When your kids celebrate Halloween in two houses, the decorations have to work twice as hard — and so does the budget. These DIY Halloween decorations for co-parenting kids are designed from the start to be made in duplicate: one set for Mom's place, one for Dad's, with no tears when a favorite ghost has to stay behind. Every project is genuinely kid-makeable, costs just a few dollars per set, and survives the trip back and forth in a tote bag.
This list is for co-parents, grandparents, and bonus parents who want both homes to feel festive without buying everything twice at full price. You'll find crafts for every age and skill level, from toddler handprints to tween sewing projects. My one practical tip: buy your shared tools once — one glue gun, one paint set, one pom-pom maker — and only duplicate the cheap consumables. Your wallet will thank you.
Quick Picks
Best for beginners: Paper Bag Ghost Lights — just draw, slip over lights, and glow.
Fastest (under 15 minutes): Handprint Spider Cards — stamp, draw legs, done.
Most dramatic: Haunted House Dioramas — a whole spooky scene in a shoebox.
Easiest to carry between houses: Doily Ghost Garland — weighs almost nothing.
Kids' favorite: Milk Jug Jack Lanterns — big, goofy, and nearly indestructible.
How to Choose the Right One for You
Pick projects that fit your custody rhythm and your kids' ages — then buy supplies once and split them down the middle.
Match the craft to the youngest maker: drawing, tearing and painting suit ages 4 and up, while punching, sewing and wire work are better for ages 7 and up with a parent nearby.
Choose flat or foldable projects if decorations travel with the kids — garlands, cards and prints survive a tote bag, while dioramas and wreaths need their own box.
Set a per-house budget first: most of these cost under $5 a set, so making everything twice rarely tops $10 total.
Let each house keep a signature piece and share the rest — kids love knowing their wreath lives at Dad's while the ghost lights live at Mom's.
What You'll Need
LED tea lights and one strand of battery fairy lights — no real flames, ever
Hot glue gun and glue sticks, plus white school glue for little hands
Scissors, black permanent markers, and washable paint for handprints
Painter's tape and removable hooks for hanging without wall damage
One tote bag or shoebox per house for carrying finished pieces back and forth
Paper lunch bags, cardstock, and a roll of kraft paper — the base of half these projects
1. Paper Bag Ghost Lights
A strand of warm-white LED fairy lights, each bulb slipped inside a white paper lunch bag with a hand-drawn ghost face in black marker, strung along a kids' bedroom shelf.
The single detail that sells this project is the faces: let each kid draw their own set of goofy, sleepy or spooky ghost expressions, and no two bags match — which is exactly the charm. White lunch bags cost pennies, the whole strand takes about twenty minutes, and making a second set for the other house is just a matter of drawing more faces.
This suits every age, including toddlers who can scribble while a parent cuts the eye holes. The bags flatten for storage and the battery lights ride separately in the travel tote, so the set survives years of house-hopping.
You'll need: white paper lunch bags, LED fairy lights, black marker, scissors
Time: 20 minutes
Approx. cost: $5 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — flatten bags and store
Draw a ghost face on each lunch bag with black marker.
Snip a small hole in the bottom of each bag for the bulb.
Slip one bag over each light on the fairy light strand.
Fluff the bags open and hang the strand with removable hooks.
Switch on at dusk and watch the ghosts glow.
Tip: Use battery-operated fairy lights, never plug-in ones, and make the second set on the same day while the markers are out — assembly-line crafting keeps both houses' ghosts matching.
2. Egg Carton Bats
Bats cut from recycled egg carton cups, painted matte black with folded wings and googly eyes, strung on black thread as a garland across a hallway doorway.
Start with the material nobody pays for: the egg cartons already in your recycling bin. Kids cut the cups apart, paint them black, fold the wings up and add googly eyes — a whole flock takes about half an hour. Because the base material is free, doubling the garland for the second house costs literally nothing extra.
This is perfect for ages 4 and up, and the finished garland packs flat in a tote between houses. Hang it in a doorway the kids walk through every day so they get the full dramatic entrance effect in both homes.
