Make Your Own DIY Halloween Graveyard for Under $20

Want a spooky graveyard in your yard but don't want to spend hundreds at the Halloween store? Dollar Tree's got you covered. For less than twenty bucks, you can turn your lawn into something that'll have trick-or-treaters thinking twice about approaching your door.

Here's the reality though - it's going to look like Dollar Tree Halloween decor unless you put in some work. Those foam tombstones they sell? They come covered in glitter. Because nothing says "scary cemetery" like sparkles.

The Basic Shopping List

Start with Greenbrier Kennel Club's foam tombstones. They come in four designs and cost a dollar each. Get at least four or five unless your yard is tiny. They're lightweight foam that'll blow over in a breeze, so you'll need stakes or something heavy to keep them upright.

Grab some plastic skeleton hands, a skull or two, maybe some chains if they have them. The fake spider webs are worth it if you have somewhere to hang them. Skip the battery-operated stuff - it'll die halfway through Halloween night and you'll be that house with the sad, non-glowing decorations.

Making Cheap Tombstones Look Less Cheap

Those glittery foam tombstones need help. First option: spray them with primer, then hit them with gray spray paint. Rust-Oleum's Stone Creations Spray works if you want texture, but regular gray paint is fine too.

Once your base coat dries, use black acrylic paint to fill in the text and details. Dry brush some lighter gray or silver over raised areas for depth. Want them to look old? Water down some green and brown paint and dab it around edges for that moss and dirt effect.

The article suggests hot-gluing actual moss around the edges. That works, but honestly, painted-on aging looks just as good and won't blow away.

The Two-Tombstone Tower Trick

Here's something actually clever: take two tombstones and an empty cardboard box. Cut the box at an angle so it stands upright. Glue one tombstone to the front, another to the back for height. Paint the whole thing and you've got a bigger, more impressive marker for about two dollars.

Just remember - cardboard and rain don't mix. If it's going to be wet Halloween night, skip this or cover it in plastic somehow.

Setting Up Your "Graveyard"

Stake your tombstones randomly, not in neat rows. Real graveyards aren't organized like parking spots. Put a small rectangle of cardboard in front of each one and cover it with dirt or potting soil to look like fresh graves. Stick a skeleton hand coming out of one.

The entrance arch idea using broom handles and pool noodles sounds ambitious for Dollar Tree supplies. More realistic: just scatter your tombstones across the lawn with some plastic bones around them. Maybe drape that fake spider web between two if you have posts or trees.

What Actually Works vs. What Doesn't

What works: Simple tombstones, skeleton parts sticking out of "graves," spider webs if you have good anchor points, maybe some plastic chains if you can find them cheap.

What doesn't: Trying to build elaborate structures from Dollar Tree supplies, battery-operated anything that needs to last more than two hours, those window clings (nobody looks at your windows on Halloween).

The Kid-Friendly Version

If you've got little kids or nervous neighbors, swap the skeleton parts for those squeaking rat decorations and black cat figures. Add some LED lanterns (but have backup batteries) and plastic pumpkins. Less scary, still festive.

Real Talk About DIY Halloween Decor

This is going to take time. You're not just buying and placing - you're painting, aging, arranging, probably re-arranging when stuff falls over. Budget at least a full afternoon for the project, not including paint drying time.

Your Dollar Tree graveyard won't look like those Pinterest photos or professional haunted houses. It'll look like painted foam tombstones from Dollar Tree. But for under twenty bucks? Kids will still think it's cool, and that's really the point.

Just stake everything down well. Nothing ruins the spooky vibe like watching your graveyard blow down the street while kids are trick-or-treating. Learn from everyone else's mistakes - those foam tombstones are basically sails waiting for the first October breeze.

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