10 Indoor Halloween Decorating Tips

Deck your halls for All Hallows’ Eve

If you love all things spooky, scary, chilling, and creepy, the month of October is the best! It culminates in Halloween--a night filled with ghosts, goblins, witches, vampires, monsters, and (of course) costumed trick-or-treaters. It’s more than just candy and sweet treats for the kids who go door to door on October 31st. It’s a time marked by fall festivals, haunted hayrides, costume parties, a celebration of spirits, and decorating with macabre symbols such as skeletons, headstones, and cobwebs.

If you love to decorate for seasonal events, you’ll want to plan ahead and have ideas ready to go for your Halloween displays before the witching hour arrives. So, get into the spirit and make your home a place that will cast a spell over guests and set the scene for a season of haunted happenings.

Here’s some tips for making your home’s interior look spook-tacular.

1. Carve pumpkins

Carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns or with seasonal motifs is a time-honored tradition for Halloween. It’s fun for the whole family, and you can even host a pumpkin carving party where everyone creates their own. Once carved, you can use the pumpkins as decorations around the house and add a tealight to use them as luminaries for Trick-or-Treat night. For best results, draw or copy designs on tracing paper to transfer onto the pumpkin using a small punch and use a pumpkin carving tool kit to make cutting and scooping a breeze.

Pro tip: Keep the seeds and roast them for a tasty snack after you’re finished.

2. Color scheme

Folks tend to think of orange and black as the main color palette to use for Halloween decorating. These two traditional hues are not the only ones you should consider when decking out your home for the fall holiday. Purple is a popular substitute (especially if you’re not a fan of orange). If it suits you, mix in some metallic copper, bronze, gold, and/or silver for a touch of upscale glam. Or, you can always use traditional Halloween motifs in other colors that complement your furnishings or just make you happy.

Pro tip: Whatever colors you decide on, pick a consistent palette for a more cohesive look from room to room.

3. Mood lighting

Selecting the right lighting is the most impactful thing you can do to create the right, haunted ambiance for your holiday theme. Set the spooky mood for Halloween with black candle lanterns, themed candle holders, novelty string lights, or even by swapping your normal light bulbs in lamps and ceiling fixtures with orange, purple, black, or red ones. With lights, it is so easy to create a thrilling, chilling atmosphere.

4. Theme

Choose a theme for the overall effect want for your Halloween decorations. Using lots of black? Go full on gothic for a ghoulish look and feel. Or, you may prefer a vintage Victorian theme with bats, dripping candlesticks, and “potion filled” apothecary bottles. Heck, with that one, you may even throw in a raven or two.

Pro tip: Match your décor to your style. If you have a farmhouse home, go with a rustic witch’s theme with straw brooms, witch’s hats, wood signs, a patch full of pumpkins, and a galvanized tub full of witch’s brew for guests.

5. Spiders and cobwebs

If you’re an arachnophobe, you might want to skip this one! But, so many of the rest of us love to embrace spiders, spider webs, and cobwebs at this time of year. It is just so fun to drape fake webs over doors and plants, add decals to windows, and leave a few plastic spiders of various shapes/sizes out for display.

6. Fall plants and faux florals

Faux florals and real fall plants are a great way to dress up mantels, dining room tables, and entryways for any season-- and Halloween is no exception. Mix seasonal varieties like mums, ferns, autumn leaves, dried stems, and grasses, with touches of black, orange, and brown. You can even use themed-planters shaped like skulls, mummies, or zombie hands.

Pro tip: For next-level fun, grab some craft-store eyes to stick on houseplants and flowers.

7. Skeletons, witches, werewolves, and other scary figures

Halloween-themed figurines are an easy way to amp-up the fear factor. Think about using boo-tiful ghosts and goblins, spellbinding witches and warlocks or black cats and furry rats that are able to be both sinister and cute. Go with vampires or zombies for a super creepy look, paired with candles, garlands, or other decorative elements on your tables and shelves.

8. A Halloween tree? Heck yeah!

They’re not just for Christmas anymore! It’s so fun to put up a Halloween tree decorated with themed-ornaments, orange, white, or purple lights, and garlands featuring bats, ghosts, or witches on broomsticks.

You can start with an artificial pine tree as the base. But instead of the traditional green branches, opt for one with black, silver, purple, or orange boughs. You can also try some gnarly tabletop trees with sparse black limbs and branches and string them with fairy lights or mini ornaments. Trim the tree with some eerie ornaments and baubles, string lights, and garlands to complete the design.

9. Spooky signage

Whether they spell out doom and gloom, dire warnings for the unwary, or are festive/funny, Halloween-themed wall signs are a quick and easy way to get your home ready for the season.

10. Seasonal textiles

As October approaches, swap your throw pillows, kitchen towels, aprons, tablecloths, placemats, and doormats for ones geared towards Halloween. Household textiles are a quick and easy way to have some seasonal fun. Designs can run the gamut from spooky to kitschy.

Hopefully these tips helped get you thinking and planning a Halloween-themed home that your family and/or guests will love. Check out our Halloween Shop for a great selection of décor and accessories to keep the spirit alive in your indoor spaces.