Whether you are looking to send shivers down the spines of other drivers on the highway, make your vehicle part of your haunted house, or go the extra mile for a local “trunk or treat” that you participate in, decorating your vehicle for Halloween is essential. Sure, anyone can make their house look spooky, but you know you are on another level when you are cruising through a parking lot in your haunted roadster or picking up your kids from school in a ghoulish crossover. There was a time when you would need to make many of these decorations yourself, but you have more options than ever to trick out your ride for the creepy season and celebrate the macabre with your midsize sedan. In this creepy season of current auto news, let’s jump into spooky decorations that will turn heads.
Ghastly and Ghostly Exterior Decorations
One of the best ways to decorate your vehicle for Halloween is with details others can see from outside your car. Remember that anything you do to the exterior must be safe for the road and appropriate for random strangers—and kids—to see as you are on the highway. It is probably best to dial down the gore for exterior things, but you can still have fun with it.
Front Grille Teeth and Rooftop Horns
These classic car decorations are great for Halloween and easy to find. Vampire teeth for your front grille are a simple way to give your vehicle a fiendish appearance, particularly with other exterior details that accompany the theme. You can also get devil horns that go on your roof—perfect if you have a red car—to warn other drivers of your diabolical nature (drive safe, though, Mephistopheles).
Giant Spider Legs
These are not things you can put on your vehicle while you are driving, but they are perfect for when you are parked in your driveway on Halloween night. Large, inflatable spider legs sticking out of your car are the perfect way to signal to the world that you are ready for spooky good times. These are also great for trunk-or-treating.
Trunk-or-Treat Decorations
Since you are parked during a good trunk or treat, your imagination is the limit on how you decorate your vehicle. You can put a full costume on your car to transform your truck into a haunted hay ride or make your SUV look like a zombie car crawling out of the ground. You will find things like attachable wings, horns, ears, eyes, and much more that you can safely put on your vehicle while parked for a trunk or treat, all of which are easy ways to alter your ride.
Fake Limbs for Your Trunk
This one’s a classic, inexpensive, and great for a smile from other drivers. You can buy limbs like arms and legs, complete with shoes and clothing, designed to attach to the inside of your trunk and hang out the back to make it look like a body has been haphazardly tossed into your trunk before you hit the road. Maybe a bit ghoulish for kids in cars behind you, but what’s Halloween without giving children a few nightmares?
Decals and Window Clings
You can buy many different decals and window clings to decorate your vehicle quickly and easily, all of which peel right off afterward, so they are great for short-term use. Anything from bloody drips and hand prints to bats and spiders will be available, along with things like skeleton window clings to make it look like you have a creep riding shotgun. Decals are particularly effective if you have a white vehicle against which they ghoulishly pop.
Spooky Lighting
There are many ways you can customize your exterior lighting all year round, including great options for Halloween. Just remember to make sure anything you do is road-legal in your area, which includes not messing with your headlights and taillights if you are driving. You can run strings of colored lights around your vehicle while parked or set up custom lighting sequences with some extra work—it all depends on how far you want to go.
Old Reliable: Fake Webbing
In some ways, I’m a simple man: Show me a bunch of white polyester batting stretched out to look like spider webs, and I will be happy. This is an incredibly inexpensive way to decorate the outside of your vehicle, and with just a little work, it can look fantastic. Just be careful not to block your doors if you are driving—add a few dozen plastic spiders from front to back, and you are in business.
Creepy and Crawly Interior Décor
While exterior decorations will probably get the most attention since they are easiest to see, who says other people should get to see all your cool stuff? You can decorate your vehicle’s inside, too, and thrill your passengers. Or do it for yourself—find your own happiness in life, which can easily come from some silly and spooky decorations.
Ghoulish Air Fresheners
Why should you have plain, ordinary air vents inside your ride when you can decorate them with all sorts of stuff? From spiders, skulls, and bats to grim reapers and more, there are lots of different air vent decorations you can choose from. Some are scented, and some are just for looks, so choose accordingly and have fun!
Rearview Mirror Decorations
I’m pretty sure every teenager with their first car already knows you have many things you can decorate your rearview mirror with, including plenty of spooky items. You can find many decorations like skulls, skeletons, bats, spiders, and more, or take a small item you like and put a string on it to tie it to your rearview mirror. Just be sure it does not obstruct your view while driving or light up in a dangerous way.
Dashboard Decorations of the Cursed
The rest of your dashboard is also open season for great decorations to get into the Halloween spirit. Plenty of items are designed just for the dashboard, but many other small decorations can also easily fit onto your dash. Whatever strikes your fancy can work, though I’m particularly fond of small zombies, spooky spiders, and the occasional severed head.
Interior Lighting
The lights inside your vehicle are also perfect for Halloween decorations, but once again, be sure you are safe and follow the law in your area. If you have customizable ambient lights for your vehicle, choosing purple, orange, or red is perfect for creating a macabre feel. You can also get lights that plug into an outlet in your vehicle or are battery-powered if you want to go all-out.
Old Reliable Again: Fake Webbing
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: fake polyester spider webs. It’s a classic for a reason and a better choice inside your vehicle than outside—they are pretty terrible for the environment and will not break down on their own, so be sure to clean them when November rolls around. Spider webs throughout your car’s interior ensure your passengers will immediately second-guess asking you for a ride, which is what Halloween is all about.
Make This a Halloween to Remember
Whether you want to make things interesting on your way to work every morning in October or decorate your vehicle for trunk-or-treating on the big day, you have many options. As long as you ensure anything you choose is safe and legal, there’s no reason not to let your imagination run wild and devise the most bizarre, grotesque, and horrifying decorations the road has ever seen. From the most elaborate Dragula replica to simply slapping a pair of vampire teeth onto the front of your ride, the only thing that matters is that you enjoy it. And if you don’t have time to make your vehicle the nightmarish display you would like, it is time to start planning for next Halloween. Just remember: it’s always spooky season in the cold, un-beating hearts of the undead legions. Join us!
