Spinning Ghosts
These glowing and fearsome apparitions create an instant fright night. Cut a ghost shape - head, arms, and a flowing body - from weatherproof fabric (if you want to leave them up a few days) or from a sheet of white packing foam (if you don't). Outline the eyes and mouth with 3-D., glow-in-the-dark paint, attach a swivel hook to the back, and hang from low-hanging tree branches.
Furry Bats
What's Halloween without bats? These can serve as either indoor or outdoor decorations. Bend a 1-inch length of black pipe cleaner into a V, then glue it to black tissue-paper bat wings. Use thin wire to attach them to walls or a tree.
Shrunken Heads
A clan of these can scare even the bravest kids. Just carve faces on raw potatoes or apples with a kitchen knife, hollow them out as best you can, then string them up with wire. They’re a ghastly delight, especially after they sit for a few hours and begin to turn colors.
Cereal-Box Graveyard
You'll get extra eerie points for this one. Take some black-and-white tempera paints and mix them into three shades of gray: light, medium, and dark. Then paint empty cereal boxes with a couple coats of medium gray. Use sponges to mottle the gravestones with light and dark gray spots. Once they're dry, you can write names and dates with a marker, and turn your lawn into a graveyard.
Airborne Indoor Ghost
Fill your front hallway with gauzy ghouls. Cut a flowing body shape from a sheer white fabric, such as organza, then snip out eyes and an ooo-ing mouth. Use sticky Velcro squares to attach your ghost to the doorway.