How to Decorate for a Harry Potter-Themed Halloween
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the perfect inspiration for Halloween decoration. This year I decided to DIY the front of our house into the scene from the book where Ron and Harry fly the Weasley’s Ford Anglia car into the Whomping Willow, complete with spiders in the background leading into Aragog’s lair in the Forbidden Forest.
Read on to see how I made my Harry Potter Halloween dreams come true, including a list of materials to make your own DIY Chamber of Secrets scene. Now the real question is… should I keep adding to this every year and create a Hogwarts-themed-Halloween extravaganza?
Disclosure: My content is reader-supported, which means that when you purchase through links on my site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more here.
Here’s everything you’ll need:
plywood sheet
exterior paint (colors: blue, gray, white, black and silver)
jigsaw
orbital sander
paint brush
spiders
spiderweb
Harry & Ron poster
outdoor solar lights
twisted nylon rope
Let’s give it up for THE CAR!!! I’ve painted walls. I’ve painted ceilings. I’ve even painted on makeup. But never have a attempted something as elaborate as this blue Ford Anglia car. First, I mocked up the design on a regular piece of paper. I used the Harry & Ron poster as a size reference and then sketched out the design onto the plywood sheet. Hot tip: draw out a grid pattern on both the paper and the plywood to properly scale the drawing.
Next I used my jigsaw to cut out the car from the plywood, then my orbital sander to smooth everything out. Painting came next… check out my TikTok to see the full process! I’m particularly proud of the shading and detail work, as well as the blending of the blue paint with the poster background. I combined about four different blues to get that color!
To attach it to our front yard tree (aka the Whomping Willow) I used twisted nylon rope and tied the car at three points securely to the tree. I made a whole TikTok about it, which you can watch here.
Next up was creating Aragog’s Lair with spiders and spider web! I also hung up torn cheese cloth around the cover porch area, which is reusable and easy to maneuver. Lucky for me! Not so lucky are those dang fake spider webs which I found difficult to stretch and spread out and STAY PUT. My biggest tip here is to have patience and to really embrace the imperfection of it all.
The spider hanging from the ceiling is attached via staple gun, as well as the spider climbing up the porch column. The ones on the ground I wound through the spider webbing, which has thus far been an effective way to hold them in place.
I simply couldn’t have giant spiders without Hagrid’s words of warning to our heros, followed by the famous Ron Weasley quote:
“Why spiders? Why couldn't it be 'Follow the butterflies'?”
To make the sign, I used leftover wood (cut with my jigsaw) to get the sign plus the stake, screwed together with two exterior wood screws. I painted it black and while that was drying, I sketched out the letters on a piece of paper to get a spooky Halloween look.
Once the black paint was dry, I used a pencil to trace out the letters, and then used silver paint to fill them in.
I love how it turned out and I think it really sells the whole “Aragog’s Lair” concept. By the way, if you haven’t gotten any of the references so far, you should really read the book! Jump on the Hogwarts Express and join the rest of us nerds!
Use the solar powered lights to easily light of your decor at night and show off your hard work to the whole neighborhood. I used two pointed towards the Ford Anglia car, one pointed at the ‘Follow the Spiders’ sign, and two pointed at the spiders and spider web. It looks incredible when the sun goes down.
I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween out there! I am so excited for trick-or-treaters to see our house this year - do you think they will be as into Harry Potter as I am? Let me know if this inspires your spooky-season decor next year!
