Do you love vintage Halloween decor? If you want to bring back old-school spooky this fall, I have 21+ awesome vintage decor ideas that will take you back in time.
21+ Vintage Halloween Decor Ideas to Bring Back Old-School Spooky
1. DIY Retro Paper Candles
How fun are these paper candles? They’re so easy to make, too. You need just a few things:
- Old paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls
- Orange and black colored construction paper
- Bat stickers
- Pipe cleaners
- Glitter
Cover the cardboard rolls with the colored paper, and use the pipe cleaners to create little candle flames. Add your bat stickers and use hot glue to add the glitter to your candles. This is an easy piece of decor that’s so fun and vintage.
2. Vintage Printables
The blog Retro Housewife Goes Green has a collection of fun vintage printables for free. You can use them to create book covers, garland, apothecary bottle labels, wall art and more.
Designs include smiling pumpkins, black cats, witches and so much more. Make sure you’re printing on high-quality paper to make your decor really pop.
Related: 17+ Cheap Halloween Decor Ideas That Look Like You Spent a Fortune
3. Vintage Beistle Decor
These wall decorations bring me back to my childhood. My grandmother had a huge collection of old Halloween Beistle decor, and you can still find these great works of art online today.
In fact, Beistle still sells jointed skeletons and Halloween cutouts on Amazon.
You can hang them anywhere: your kitchen, on the wall, your front door – wherever you please. Make them a part of your display to add a retro touch to your spooky season.
4. Paper Bat Garland
These paper bats should be on your list of vintage Halloween decor to make this year. They’re so cute but have that retro vibe that you’ll love.
You can use a Cricut machine to save time cutting out the bats, or you can cut them by hand. You can also use vinyl iron-ons to make the faces or draw them yourself.
Once you have your bats ready, all that’s left to do is string them together and add pom poms to finish up this festive craft.
Fleece Fun has a tutorial to walk you through each step (plus PDF and SVG design files):
5. Retro Dracula and Pumpkin Mantle Display
This decor idea combines retro decor items from different eras to create something fun and spooky.
Start with a retro Halloween mantle scarf (check eBay or local yard sales). Add vintage witch and Dracula figurines. Sprinkle in some old pumpkin decor and vintage prints to complete this fun and eclectic idea.
6. Vintage Cat Pail
Here’s a fun DIY that you can make with just a few supplies from the dollar store:
- Plastic pumpkin pail
- Plastic bowl
- Glue and paper to make cat ears and papier mache
- Acrylic paint
Follow the tutorial in this Pin to make your own cat pail.
7. DIY Floral Fabric Ghosts
These little floral ghosts are so easy to make, and you can choose whatever vintage fabric style you want (I love these patterns).
Jessica Etcetera has a great tutorial showing you how to make these mini ghosts. You’ll need just a few things, mainly Mod Podge fabric stiffener, balloons and felt sheets for the eyes.
You can make as many of these ghosts as you want. They’re great for decorating mantles, tabletops or even bedroom dressers.
8. Pumpkin Floral Centerpieces
These pumpkin centerpieces are adorable and have that retro vibe you’re going for. Start with plastic pumpkin pails and remove the handles.
Paint the pumpkins with rose gold colored paint, and use black paint to fill in the eyes and mouth.
Grab some candlestick holders (I love these) and glue the pumpkins to the top base. Fill the pumpkins with faux flowers.
9. Vintage Candy Bucket
I love vintage Halloween decor like this, which repurposes old things to make something new. Jagcagdesign shares how to make this adorable candy bucket from an old globe using simple materials.
She walks you through every step in her tutorial. You likely already have a lot of the materials needed for this project.
I love that she filled the bucket with mini posable skeletons.
Related: The Ultimate List of Halloween Party Recipes
10. Ghost Pumpkins
These adorable ghost pumpkins are inspired by vintage Halloween art. While this project looks intimidating, it’s a lot easier than you think to make.
You’ll need:
- Plastic or foam pumpkins
- Air dry clay
- Black paint
Just cut and shape the clay around the pumpkin to make it look like it’s dripping. Shape the clay to create eyes and a mouth, and clean up any excess clay from the rest of the pumpkin. Once the clay is dry, paint the eyes and mouth black. That’s it!
