Decorating a Spooky Halloween Table

Step 1

Lay something over the table, in a way that you might normally use a tablecloth. Use a lace cloth that looks like it’s been in an attic for years, black trash bags or a cream-colored cloth stained with yellow splotches to look aged.

Step 2

Create a centerpiece for the table. This might include specimen jars tinted yellow, green or blue with food coloring. Fill them with plastic skeletons or foods and flowers that look like body parts. Another spooky centerpiece idea is to spray-paint branches black and arrange them in an old, spooky-looking urn. Hang skulls, realistic-looking crows or ravens and other items from the dead-looking branches.

Step 3

Set up place settings, such as dishes that look cracked and aged. Use each place setting to display a spooky favor that complements your centerpiece. Small skull containers can be filled with candy. You could also carve apples into shrunken heads. Dry them so they turn yellow or brown.

Step 4

Use lighting to add to the spooky atmosphere. Cover your chandeliers with spooky pumpkins, skulls or monster faces. Light taper candles in spooky-looking candelabras for an intimate glow. Drip red candle wax onto the tapers prior to setting the table to give the appearance of blood, dripping off the candles.

Step 5

Spread fake spiderwebs across the table, covering your centerpiece and everything else on the table. Use commercial fake spider webs or make your own by tearing inexpensive white pantyhose, cheesecloth or spreading cotton until it’s really thin. Small strings of hot glue are another alternative.

Step 6

Add critters to the spider webs and table settings. Realistic-looking spiders, roaches and worms–such as fishing lures–are ideal for teens or adults. Use obviously fake critters, such as gummy worms, for young children.