Halloween Project: Spooktacular Homemade Tombstones

Want to transform the pathway to your home into a spooky, fun graveyard? Or maybe you want to bring a haunted theme to your Halloween party. Here are some fun ideas and tips to add a little scare to the trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood this Halloween and have some creative fun with your family.

Creating Home-Made Tombstones

Making your DIY tombstones can be as easy or complex as you like. It is easy to cut scrap plywood or sheets of foam into basic or more intricate shapes of tombstones. Use a jig saw to cut the plywood, and an electric meat knife or razor blade often works well for Styrofoam.

After cutting your stones, you can create the base color of gray with black accents with spray paint or left-over paint from other projects. A gentle speckling of gray and black paint can give that aged look.

Once your base colors dry, you can begin to add your creative touch with hand-painted bats, skulls, and names and dates. Sketch these elements in pencil and then follow up with paint or marker.

Raise the creativity bar and come up with fun names for your characters or epitaphs to be conversation starters. Example: Boney B. Bones or Here Lies a Really Chill Guy.

After you are pleased with your creations, you can lean your stones against trees and bushes or hammer stakes into the ground to provide support. You can also use scrap material attached to the backs to allow them to stand independently.

You can also make fun directional signs to guide your guests to their ultimate doom.

Signs like:

• Candy Dead Ahead
• Turn Back While You Can
• Zombies Welcome
• Potions and Spells Free of Charge

For extra spook, place battery-operated LED lights in front of your tombstones and signs to make them glow.

Place plastic bones and skulls around your graves for a special touch.

Have a fun and safe Halloween from all your friends at Cardinal Home Center.