{"title":"How to Make Halloween Window Silhouettes","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/paper-crafts/how-to-make-halloween-window-silhouettes","category":{"slug":"paper-crafts","name":"Paper Crafts"},"creator":{"name":"Cozy Craft Studio","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkxLFVTTuIgFj2K3DEq5aNg","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaOyIsHO0lg"},"tldr":"Make Halloween window silhouettes from foam board: trace a spooky design, cut it out, add orange lights and hang it with suction cups.","totalDurationSeconds":334,"videoDurationSeconds":334,"difficulty":"medium","project":{"difficulty":"medium","projectMinutes":120,"waitMinutes":null,"totalMinutes":120,"estimatedCost":{"currency":"USD","min":15,"max":25},"yield":"1 window silhouette"},"tools":["utility knife","craft knife","cutting mat","hot glue gun","magnifying glass","cardboard box","flashlight"],"materials":["black foam board","black duct tape","white chalk","orange mini string lights","hot glue sticks","suction cups with hooks","printed silhouette design"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Fit the Black Foam Board to the Halloween Window","text":"Hold sheets of black foam board up inside the window and see how much of the glass they need to cover. Trim them to fit inside the frame. The design in the video is tall on one side only, so the panel was cut tall on that side and lower on the other. You do not need to cover the whole window. Leave room around the edges so the board slides in and out easily."},{"number":2,"title":"Tape the Foam Board Seams for the Window Silhouette","text":"Most windows are wider than one sheet of foam board, so you join two or more sheets. Butt the edges together and run black duct tape down the seam. Turn the board over and tape the other side too. Tape on both sides keeps the panel stiff so it does not fold at the join when you carry it or stand it up in the window."},{"number":3,"title":"Cut Out a Printed Halloween Silhouette Template","text":"Print your silhouette and cut it out with a craft knife on a cutting mat. This paper template is for the flashlight method. You shine a light through it so its shadow falls on the foam board, then trace the shadow. Cut slowly around the details. The more detail a design has, the harder it is to cut, so pick a bold design if this is your first one."},{"number":4,"title":"Make a Cardboard Box Projector for the Silhouette","text":"The second way to trace is a homemade projector. Cut a hole the size of a magnifying glass in one end of a shipping box and tape the lens over it. Put your phone in the other end with the silhouette on screen. Flip the phone upside down, because the lens flips the picture. Slide the phone and the box back and forth until the image is the right size and sharp."},{"number":5,"title":"Trace the Halloween Silhouette in Chalk","text":"Darken the room and project the design onto the foam board. Trace the outline with white chalk. Chalk shows up well on black board, and if you make a mistake you wipe it off with a damp cloth and draw it again. In the video the haunted house is traced first, then the tree, and the gravestones are drawn by hand. Fill in any missing shapes freehand."},{"number":6,"title":"Cut the Foam Board Along the Chalk Outline","text":"Cut along the chalk lines with a sharp blade. Foam board is thick, so this takes effort. Even a craft knife with a new blade is slow going. A utility knife cuts much faster. Make a light first pass, then cut again until the blade goes through. When you lift the cutout away, go back and clean up any edges that did not cut all the way."},{"number":7,"title":"Lay the String Lights Along the Silhouette Edges","text":"Turn the cutout face down and lay a string of orange mini lights along the inside edges, where they will light up the outline from behind. Run the wire around the house, tree and gravestones. Tape the wire down every few inches to hold it in place. Add the lights before putting the cutout in the window because it is much easier on a flat table."},{"number":8,"title":"Hot Glue the Light String to the Foam Board","text":"Tape alone may let go over a few weeks, so hot glue the lights as well. Put a dot of glue on the wire between bulbs and press it to the board. The tape you added holds everything still until the glue cools. Work along the whole string. Keep the glue on the wire, not on the bulbs, so you can swap a bulb later if one burns out."},{"number":9,"title":"Attach Suction Cups to the Halloween Cutout","text":"Tape will hold the cutout to the glass, but suction cups with hooks are tidier. Poke a small hole through the foam board, push the screw of a suction cup through and tighten the nut on the front. Space a few across the top and sides. The same cups let you hang small foam board bats on the glass so they look like they are flying."},{"number":10,"title":"Mount the Halloween Silhouette in the Window","text":"Press the cutout against the inside of the window so the suction cups grip the glass. From inside, the back shows tape and wire, so close a sheer curtain over it. At dusk turn on the lights. The black shapes stand out against the orange glow. Each picture window in the video took about two hours, and the result was worth it."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-10-12T16:50:52.115Z","published":"2026-10-12T16:50:51.939Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}