As a total Potterhead, I had the most fun ever turning my Halloween porch decor into a Chamber of Secrets and Dementor themed display!
You guys!!
I know Halloween is this week, but I finally got finished editing the pics from my (not-so-humble-brag) kick ass Harry Potter Halloween display!!
I don’t get super crazy on Halloween decorations – or at least, I haven’t in the past – but this year I had the idea of letting loose on all our Harry Potter fan love and paying homage to all the darker elements of the wizarding world with a full scale porch display.
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If you aren’t familiar with Harry Potter – well, then first of all, what are you even doing with your life??? – The Chamber of Secrets is the second book and film in the series. The later books and films get even darker, so while the bulk of my design was based on Secrets, I did add in a few other dark elements from later installments to complete my spooky design.
One of the creepier elements of The Chamber of Secrets is the discovery of the monstrous spider Aragog living in the Forbidden Forest, along with his many, MANY children. At one point, gamekeeper Hagrid give Harry and his friend Ron a clue regarding the Chamber of Secrets by discreetly telling them to “Follow the spiders.”
Follow the spiders.
That was my first thought in creating my Harry Potter Halloween display. I’m not a fan of spiders personally – cuz, well, ew – but the fake kind work just fine for me as creepy crawly decor. I picked up a some plastic spider rings, a garbage bag giant spider, and some paper spider cutouts and got to work.
My spiders originate their crawl from near the doorbell and trail across the porch, up the posts, and down behind their master, my big Aragog. The spider face that came with the giant bag was pretty pathetic, so I flipped it to the back and added on giant googly eyes for added creepy spider-ness.
I had already shared my Harry Potter sign for my #CraftRoomDestashChallenge post earlier this month, but it really was such a fun addition to my Halloween display. The sign details three spooky locations in the Harry Potter universe.
I addition to all my spidery glory, I pulled in sinister elements from later films, notably The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1. Dolores Umbridge is one of the most evil characters in literary history (if not the champ), so she definitely had to play a part in my Halloween display.
I decided to use her office door design in place of any sort of wreath, as it features the sinister addition of the eye of the late Mad-Eye Moody, killed early in the film.
Making the dementor required a few yards of cheesecloth as well as fabric stiffener spray and black spray paint. I used a balloon to form the head and then it was a lot of draping and spraying. You can see in my Instagram pic the fun way I rigged him up on a Saturday night to dry, lol. He ended up a bit too thin with just the cheesecloth, so I added a few layers of Freaky Fabric I got in the Halloween section at the store.
In order to make my dementor float, I rigged him up with fishing line between my porch and outside light. I was pretty proud of myself when all was said and done!!
A friend suggested aiming a flashlight with a cutout over the bulb at the dementor to create the “patronus”, but I never did get around to that. Great idea though!
Around the front door I added a few extra magical touches: some potions bottles, skulls, spell books, a small broom, a cauldron, witch hat, and a pumpkin.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Check out this #HarryPotter #Halloween themed house!! ” quote=”The Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Check out this #HarryPotter #Halloween themed house!! “]
My final splurge on this look was a funky spiderweb light projector that I aimed squarely at Aragog.
I am so excited for trick or treaters this year! I’m totally going to be blasting the Harry Potter theme from the house all night!!
**PSST!! Don’t forget to PIN for next year!! You can copy the look below!**
More Halloween Fun:
Witches Magic Halloween Glass Tutorial
DIY Halloween Candy “Bar”
Halloween Movies for ‘Fraidy Cats
Awesome, just awesome. Puts the rest of us to shame! Hope your trick or treaters love it!
Where did you get the dolores umbrigde sign and eyeball? Looks great!
Thank you! I actually made it myself using vinyl, a dollar store eyeball, and a plain wooden sign from Michaels.
What kind of paint did you use on the window? And how did you get the spiders to stick?
Hi Brittany,
I used chalk markers on the windows, and I adhered the spiders with double sided tape.