You'll need: cardboard egg cartons, black craft paint, googly eyes, black thread, glue
Time: 30 minutes
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — store flat in a box
Tip: Paint both sides of every bat so the garland looks finished as it spins in a drafty hallway — one-sided bats are the classic rookie mistake.
Make it your own: Swap the googly eyes for painted white fangs for a scarier flock that older kids prefer.
3. Sock Ghost Lanterns
White crew socks stuffed with polyester fiberfill, tied with orange ribbon and given drawn ghost faces, each glowing from a flameless tea light inside a clear plastic cup.
Raid the single-sock drawer — this project turns laundry orphans into a glowing ghost family. Kids stuff the socks, tie them off with ribbon and draw the faces, with zero sewing and zero sharp tools. Each ghost sits over a tea light in a plastic cup, so the glow is soft and completely cool to the touch.
Toddlers can stuff and draw with hand-over-hand help, making this one of the best all-ages picks. The ghosts squish into any bag for the trip between houses, and each kid can carry their own ghost to whichever house they're heading to next.
You'll need: white crew socks, polyester fiberfill, orange ribbon, black marker, LED tea lights, clear plastic cups
Time: 25 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — restuff each year
Why it works: The fiberfill diffuses the tea light into a soft glow with zero heat, so kids can safely carry their ghost from room to room — or house to house.
Tip: Tie the ribbon tightly enough that the fiberfill can't shift in transit, and pack each ghost in its own cup so faces don't smudge against each other.
4. Pinecone Spider Webs
Pinecones wrapped with white cotton yarn woven between the scales into a web, each topped with a black pom-pom spider, hung with twine in a living room window.
Start with a nature walk — collecting the pinecones is half the fun and completely free. Back home, kids weave white yarn between the scales to build the web, which is wonderful fine-motor practice, then glue on a pom-pom spider. Every web comes out different, so making two matching-ish sets feels natural rather than forced.
This suits ages 5 and up and the finished webs are nearly indestructible, rattling around happily in a tote between houses. Hang them in a window where the daylight catches the yarn.
You'll need: pinecones, white cotton yarn, black pom-poms, twine, glue
Time: 30 minutes
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — yarn webs keep for years
Tip: Collect twice as many pinecones as you need on the walk, since kids always want to keep a few uncrafted — and bake them at low heat for an hour first to evict any tiny residents.
5. Tin Can Pumpkin Lanterns
Clean tin cans with nail-punched jack-o'-lantern dot faces, painted matte tangerine, each holding an LED tea light, lined along front porch steps.
The punching is the whole thrill here: an adult holds the nail while the kid taps the hammer, and dot-by-dot a jack-o'-lantern face appears. A coat of tangerine paint hides the labels, and at dusk the punched dots glow like a real carved pumpkin — with zero rotting and zero mess.
Best for ages 7 and up with adult help on the hammering. Each house gets its own row for the porch steps, and the cans nest inside each other for storage. They also survive rain far better than paper crafts.
You'll need: clean tin cans, hammer, nail, tangerine craft paint, LED tea lights
Time: 40 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — stack and store
Fill each clean can with water and freeze it solid.
Draw a simple dot-pattern face on the frozen can with marker.
Hold a nail on each dot and tap with the hammer to punch holes.
Let the ice melt, dry the can, and paint it tangerine.
Drop in an LED tea light and line the cans along the steps.
Tip: Freeze water in the can first so the metal doesn't dent while punching — and punch a few star and moon shapes on the back for a surprise when the can turns.
Make it your own: Punch star and moon shapes instead of faces for a night-sky set that works all autumn long.
6. Felt Bat Mobile
Black and charcoal felt bats blanket-stitched with orange embroidery thread and lightly stuffed, hung at different heights from a natural driftwood branch.
This is the perfect first sewing project: the blanket stitch is the only skill to learn, and a blunt yarn needle plus felt means no pricked fingers. Kids cut simple bat shapes, stitch around the edge, stuff lightly and hang each bat at a different height from a branch or dowel. The uneven kid stitches are exactly what make each bat charming.
