Spooktacular & Simple: Make Your Own Hauntingly Fun Halloween Garland!
Looking for a fun DIY Halloween garland craft that's completely your own? Turn a collection of pony bead pumpkins, skeletons, bats and other spooky little creatures into a handmade garland for Halloween decorating. Mix and match your favorite beaded Halloween projects, string them together and create a decoration filled with the characters you like best.
Use a row of pumpkins to create a pumpkin garland, let a colony of bats take flight across a bat garland, or create a ghost garland that's just the right amount of spooky. Mix and match any combination of different Halloween characters for a little bit of everything. Make a short strand for a doorway or window, a longer Halloween garland for a mantel or wall, or keep adding new beaded characters whenever you discover another favorite pattern.
Our free Halloween pony bead patterns give you plenty of designs to get started. Choose the ones you like, make as many as you need, and follow the simple instructions to turn those individual projects into a Halloween decoration you can bring out again year after year.
All you need is a few basic supplies—many of which you may already have lying around or can snag at the links below.
Note: For your convenience and to assist you in being able to locate the material required for this project, some (or all) of the materials listed may be linked to other websites or contain affiliate links. All will open into a new window so that you don't lose this pattern page.
Choose a base for your Halloween garland:
Halloween Garland
Strong Cord
Decorative accents for your garland:
Large Wood Beads that you can paint in the color that works for your decor.
Don't be afraid to think outside the box here. If wooden beads might be too heavy for your garland, how about small plastic pumpkins, ping pong balls, mini plastic skulls, glue a spider onto your cord in select places, bells, spooky eyeballs, or even fall colored leaves could be glued directly to your cord.
Begin by making your favorite beaded Halloween creatures using the free pony bead patterns below. You can make one of each character, repeat your favorites, or make an entire garland of pumpkins, ghosts, bats, or any other Halloween characters you like. Since these are going to be used on your garland a clip on style lanyard is probably the most convenient. You'll be able to clip them on in any position, move them down, remove them or whatever much easier.
Decide how long you want your Halloween garland to be and approximately how many beaded characters you'll need. You will want about 1 keychain per 10 to 14 inches of your string or garland. Space them closer together for a fuller look or farther apart if you prefer. The spacing is just a suggestion.
Once you've made your beaded Halloween characters, just string them on if you're using a ready-made garland.
If you're making your own garland using cord, add some of your chosen decorative accents, then attach a beaded Halloween character. Continue alternating until your garland reaches the desired length.
For an easy way to hang your finished garland, tie a keyring to each end of your cord. If you have extra keyrings left over from making your Halloween characters, this is a great way to use them! You could also tie a loop in each end of the cord for hanging your garland across a mantel, doorway, window, or wall.
Make smaller pieces to hang around the candy or punch bowl, drape onto a wreath, add a string of fairy lights onto the cord and display outside as part of your halloween decor. Hang it on your porch and un-clip them one at a time to share with your favorite trick-or-treaters. So many ideas, so little time.
Below are the beaded Halloween characters you can make for your garland. Choose your favorites and make as many as you like!
Looking for more Halloween themed beaded critters? Here are a few more patterns to try.
Make a collection of Halloween pony bead characters and string them together for an easy handmade Halloween garland.
