Create Spooky Halloween Candle Décor Using Pool Noodles

You might think of pool noodles as more of a seasonal purchase, but there's no need to abandon them in a shed or toss them out when temperatures start to drop. These simple pieces of foam are much more useful than just floatation devices during the warmer months, and there are plenty of pool noodle DIYs available to help you maximize their use year-round. This DIY project, however, is one of our favorites. With a bit of creativity, you'll be able to make your very own spooky Halloween candle décor for a fraction of the price of buying it in-store.

Each year, Americans spend around $3.4 billion on Halloween decorations, only slightly less than they dish out on costumes, according to the National Retail Federation. If you're looking for a way to pare down that cost a bit, however, creating your own decorations is a great way to both reduce spending and enjoy a fun, family-friendly activity. Thanks to the simplicity of this DIY, anyone in the family can get involved and feel like they played a part in creating your very own spooky wonderland.

According to TikToker Danielle Kirk, to do this DIY project yourself, you're going to need a few simple materials: pool noodles, black spray paint, hot glue, and battery-powered tealight candles. Most of these items can be found at a discount or craft store if you don't already have them on hand. In her TikTok, Kirk also uses orange pool noodles and spray paints them later, but you can grab pool noodles already in black, like these foam pool noodles in Halloween colors from Dollar Tree, if you want to simplify the process a bit.

Once you've gathered everything, it's time to start painting. Cover the flames of your tealights with tape, then spray paint the base black. Cut your pool noodles and glue them together to create a candle formation, then add some imitation candle-wax drips with hot glue to create that spooky, just-lit effect. Give everything a coat of black spray paint, place your candles in the top of the pool-noodle holes, and you have your own DIY candle decoration.

Because this Halloween DIY is so simple, there are plenty of ways to customize it to your liking. Obviously, the number of candles (i.e., pool noodles), height, and placement of the drips is completely up to you, but there are ways to further change it up. If you want to make the whole project a bit easier to move, consider placing your pool-noodle candles on a tray or plate — something vintage-inspired can help to up the creepy factor, but a simple platform works, too. You can also pick up a few candle stands that fit the diameter of a single pool noodle for a more individual look, like these spooky Halloween-inspired polyresin candlestick decorations, also from Dollar Tree.

Additionally, you can cater the color of the spray paint to your desired look. In her TikTok, Danielle Kirk used black, which is a classic and creepy choice, but orange, red, and green can help bring some spooky color to an otherwise-drab set of decorations as well. By slightly tweaking this DIY project to fit your Halloween décor scheme, you'll be able to guarantee you're left with something both you and your neighborhood trick-or-treaters will enjoy season after season.