Blanket of horror

Give your house that haunted, neglected look by tea-dying and shredding tablecloths, sheets and curtains. A tea bath will age and color white cloth. Simply fill a large basin with several tea bags, enough hot water to cover material and soak until you reach your desired color. Wring out material and dry in dryer. Once dry, use scissors to shred. Cover tables, couches and windows with your new material, and don't be afraid to shred additional sections once the material is hung.

Monster footprints

Trace and cut out a large monster-shaped foot from a large damp sponge. Pour washable glow-in-the-dark paint into container and press the sponge into paint. Place footsteps, about a foot apart, up the sidewalk to your front door -- flipping the sponge over every other time to make a pattern of the opposite foot. Remove paint with water.

To create an experiment table you'll need:


Various clear glass jars and vases
1 large white pillar candle
Several packages of Top Ramen noodles
Campanelle pasta
Food coloring (blue, red, yellow and green)
Shrunken heads (see recipe above)
Candlelit lanterns
Old books, such as encyclopedias
Glass cheese and cake domes
Dead flower bouquets in blackened vases

To make:

Cover table with tattered tablecloth. To create pasta experiments, place cooked unseasoned noodles into various jars; add cold water and food coloring. To create lab specimens, fill large jars with red food coloring and cold water. Burn a pillar candle for about 15-20 minutes. Pour candle wax into jars of cold water: Wax cools instantly, forming various specimens. Seal jars, turned upside down, and place on table. Place shrunken heads around table, on top of books and under glass domes. Arrange a variety of dead flowers, branches or sticks in blackened vases. If you use candles, they should be placed in closed lanterns.

Don't hesitate to add your own special touch. Incorporate items such as piles of rusty chains, old mirrors, aged wooden shelves and other interesting items you uncover in the garage.

IT'S HALLOWEEN and you know that house, the one in every neighborhood that everyone oohs and ahhs about? Well, this year, why not make it your house? If the financial implications or time commitment of this sound scary, think again. Getting into the spirit of Halloween doesn't have to cost a fortune or cut into your busy schedule. Consider the following affordable and simple Halloween ideas to convert your happy home into a haunted house.

return to the main Halloween page
Experiment table

Like something you might find in Dr. Frankenstein's lab, a well-stocked experiment table in your entryway can do wonders for the fear factor of your trick-or-treaters.
Army of spiders

Plastic spiders always pop up at Halloween, so this year, why not invite them to your place? Use rubber cement to position spiders on the front door, walls or behind bathroom doors. Place a dab of rubber cement onto area and allow to dry slightly, place one or two legs into glue and hold in place. Lightly blow area to speed up drying, and repeat process until the area is covered.
Ghoulish makeovers

Give your friends and family the makeover they'd never want by doctoring digital photographs. If you own Adobe Photoshop, use the following instructions. If you have a different program, experiment and see what develops.

Open photos in the Photoshop program. Make adjustments for size and brightness. To transform friends into fiends, use the Lasso tool to encircle their face or hands, click on Distort and select Pinch or Spherize, choose the intensity of the modification and click OK. Print and place photos around the house or use as digital invitations for your Halloween gathering.

return to the main Halloween page