Best for ages 7 and up, and a lovely quiet-together craft for a parent-child afternoon. The mobile packs flat between two pieces of cardboard, and one per kid's bedroom means both houses get the full effect.
You'll need: black and charcoal felt, orange embroidery floss, blunt yarn needle, fiberfill, driftwood branch or dowel
Time: 45 minutes
Approx. cost: $6 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — store hanging in a garment bag
Why it works: The blanket stitch is the only skill to learn, and the slightly uneven kid stitches are exactly what make each bat charming rather than flawed.
Tip: Pre-cut the felt bat shapes for younger kids so they can focus on the satisfying part — the stitching — and buy one skein of floss to share between both houses' mobiles.
7. Clay Ghost Magnets
Air-dry clay ghosts pressed with thumbprint faces, painted white with black eyes, backed with small magnets for the fridge or a magnetic board.
Roll, flatten, cut a ghost shape, press in a thumbprint face — this is sculpting at its most forgiving, and air-dry clay means no kiln and no oven. Kids can make a whole ghost family in one sitting, paint the eyes once dry, and glue on magnet backs. Split the batch down the middle so each fridge gets its own haunting.
Wonderful for ages 4 and up, and the small size makes them ideal travel companions — a tin box carries a dozen ghosts between houses safely. Seal with a dab of clear nail polish and they'll last for years of Halloweens.
You'll need: white air-dry clay, black craft paint, small round magnets, glue
Time: 30 minutes plus drying
Approx. cost: $5 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — clay is durable once sealed
Roll air-dry clay flat and cut simple ghost shapes.
Press a thumbprint into each ghost for the face hollow.
Let dry completely, then paint white with black eyes.
Glue a small magnet to the back of each ghost.
Split the batch between the two houses' fridges.
Tip: Press the face in while the clay is soft — painting tiny eyes later is much harder than pressing them now, and seal finished ghosts with clear nail polish for durability.
8. Popsicle Stick Photo Frames
Jumbo popsicle sticks glued into squares and painted deep purple, decorated with mini felt pumpkins and glitter bats, holding a Halloween photo from each house.
Here's the co-parenting gold: each parent prints a favorite photo from their own house's Halloween — costumes, pumpkin carving, the candy haul — and the kid's handmade frame holds it. When the child travels, the photos can swap too, so both houses always show both celebrations. The build itself is simple gluing and painting that suits ages 5 and up.
Glue a magnet on the back and the frame rides the fridge door, the most-viewed gallery in any house. Make one frame per house per kid and you've got a tradition that grows every October.
You'll need: jumbo popsicle sticks, purple craft paint, glue, mini felt decorations, printed photos, magnets
Time: 35 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — photos slide in and out
Tip: Glue a magnet strip on the back instead of a hanging tab — fridge display means the frame gets seen daily, and photos slide in and out without any fasteners.
9. Pom-Pom Spider Wreath
A grapevine wreath wrapped in black yarn and dotted with handmade orange and black pom-pom spiders with pipe-cleaner legs, hung on a front door.
A pom-pom maker is pure kid magic — wrap, tie, snip, fluff — and within minutes there are fuzzy spider bodies everywhere. Wrap a grapevine wreath in black yarn, then let the kids decide where each spider perches. The finished wreath looks genuinely boutique, and it weighs almost nothing.
Best for ages 6 and up, though little ones can fluff pom-poms all day. One wreath per front door gives both houses a proper Halloween welcome, and it hangs from a single removable hook with no damage.
You'll need: grapevine wreath, black yarn, orange and black yarn, pom-pom maker, black pipe cleaners, glue
Time: 50 minutes
Approx. cost: $8 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — store in a wreath bag
Tip: Buy one pom-pom maker and share it between houses — it's the only tool here, and the yarn itself is cheap enough to duplicate without thinking twice.
Make it your own: Make it a plain yarn wreath first, then add the spiders for Halloween week and remove them after for an all-fall decoration.
10. Witch Hat Treat Cones
Black paper cones with folded brims and orange paper buckle bands, filled with wrapped candy, hung on each kid's bedroom door.
