What is a Halloween tree?
Halloween trees are decorated trees—usually artificial ones—displayed in your home to celebrate fall and add to the fun of Halloween. Just like Christmas trees, they come in all shapes and sizes.
How to decorate a Halloween tree
- First, you’ll need a tree. You can repurpose your artificial Christmas tree, or you can buy a tree in a special colour that’s just used at Halloween.
- For decorating, lots of people start with the symbols and icons of the holiday, like witches, jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, bats, etc.
- You could also decorate a Halloween tree in a favourite colour or pattern, like shades of purple or black and white stripes.
- Decorations can also include string lights, ornaments, hand-crafted garlands, toys, ribbons, etc.
- Consider choosing a theme to express your style and make your Halloween tree eye-catching.
If you have a favourite Halloween icon or you’re a fan of Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas or maybe you’re just a party ghoul, we have Halloween tree ideas just for you below!
7 Halloween tree ideas with so much style, it’s scary
Look out behind you! Halloween is hot on your heels and the yard decorations out there are blowing up. Some folks are even bringing the trees indoors. 👀 They’re decorating a tree like at Christmas, but with cool, scary Halloween decorations instead. How fun is that?
With lights, ornaments and DIY crafts, you can really express your style and love of Halloween. And we have tons of themed Halloween tree ideas to get you started, so you can get a new tradition rolling with your friends or family. Make it creepy. Make it cute. Make it funny. Just make it yours!
Inspired? Create and share by tagging @Hallmark_Canada.
If you’re just excited about the idea of a Halloween tree but aren’t looking for a theme, go classic with it. The most popular icons of Halloween are fun all by themselves.
For this mini Halloween tree, we leaned on vintage Halloween vibes. We used this adorable little jack-o’-lantern mini tree topper and matching jack-o’-lantern tree skirt to establish a classic look and feel. Then we added cute skull and mini spider ornaments to give it some extra personality. String some orange or purple lights (or both!), add ball ornaments in classic Halloween colours like purple, orange and yellow, and voila! You have yourself a fun conversation piece in your home.
Maybe you’re a fan of classic Halloween horror movies. Jason, Freddie, and the scream queens of the ’80s really do it for you. You need a Halloween tree that Michael Myers would be proud to hang his mask on!
You can make the ornaments out of collectible figurines, little plastic weapons or cut out stills from the movies. Take a stab at it. 🤭 All you need is glue and string to make them hangable. Hockey mask tree topper anyone?
If you love these movies, you should definitely check out Keepsake Ornaments!
Decor to die for
Don’t stop at just a Halloween tree, add more Halloween fun to your decor!
Add throw pillows, blankets and candy dishes. Put an autumn wreath on the front door. Get window or wall clings with your favourite characters or Halloween icons on them. Find a yummy scented candle and keep your festive house smelling fantastic.
Nothing is more eye-catching than pink and black. We think those colours would look outstanding with a witch theme. A pink tree with white string lights, moons and stars, cauldrons and bats, and a witch hat tree topper? What could be more glam?!
We cut some simple paper bats out of black and pink construction paper and folded their wings for a dimensional look. Those little witch hats? Black construction paper, some glue and some black and white ribbon. To add a little shimmer, we cut moons and stars out of iridescent paper and hung those on the tree. Then for good measure, we added some miniature black cauldrons and white pumpkins. After that, all you have to do is find a witch hat at your local costume shop for a tree topper! Bonus points if you give it a sparkly tulle hat band. ✨
And if you’re a Disney Hocus Pocus fan, check out some Keepsake Ornaments that would be PERFECT on this tree.
Candy and cocktails
Start a tradition with your friends: have a Halloween tree decorating party! Serve up some creepy cocktails like the Highball Eyeball, put together a charcuterie board and try your hand at these Halloween Bone Breadsticks.
And don’t forget a big bowl of candy! Have your friends help hang the ornaments or even make some at the party to hang on the tree. There are also some great Halloween party ideas here.
Not that into Halloween but love autumn? How about a tree with all the colours and icons of fall that make us all feel warm and fuzzy.
Tie cinnamon sticks with red ribbon to hang. Find small plastic or wood apples and pumpkins to string. Add faux leaves and flowers in those yummy autumn colours and add a string of orange lights. Maybe even make a tree skirt out of real fall leaves! Finally, place a pumpkin spice candle nearby and you have created a cozy mood for everyone to enjoy! 🍁🍂
Citizens of Halloween Town will love a Halloween tree based on Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas! 💀🎄 This Halloween Christmas tree will have everyone asking, “What’s this? What’s this?”
We used a bare tree limb to evoke the look and feel of the dead tree at the centre of Halloween Town. Then, of course, we had to decorate it with this set of Halloween ornaments. A fun DIY idea to help fill out the branches? Find some silicone ice moulds in the shape of things like skulls or headstones at a craft store and fill them with Crayola® Model Magic. Last, we hung all the ornaments with black and white striped ribbon—a nod to Jack Skellington’s pinstriped suit.
Speaking of which, if you’re a superfan when it comes to Jack Skellington, you won’t want to miss these. We go wayyyyyy beyond ornaments when it comes to Disney Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Fan favourites
There are so many movies people love to watch around Halloween: Harry Potter movies, Beetlejuice, Disney The Haunted Mansion and many more. It’s a great excuse for a movie night with friends or family!
Decorate with string lights or light some candles, pop some popcorn and gather everyone around the TV. It’ll be a scream for sure.
Need to go a little less scary and more cute with your Halloween tree idea so your kidlets don’t come crawling in bed with you in the middle of the night? We’ve got you.
Our kid-friendly Halloween tree here features a spray-painted branch hung with ghosts the kids can make themselves! Just cut some shapes out of chipboard, then give the kids some tempera paint, stickers and googly eyes, and let them go to town! 👻 To fill in the branches, we added some felt ghost shapes, too. The cherry on top? Our tree branch sits in a classic kids’ pumpkin pail!
Of course, if you’re using a more traditional tree, you could add a string of pumpkin lights, a homemade popcorn garland and tie a big orange ribbon on the top. Then for extra fun, add googly eyes to it!
Another DIY ornament idea
Make some cute critters and ghosts hiding candy treats with these DIY ornaments. It’s a Halloween tree idea we think the kids will absolutely LOVE.
Then again, Halloween is all about scary, haunted places. We think you’ll really dig this graveyard Halloween tree idea. All the creepy things found in a graveyard could be ornaments: headstones, skeletons, ghosts, dead flowers and spiders.
You could cut little headstones out of poster board, write your own epitaphs and turn them into ornaments. Or make bigger headstones out of cardboard that could be placed around the tree base. Fashion little ghosts out of tissue paper and ribbon and spray-paint little sand shovels and string them with yarn. A skull at the top would be the perfect finishing touch! 💀
Scary skirting
Continue your theme around the bottom of your Halloween tree. Use fabric cobwebs, cotton wool with little plastic spiders, or even faux fall leaves spread around.
If you’re good with needle and thread, there are lots of fun and scary fabrics to sew a skirt from. Use a throw blanket or old sheet or even leave it uncovered—it’s up to you!
These are just some ways to think about decorating your Halloween tree. Picking a theme can help generate your ideas, but the real magic is making it yours.
Reflect your taste and style in whatever way makes you happy and creates that Halloween mood in your space. Hope we’ve inspired you. Now, go have fun!