We’re having a very retro Halloween this year!
I love the retro Halloween look, but instead of fighting for vintage Halloween collectibles at flea markets and on ebay, I’ve been having a lot of fun DIYing my own Halloween decor that has a retro look. With a sheet of wood, a scroll saw, and some paint, you can make anything! Retro Halloween decorations are generally pretty easy to create, since they don’t require modern materials or super sophisticated manufacturing techniques. If you can craft with paper and wood and you can sew, you can make 95% of the retro Halloween decorations that you love. And you can often use modern shortcuts!
Here are some of my favorite tutorials for retro Halloween decorations. Please note that a couple of the printables are paid (they’re so cute that I couldn’t resist including them), but everything else is free. Pick out a few favorites, and you’ll set yourself up for a real vintage holiday!
Upcycled Tin Can Lid Retro Halloween Ornaments
You don’t have to make these Halloween ornaments look retro, but you can! The rustic-looking yarn for the pom poms and the painted wooden beads add to the retro Halloween look. If you grind the edges of the lids VERY well, this project is also perfect for kids. They likely won’t make something that vibes with your retro look, but they’ll make something very, very creative!
Retro Halloween Printables (Paid)
You have to pay for this set of printables, but it gives you a big boost in your DIY process! These retro Halloween images look super cute in a garland made with baker’s twine and wooden beads, or use them for gift tags for party favors. I also think they’d look great decoupaged to wooden blocks with other embellishments like ribbon, sequins, or buttons.
Bead and Fabric Tassels
The coolest thing about this project is that you can upscale it to any size, and the bigger it is, the creepier! It’s possible to find wooden balls that are fairly large, but if you want to go even larger, DIY the balls out of papier mache.
Paper Cat Doll Printable
I love these kinds of decorations because they’re so versatile! They can hang on your front door, or on the door of a child’s bedroom, be mounted in a frame or on a stand, or even serve as a DIY festive child’s toy. My kids LOVED paper dolls when they were little!
Decoupaged Stand-up Decoration from a Finial and Chair Leg
This is such a unique decoration, and it really shows what you can do when you repurpose items creatively! You can find a chair leg and a finial from an architectural salvage store like the ReStore, and if you don’t have a suitable image to decoupage, you can hand-paint or stencil that, too.
Printable Vintage-Style Pumpkin Banner
This free printable lets you create the vintage-style Jack-o-Lantern garland of your dreams. For more variety in your garland, find more printables with similar sizing.
Papier Mache Trick-or-Treat Buckets
Paper clay is the magic ingredient that turns a regular plastic trick-or-treat bucket into this retro-style decoration that kids can still use for trick-or-treating. To make this project more eco-friendly (and economical!), source old plastic buckets for free from your local Buy Nothing group, or keep a lookout at yard sales and thrift stores.
Printable Party Hat (Paid)
If you want your Halloween party to have a retro vibe, a vintage-style party hat is the way to go! Optionally, dress up your Jack-o-lanterns in these hats so that they can be part of the party, too.
Retro Felt Ornaments
Even a novice sewist can hand-stitch these little felt ornaments. If you really get stuck, you can even use glue! These ornaments would look especially cute as festive danglers on a backpack or tote bag, or even on a trick-or-treat bucket.
Vintage Picture Book Decor
This is the easiest decorating idea, although it might require a lot of digging around used book stores–darn it, lol! Vintage Halloween picture books and children’s books have the best illustrations and can be used as-is, simply by standing them up on your mantle or coffee table. If the book is in rough shape, you can also take it apart and use it in other Halloween-themed book page projects.
Do you have a favorite retro Halloween craft? Tell us about it in the Comments!
