12 Creepy DIY Halloween Projects to Scare Your Guests

The eyes don't have it. Asking guests to stick their hands into a bowl of peeled grapes, in hopes that they will imagine them as fake peepers, doesn't make for a good party activity. You don’t want to sit skinning the grapes, and no one wants to put their hands in your dirty fruit bowl. If you really want to spook your guests, try one of these DIY projects instead.

1. BRAIN CAKE 

Reenact your favorite zombie flick by digging into some very realistic looking brain cake. It probably wouldn't be enough to satiate a real zombie, but your guests will love it. 

2. ZOMBIE CUPCAKES 

Better off undead: These creepy zombie teeth cupcakes are unreal and will gross out even the more weathered Halloween treat consumers. It’s hard not to feel like the cupcake is the one that will do the biting. 

3. SPOOKY TERRARIUMS

Dane Holwager

Want your house to feel like a haunted study? Make the ghost of Darwin proud by filling empty jars with spooky paraphernalia like fake spiders and crows. For an added effect, throw on some cobwebs around the jars to make it look like no one’s examined the specimens in a while. 

4. PICKLED HEADS 

Anyone bold enough to look in your fridge is in for a surprise with this festive prank. Follow the directions to create and print out an image to put inside a large jar. The distortion of the water will help sell the effect that you’re really storing a pickled head.  

5. CREEPY GHOST HEADS 

Keep out unwanted guests with these eerie ghost heads. Cover normal foam heads in long cheesecloths and you’ll have a haunting porch in no time. 

6. SEVERED FINGERS 

Want a scary appetizer that's also finger lickin' good? Try this. On the surface, they are simply hot dogs with ketchup, but the meat has been so strategically cut that it looks like your guest is really eating severed fingers. 

7. GLOWING PUNCH 

This toxic looking sludge is actually just normal punch with B Complex vitamins mixed in. The only caveat: you'll need to keep a black light nearby to actually make it glow. 

8. REALISTIC GUMMY WORMS 

Those gummy worms in the vending machine aren't fooling anyone. Try something a little more convincing by making them yourself with Jell-O and bendy straws. Serve with a little crushed up chocolate cake as dirt, and people will really think you dug up some worms in your backyard. 

9. BLOODY CANDLES 

This incredibly easy project lets you make creepy but elegant candles for your next spooky soiree. All you need is a collection of white candles and one red candle to drip on the others. 

10. RED EGGS 

Image your guests surprise when they crack open an egg and find a gooey red surprise inside. The best part: it’s just Jell-O, so you can still eat it. 

11. BLOOD SLIDES 

Pretend you’re Dexter, and collect a series of blood slides of all your victims—er, guests. It’s amazing what you can do with a little sugar (please don’t take anyone’s real blood). 

12. MANGO FLY LARVAE CUPCAKES 

This cupcake

comes with a hands-on activity. Remove the larvae and push out the pus, just like a real doctor might do. Then, unlike a real doctor, you can eat the whole thing.