Make Frightening Garden Silhouettes for Halloween

Decorate your home and yard this Halloween with simple and elegant garden silhouettes.

May 12, 2020

By: Ruth Meharg

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Garage Door Pumpkin Patch

Decorate your garage doors this Halloween with vinyl decals. All you need are some sheets of adhesive vinyl, scissors and a little bit of time! We cut out a majestic buck looking out over a pumpkin patch while a colony of bats soars into the sky behind him. If your garage door rolls up and down, be sure to cut the vinyl at each seam in the door so the panels can move freely as the door opens.

Zombies In The Garden

Add a spooky twist to the garden with a few zombie or mummy hands reaching up from the ground. Look for sheets of thin, black plastic to cut your hands out of. You can either hang them on the wall of your house, or attach them to stakes and plant them in the middle of your flower beds. If you're not sure how to draw hands, just grab a bright light and partner and trace the shadows of their hands so you know exactly where to cut.

Trick-Or-Treaters On The Lawn

This garden gnome and his scarecrow friend are ready for an evening of welcoming trick-or-treaters to the door! You can fill their little baskets with candy or toys for the kids to pick up on their way by. If you have the right tools, cut these yard silhouettes out of plywood and paint them black to create yard ornaments that will last for many years. If all you have is a box cutter, you can cut these figures out of foam core for a fun decoration that will last for the season.

Black Cats

If you want to add one more layer of complexity to your yard silhouettes, try creating glowing eyes. For these black cats we cut moon shapes out for their eyes, and mounted small, battery powered lights behind them.

Front Door Decor

Welcome Halloween visitors with a spooky tree silhouette on your door! Draw twisty branches and roots, and add a couple of owls to give the tree a haunted feel. You can use adhesive vinyl for this, or if your door is sheltered from the weather you can cut your shapes from poster board and mount with double sided picture hanging strips that won't hurt the paint.

Watch Out For Hungry Plants!

Once the outside of your door is decorated, you may need a silhouette for the inside too. This carnivorous plant is ready to devour anyone who walks in or out of the front door. Create your own carnivorous plant by cutting it out of a roll of black back paper. Attach it to the wall with painters tape or removable glue adhesive. It's always a good idea to test the adhesive of your choice to make sure it won't damage the wall.

Window Dressing

Once your doors are decorated, you may be inspired to move on to the windows. Your window silhouettes will really shine once the sun sets and other silhouettes may be more difficult to see. We cut these creepy, crawly vines out of black construction paper and attached them to the window with clear, double-sided tape.

Silhouettes On The Mantle

If you have a blank wall over you mantle, consider decorating it with silhouette cutouts. This witch crashing into a freshly raked pile of leaves brings a splash of humor into the room, and is easy to pull off. To make the cutting go faster, use a decorative paper punch to cut out all of your leaves.

Pumpkins On The Mantle

A silhouette doesn't need to be the only thing on your mantle, you can combine it with other seasonal decor. We created a pumpkin patch silhouette to compliment the squashes and decorative gourds we wanted to display.

Spiders On The Ceiling

If you aren't ready to tackle such big projects this year, try using small, simple silhouettes to decorate. Two simple branches in the corner are perfect for holding a spider web. Cover the web with spiders and have them crawl up the wall and onto the ceiling.

Day Of The Dead Pumpkins

These Day of the Dead Pumpkins may take some time to cut out, but the final pieces are definitely worth all the effort. Use garden shapes to inspire you and cut out vine, leaf and flower shapes to create your Day of the Dead-inspired pumpkins.

Beetles On The Stairs

Get away from the traditional Halloween spooky silhouettes with something gardening-specific: beetles! Cut your favorite (or least favorite!) beetle silhouettes out of black paper and let them crawl around the walls. We sent ours up the stairs.

Silhouettes And Shadows

You can add more depth to your silhouettes by using light and shadow instead of just flat paper. Mount your cutouts a little away from the wall, or on a piece of clear glass or plastic. Arrange lights to project the shadows onto a blank wall in or outside your home.

Make Frightening Garden Silhouettes for Halloween

Related To:

Shop This Look

Garage Door Pumpkin Patch

Zombies In The Garden

Trick-Or-Treaters On The Lawn

Black Cats

Front Door Decor

Watch Out For Hungry Plants!

Window Dressing

Silhouettes On The Mantle

Pumpkins On The Mantle

Spiders On The Ceiling

Day Of The Dead Pumpkins

Beetles On The Stairs

Silhouettes And Shadows

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