How to Upcycle Political Yard Signs into Halloween Tombstones
Halloween, my favorite holiday season is here. The season where I get to turn my modest suburban home into a creepy attraction filled with dead bodies, goblins, ghost, and of course, Michael Myers standing watch at the window, day and night. Every year I like to add to my outdoor Halloween decor, but I like to do so without spending any money. This year's project: Upcycle political yard signs into Halloween tombstones!
Beyond the environmental reasons of turning trash into treasure, I love making my own decor because it fits best with my thrifty, low-budget lifestyle. I've also discovered that people love our homemade, upcycled and DIY decorations more than the store-bought decor.
We get far more compliments and "That's creepy!" comments on the flying monster we assembled with a graduation robe and mask and gloves from the 99 Cent Store than we do the light-up Marcus the Carcus from Target buried in the front yard.
When it comes to outdoor Halloween decorations: Original stands out.
DIY Halloween Tombstones
Turning those old political yard signs into DIY Halloween tombstones allows you to create original Halloween decorations because you can customize the tombstones however you like.
We had two political yard signs saved in our garage, so my husband and I each chose an awesome real-life figure to memorialize on our DIY Halloween tombstones. I selected the legendary horror writer, director and producer, Wes Craven, as he just passed away this year. My husband chose the crazy bassist from the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone, because, why not?
Here are the steps to DIY Halloween Tombstones from Political Yard Signs:
1. Remove the ground stake by pulling it out from underneath the sign.
2. Cut the political yard sign into the desired shape for your Halloween tombstone. I flipped the sign on its side and used a combination of scissors and a blade knife to round the top.
3. Optionally, create a tacky surface on the political yard sign for an old, weathered look. My husband used drywall spackle, but then later decided it wasn't the best choice because a very small section chipped off when I wrote on the tombstone. You can apply a thicker paint in spots or use hot glue. Let dry.
4. Optionally, seal the outside edges of the yard sign. Our yard signs had open indentations around the edges of the sign, which we sealed up with the spackle for a smoother look.
5. Paint the political yard sign with an outdoor, waterproof grey paint. We had a grey primer on hand, so that's what we used. Let dry.
6. Write on the sign with paint or a permanent marker. I initially used a giant, thick Sharpie (the kind with a sponge-like tip), but that proved the wrong choice. The marker didn't write well over the rough surface under the spray paint. A fine-point Sharpie wrote well on the uneven surface.
7. Re-attach the metal stake to prop the tombstones up. Insert the stake up and into the bottom of your tombstone, or attach the stakes to the back of the tombstones with strong Duck or Gorilla tape.
8. Seal the tombstones with a weather-proof sealant, if desired. We chose to seal our tombstones for peace of mind.
To make our DIY tombstones a focal point of our many Halloween decorations, we created the look of freshly dug graves by piling bark in front of each tombstone, and then lining the bark with white lights. You can also stuff potato sacks -- the kind for picnic races -- with leaves or newspaper and lie the sacks in front of your tombstones.
We added potted plants with fake flowers around the tombstones to add to the cemetery feel. Finally, we inserted a 99 Cent Store skeleton arm into Wes Craven's grave; it only seemed appropriate.
Turning those old political yard signs into DIY Halloween tombstones allows you to create original Halloween decorations because you can customize the tombstones however you like.
We had two political yard signs saved in our garage, so my husband and I each chose an awesome real-life figure to memorialize on our DIY Halloween tombstones. I selected the legendary horror writer, director and producer, Wes Craven, as he just passed away this year. My husband chose the crazy bassist from the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone, because, why not?
Here are the steps to DIY Halloween Tombstones from Political Yard Signs:1. Remove the ground stake by pulling it out from underneath the sign.
2. Cut the political yard sign into the desired shape for your Halloween tombstone. I flipped the sign on its side and used a combination of scissors and a blade knife to round the top.
3. Optionally, create a tacky surface on the political yard sign for an old, weathered look. My husband used drywall spackle, but then later decided it wasn't the best choice because a very small section chipped off when I wrote on the tombstone. You can apply a thicker paint in spots or use hot glue. Let dry.
5. Paint the political yard sign with an outdoor, waterproof grey paint. We had a grey primer on hand, so that's what we used. Let dry.
6. Write on the sign with paint or a permanent marker. I initially used a giant, thick Sharpie (the kind with a sponge-like tip), but that proved the wrong choice. The marker didn't write well over the rough surface under the spray paint. A fine-point Sharpie wrote well on the uneven surface.7. Re-attach the metal stake to prop the tombstones up. Insert the stake up and into the bottom of your tombstone, or attach the stakes to the back of the tombstones with strong Duck or Gorilla tape.
8. Seal the tombstones with a weather-proof sealant, if desired. We chose to seal our tombstones for peace of mind.
To make our DIY tombstones a focal point of our many Halloween decorations, we created the look of freshly dug graves by piling bark in front of each tombstone, and then lining the bark with white lights. You can also stuff potato sacks -- the kind for picnic races -- with leaves or newspaper and lie the sacks in front of your tombstones.
We added potted plants with fake flowers around the tombstones to add to the cemetery feel. Finally, we inserted a 99 Cent Store skeleton arm into Wes Craven's grave; it only seemed appropriate.
Update: It's been nearly 10 years now, and our upcycled political yard signs turned DIY Halloween tombstones have stood the test of time. I did repaint them once years back, but
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