Halloween is hands down, 100%, my favorite holiday, and I love to set up my Halloween mantel decorations each year. I’m that person who feels that “spark of joy” when I see that stores are starting to put out their Halloween decorations in July. I love trimming our house from top to bottom with spooky skeletons, brilliant bats and wicked witches.
The fireplace mantel in our living room is my go-to spot for decorating. Each year I put a little twist on it and add a few new items. My kids love watching me decorate it each year! Below I’ll show you some of my favorite Halloween mantel decorations and how I made them happen!
In this first Halloween mantel photo above, I really filled every inch with something. It has an eclectic and kitschy feel. One great way to start decorating your mantel is with black gauze, or creepy cloth. It’s the perfect base to sit or anchor your decor objects on, and it can be used year after year.
In fact, the more you use it, the better and creepier it looks! On the mirror behind my mantel, I used black vinyl decals of crows and branches. They are super easy to apply and remove and won’t damage your walls! For all of the other little Halloween decor items, it’s a hodge podge of my collected items throughout the years.
In the Halloween mantel pictured above, I decided to go with an all black and white theme one year, and I loved how it turned out. It was simple and classic. I again used the creepy cloth as a starting point and then layered on a bunch of black and white items (skulls, bones, craft pumpkins and bats).
One piece of advice is to place your decor items at varying heights. This way, items aren’t blocking each other, and the different heights are visually pleasing to the eye. Behind the mantel, I put 3-D paper bats flying away for some added visual dimension.
The focal piece of this mantel was the set of DIY cameo locket pumpkins with my children’s faces on them. You can read all about how I made these in a tutorial here!
In mantel featured above, I also went with an eclectic mix of Halloween colors, but this time I started with a patterned spider web mantel scarf instead of the creepy cloth. I loved the scalloped spider web edge, and I also added some light-up spider string lights (similar) on top of the web. Again you can see how I used empty pillar candle holders to raise up different decor items in the background.
This final image above is one from one of my early mantels a few years back. As you can see, it’s not as layered and complex, but it still is an adorable and festive way to dress up your home! I used black cardboard candelabras along with ceramic potions books and glittered craft pumpkins.
If the above Halloween mantels seem like something way too time consuming for you—not to worry! Just like this last image, you don’t have to overdo it, and it can still be just as spooktacular! Happy Haunting!
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