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11 Tips for Creative and Affordable Halloween Decor

You can still be the talk of the neighborhood with these discount decoration ideas from dollar stores

2-minute read

Sheryl Jean,

Updated October 02, 2026

AARP

En español

Updated October 02, 2026

A colorful collage showing various Halloween decorations

Michelle Madison, Dollar Tree

Halloween isn’t just for kids. Many older adults like to decorate to create spook-tacular scenes that are part of the neighborhood fun or delight their grandkids.

Ready to make your home boo-tiful? Here are 12 ideas:

assorted fake grave stone signs and other Halloween decor below a tree

Dollar Tree

1. Outdoor decorations

People like to decorate their front yard because that’s what visitors see first. Outdoor decorations, such as large inflatables and 12-foot skeletons, seem to be getting bigger — and more expensive — each year. If you don’t have the muscle, time or funds for jumbo decorations, decorate your outdoor trees with garlands, ornaments and string lights. Or go smaller with pumpkins — unadorned or carved into scary silhouettes. Pumpkin carving is also something you can do with friends or grandchildren.

decorative halloween goodie bags hanging on a wall

Michelle Madison

2. Creepy entrance

Continue the outdoor theme by making your home’s entrance a Halloween focal point. Welcome guests with fright tape or a spiderweb spread across the front door. It can make your entrance stand out if you live in an apartment or residential building, says lifestyle specialist and event planner Michelle Madison of Miami. She has decorated her front door with bags of candy strung across a plastic background of gray bricks.

miniature skeletons and a hand on a decorative shelf

Dollar Tree

3. Skeletons and skulls

If you love Skelly the Skeleton (that 12-foot skeleton you’ve likely seen hovering over front yards) but find it too big, consider your own smaller Skelly. You’ll find all sorts — from an 18-inch hanging skeleton to a skeleton garland or skeleton string lights — at dollar stores. Or focus on skeleton parts like the skull or spooky hands. Bones range in size from life-size to a bag of finger bones — and some glow in the dark or light up thanks to batteries.

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Madison likes to take skulls, spray-paint them white and add faux gems to create a glam skull. “Some people go for the gore, but others love the tongue-in-cheek, like … skeleton flamingos here in Florida,” Madison says.

4. All that glitters

Halloween metallic decor is a fun option. At some dollar stores, you’ll find metallic skulls, metallic spooky skull candy bowls, mirrored disco balls in various colors, metallic spiders and metallic skull taper candles.

painted pumpkins in various metallic colors

Courtesy Karen Parziale

5. Chilling centerpieces

“One of my favorite things to do is to create a centerpiece that sets the holiday tone for the whole house,” says Karen Parziale, an interior designer and home stager in Hoboken, New Jersey. “Decorating the table where the family gathers is important.”

She suggests getting some real pumpkins in various small and medium sizes. Wipe, or wash them to remove dust and dirt. Buy some gold, silver or bronze metallic paint and sponge it onto the pumpkins, letting them dry. Arrange them on metallic charger plates and tie a satin ribbon on the stem, letting it flow onto the plate.

Courtesy Sheryl Jean

6. Halloween coziness

The hot decorating trend of creating cozy spaces includes Halloween. You don’t have to go boo-nkers, but you can add a few subtle Halloween touches around the house. You can often find soft throw pillows and blankets in various Halloween themes at dollar stores.

“Some of this takes you through the fall — not just Halloween,” Parziale adds.

7. Boo in the bathroom

Halloween decorating is spreading to other parts of the house, too. “Halloween isn’t just for the porch,” Madison says. “It’s for the bathroom to the kitchen.”

For the bathroom, Halloween-shaped soap dispensers like ghosts and pumpkins are a great option. For the kitchen, you’ll find Halloween-themed tea towels, oven mitts and pot holders, usually at low prices at dollar stores.

purple skeletons, a purple spider and other Halloween decor on a table

Courtesy Michelle Madison

8. Try new colors

This year, along with your traditional Halloween colors like black and orange, try mixing in some purple accents to create eye-popping decor.

a mantle decorated for halloween with a trick or treat banner and candles and skeletons

Dollar Tree

9. Gothic macabre

Create a witches’ scene using potion bottles and a cauldron or a small iridescent coffin and bones displayed on a table covered in “creepy cloth.” Hang a ghostly image in a black Gothic frame on the wall.

fake pumpkins, ghords and twigs inside a vase

Courtesy Karen Michela Parziale

10. Indoor Halloween tree

Trimming an indoor tree for Halloween, just like you would a Christmas tree, is another idea.

“Why should a tree just be for Christmas?” says Parziale, who suggests decorating an artificial tabletop tree with pumpkin garland and LED string lights. “It’s just a fun family thing to do and have an experience with the grandchildren.”

At dollar stores, you can find various Halloween tree ornaments, including black and purple glitter balls and garlands.

11. Spiders and spiderwebs

Nothing says spooky like spiders and spiderwebs. Hang fake webs across doorways or hallways. If putting up a 15-foot spiderweb seems daunting to you, dollar stores offer smaller versions. Scatter plastic spiders around for authenticity.

Sheryl Jean is a contributing writer who covers aging, business, technology, travel, health and human-interest stories. A former reporter for several daily metropolitan newspapers, her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and The Dallas Morning News and on the American Heart Association’s website.

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