Budget-Friendly DIY Halloween Wreath with Trinkets and Charms

Turn an ordinary store bought wreath into a Halloween themed one using these simple steps.

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What you need

Wooden, twiggy wreath from craft store
Flat Black spray paint
Large Paint Brush (optional)
Purple Paint (optional)
Halloween trinkets
Hot glue gun
Hot glue sticks

Instructions

Start by laying your wreath base on a protected surface. Newspaper, cardboard, or an old sheet will work, but make sure the surface area is considerably larger than your wreath. This gives you plenty of coverage so the spray paint won’t overshoot and stain your work area. A flat, well-ventilated space outdoors or in a garage is best for painting.

With the wreath laid out, grab your flat black spray paint. This will form the deep, moody base for your Halloween décor. Spray both the front and back of the wreath in light, even coats. I used three coats total, waiting about 20 minutes between each one to avoid drips and to get a nice even coverage. Once the wreath was mostly dry, I hung it on a pole so it could dry more evenly on all sides.

After the second coat dried, I introduced a bit of color by using purple paint with a dry brush technique. Dip just the tip of a dry brush into the purple paint, then gently sweep it across the surface of the wreath. You don’t want heavy coverage—just a soft, brushed-on layer that catches the raised parts of the branches. This creates depth and gives the wreath a subtle, eerie glow. I chose purple because many of the embellishments I planned to add were black, and I wanted them to stand out against the background. Plus, black and purple happen to be my favorite Halloween color combination.

Next, it was time for the fun part—adding spooky embellishments. I picked up a 50-count bag of Creepy Creatures from Michaels, which included a great mix of plastic spider rings, rubber bats, rubber spiders, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, and finger puppets. This variety bag made it easy to add lots of texture and creepy detail without spending much.

For the skeletons, I did a little customizing. I removed the heads from all but one, giving me five small skulls to scatter around the wreath, plus one full skeleton as a focal piece. This little detail really amps up the spooky factor.

The finger puppets were another fun touch. I glued four of them along the inner edge of the wreath, pressing the open end of each puppet flat and gluing it down securely. This allowed the puppets to stand upright, almost as if they were peeking out from the wreath.

To attach the spider rings, I added hot glue to both sides of the band, then slid the band between the twigs of the wreath form. This made the spiders lie flat against the branches, which looks much more natural and keeps them from wiggling loose.

By layering the paint effects with creepy crawlies, skeletons, and trinkets, the wreath comes together as a perfectly spooky Halloween decoration—bold, festive, and just creepy enough to make your guests look twice.

 

This wonderful wreath project was contributed by Bella_Karloff ([email protected])