11. Vintage Man in the Moon
Many of you may remember this man on the moon design from your parents’ or grandparents’ time. It’s the perfect design for Halloween and pairs so well with other decor.
Home Talk shares how to create this design using plywood and some other simple supplies.
Hang it on your mantle or entryway with your other vintage Halloween decor.
12. Book Covers
Spooky vintage Halloween decor can be as simple as book covers. You can find printables of these online. Little House on the Corner has this very printable that you can use to wrap your books and make them look like they’re for:
- Spells & Cures
- DIY Broom Care
- Potions & Poisons
13. DIY Lighted Spider Urn
Urns are always a bit spooky. Add spiders, and it turns any decorative piece into a Halloween decoration. You can recreate this one in just a few steps:
- Buy or use a clear cookie jar
- Put a flameless candle inside
- Wrap the exterior with fake spider cobwebs
- Attach small spider decorations to the jar
You can use a hot glue gun to affix the spiders to the jar.
14. Halloween Yard Signs
Level up your decorations with yard signs that ring in your favorite holiday. You’ll find a lot of options online for these, but Beistle sells really nice ones. You can even create your own scene of the dancing pumpkin scaring the cat, who then turns into the skeleton cat.
If you plan to have a party with guests, you can make these 12.25” x 12.25” yard signs the perfect photo opportunity.
15. Vintage Halloween Assemblage w/Christmas Tree
Assemblage decorations make the list a few times. You’ll ned to buy some props online for this, including mini skulls, spiders and a witch doll. A good option for the doll if you don’t want to make your own is this set of ornaments that you can place on the basket.
A small Christmas tree is present with green balls and pumpkin stickers on it.
Instead of a star or angel on top of the tree, add a ghost and bat. You can also add the wording, “Happy Halloween” or “Happy Horrors.”
16. Screeching Cat Cutout
Screeching black cats are one of the iconic options for Halloween. You can make your own cardboard cutout version if you like, or you can find printables online. Premade ones are available here, and you can do a lot with these:
- Place them on walls near doorways
- Put them on the wall near your cat’s litter box
- Put them in your window
17. Cutout Classics
I’m sure that if you have a Cricut machine, you could make these cutout classics on your own. But for anyone who needs a decoration fast and doesn’t have the time to be creative and make their own cutouts, you can purchase some on Amazon here and here.
Put the cutout in a picture frame, hang larger ones on the wall or make them into coasters to place your drink on.
18. Cat on a Moon
Vintage Halloween decor is always so unique and special. You can recreate this cat on a moon decoration. For this decoration, you’ll need to be hands-on with recreating it by using:
- An old ball that you can paint to look like the moon face
- A stuffed cat doll
- A hat that you make from paper
- Black tassels
19. Handmade Vintage Assemblage
An assemblage is not something I had on my idea list, but this is more or less a neat basket that you can put together on your own. Amazon sells baskets that you can use if you don’t want to make your own and then add fun things, like:
- Mini pumpkins
- Mini tombstones
- Spiders
- Anything you like
20. Vintage Halloween Garland
You can easily make this Halloween garland on your own with printouts of your fave vintage decor. If you’re artistic, you can also outline these fun graphics on a piece of cardstock, put a hole on the top and add a string between them to hang as a garland.
Be as creative as you like with this fun decorative idea.
21. Halloween Tissue Dancers
Beistle’s Halloween dancers are 6” wide and 14” long, offering a fun variety of dancers that are made from cardstock and honeycomb tissue. Your pack will include:
- Cat
- Skeleton
- Witch
Hang them in entryways to the room or outside if you’re having a party on a non-rainy day.
Related: 15 Wicked Good Halloween Punch Recipes to Serve at Your Party
22. Victorian Halloween Stickers
Adhesive Halloween stickers are great options for your doors and windows. Your stickers will add a nice ambiance to your space and are easy to find online. Scrapbooking stickers are a nice little hack for these and there are tons of options on Amazon: here, here and here.
You can also find unique finds on Etsy that offer a great variety that you won’t find anywhere else.