Every kid needs a treat stash in each house, and these witch hats are the cutest possible container. Roll black cardstock into cones, fold a brim, add an orange buckle band, and fill with wrapped candy. Kids decorate their own hats, so the two houses' sets naturally come out different — and that's the point.
Simple enough for ages 4 and up, and cheap enough to make a whole classroom's worth. The cones collapse flat for storage and the candy gets refreshed each year, so the hats themselves last indefinitely.
You'll need: black cardstock, orange paper strips, glue, wrapped candy
Time: 20 minutes
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Cones yes — refill candy each year
Tip: Line each cone with a cupcake liner so sticky candy never touches the paper — the hats stay pristine and the liners get tossed.
11. Potion Bottle Decoupage
Clean glass jars decoupaged with torn purple, green and black tissue, finished with blank kraft tags on twine, lit from within by LED tea lights.
Tearing tissue paper is the perfect job for little hands — no scissors skills required — and under decoupage glue every torn edge disappears into a jewel-toned glow. Kids cover clean jars in purple, green and black tissue, tie on a tag, and drop in a tea light. Lit from within, they genuinely look like bubbling potions.
Great for ages 4 and up, and a set of three jars per house makes a proper apothecary shelf. The jars are sturdy glass, so they travel wrapped in a towel without worry.
You'll need: clean glass jars, tissue paper, decoupage glue, foam brush, kraft tags, LED tea lights
Time: 40 minutes
Approx. cost: $5 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — wipe clean and relight yearly
Why it works: Torn tissue edges disappear completely under decoupage glue, so there is no wrong way to do it — ideal when a wide age range is crafting side by side.
Tip: Apply the tissue in two thin layers rather than one thick one — it dries faster, lies flatter, and the color glows more evenly when lit.
12. Milk Jug Jack Lanterns
Clean plastic milk jugs with jack-o'-lantern faces drawn in permanent marker, each holding a string of battery fairy lights, glowing on a porch or hallway floor.
The material is free and the canvas is huge — a milk jug face can be as goofy as a kid dares. Draw the face in permanent marker, tuck in a string of battery fairy lights, and the whole jug glows like a friendly ghost-pumpkin. They're nearly indestructible, which matters when decorations ride in the trunk between houses.
Perfect for ages 3 and up — drawing big faces is pure toddler joy — and a row of three or four jugs makes a real statement on any porch. Rinse them out in November and they nest for next year.
You'll need: clean plastic milk jugs, black permanent marker, battery fairy lights
Time: 15 minutes
Approx. cost: $2 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — rinse and store nested
Tip: Draw the face before cutting the small flap in the back for the lights — it's much easier to draw on an intact jug, and little hands fit through the flap just fine.
13. Beaded Web Suncatchers
Silver craft wire bent into a web and strung with black and purple glass beads, with a bead spider in the center, hung with fishing line in a sunny window.
This is the quiet, focused craft for older kids — bending wire, threading beads, building the web strand by strand. An adult handles the pliers for the initial wire frame, then kids take over the beading. Hung in a sunny window, the beads throw tiny spots of color around the room.
Best for ages 8 and up, and wonderfully portable: each suncatcher slips into an envelope for the trip between houses. Make one per window and both houses get the full sparkle.
You'll need: silver craft wire, black and purple beads, fishing line, pliers (adult)
Time: 35 minutes
Approx. cost: $6 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — store flat in an envelope
Tip: Thread the beads onto the wire before bending each strand into place — beading a straight wire is ten times easier than beading around a curve.
Make it your own: Use glow-in-the-dark beads for a web that keeps working after bedtime.
14. Salt Dough Tombstones
Salt dough cut into mini tombstones, baked hard and painted soft grey, stood upright in a shallow wooden tray filled with black beans as a table centerpiece.
Mix, roll, cut, bake — salt dough is the original kid craft, and mini tombstones are its perfect Halloween application. Kids cut the shapes with a butter knife, poke a hanging hole before baking, and paint them grey once cool. Standing the tombstones in a tray of black beans makes an instant graveyard centerpiece.
Great for ages 5 and up, and the baked tombstones are tough enough to travel in a shoebox with tissue. One tray per dining table means both houses get the full spooky centerpiece.
