Transform A Dollar Tree Spider Bowl Into A Glowing DIY Halloween Decor Piece

Ghosts, demons, and vampires may or may not really exist, but there's nothing fictional about spiders. Eight-legged and terrifying, spiders could be Halloween's most reviled creature. Add an ominously glowing abdomen, and they're the stuff of nightmares. Dollar Tree's Halloween wares rarely disappoint, and a few of them join forces to become an oversized spider to mount on a frame to hang on a wall, to place among plants in your garden or on your porch at dusk, or to startle the unsuspecting when placed in dark corners of your home.

Dollar Tree's Halloween Spider Candy Holder is perfect for serving spooky treats, but it can also serve as the base for a DIY light-up decor piece when paired with an Iridescent Halloween Ball, a flameless tealight candle, and decorative spider webbing or polyester fiberfill. Mount a couple of them on 5-by-7-inch thrifted or Dollar Tree frames for flickering spider sconces, or leave out the frame factor for free-roaming spiders, fitting to give frights to all who spy them. Along with the aforementioned goods from the Dollar Tree, grab some heavy-duty glue, such as E6000, which creates reliable bonds between different types of materials. If you have frames at home whose glass has broken, this project is a perfect opportunity to upcycle them. While we're saving the planet, if you have a pet who loves to pull stuffing from toys, don't throw it away; grab a handful or two of it to use as filling for the iridescent ball rather than buying new material. (If it's slobbery, you can throw it into a delicates bag and into the washing machine.)

Before assembling this DIY piece of affordable Halloween decor, clean the glass from the frame (if you're using one), the interior and base of the bowl, and the base of the iridescent ball to ensure the glue will stick to its best ability. You can also line your frame with colored paper for an accent or just black to blend into the background, but you might like the look of the frame's backing as is.

Unscrew the base from the iridescent ball, and edge its exterior with E6000. Then, press it into the interior of the spider bowl. Let the glue cure fully for 24 hours before handling it too much. To make the spider's glowing abdomen, loosely fill the iridescent ball with spider webbing or polyester filling, and place an LED tealight just inside the ball's opening so that the lighting element is hidden by the stuffing. Once the glue on the ball's base has cured, screw the lit and stuffed ball into its base and take in the effect. A removable adhesive strip stuck to the underside of the spider bowl will help it stick to a wall without a permanent commitment. However, for the truly polished effect, back the ethereal arachnid with a silver- or gold-accented frame that complements the metallic look on the spider bowl you've chosen. Glue the spider to the frame so the bottom of the abdomen is touching the bottom edge of the frame. The spider's appendages will reach beyond the frame. Hang this scary home decor where it will get the attention it deserves.