Spooky season is upon us! October brings colder weather, candy on every shelf, and more time inside to spend with family. One of the best ways to celebrate Halloween is by decorating. You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to make your home look hair-raising! Some of the best decorations, whether classy or terrifying, can be made right at home using your home printer. Carve out some time with the kids this Halloween with these printing ideas!

1. Pumpkin Carving Print-Out Guides

Arguably the most well-known Halloween decoration is the Jack-O-Lantern. Carved pumpkins with a candle inside make for a soft-lit spooky vibe on any patio or windowsill. Some would say getting the right design etched into your gourd is an art form, and we agree! If you’re no Picasso, don’t worry. Your home printer can help you out! Find line art you think would look good on a pumpkin. It can be an easy Jack-O-Lantern smile or an intricate piece of design work but make sure the lines have no shading! Print on regular paper, cut out the white space, and use the remaining outline to tape onto your pumpkin. Carve around the tracing. The ending result is a gorgeous pumpkin to show off!

2. Spooky Masks

If your little ones like playing dress-up, this craft is perfect! Many online sites have printable mask templates. Use a basic sheet of paper or construction paper, then print out the template. Have the kids cut them out with safety scissors and carefully punch a hole in each corner. String some yarn through the holes and let the kids color in whatever details they want. Popular characters like Iron Man or Captain America have pre-colored templates that resemble each mask. Be creative, and have your kids make their designs!

3. 3D Artwork Cut-outs

Older kids and college students may be looking for a more mature craft. One of our favorite ways to use a home printer is by creating a 3D piece of art. You don’t need a 3D printer to create something fun and dimensional. Find an image you like and print out multiple copies of it on different colored printer paper. Starting from the back layer of an image (for example, the background trees in a spooky Halloween landscape), cut out one layer at a time. Assemble each layer on top of another to create a beautifully haunting image.

4. Shape Monsters

One of the most fun, creative Halloween cut-outs to make at home is a craft the whole family can get in on. Shape monsters are created by printing out a variety of different body parts on any type of paper you like. Your home printer can likely handle patterned, construction, or cardstock easily but don’t hesitate to check with a printing expert before trying to run it through! These body parts can be circles (heads, bodies, or crazy huge ears), rectangles (arms, feet, or Frankenstein’s heads), or random squiggles. The goal here is to have everyone cut out a bunch of random shapes. From there, they all go to the table, and everyone takes their parts to make the craziest monster they can! The outcome is shocking – sometimes the older you get, the more creative you become!

For more common printing and other related tips, please contact Vegas Ink and Toner.