How to Decorate a Small Front Porch for Halloween 

How to Decorate a Small Front Porch for Halloween 

Hi everyone! I am super excited to to show you our front porch for the Halloween and Harvest Style Challenge!

We are a huge fans of the Halloween section at The Home Depot. Every time I visit The Home Depot around Halloween time, the kids beg to go just so they can hang out with all of the animal skeletons. So, when The Home Depot asked me to set up a space for Halloween, it just had to be about animals!

The Home Depot sent me the 82 inch Sabre Tooth Cat, which made an instant impression on the kids. They named him Skeleto and he has since become the pet we never had. We have a pretty small porch which can get challenging to decorate, but with a few small projects and all of the fun Halloween decor choices from The Home Depot, I was able to create the perfect scene!

I started out by covering the entire scene with spiderwebs because what is Halloween decor without spiderwebs? Then I set up Skeleto, the Sabre Tooth Cat, as though he was jumping out of the planters onto the porch. I cut off the skulls from a blow molded chain and used it to tie Skeleto to a 48” Shepherd hook with a hanging graveyard lantern.

DIY Dog Bowl Treat Holder

Just like other trick or treaters, Skeleto is there for the treats! So, I had to build a dog bowl treat holder for Skeleto.

I started with a 3/4” thick plywood cut to 20” x 18” and cut out a 12” circle in the middle using a jigsaw. For the legs, I attached 1” x 12” boards cut at 20” on each side of the plywood using wood glue and finish nails.

To give it an old distressed look, I used black and white spray paint and misted the dog bowl holder. For the “TREATS” board, I used a scrap piece of cedar fence misted with black spray paint and painted letters using white paint. This was simply nailed onto the dog bowl holder specifically making sure it wasn’t level.

For the bowl, I used a 12” hanging basket.

On the bottom of the basket, I broke the slits on the bottom and pushed the hose from the fog machine hose kit through it.  This connects to the fog machine which sits underneath the dog bowl holder.

I filled the basket with candy, stuck a few skeleton hands from the bag of bones in it, and added battery operated LED skull lights around the bowl. It created a perfectly creepy treat bowl!

Warning sign

A 5ft Posable Skeleton sits on the opposite side warning everyone with a sign.

It was a simple project using leftover 3/4” plywood from the dog bowl holder. I misted it with black spray paint to make it look old and painted “Enter if you dare” with white paint.

Rotting Pumpkins

I used 13” and 9” craft pumpkins and gave them a rotting effect with mists of white spray paint followed by black spray paint. The key here is to hold the spray paint cans directly on top of the pumpkin.

Halloween Planter

I spray painted a Tall Crucible Planter in black, added faux black branches and hung the little skulls I had cut off of the blow molded chain. Battery Operated purple LED lights add to the effect.

On the other side of the door is the 13” rotting pumpkin and the Animated Skeleton Greyhound also trying to get to the treats in the dog bowl.

A Halloween wreath on the door completes the scene.

The most important part of Halloween Decorations – the lighting – brings it all to life at night! I added purple LED string lights in the eaves of the porch, a couple of battery operated orange LED lights behind the rotting pumpkins and 2 ghost flame lights on both sides of the scene.

Changing the light colors from the ghost flames completely changes the ambience of the front porch! The kids are stoked to be the cool house on the block that is already decorated for Halloween! They are having fun running around the porch to activate the animals and grab the candy.

We can’t wait for it to be trick or treating time! Hope you have a fun Halloween!

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