Wizard of Oz DIY Halloween Yard Decorations

Do It Yourself

Wizard of Oz

Halloween Yard Decorations

To make the perfect Wizard of Oz Halloween House, there really isn’t a source to get everything you need on a budget. So how do you do it? Do it yourself, of course!

First thing you need to do is have an idea how you want it to look and find your materials. We started off by finding a couple of pallets off of Facebook community sale, free cycle and swap groups to make the signs for the yard. Then we took a trip to our local craft store and picked out some materials to make some big lollipops, yellow duct tape, wooden crates, glitter green spray paint, and plastic pumpkins to make the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion heads. Lastly, we were able to get a lot of paint by asking in the Military Spouse groups on Facebook.  We simply asked if anyone who was moving soon had any paint they couldn’t take with them.  We received over 2 shoe boxes of craft paint, a few cans of spray paint, and a can of paint.

Now the easy part was over; now comes the fun!

Next, we stapled stakes onto 9” round pieces of wood and painted them to look like lollipops. We hand sketched the design onto the wood prior to painting to make sure they all looked fairly similar. Remember, it does not have to be perfect especially if you are doing this as an activity with the kids.

We then disassembled the pallets to make the signs for the yard.  We trimmed down a couple of the pieces to make a few of the signs but left a few of the boards untouched to add a bit of a rustic feel to it.

The painting of Pallet boards takes longer than you would imagine.  Some of the wood is very porous so may require a couple of coats.  The white background was all painted at least 2 times before doing the rest.  For each layer we allowed 24 hours to dry.  Remember to use paint that is for outdoor use and waterproof.  We used mostly paint for metal so it has held up pretty well.

We had several signs that were quotes out of the movie or were a sign in the movie of Wizard of Oz.

Our signs state:

• I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore
• Somewhere over the rainbow
• Bell out of order please knock
• I’ll Get you my pretty and your little dog too

Tip to help make the signs pop!  Add lots of details.  For some of the signs I used Blue and White checker board pattern like Dorothy’s dress to make the signs pop a little.  For the Witch side of the yard I took a wash cloth and dapped it in paint to make it have a more rustic look.  I used brown and orange paints for it to have the more rustic look.

We bought these pumpkins at our local craft store.  We painted the tin man silver; super glued an oil filter and painted it again for 2 coats.  We bought the scarecrow pumpkin white, a half round styrofoam to cone his hat.  We super glued a tan felt sheet than tied a string around to make the hat.  We painted his face.  Now onto my favorite, the Lion – we bought an orange pumpkin from the craft store, we found a lions pet costume at Target that we used as the hair.  Worked out perfect since it already had the ears.  Used a bow that was on one of my daughter’s toy and painted it red.  We painted his face.  We now have the scarecrow, lion and tin man.

We found neighbors that just recently moved in that had wardrobe boxes that we painted green.  We found a skeleton face at the Dollar Tree and cut out the teeth to make Oz’s face.  We painted Oz green and glued him to the cardboard.  We cut the cardboard to fit the entrance of the porch to our front door.  You can’t really notice it but the paint has glitter in it.  Glitter makes everything fun and that much better!

Yellow Brick Road:

We found yellow duct tape and made the yellow brick road on our sidewalk leading up to the house.  We spaced it out to make the duct tape go further and to avoid it from being slippery.

 

Witch Side of Yard

House:

My husband made a cardboard house and painted it.  I bought the witch legs on Amazon.  Cut the windows out and throw flashing lights in the house for a fun strobe effect at night.

Tornado:

We used scrap wood (4 pieces) to make the base of the tornado.  We used spider webs to twist around the wood to make the tornado.  We also put a string of lights inside the tornado for a glow at night.

Flying Monkey:

Also, I found the flying monkey carrying Todo online.  We enlarged it and cut it out. I taped the outside edges of the cut out on cardboard.  We spray-painted and I cut the cardboard.  We stuck it on a stick to stick in the ground.

Happy Halloween!