Halloween DIY Decoration Dog in Ghost Costume

DIY Halloween Decoration Outdoors -Dog in Ghost Costume

When it comes to DIY Halloween decorations I prefer kid friendly ideas that are sort of spooky instead of outright scary. Last year we were moving so I took out a large blowup pumpkin we have from eons ago, but this year its time for something fun, fab-boo-lous and boo-yah fun for an DIY Halloween decoration outdoors.

One of the coolest Halloween trends I have seen is dogs in ghost costumes, they are all so cute. I wanted to do that, but what if you have a very large dog like our great pyrenees who would NOT be agreedable to a full size Halloween costume. Or don’t have a furred friend to dress up. For those of us with this problem I made this this DIY dog ghost decoration for the yard or front porch.

He’s more adorable when he’s hanging out among the leaves and pumpkins.

But I will be using him on my Halloween front porch with bats, branches and an owl to make him just a little more spooky.

DIY Halloween Decoration Supplies

How to Make a DIY Halloween Decoration Dog in a Ghost Costume

Dog Mask

I began this project by making a cardboard dog mask, then Canada’s Walmart brought one in. I dropped the DIY mask idea and this became a really easy DIY Halloween decoration. By easy I mean it whipped up in way under an hour.

The American Walmart webpage has dozens of really great dog masks, in different breeds which is so fun, you could make a ghost that looks like your loved pet. If your not able to purchase a dog mask here is a great tutorial on how to create a paper mache dog mask.

Besides the dog mask you need a styrofoam head I got mine at the dollar store. If you can’t find a head a large piece of foam will work just as long as its large enough and you can place the mask on it.

Canada didn’t have those cute pumpkin shaped candy buckets, so I picked up this Boo-Yah one from the dollar store instead. Make sure you can snap the handle of your candy bucket on and off so you can fit it through the ghost sheet.

Now let’s get started creating.

How to Make a DIY Dog Costume Halloween Decoration

Making Dog Costume Ghost Basic Frame

Start with the tomato cage and lights. Place the end of the cord that will plug in to the outlet at the back of your tomato cage and then wrap the rest of the lights around the tomato cage. (optional)

I used some white Christmas lights we had on hand, when turned on the lights will make the ghost glow and look more spooky. You don’t have to add the lights as long as you have somewhere bright enough for the dog in a ghost costume to be seen.

Once you have the lights wrapped around the tomato cage, jab the ends of the tomato cage wires into the styrofoam head and shown below. Nothing fancy, just make sure the head is sort of straight.

Once the tomato cage wires are stuck into the head wrap everything very securely using clear packing tape.

Customizing the Halloween Dog Mask

Our little dog mask came with scary eyes and a closed mouth with dirty yellow teeth. Using a black sharpie pen I coloured the eye all black.

Then I coloured two teeth white and the rest of the mouth black.

You need to make a hole in your mask for wires and the handle of the candy basket. So once the entire mouth was black I cut most of the mouth out. This next photo is so scary, but it shows me removing some of the dog masks mouth.

If you have to make a hole in the mask you purchased leave some part of the mouth in place to camoflage the wire. Once you have the mouth cut out test it with the basket handle to see how it looks.

Attaching the Halloween Candy Bucket

The process is pretty simple and quick as all of it will be covered by the white sheet. The attachment has has to be strong, but pretty not so much.

So the basket hangs securely on the front of the DIY ghost, we need to give it extra support using heavy gauge wire.

To figure out placement, quickly place the mask on the styrofoam head. Mark where the mouth will be with a Sharpie pen.

Cut three feet of heavy gauge wire that is strong enough to poke through the styrofoam head.

Wrap the middle of the wire around the handle of your bucket. Make sure the bucket is centered.

Hubs then poked the wire into the front of the head about an inch outside of the black pen marks. Push each wire right through the head until it comes out the back. Once both wires are through the styrofoam head twist them tight and then cover the wires in clear packaging tape.

Remove the bucket from its plastic handle and set aside.

Add the Dog Mask

To place the mask on the styrofoam head, pinch the handle of the candy bucket together first and feed it through the mouth of the mask. Then place the mask on the styrofoam head. Tape over the elastic on the back of the head to keep the mask in place. Put the bucket back on to confirm placement, adjust if needed.

Once you’ve confirmed placement remove the bucket and cover the Halloween ghost dog with a plastic sheet. Make two holes in the sheet and fit the bucket handles through.

Cut out all the facial features including the ears. Just feel with your fingers making little slices in the plastic, and then enlarge as you need to.

When I first dreamed up this idea I was not certain it would work, that the mask would look dog like enough, or how exactly I would put it all together. By now I was starting to get really excited because its starting to develop into something I like. So far we spent about half an hour putting this little DIY Halloween ghost decoration for outside together.

We are still doing house renos and had just finished placing a ceiling in one of the rooms downstairs. I could not have been happier with how quick this came together for us, and You. The ghost decoration is pretty much done at this point, I just spend another ten minutes or so with a hot glue hon folding the plastic sheets edges and gluing them into place.

This is what the dog features looked like before tidying.

All I did was fold each edge of the plastic and hot glue it in place. I did snip some fur where necessary and opened the plastic around the mouth area and folded it back as well.

As I said we are busy with doing home renovations, so I put the video camera on and we just pitter pattered away doing the ghost dog. I am not certain if you will find it helpful or not, as its super casual. It begins where I placed the sheet over the ghost dogs head.

I am super excited about how this DIY Halloween decoration for outdoors turned out. I couldn’t wait to share it with you. Hopefully you find it as boo-tiful as I do. For this post I took some photos of the ghost out among the trees, but I will be using him on our Halloween front porch.

Happy Halloween!

Some Other DIY Halloween Decoration for Outside