Halloween Campsite Decor Ideas For A Spooky Summer Weekend

Our 2026 Cabin!

We won “most creative” this year!

Every summer, my family and I rent a campsite at Jellystone Park - usually during their Halloween in August weekend. If we can, we rent a cabin, but when cabins aren’t available, we also tent. We love Halloween weekend because of the campsite decorating contest, and trick-or-treating around the campground.

Our 2025 Halloween Cabin

Since we don’t have a truck or a camper, we have limited storage space to travel with decorations, which means we try to bring the smallest items with the biggest impact.

Here are some fun and easy ways to decorate your campsite for Halloween.

Inflatables

Inflatables are the number one easiest thing to travel with that makes a huge impact. They fold down small enough to fit in a plastic tote, they set up in seconds, and they always draw attention.

Smaller inflatables like the ones I have are fairly inexpensive to buy, and you can often find them second hand. Just recently, I purchased FOUR of them for $20 on Facebook Marketplace.

Try to find ones that light up, to add to the spooky ambiance at night.

Also, make sure you bring a heavy duty outdoor extension cord with 2-3 outlets on it.

A fun inflatable from another campsite

SPIDER WEB

Another item that packs a punch, is fake spider web. I bought ours at Michael’s last year before our camping trip, and it looked amazing on our cabin. Fake spider web can easily be drapped around your cabin, trees, etc to create a haunting atmosphere. Make sure to pull it really thin, so it looks as realistic as possible. Don’t forget to clean it all up before you leave.

Scroll to the bottom of the post to see the giant posable spider we added this year!

BATTERY OPERATED LIGHTS

I prefer battery operated lights to plug-in, because our outlets are usually being used by our inflatables.

Solar lights are another good option, but I don’t find them as bright as battery operated.

You can use lights to illuminate the ground around your decor, wrap tree trunks, or string along your cabin or camper.

Battery operated lights are also great for adding to your cars, bike handles or costumes.

This year, they did the judging at night, and I wished I had more light to illuminate all of the work we did. Next year, we plan to add a plug-in spotlight to really showcase our display. Adding a coloured light bulb is another fun way to add atmosphere to your campsite. You can use red, orange, green, purple, blue, or white to match whatever theme you’re going for.

These fun orange and purple lights really helped our “graveyard” stand out at our tent site a few years ago. They are also small, easy to travel with, and can be found at most dollar stores starting in August.

DIY DECOR

While trick-or-treating around the campground a few years ago, we spotted this awesome DIY spooky s’mores sign. It’s one of my favourite displays because it’s creative, well done, and so much fun.

Get Campy

Campy horror is one of the most fun genres, and what better time to recreate that atmosphere than at an actual campground? The word “campy” has nothing to do with actual camping, but we love a play on words here. To keep it family friendly, think of a less gory version of traditional campy horror. Fun props, cheesy slasher decor, DIY “Camp Crystal Lake” signs, etc.

Check out the photos below of our 2026 site! Happy camping!

Special note: At Merrymake, we don’t believe in using AI for writing blog posts, so all of our posts are 100% written by the author. Yes, we really are just that witty.