20 Halloween Paper Crafts You Need to Try This Year
Spooky season is officially here. The fall lattes are back, the evenings go dark earlier, and somewhere in the craft drawer sits a stack of black and orange cardstock just waiting for its moment. Paper crafts are one of the cheapest ways to dress a house for Halloween, and the list below gathers 20 ideas worth trying in 2026.
Elisa at Streetstylis, who put the original roundup together, treats paper crafting as a seasonal tradition. Every October she and her sister spend a rainy afternoon at the kitchen table, and by the end the table has vanished under scraps, glue sticks, and tiny paper bats.
Want to raise the stakes a little? Turn the afternoon into a friendly contest. Everyone votes on the best creation, and the winner takes home a small prize, like a gift card or a goodie basket.
A quick note for beginners, do not stress. Most of these projects are genuinely easy. Start slowly with one simple craft, get a feel for folding and cutting, then work toward the more intricate ones once you are warmed up.
HALLOWEEN PAPER CRAFTS
Ready to raid the paper stash? These 20 projects run from five minute foldables to a weekend statement piece, so there is something here whether you have a toddler at the table or a whole free evening.
Accordion Fold Paper Bats
Remember folding paper fans as a kid? Same move, spookier result. Fold a black circle accordion style, snip it in half, and you have two wings. Glue them to a small body, add googly eyes, and your kitchen table starts to look like a tiny bat cave. No fancy tools required.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 20 minutes
- Toddler friendly
- Free template included
3D Paper Pumpkin Lanterns
These glow like tiny carved pumpkins once a tealight goes inside, minus the pumpkin guts. The small cutouts take patience with scissors, so put on a playlist and take your time. A cutting machine can turn it into an easy afternoon if you have one. Line three along a shelf and the whole room warms up.
- Cost: from about $10
- Time: 1 to 2 hours
Paper Ghost Garland
It works exactly like the paper doll chains from school, except now the dolls are ghosts holding hands. Accordion fold a long strip, draw one ghost on top, and cut around it. Draw each face a little sillier than the last. This is the easiest craft on the list, and the cheapest one too.
- Cost: basically free
- Time: 15 minutes
Origami Black Cats
A perfect quiet Sunday project, because there is no glue and no mess, just folding. Each cat takes two squares of paper, one for the head and one for the body. Elisa mentions that her first attempt came out slightly crooked, which somehow made it cuter. Origami paper is all you need.
- Materials: two squares of paper per cat
- Time: about 10 minutes per cat
- No glue needed
Paper Doily Spider Webs
Lacy doilies make surprisingly delicate spider webs, and if you already have a pack sitting in a drawer, you are halfway done. Add a small spider in the corner, then hang the webs in a window where the light comes through. Great for the youngest crafters at the table.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 30 minutes
- Best for little kids
Honeycomb Paper Pumpkins
Honeycomb paper unfolds from a flat stack of tissue into a round pumpkin, like those fold out party decorations, only you made it yourself. Line a few along the mantel and the look is complete. Beginner friendly from start to finish.
- Cost: honeycomb paper about $8
- Time: 45 minutes
Paper Haunted House Luminaries
These sit on a windowsill like small nightlights with a spooky secret. Cut out the little windows, tuck an LED tealight behind them, and wait for dark. A free template is available if freehand cutting is not your thing. Please skip real candles here, because paper and flame do not mix.
- Cost: under $10
- Time: 1 hour
- Use an LED tealight only
Cut Paper Window Silhouettes
Silhouettes of cats, witches, and crooked trees taped to the glass look genuinely striking from the street once the lights come on. Free printable templates make this nearly foolproof, so your scissor work does not have to be perfect. Save it for a weekend when you have a little more time.
- Materials: one roll of black paper
- Tools: a craft knife
- Weekend project
Curled Paper Snakes
Possibly the simplest idea on the whole list: one spiral cut and the snake is basically finished. Hang it from the ceiling and it spins whenever someone walks past. It doubles as scissor practice for kids, and it costs a single sheet of paper.
