Halloween decorations, costume and craft ideas to do for FREE using stuff you already have at home

Re-purpose old costumes. Kids want to dress up? No problem – our first tip is to use World Book Day costumes for Halloween – who says they need to be scary anyway? For more inspiration, read our blog on last-minute World Book Day costumes.

Use old unwanted make-up. Make-up is an easy way to update a costume or create a Halloween 'look'. Alice in Wonderland or a Disney princess can be zombie-fied with just a bit of black or purple eyeshadow. Use eyeliner and lipstick to make 'scars', or paint nails in some gruesome colours – chipped nail varnish can be from where you 'crawled out of the grave'.

Upcycle decorations you already have. Everyone has some old decorations from previous years – so go through them and see what you can re-use. If an item is damaged, then you can repurpose it, either by using it as part of a costume, or by upcycling it. For example, that ripped witch's hat can become a 'haunted' witch's hat with some extra ripping.

Remember, too, that just like your costume, who says decorations have to be 'Halloween'? Tinsel can be 'worms', or you can use Christmas lights to make things look more atmospheric.

Make ghost bunting. There are two options with the 'things you already have' rule here: you can either use paper or old material. Whichever you have, cut it into ghost shapes (think domed at the top, then a bit wavy at the bottom) and draw eyes with felt tips or marker pen. Use a hole punch to make a hole in the top, too. Thread string through and hang up or hide around the house, for example, on shelves or tucked into frames.

Colour your own decorations. Got a printer? Make use of free Halloween colouring pages. The internet is a treasure trove of free colouring pages to print off online. Check out Supercoloring for loads of different images. You can then pin them up around the house.

Make fake blood. A blog by former MSE Becky talks you through this step by step. It does require you to have ingredients at home, but if you don't have red food colouring you could always add whatever colour you have and say it's ghoul or zombie blood, or perhaps ooze from wounds.

Food colouring can make any food spooky. Got some food colouring? Use it! You can add it to just about anything – from 'haunted porridge' to 'goo' smoothies. It doesn't matter what colour you have either, this is about imagination.

You could also use food colouring to bake your own Halloween cakes and cookies. The best bit is that if things are spooky you don't need to make them perfect. Imperfectly round cookies can become melted vampire brains, while ordinary fairy cakes can become 'bats' with some black food colouring.

Make 'ghost jars'. Got some old jars at home? And some cotton wool? Rip up the cotton wool and put it inside the jar. Next, get some white paper, cut out circles, colour in the middle for 'eyeballs' and stick them on the jar. Put them on a shelf and add fairy lights (from Christmas if you need to) to illuminate them from behind. Alternatively, if you've got old ping-pong balls lying about, you could draw eyeballs on to them and stick those in an empty jar filled with water.

Cotton wool also makes a great 'cobweb'. MSE Ciara says: "Stretch it out to give a cobwebby effect. You can also re-use it afterwards if you're careful (waste not, want not!)."

Make your own giant spider's web out of string, wool or paper. You can find videos of how to weave your own web – you can make it as big or small as you like. Alternatively, you can get creative with some simple paper-cutting, by folding paper multiple times and cutting out sections that, when unfolded, give you a beautifully symmetrical spider's web design.

Use up old fabric. If you're the kind of person who has old fabric at home, or perhaps some clothes you or the kids have grown out of that isn't charity shop-worthy, you could use that to make decorations. Former MSE Rhiannon shared how she made a draft excluder from socks in her Free or cheap half-term kids' activities blog.

Turn empty loo roll tubes into spooky characters. Collect loo rolls now and you should have plenty for half term and Halloween, especially if the family are home. You could always ask neighbours to save theirs, too. Then it's over to your trusty felt tips and craft supplies – nothing fancy, whatever you have – and your imagination.

Use delivery boxes to make decorations. Got old boxes hanging around? They are the perfect thing to cut up to make into decorations. First of all, make them into flat pieces of cardboard by flattening them or cutting them along the folds.

Then you have a pile of flat cardboard. You could draw spooky shapes to cut out and hang on a Halloween tree (sticks in a vase), or you could make bigger pieces of cardboard into 'tombstones' by making a curved edge on one end of a rectangle. Get creative with the decoration using any felt tips you have to hand.

Bin bags are your friends – they can be cut into everything from a bat to a cape. You could cut up bits of a bin bag to add to your cardboard tombstones, too. While we're not into wasting plastic, if you have other plastic bags, they could also come in handy. For example, a Sainsbury's bag is orange (pumpkins), while Aldi, Asda and Co-op all have green ones (slime, goo, zombies).

Go leaf collecting and then hang them up on string for a haunted leaf garland. A win-win as you also go out for a wholesome walk, too. Gather leaves – nice large ones if you can – and then either cut or hole punch a hole near the top. You turn them into 'haunted leaves' by cutting out two 'eyes', or drawing on eyes if you have felt tips or markers. Hang with string or cotton tied around the stem.

Tin foil spiders are super easy for all ages to have a go at making. Inspired by an idea in the book Tom Gates, all you really need for this is some tin foil. Twist four strips into legs, arrange them into a star so there are four legs on each side, then roll another piece of foil around the middle for the body.

Draw or stick on eyes if you want to. Simple yet effective. You could even try this with used foil (depending on what you've cooked on it!) to avoid wasting expensive kitchen supplies.

Add eerie sound effects to your display. If you already subscribe to a music streaming service such as Spotify, you can easily find spooky music and sounds for free to add to the Halloween vibes.

Got a smart TV? See if you can get a free spooky screensaver to add to the decorations. These might already be available on your TV, or you may be able to download one for free. Some smart TVs allow you to upload your own photos to save as a screensaver.

Make your front door look like a giant monster. If you've got a couple of paper plates, make them into giant eyes and stick them on your front door. Hang some strips of old material, crepe paper or newspaper over the top of the door to look like hair, and use brown parcel tape or masking tape to make a mouth (or your letterbox could be the mouth). Hey presto! Your front door is now a monster!

Turn used wine bottles into bottles of 'poison'. Try filling clear empty bottles with water and a drop of food colouring, and add homemade 'poison' labels. You could start saving bottles now – they don't have to be wine or glass! Think cordial, fizzy drinks and so on. You could then line them up on a shelf or the windowsill, or even weigh down with some pebbles and make a doorstep display.

And finally, if you're having a party of any kind, remember the games can be free, too. Already got apples or are lucky enough to have an apple tree that's had windfall? Then apple bobbing is free! You could play pin the spider on the web you've drawn or even create a Halloween treasure hunt (you can often print them really easily).

What free Halloween ideas have you tried out? Let us know on Facebook or (X) Twitter.