If you're hosting a Halloween party, welcome guests at the front door with an arrray of pumpkin lanterns, and spiders' webs.

Tie lengths of string cross-wise for the webs, and decorate with spiders cut from black card.

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Cut an image of a ghost from a large sheet of white tissue paper. Stick it to the top of a door frame, so that when someone opens it, they get a ghostly surprise.

These also work well hung at the window...

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A flock of bats suspended above the table makes for an unmissable Halloween centrepiece.

Click here for full instructions

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Place cotton balls in the centre of unfolded white napkins or pieces of white fabric. Pull down the corners of the napkin over the cotton ball and tie a piece of string, yarn or an elastic band around the 'neck'. Use markers to draw a malicious face. Tape a thin piece of string from the top of the head and hang from the ceiling. Alternatively, pile together as a table centrepiece.

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Find more ideas for a fun Halloween

For bigger ghosts, cover black balloons in an old white pillowcase or piece of white fabric. Cut holes for eyes and mouth. Suspend the balloons from the ceiling with fishing line or fine string, or use helium-filled balloons and the 'ghosts' will float near the ceiling.

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Take out pencils, safety scissors and paper to create stencils of bats, ghosts, cats and spiders. Use our bat template, left, to draw freehand outlines, or enlarge on a photocopier to the desired size. Do an online search for free downloadable templates. Help children paint through the stencils, on to a piece of black card, using glow-in-the-dark paint. Display in your front windows and watch out as the monsters jump out at nightfall. More simply, you can also cut the shapes from black card and hang these up.

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Find more ideas for a fun Halloween

Halloween wouldn't be the same without a traditional pumpkin jack o'lantern - eiher the traditional scary face, or some alternatives.

Click here to see how

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Using a marker pen, draw your decorative spooky items on the tissue paper and cut out. Use fabric scissors to cut out a zigzag strip for the top of the holder. Fix the tissue-paper shapes and felt strip on to the jam jars using Sticki Dots from Bostik (£1.19 for a pack of 64, from Tesco, WH Smith and stationers). Pop in your candle stub or tealight, and light it.

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As well as carving a traditional Jack-o'-lantern, buy a few smaller pumpkins for younger kids to decorate and paint. Spread Halloween imagery and colours on the table to inspire them. Display all decorated pumpkins on your windowsills to create a ghoulish atmosphere.

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Find more ideas for a fun Halloween