Upcycle Milk Cartons Into DIY Ghoulish Skulls For Unique Halloween Decor

If you want to take advantage of this clever DIY for a bone-chilling Halloween display, start saving your old milk containers. Whether you want to create a wall of skulls or craft spooky masks for a party, this simple DIY helps you upcycle old plastic instead of throwing it in the garbage. To save even more trash from the landfill, you can also turn milk cartons into spooky haunted house Halloween decor or make adorable ghost DIY Halloween decor out of egg cartons.

With this DIY, you have a new way to repurpose plastic milk cartons into haunting decor without spending a lot on extra materials. Any size of plastic milk or juice cartons will work, but gallon containers will provide the largest amount of plastic for the craft. You will also need a hair dryer, a sponge or towel, and a resin skull, like this one from Amazon for $16.99. Make sure to have paint and other craft items on hand to decorate the skulls, including glue, string, or decorative gauze to fashion the skulls into a display.

Making skulls out of plastic containers couldn't be more straightforward in this DIY. You'll need to cut out large pieces of plastic from the cartons to begin. Be careful to avoid cutting yourself on sharp edges. After you have large sections of plastic to work with, grab your blow dryer and the resin skull base. Laying the pieces over the skull base, begin to heat the plastic until it melts into the shape of the base. Be patient with this part of the process.

The goal is to have the plastic mold itself to the shape of the resin skull, which means things will get hot. Use a sponge or towel to push the plastic into the mold without burning your hands (and this step should be done by adults only).

Then it's time to let your creativity shine. TikTok user keepupwiththecrowleys showcases her skulls in a ghoulish, bloody outdoor display against an exterior wall. If you decide to take a similar route, creating a spooky skeleton Halloween decoration with a laundry basket will make a truly scary scene for trick-or-treaters. But you can also decorate your molded skulls with glitter or brightly-colored paint for a more friendly look or in celebration of Día de los Muertos. You could also punch holes in the sides and tie ribbons to create uncanny masks, or string the skulls together for an eerie garland.