’90s Halloween Decor Is Back and Better Than Ever—4 Ways to Achieve the Nostalgic Look

This fall, people are looking to the past for seasonal decorating inspiration, and Halloween is no exception. On social media, videos featuring '90s Halloween aesthetics boast thousands of views. To get the look, embrace the nostalgia and whimsy of the past with inspiration from classic Halloween movies like Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, Halloweentown, and The Addams Family. These movies encapsulate the warm, cozy feeling of '90s Halloween decorations, which were simple, playful, and often kid-friendly.

Whether you plan to stay home to watch thrillers or throw a Halloween party, incorporate plenty of streamers, paper lanterns, pumpkins, and DIY cobwebs into your home to get the '90s look. Outside, create ghosts made from sheets to hang from trees or place glowing pumpkins in windows and along walkways. Below, we give you the ideas you need to transport your home back to Halloween in the '90s.

1. Use a Classic Color Palette

To fully embrace the '90s Halloween look, you need the right color palette. In recent years, we've seen the rise of colorful Halloween aesthetics (Barbieween, anyone?). But in the '90s, people kept it simple and stuck to classic orange and black. This year, use the same tried-and-true color scheme, accented with touches of dark purple and green.

An easy way to incorporate orange into your decor is by using pumpkins. Place various sizes of pumpkins around your home and place carved jack-o'-lanterns by your front door to get the classic '90s look. To decorate with black, consider cutting out and hanging up silhouettes of bats, birds, mice, or trees.

2. Don't Go Too Spooky

Another key aspect of re-creating the nostalgic '90s look is to lean more toward cozy instead of scary. If you want to use more eerie decor, follow this rule of thumb: aim to spook, not to scare. Feel free to use decor like skeletons and spiders, but avoid more chilling motifs. Switch out gothic, dark academia-inspired decor with friendlier accents like grinning jack-o'-lanterns and cartoon ghosts.

3. Incorporate Iconic Characters

It wouldn't be Halloween without fan-favorite characters. Incorporate Frankenstein, Dracula, and Casper into your Halloween decor this year to nail the '90s aesthetic. When decorating with classic characters, lean toward cartoon or vintage versions to keep with the cozy feeling.

To incorporate iconic Halloween characters into your decor, carve a pumpkin to resemble Dracula or Frankenstein. Cut out paper ghosts and draw smiling faces on them to mimic Casper the Friendly Ghost. Attach the ghosts to your wall, around a door frame, or along your fireplace mantel.

4. DIY Your Halloween Decor

Go old-school and craft your Halloween decorations to avoid a cookie-cutter display. From carved pumpkins to faux ghosts, '90s Halloween decor had a homemade look. Take a night to craft your own Halloween decor this year. Invite friends to craft together, or get the whole family involved with carving pumpkins and cutting out silhouettes.

Make ghosts from scrap fabric or old bedsheets, and hang the spooky ghouls from trees in your yard or under your porch. Spread gauze on bushes to mimic cobwebs with creepy DIY spiders. And for your door, make a custom wreath using garland and dried flowers.