Haunted Front Porch
The best place to start when decorating your home exterior for Halloween is your front porch. No matter what sort of layout you have to work with, there are a lot of opportunities for customization. Begin with one or two large décor pieces. Life-size Halloween freestanding figures are a perfect choice, and you can flesh out your design by incorporating smaller accessories: lanterns, pumpkins, signs and more. Don’t be afraid to let the scene spill over into your landscape with Halloween yard decorations, such as tombstones, that continue the frightful feel.
For more decorating ideas for the autumn season, see 7 Fall Front Porch Ideas.
Pumpkins Galore
No outdoor Halloween-scape is complete without lots of pumpkins. There are plenty of no-carve DIY options for do-it-yourselfers, as well as beautiful pre-made pumpkin decorations. Choose from standard pumpkin designs, pre-painted pumpkins or pre-lit jack-o’-lanterns to create a perfect display with minimal effort.
If you want to go the DIY jack-o’-lantern route, carving pumpkins is a fun activity for the whole family. It allows kids to be creative (with adult supervision) and gives them photo-worthy mini-masterpieces they can be proud of. Plus, it’s a great way to get them away from screens for some quality family time. Add a whimsical touch with LED candles. These flameless, light-emitting-diode candles offer the brilliant illumination of real candles, and some even flicker like a real flame.
Halloween Inflatables and Lighted Decorations
Outdoor Halloween inflatables and lighted decorations are by far the most eye-catching décor items for your yard. They’re available in a wide variety of designs, including vampires, jack-o’-lanterns, pumpkins, skeletons, witches and more. Some models even incorporate motion or have supersized designs that really show off your Halloween spirit. Inflatables and lighted decorations can stand alone, or you can use them as part of a larger haunted house, haunted trail or cemetery theme. They’re always favorites among kids.
Halloween String Lights and Other Spooky Lighting
Halloween string lights are the perfect accent for any kind of display. They add just the right amount of ambient lighting, come in a multitude of colors and can be incorporated into nearly any design. Orange and purple are the traditional varieties, but you can also find novelty designs like candy corn, skeletons and more.
Add a Halloween light projector to turn your entire home into an impressive decoration and top off the display with Halloween path lights.
Halloween Décor Accessories
Once your Halloween porch, patio or yard is nearly perfect, add a few more outdoor Halloween decorations to complete the look. Statues, figurines or signs are great choices. Some of the more popular themes include spiders, bats, monsters, skeletons and haunted houses.
Add a Halloween wreath or Halloween garland around the frame of your door or wrap garland around your porch railings. For a spooky look at night, try a pre-lit LED wreath and garland to lend an eerie glow.
If you have outdoor furniture on your porch, you can make the most of the space — not to mention make your sitting area more comfortable — by adding some Halloween- or fall-themed throw pillows. And, of course, you’ll also want a welcome mat and door banner to greet visitors and trick-or-treaters.