- Materials: one sheet of paper
- Time: 15 minutes
- Good scissor practice for kids
Paper Cone Witch Hats
These are not costume pieces, they are place settings. Roll the cones, glue on the brims, then decorate them however you like. A pattern is available if you want consistent sizes.
Set one at each plate for a Halloween dinner and the table instantly looks styled. Pair them with a full Sleepy Hollow Halloween Dinner Party Menu and you have a whole theme going.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 30 minutes
- Pattern available
Layered Moon And Bats Art
The bats here are made with folded wings, so they pop off the page and cast tiny shadows on the wall behind. Frame it and it can stay up well past October. It reads as real art rather than a craft project, which is a nice trick for about $10.
- Cost: about $10
- Time: 1 hour
Paper Strip Jack O-Lantern Orbs
Paper strips form a round lantern with a jack o lantern face on the front. Glue holds everything together, so no fasteners are needed. Make a row of orbs with different expressions and hang them at different heights.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 25 minutes
- No fasteners, glue only
Origami Fortune Teller Pumpkins
You know the schoolyard fortune teller folds. This version is dressed up for October, with silly fortunes written inside for guests to pick. Choosing a fortune makes it a game as much as a decoration. One paper square, five minutes, done. A bowl of Halloween candy sitting next to it keeps people hovering nearby.
- Materials: one paper square
- Time: 5 minutes
- Doubles as a party game
Paper Feather Black Crows
Moody fall decor at its best. Layer the paper feathers one at a time and do not rush it, because the layering is what makes them read as real feathers. Perch them on a branch in a vase for a storybook look. The result is a proper statement piece rather than a quick craft.
- Cost: about $15
- Time: 2 hours
Quilled Paper Spider Webs
Quilling looks intricate, but it is mostly rolling strips of paper, which makes it a slow evening craft you can do while a podcast plays. Steady hands help. Even messy first coils can still add up to a beautiful web, so this one is more forgiving than it looks. Quilling strips run about $10.
- Materials: quilling strips, about $10
- Pace: slow evening project
- Steady hands help
Paper Lantern Mummies
This is the classic school craft, and it still holds up. Fold the paper, snip along the fold, then curl it into a cylinder. The slits bow outward to create a round belly. Add gauze white stripes and googly eyes and you have a mummy.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 20 minutes
Pop Up Haunted House Card
The pop up part takes just two simple cuts, which is the whole secret. The card folds completely flat, so it can go in an envelope and travel to family across the country. Under $5 and half an hour, and it beats a store bought card every time.
- Cost: under $5
- Time: 30 minutes
- Mails flat
Paper Rosette Medallions
Accordion fold the paper, curve it into a circle, and press the middle flat. That is the whole technique, and the medallions are reusable every year. Make them in three sizes, layer them on a wall, and you have a party backdrop and a photo corner. Scrapbook paper makes the patterns fun.
- Cost: about $10 for scrapbook paper
- Time: 1 hour for a set
- Reusable each year
Woven Paper Candy Corn Mats
Over, under, over, under. That simple pattern keeps little hands busy for about half an hour. White, orange, and yellow strips create the candy corn look, and the finished mats work as place mats for the party table. Construction paper only, so it is a mess free project.
- Materials: construction paper only
- Time: 20 minutes
- Mess free
Giant Paper Spider Installation
We saved the biggest wow factor for last. One oversized spider climbing a porch wall lands harder than a dozen small decorations. The legs are made from long strips folded at the joints, which is what gives them that creepy bend. It is the final craft on the list, and the one people will photograph.
- Cost: under $15
- Time: 1 to 2 hours
- Biggest wow factor
Pick one easy project to start, then let the table get messy. Paper crafts are cheap, forgiving, and you can redo them next year. Happy spooky season, and have fun with it. Xoxo
