Haunting on a Budget
You don't need money to build a haunt. You need time, creativity, and the willingness to dig through your recycling bin. Some of the best props in any yard haunt are built from free or nearly-free materials. Here's how to stretch every dollar.
Free and Nearly-Free Materials
- Pallets — Free from hardware stores, warehouses, and Craigslist. Use for fencing, walls, coffins, and structural frames
- Trash bags — Black bags stuffed with newspaper make body forms, ghosts, and hanging cocoons
- Cardboard — Large appliance boxes become walls, tombstones (temporary), and scene backdrops
- Newspaper — Base material for paper mache builds
- Plastic bottles and jugs — Skull forms, potion bottles, luminaries
- Old clothes — Thrift store runs for costumes and prop clothing. Dollar-per-item bins are your friend
- Branches and leaves — Natural materials make the best haunted forest decoration
Dollar Store Haunt Supplies
Dollar stores during September and October are goldmines. Focus on:
- LED tea lights (candle effects, jack-o-lanterns, luminaries)
- Black and orange tablecloths (covering frames, backdrop material)
- Plastic cauldrons and skulls (paint them to look better)
- Glow sticks (ground-level path marking, creature eyes in bushes)
- Cheesecloth (ghosts, aging effects, cobwebs)
- Spray paint (always useful)
Cheap Prop Builds
These builds cost under $10 each:
- Foam tombstones — a 4x8 sheet of rigid foam yields 6-8 tombstones for about $15
- Trash bag ghosts — white bags, newspaper, and cheesecloth
- PVC scarecrow frame — $5 in PVC plus old clothes
- Monster mud over a clothes form — joint compound and old clothes over a wire frame
- Ground breaker — a skeleton arm or hand (from a bucky you bought) pushed into loose soil
Where to Find Deals
- Post-Halloween clearance — November 1st is Christmas for haunters. 50-90% off everything. Stock up for next year.
- Thrift stores year-round — Clothing, furniture, frames, containers
- Estate sales and garage sales — Old tools, fabric, furniture, electronics
- Hardware store clearance — Damaged foam board, leftover PVC cuts, returned paint
- Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist — People selling their old haunt props after they move or lose interest
Best budget advice: Good lighting hides cheap props. Bad lighting exposes expensive ones. Spend your time on lighting and fog before spending money on more props.