Reasons to choose wood over plastic this Halloween:

Unique: Anyone can purchase plastic decorations from stores. Make your house stand out from your neighbours with individual statement pieces in highly-colourful and original designs. Let your inner creative go wild and get spooky without all the tacky kitsch of mass-produced plastic decorations.

Get Active: Making your own decorations is a great way of getting the whole family active and keeping children busy with fun and artistic challenges. Not only will it encourage independent thinking, but get the next generation focusing on sustainability.

Ecological: Halloween is a time of huge waste, especially when it comes to plastic. From sweet wrappers to off-the-rack costumes, an estimated 83% of materials used for Halloween products is oil-based plastics. In 2019, an estimated 2000 tons of plastic was wasted from costumes alone! Sourcing wood and making your own decorations means less waste plastic, and as a durable material, can be stored and reused year after year.

Cost Effective: Not only will long-lasting wooden decorations save the planet, but it will save your bank balance too! Whilst getting started might accrue some costs, especially if you’re needing to buy tools, your creations will have such a long life expectancy, you’ll never have to head down to the shops for decorations again. Remember, you don’t have to go big to begin with either, and below you’ll find some inspiration for easy to make and inexpensive decorations anyone can have a go at crafting!

Think Local: Rather than heading to large outlets and supermarkets for imported plastic decorations, search for your local crafters and artisans and give them your support, or come to a family owned and operated independent supplier like Duffield Timber, to find all the basic materials you’ll need to make your own.

Inspirational Ideas for Wooden Halloween Decorations:

We’ve created our own Pinterest board pull of creative pins to give you all the inspiration you will need to make your own wooden Halloween decorations. You’ll also find some really good step-by-step D.I.Y guides there to give you a hand if you’re unsure where to start. Below are a few of our favourite creative ideas to terrify trick-or-treaters and make your home look hauntingly beautiful!

Spooky Plank and Block Monsters:

An easier, tool-free decoration, these odd little monsters are a great activity for young children. Vampires, ghosts, mummies and zombies, any plank or block of wood can be transformed into a creepy family that can be placed in your garden, attached to your outbuildings to even fixed together into a pop-up sign to let the neighbours know you’re open for business and stocked with sweet treats! These also make excellent indoor decorations, including the trio set example above by Our Back Yard Studio.

Wooden Pumpkins:

Over 8 million pumpkins are thrown in the bin after Halloween in the U.K. alone every year. Making your own wooden pumpkins ensures you’ve always got lanterns ready to go and avoid the waste. There are some brilliant designs out there for you to follow, such as Kippi at Home shown above, or go simple and paint some blocks or even logs up that you can stack outside, such as this example by Chicken Scratch NY.

Signs and Banners:

Boards and planks make durable bases for outdoor garden signs. Whether staked into the ground, fixed to your door or hung from your porch, with a few paints and pens any piece of wood can be transformed into bespoke, characterful signage that will impress any visitor. Those of you with cutting machines will find plenty of downloadable templates online, such as the one above by The Design Hippo. If you’re feeling ambitious, check out this detailed step-by-step guide by West Creek Design for an incredible standing wooden mummy sign!

Tombstones and Coffins:

Whilst we’re talking about ambitious Halloween decorating, why not transform your entire garden into a spooky graveyard, filled with tumbling tombstones, cracked coffins and even a picket fence, just like the Twelve On Main example above. Of course you can simplify these ideas into more manageable projects, but if Halloween is your time of the year, go big and turn your front lawn into a haunted cemetery everyone will be scared to go near! Want to go even further? Board up your windows for a truly abandoned house vibe!

If you have any questions for us then visit our contact page to get in touch with our sales team. Our Joinery and Woodworking Centre is open Monday - Thursday 8.00am - 4.30pm and Friday 8.00am - 4:00pm for you to visit and browse our wide stock selection. See what you can find to make your house as spine-chillingly charming as you can!