Halloween decorating can get expensive. Before buying brand new Halloween blow-up decorations or spending a small fortune on life-size monsters, consider some of these options for Halloween décor this year:

Your front porch is the entrance to your home and the centerpiece to your house. It's often the first place to catch a person's eye and it's where the trick-or-treaters will likely come knocking for candy. So of course you want to make it look festive for the holidays.

The type of porch you have in front of your home determines the type of decorating for Halloween that you can do.

Railings, columns, or other poles: A plastic leaf garland is a Halloween decoration I see at almost every store this time of year. They're generally pretty low cost as well! A benefit of leaf decorations are that they can be put up in September and not taken down until after Thanksgiving. They're good for all of Autumn.

If you already have a flagpole, just switch out your everyday flag for a Halloween themed one, available at stores such as Walmart and Michael's for prices that tend to range $10-20.

A super easy Halloween decoration to fit on your front porch is basically DIY. Buy some cheap decorative leaf bags for Halloween, rake up the leaves from your yard (maybe offer to do a neighbor's yard, for extra leaves and kindness!), and stuff them inside to make quick Halloween porch decor.

Fake cobwebs will stretch easily over railings, but it's even better if your porch has a roof. For an awesome Halloween look, stretch artificial cobweb material from the top of the porch down to the railings. You can actually create an archway out of the cotton, forcing your guests to walk through a cobweb to get their candy!

For windows, you can easily give the spooky image of eyes watching the trick-or-treaters from inside, or maybe an evil witch stirring her cauldron. Plastic tarps with these simple pictures are sold at almost every store that supplies Halloween decorations.

Another simple Halloween decoration is to buy a porch light cover. Turn your light into a pumpkin or a glowing witch's crystal ball.

So far the front door has been severely neglected! A wreath is a simple solution to that. Many people associate wreaths with Christmas time, but they work for all seasons in different styles. Whether you buy pre-made Halloween wreaths from the store (try Michael's or JoAnn's for truly creative Halloween wreaths!) or craft your own Autumn wreath, it'll add the right spirit to your home's entrance. A ring of maple leaves in orange and yellow is a classic type of Fall wreath, but so many more are available. I know one woman who assembled a Halloween wreath out of rubber snakes from the dollar store last year!

And how could I talk about front porches on Halloween without mentioning the pumpkin? There are so many options nowadays. If you aren't a fan of carving, it's not a must. Your house will still look decorated for Autumn with pumpkins sitting in front. Plastic carved pumpkins can be purchased at craft stores for a lasting Halloween decoration. For something a little different, buy Ghost pumpkins -- a popular new trend of selecting white pumpkins for a more sophisticated look.

While this next suggestion isn't quite as simple, it can be a cheap, DIY Halloween decoration with the right supplies and some effort. You'll need old clothes and a pair of shoes that you don't mind giving up. Check the Salvation Army or other discount store for these items if you can't provide them from your own closet. With a combination of newspaper (or some other form of stuffing), safety pins, a haunted mask and rubber gloves/monster gloves for the head and hands, and other miscellaneous supplies you have lying around that could be of use, you can stuff a "body" to form a creepy monster to sit or stand outside this Halloween.

And how about a monster barbecue? Drag your grill, ready to be packed away now that summertime is over, to the front yard. Spread down a picnic cloth on the ground. Then buy up some cheap dollar-store body parts. You know the kind. They display them every Halloween: red, rubber or plastic, bloody brains and livers and severed hands. Buy these cheap Halloween decorations and lay them out on the grill and on (inexpensive) plates on the blanket. For added effect, assemble some monsters as talked about above to attend your monster family picnic!

If you're lucky enough to have good trees in your yard then considering purchasing some miniature hanging ghosts or monsters to throw up there. An even cheaper option is, yet again, the fake cobwebs. You may need a ladder for this, but you can stretch cobweb cotton throughout the branches in your tree, giving your house a truly haunted look for a low cost.

What are some of your favorite ways to decorate for Halloween on a budget?