If you’re celebrating Halloween at home, a few clever add-ons can turn items you have around the house into a table that’s spooky to look at but simple to make. To put together your spooky—but—simple Halloween table, first, grab some gourds and some cheesecloth, gauze and cotton from the medicine cabinet. Then, turn on your printer or whip out a marker and work some Halloween magic.

Go for Gourd Decor

For a spooky backdrop, you can cover a table with black paper—and add some netting. Then, spread gourds of different sizes across it and then turn them into a centerpiece for Halloween at home. You can also arrange gourds on your mantelpiece, front step, or any place else you decorate for Halloween. No need to wave a magic wand to get the gourds ready for Halloween; just add a few extras. (The best part is, when Halloween is over, you can take off the add-ons, and leave the gourds in place until Thanksgiving!) Here are some things you can add.

Eyes

Go for googly eyes or download our eye templates, print, cut out, and attach to a gourd with tape or a glue dot.

Gauze/Muslin

Wrap a gourd in cloth bandages (or any strips of fabric) to create a squash mummy—you can add a pair of eyes on top if the spirit moves you.

Paint or Markers

You can paint or draw features on your gourds. Or, get a little gory by adding red paint to create “bloody” wounds. You can say “off with their heads” to gooseneck gourds by slicing off their tops and covering the cut ends with paint. Or, paint a slash of red and stick a knife in a pumpkin.

Spooky Sayings

Download our speech bubble templates, print, and cut out, then spread them across the centerpiece, so that the gourds don’t just see, they talk too!

Tombstone Tags

Scatter “gravestones” through the display to turn the patch into a haunted gourd-yard. Our graveyard template is downloadable, so you can print and cut them out, then tape them in place as is. Or write on your own messages (“This gourd is a goner!” or “Here lies Butternut; he got squashed.”)

Friendly Ghosts

Invite some guests to the Halloween party by giving the gourds some ghostly pals. Download our templates, print, cut out, and stick them atop the vegetables. Or, draw eyeballs on white balloons so that the ghosts float above the tablescape.

Add a “Costume”

Costumes aren’t just for trick or treaters! A moustache and glasses can turn you into Groucho Marx, and a tail or ears turns a kid into a cat. Easy accessories can also transform objects you already have around the house into haunting Halloween decor.

Wrap a hurricane vase or clear glasses in gauze, stick on some google eyes and you’ve got mummies ready to curse your table.

Stick on a label to turn a dark bottle into a cask Spider Cider, Snake Venom, or a vial of poison, or to transform a jar of olives into “Eye Balls.” You can download our terrifying templates or make your own!

For a sinister centerpiece, place some branches in a vase, and spread cotton batting between them to form “cobwebs.” Then, cut out some spiders and bats and make them at home in the eerie “tree.”

Serve Something Scary

When you’re having Halloween at home, everything on your simple but spooky table—from placesettings to serving pieces—is a chance to send chills down everyone’s spine. Serve celestial drinks and invite creepy crawlers to dinner for a celebration that’s full of tricks and treats.

Spin a spiderweb at each place. Start with a white plate, draw on a web with food-safe markers

Then, drop a “spider egg” in the middle. (Shh: It’s really a surprise ball made by wrapping black crepe paper around candy!) Then top it with one of our paper spiders (just download the template, print, and cut) or design your own.

Say “eye do” to amusing and appalling friends at the same time! Just print out our eyeball template and slide it through the tines of their forks.

One way to make sure your serving pieces go with your gourd-geous decor? Serve vegetables and dip in actual gourds. Just hollow out small to medium sized pumpkins, use one to hold crudité and the other for hummus, yogurt, or any other dip you like. Click here for a how-to.

Turn cupcakes into bats by adding a pair of paper bat wings! You can download our wing template, print, and cut out. Or, place a pumpkin onto orange cupcakes, witch’s legs in green frosting, or a ghost anywhere you like—there are templates for all three.

Everyone knows spooky things happen when the moon is full! For a celebration so fun it only happens once in a blue moon, serve a cocktail or mocktail with a blue moon floating inside. For the recipe, click here. Cheers to Halloween!

And don’t forget the kids’ table at your Halloween party! For ideas for a Sweet and Spooky Kids Table for Halloween at Home—click here.

1. Plate, 2. Black Silverware, 3. Vase, 4. Googly Eyes, 5. Acrylic Ornament, 6. Black Cake Stand, 7. Gray Glassware, 8. Food Safe Markers, 9. Gray Gauze, 10. Crows, 11. Chocolate Eyeballs, 12. Gray Decanter