Need some quick Halloween decorations, that even the kids
can help with? Here are three great Halloween decorating
ideas using easy to find, inexpensive materials.

Craft Foam Creepies

Craft foam is sold in sheets at the craft store in a whole
array of colors. It is similar to construction paper, but
made of thin, durable foam you can easily cut with scissors.
Trace simple Halloween shapes onto the backside of the foam
sheets and cut out. Use contrasting colors and a glue stick
to add details such as a jack o lantern face, red eyes on a
bat, or the face of a silly ghost. You can make these
cutouts as large or as small as you want. Hang them in
windows or hang them with clear thread form curtain rods,
doorways, or in your front entry. (This works really well
with bats, hang them from the tips of each wing, and one
place on the body to make them appear to be flying) These
can even be used on protected porches as the foam is water
resistant.

Graveyard

A graveyard near your front walk is a creepy and creative
touch to the Halloween spirit. We used scrap pieces of
plywood and siding and cut them into rectangles with the
tops rounded, like a gravestone. We first painted them gray,
then washed over them with a watery white paint for age and
spook factor. We used black paint to add amusing names and
epitaphs, such as I.M., Gone or Ben Dismembered. Screw a
wooded stake to the back and pound into the ground. I like
to group them together on an area of grass, then rope them
off with chains, add a few pumpkins (and in my neck of the
woods, tumbleweeds are a nice touch) and line the edge of
your "graveyard" with lighted jackolanterns for Hallows Eve.
My kids have the lost fun with this!

Giant spiders and webs

First of all, set the stage for your spiders by picking up
some webbine: t is really cheap, and stretches a LONG way!
Corners of rooms or porches, or stretched over a door are
great effects. To make the spiders, pick up large black pom
poms and large black chenille stems from the craft store.
Take 4 chenille stems and twist them together in the middle.
This creates the eight legs. Bend the stems downward about
halfway down each leg. Now use tacky glue or a glue gun
(glue gun is my choice as it sets almost instantly, but the
adult must handle this!) to secure a large pom pom in the
center of the legs at the twist to form the body. You can
add google eyes as some do, but I prefer to cut scary red
eyes from felt or craft foam and glue on. Set your spiders
in their webs, and you can bend the leg tips to attach them
to a picture frame or a lamp chain. Remember, with this
project, the bigger, the better, so buy the bargest legs and
pom poms you can find!

Three great projects for Halloween, make enough of any of
these and you can turn your home into a haunted house
without the huge price tag. Don't forget to pack them away
for next year!)

About the Author: Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator and Decorating Your Small Space. You can find thousands of budget home decorating ideas at her
website at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com.