You'll need: flour, salt, water, grey craft paint, wooden tray, black beans
Time: 45 minutes plus baking
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — seal with clear coat
Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup water into a firm dough.
Roll flat and cut tombstone shapes with a butter knife.
Poke a small hanging hole near the top of each stone.
Bake at low heat until hard, then cool completely.
Paint grey, seal, and stand in a tray of black beans.
Tip: Poke the hanging hole before baking, not after — baked salt dough cracks if you try to drill it, and the hole lets you hang spare tombstones on the tree of Halloween branches too.
15. Doily Ghost Garland
White paper doilies gathered into ghost shapes with simple black-marker faces, strung on white baker's twine with small orange pom-poms between, draped across a mantel.
Doilies already look like lacy little ghosts — all the kids have to do is gather, tie and draw a face. A rubber band gathers each doily faster than any stitching, orange pom-poms space the ghosts along the twine, and the whole garland takes about fifteen minutes. It weighs almost nothing, which makes it the single easiest decoration to carry between houses.
Perfect for ages 4 and up. Drape it across a mantel or shelf in each house, and store it in a zip bag at the end of the season.
You'll need: white paper doilies, black marker, white baker's twine, orange pom-poms
Time: 15 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — store in a zip bag
Tip: Gather each doily with a small rubber band first, then tie the twine over it — faster than sewing, and the rubber band hides completely inside the ghost's head.
16. Twig Witch Brooms
Small bundles of dried lavender and wheat stems tied with black twine to cinnamon stick handles, with tiny blank kraft tags, arranged in a stoneware jug.
A foraging walk becomes the craft: kids gather fallen stems, then bundle them around a cinnamon stick handle with black twine. The result smells like fall itself, and each bundle is small enough to tuck into a vase, hang on a wall hook, or stand in a pencil cup. No two bundles match, so making one per house feels like collecting rather than duplicating.
Lovely for ages 5 and up, with an adult handling any pruning shears on the walk. Keep the bundles dry and they'll scent both houses for several seasons.
You'll need: dried lavender or wheat stems, cinnamon sticks, black twine, small kraft tags
Time: 20 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — keep dry and they last years
Tip: Cinnamon sticks do double duty as the handle and the fragrance — choose thick, sturdy sticks so little hands can grip them while wrapping the twine.
17. Crayon-Rub Ghost Prints
White crayon texture rubbings of leaves and coins on black paper revealing ghost and pumpkin shapes, displayed in small thrifted wooden frames on a bedroom wall.
The reveal is pure magic: kids rub white crayon over a leaf hidden under black paper, and a ghostly shape blooms out of the dark. Lay coins under the paper for pumpkin texture, leaves for ghost bodies. Every rubbing is one of a kind, which makes the two houses' galleries genuinely different art collections.
Delightful for ages 3 and up — even toddlers can rub with hand-over-hand help. Thrift the frames for a dollar each, and the finished art travels flat in a folder between houses.
You'll need: black construction paper, white crayons, leaves and coins, thrifted frames
Time: 20 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — art keeps indefinitely
Why it works: The reveal — white wax blooming out of black paper — delights toddlers and tweens equally, and every rubbing is one of a kind, so both houses get original art.
Tip: Tape the paper down at the corners before rubbing, or the whole design smears the moment a little hand shifts — painter's tape peels off cleanly.
18. Sponge-Stamp Table Runner
A natural cotton table runner sponge-stamped with white ghosts and orange pumpkins in fabric paint, laid down the center of the kids' craft or snack table.
Cut ghosts and pumpkins from kitchen sponges, dip in fabric paint, and stamp — the wobblier the stamp, the more character. The runner doubles as practical decor: it protects the table during all the other Halloween crafting, then stays out as the festive table dressing. It folds into a tote, so one runner can even travel with the kids.
Great for ages 4 and up. Stamp both sides so it looks intentional from every seat, and heat-set with an iron (adult job) so it survives the washing machine.
You'll need: cotton table runner, kitchen sponges, white and orange fabric paint, cardboard
Time: 30 minutes
Approx. cost: $7 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — machine wash cold
Tip: Slide cardboard inside the runner while stamping so paint never bleeds through to the table — and stamp a few extra motifs on a napkin for a matching set.
