Halloween is the one day of the year when everyone comes together to celebrate thrills, chills, and all things spooky. If you’re gearing up for a haunted house party with the family or just looking for fun activities to keep the young ones entertained, Halloween cutout decorations are the perfect solution. You can transform virtually any space into a scary (but still kid-friendly) spectacle that celebrates the most iconic imagery of the season.
If you’re new to crafting or you need some help getting your Halloween crafts started out on the right foot, we’re here to help. At Woodpeckers, we’re experts in wood cutouts for crafting, and we offer specialized options for every season and major holiday of the year — including Halloween!
In today’s guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Halloween cutouts and offer some fun and spooky ideas to help make October 31st a day (and night!) to remember.
Set a spooky scene with Halloween wood cutouts
Halloween cutouts come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. From ghoulish ghosts to playful pumpkins, there are so many different ways to decorate your home, classroom, or any other environment for the holiday. The best part is that wood cutouts for Halloween already have the basic shape necessary to set the mood; you just need to decorate it and personalize each creation to really take your cutouts to the next level.
Wood cutouts can let you show off your creativity with materials like paint, markers, glitter, yarn, and googly eyes (just to name a few). If you have the tools and feel comfortable doing it, wood burning is also a great way to add even more details and flourishes to your Halloween decorations. Once you’re finished, you can hang your wood cutouts on your front door, place them in front of windows for trick-or-treaters, hang them up throughout your home or classroom, or even stand them upright (with wood stands) on tables or other flat surfaces.
Below, we’ll go into greater detail about some of our favorite and most popular Halloween craft ideas using wood cutouts. So, let’s get started!
Fun Halloween craft ideas
When you start thinking about Halloween, what images pop into your head? If you’re like us, you might be thinking of witches on broomsticks, black cats, bats, graveyards, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, or even just the beautiful colors of autumn. These are all great ideas that can form the basis of your holiday decorations. Regardless of your age or skill set, we have some fun and creative ideas to help you make some truly memorable Halloween crafts this year!
Easy Halloween crafts for kids
While adults can still enjoy Halloween every year, let’s be real, it’s a time to let the kids have some fun! Fortunately, there are a lot of great ways to get kids painting and decorating wooden cutouts to show off to family and friends. Here are a few of our favorite Halloween crafts for kids that won’t be too challenging:
- Pumpkin cutouts - Pumpkin cutouts are among the easiest Halloween crafts for preschoolers. With a bit of orange and black paint, your youngster can easily create a fun and spooky Jack-o-Lantern — without all the mess of a real pumpkin! Consider a jumbo pumpkin cutout so that your child has more room to work.
- Bat cutouts - Bats are another quintessential symbol of Halloween. These nocturnal creatures add a spooky and even Gothic flair to your holiday decor. The best part? Bat cutouts are easy enough for kids to decorate on their own! The easiest way to decorate wooden bat cutouts is with black paint or markers, and a bit of white or yellow color for the eyes. Then, these cutouts can be adhered to windows or suspended throughout the home to create the illusion that they are mid-flight!
- Cat cutouts - Much like bats, wooden cat cutouts are a breeze to decorate for Halloween. The traditional look is a black cat with yellow eyes, but kids are always free to go wild and decorate their own creations how they see fit. If you want to set the right mood for Halloween, however, we recommend adding a touch of mystery and magic with an all-black cat that can be displayed on your front porch, foyer, or anywhere else where guests can enjoy it!
- Ghost cutouts - Wooden ghost cutouts are perfect for setting a spooky Halloween atmosphere in and around your home. Your kids can keep things really simple by just painting or coloring them all white, but adding two black circles for the eyes. It’s really that easy!
- Candy cutouts - What’s the next best thing to a bag full of candy? A colorful candy decoration for Halloween! While some candy cutouts can be more difficult to decorate than others, wooden candy corn cutouts keep things pretty easy for the little ones. Just add layers of white, orange, and yellow paint, and voila! For a bit of extra fun, your child can even paint funny faces on the cutouts to give each piece even more personality.
DIY Halloween crafts for adults
Halloween crafts for adults don’t have to be difficult, but they typically allow for more creative freedom and present a bit more of a challenge than kids’ Halloween crafts. Additionally, some wood cutouts might be a bit spookier than others, which can make them a better choice for older crafters. In any case, here are a few of our favorite Halloween craft ideas for adults:
- Haunted house cutouts - A wooden haunted house cutout is perfect for creating a table-top Halloween display, complete with little trees, figurines, and whatever else you want to add to the creepy environment. One fun idea is to paint ghostly figures and place them behind the windows of the tiny edifice.
- Spider cutouts - Kids may not be as keen to decorate spiders — even fake ones! However, wooden spider cutouts are a classic decoration for Halloween, and there are tons of different ways to make your spider look spooky and realistic using varied color schemes. If you prefer them to be a bit sillier and less scary, you can always add googly eyes!
- Coffin & coffin cutouts - Coffins are another decoration that may be a little too morbid or scary for young kids, but it’s a fun way to make things spooky! You can decorate a three-dimensional wooden coffin to hold candy or simply act as a table-top decoration, or you can decorate a wooden coffin cutout to hang up on Halloween.
- Holiday word cutouts - There are tons of words and phrases associated with Halloween, and these make for great front-door decorations that can help invite trick-or-treaters to your home. Some of our favorites include Trick or Treat, Spooky, and Boo!
- Skull & bones cutouts - For adults or parents who want to add skeletons and spooky symbols to their decor, a wooden skull and bones cutout is perfect. You can easily paint these with traditional colors (white and black), or go in a variety of seasonal directions with touches of red, orange, and yellow.
If you’re still looking for ideas, Woodpeckers offers plenty more Halloween and autumn-themed cutouts, like tombstones, scarecrows, ravens, witch hats, and much, much more!
Did you enjoy our Halloween cutouts guide? Be sure to check out our Halloween craft shop to find the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one!