Make it your own: Stamp both sides of the runner so it looks intentional from every seat at the table.
19. Origami Black Cats
Black origami paper folded into simple sitting cats with white gel-pen whiskers and green paper eyes, perched in a row on a windowsill or bookshelf.
A quiet fold-along is the perfect calm-down craft after the sugar rush of pumpkin carving. Older kids can learn the simple cat fold first and then teach younger siblings — the teaching is half the fun. Whiskers in gel pen and green paper eyes finish each cat with personality.
Best for ages 7 and up for independent folding, younger with help. The cats store flat inside a book, making them the ultimate travel-friendly decoration for the back-and-forth between houses.
You'll need: black origami paper, white gel pen, green paper scraps, glue
Time: 25 minutes
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — store flat in a book
Tip: Use 6-inch paper squares — smaller paper frustrates little fingers, and bigger cats show off the whiskers better on the shelf.
20. Mummy Cup Luminaries
White paper cups wrapped in torn gauze strips with googly eyes peeking through, each holding an LED tea light, lined along a hallway or bathroom shelf.
Mummies are endlessly funny to kids, and this version is almost free: tear gauze into strips, wrap a paper cup, glue on googly eyes that peek through the bandages. A whole hallway army costs about four dollars, and the gauze diffuses the tea light into the softest mummy-glow. One set per house lines any hallway or bathroom shelf.
Perfect for ages 4 and up. A full set of ten fits in a single grocery bag, making these the champions of portable Halloween decor.
You'll need: white paper cups, gauze or cheesecloth, googly eyes, glue, LED tea lights
Time: 25 minutes
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Yes — gauze rewraps each year
Why it works: The gauze diffuses the tea light into a soft mummy-glow, and because the cups cost pennies, kids can make a whole hallway army — one per house — without anyone watching the budget.
Tip: Leave a gap in the gauze where the eyes go before gluing them on — eyes stuck on top of bandages look pasted-on, while eyes peeking through look properly spooky.
21. Handprint Spider Cards
Black handprints stamped on orange cardstock and turned into spiders with drawn legs and googly eyes, folded into cards for each parent's mantel.
This is the keepsake of the whole list: one card for Mom's mantel, one for Dad's, each stamped with the year's handprint. Black washable paint, a quick stamp on orange cardstock, eight drawn legs and googly eyes — fifteen minutes, and you've made the thing both parents will keep forever. Date and age on the back turns it into a time capsule.
Wonderful for all ages, including babies with a helping hand. The cards stand on their own folded base, travel in an envelope, and cost almost nothing to duplicate.
You'll need: orange cardstock, black washable paint, googly eyes, markers
Time: 15 minutes
Approx. cost: $3 per set
Difficulty: Easy
Reusable?: Keepsake — store in a memory box
Tip: Write the child's age and the year on the back before the paint dries — future you will thank present you, and grandparents love receiving the extras.
22. Haunted House Dioramas
Shoebox dioramas painted black inside, with a cardboard haunted house silhouette, cotton-ball spider webs and LED tea lights, viewed through a cut-out front window.
The big build of the list — the one kids spend a whole afternoon on and talk about for weeks. Paint a shoebox black inside, cut a viewing window in the front, glue in a cardboard haunted house silhouette, stretch cotton balls into spider webs and add a tea light. Peering through the window into the glowing scene never gets old.
Best for ages 7 and up, though younger kids make excellent cotton-ball assistants. The shoebox is its own carrying case, so the diorama travels between houses for show-and-tell without a scratch.
You'll need: shoeboxes, black craft paint, cardboard, cotton balls, LED tea lights, glue
Time: 60 minutes
Approx. cost: $5 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — stack boxes with tissue between
Cut a large viewing window in the front of the shoebox.
Paint the entire inside of the box black and let dry.
Cut a haunted house silhouette from cardboard and glue it inside.
Stretch cotton balls into webs and glue them in the corners.
Add an LED tea light, close the lid, and peer through the window.
Tip: Cut the viewing window before painting — little hands fit better through unpainted cardboard, and the cut edge looks cleaner without paint cracking along it.
23. Pumpkin Seed Mosaics
Cleaned pumpkin seeds dyed orange, black and cream, glued in a jack-o'-lantern mosaic on a cork coaster and sealed for the snack table.
Don't throw away the carving leftovers — rinse the seeds, dye them in zip bags with food coloring, and let kids glue them into a jack-o'-lantern mosaic on a cork coaster. It's real mosaic patience-building, and the finished coasters actually protect both houses' tables from hot cocoa mugs all season.
Best for ages 6 and up, since placing tiny seeds takes focus. Dye the seeds the night before so they're dry and ready, and seal the finished coasters so they last for years.
You'll need: pumpkin seeds, food coloring, cork coasters, glue, clear sealer
Time: 40 minutes plus drying
Approx. cost: $4 per set
Difficulty: Medium
Reusable?: Yes — sealed coasters last for years
Tip: Dye the seeds the night before crafting so they're fully dry — damp seeds slide around in the glue and drive kids (and parents) quietly mad.
Step-by-Step: Paper Bag Ghost Lights
The easiest win on this whole list — if you only make one project, make this one.
Gather white paper lunch bags, a strand of battery fairy lights, a black marker and scissors.
Let each kid draw a different ghost face on every bag — goofy, sleepy, surprised, spooky.
Snip a small hole in the bottom of each bag, just big enough for one bulb.
Slip one bag over each light on the strand and fluff the bags open.
Hang the strand along a shelf or window with removable hooks.
Switch the lights on at dusk, stand back, and admire your glowing ghost family.
Make the second set the same day while supplies are out — one for each house.
Quick Comparison
| Idea | Difficulty | Time | Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Paper Bag Ghost Lights | Easy | 20 minutes | $5 per set | — |
| 2. Egg Carton Bats | Easy | 30 minutes | $3 per set | — |
| 3. Sock Ghost Lanterns | Easy | 25 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 4. Pinecone Spider Webs | Easy | 30 minutes | $3 per set | — |
| 5. Tin Can Pumpkin Lanterns | Medium | 40 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 6. Felt Bat Mobile | Medium | 45 minutes | $6 per set | — |
| 7. Clay Ghost Magnets | Easy | 30 minutes plus drying | $5 per set | — |
| 8. Popsicle Stick Photo Frames | Easy | 35 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 9. Pom-Pom Spider Wreath | Medium | 50 minutes | $8 per set | — |
| 10. Witch Hat Treat Cones | Easy | 20 minutes | $3 per set | — |
| 11. Potion Bottle Decoupage | Easy | 40 minutes | $5 per set | — |
| 12. Milk Jug Jack Lanterns | Easy | 15 minutes | $2 per set | — |
| 13. Beaded Web Suncatchers | Medium | 35 minutes | $6 per set | — |
| 14. Salt Dough Tombstones | Medium | 45 minutes plus baking | $3 per set | — |
| 15. Doily Ghost Garland | Easy | 15 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 16. Twig Witch Brooms | Easy | 20 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 17. Crayon-Rub Ghost Prints | Easy | 20 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 18. Sponge-Stamp Table Runner | Easy | 30 minutes | $7 per set | — |
| 19. Origami Black Cats | Easy | 25 minutes | $3 per set | — |
| 20. Mummy Cup Luminaries | Easy | 25 minutes | $4 per set | — |
| 21. Handprint Spider Cards | Easy | 15 minutes | $3 per set | — |
| 22. Haunted House Dioramas | Medium | 60 minutes | $5 per set | — |
| 23. Pumpkin Seed Mosaics | Medium | 40 minutes | $4 per set | — |
Budget vs Splurge
Every project here is already cheap, but here is where a few extra dollars actually show.
Dollar-store route: white lunch bags, a marker pack and battery tea lights from the dollar aisle make a full ghost-light strand for about $5 a house.
Splurge route: swap in a warm-white copper-wire fairy light strand and kraft bags with punched bat shapes for a more boutique glow, around $12 a house.
Buy once, split twice: pom-pom makers, paint sets and the glue gun get used across half the list — one shared kit beats two cheap ones.
Thrift the frames and jars: secondhand stores practically give away the frames for the crayon-rub prints and the jars for the potion bottles.
Mistakes to Avoid
Using real candles — every glowing project here is designed around LED tea lights or battery fairy lights; real flames and kid-made paper crafts never mix.
Making only one set — decide up front which pieces get duplicated and which live at one house, or someone will be heartbroken on moving day.
Forgetting to label the backs — a name and year on frames, cards and dioramas turns a craft into a keepsake both parents treasure.
Hanging with the wrong adhesive — test removable hooks and painter's tape on a hidden spot first, especially in a rental or a house you do not own.
Transporting while still wet — move pieces between houses only once paint and glue are bone dry, or the travel tote becomes a sticky mess.
How to Make It Last
Store flat pieces — garlands, prints, cards and suncatchers — in large zip bags or between tissue sheets in a labeled box per house.
Keep a Halloween tote packed at each house with the LED lights, hooks and spare supplies, so setup takes minutes on arrival.
Photograph each finished piece before it travels; if one gets crushed in transit, the photo is your rebuild guide.
Refresh consumables yearly — candy in the treat cones, batteries in the tea lights — and retire anything too worn to the recycle bin.
Safety Notes
These are kid crafts, but a few grown-up rules keep the fun safe.
Only LED or battery lights near paper, fabric and dried materials — never real candles or plug-in string lights left unattended.
Adults handle the hot glue gun, hammer-and-nail punching and craft knives; kids do the decorating.
Keep small parts like googly eyes, beads and magnets away from children under 3, who still mouth everything.
Hang heavier pieces like the wreath and twig bundles securely, out of reach of toddlers who love to pull.
Pair It With
Let the kids' handmade pieces be the stars and keep store-bought support simple: a bowl of mini pumpkins under the paper bag ghost lights, or the sponge-stamped runner beneath the salt dough tombstone centerpiece. Repeating one accent color — tangerine orange is the easiest — across both houses' displays ties everything together without the two homes needing to match exactly.
FAQs
How do we make sure both houses end up with matching decorations?
Make the craft twice in one session, assembly-line style, or have each parent run the same project on their own time with a shared supply list. Matching matters less than you think — kids love spotting the differences between their two sets, and the photos in this article's frames prove both houses celebrated.
What is the cheapest way to duplicate everything?
Buy shared tools once — one glue gun, one pom-pom maker, one paint set — and only duplicate the consumables like bags, cups and candy. Splitting one bulk bag of fiberfill or gauze between houses cuts the per-set cost to a couple of dollars, and most projects here stay under $5 a set.
How do we transport decorations between houses?
Flat pieces travel in a tote bag or folder, while 3D pieces get their own shoebox with tissue. Battery lights ride separately so nothing tangles. Most of these projects were chosen specifically because they survive a car ride, and the dioramas even come with their own carrying case.
What ages are these projects actually good for?
Most suit ages 4 and up with a parent nearby; cutting-heavy, sewing and wire projects fit ages 7 and up. Toddlers can do the handprint spider cards, crayon-rub ghost prints and sock ghost lanterns with hand-over-hand help — and every idea lists its difficulty so you can match the craft to the kid.
Can the kids make these on their own at the other parent's house?
Many, yes. Ghost lights, doily garlands, mummy luminaries and handprint cards need minimal supervision once learned, which makes them perfect for a low-key crafternoon at either house. Save the punching, baking and hot-glue projects for dedicated together-time with a parent.
How do we store everything for next year?
Keep one labeled Halloween box per house holding that house's set plus its LED lights and hooks. Flat crafts go in zip bags, fragile pieces in shoeboxes with tissue, and everything gets photographed before packing — the photo doubles as a rebuild guide if something gets crushed.
Which One Will You Try?
Pick one project to make this weekend — the ghost lights are the perfect first win — and let the kids decide which house gets the debut. Save this list, share it with your co-parent, and watch both homes fill up with the same handmade magic. Happy haunting, from both front porches.
