If you are hosting a Halloween party this year, you may be looking for cheap ways to put some creepiness into your place. Treat your friends to some festive décor, and spook them out with a few tricks, too. From ominous lighting to eerie optical illusions, here are some great tips for spooking out your apartment.

Light Up the Party

One of the easiest and least expensive things you can do to create a menacing atmosphere is to change your lighting. Remember, this is one of the few holiday parties where people actually expect to hang out in dimly lit rooms. This can be achieved by creating a few lighting accents and replacing your light bulbs in the lamps you already have.

LED Halloween Candles (Nieve44/LaLuz Flickr Creative Commons)

Flicker flame candle bulbs are perfect for creating a drafty but safe candlelit environment. Place the flicker bulbs in an electric candelabra for a gothic effect, and you have an instant haunted mansion. Another option for candle light is battery-powered tea lights.  Simply buy a dozen or more LED tea lights, and stick them in candle holders around your house.

For your other lamps, replace the standard bulbs with colored bulbs. The best colored light bulbs for Halloween are red, blue, green and purple incandescent bulbs. These low watt shades cast an array of ghoulish shadows in your home.  Of course, every Halloween party needs at least one black light to bring out that special glow. But be careful not to overdo it with black lights, as they can be hard on your eyes.

If you want to create a dungeon effect, set up a fake flame-blowing electric torch lamp in your home. You can find these on the internet for as low as $24. Whether you choose a hanging torch light or a tabletop torch light, these lamps are sure to add that special chamber-lit feeling to your Halloween party.

Skulls, Chains, Spider Webs and Other Creepy Ornaments

Just a few accent pieces can make a big impression in your home. For example, consider a realistic looking skeleton and foam chains. Did someone die while chained up in your house? Foam skulls, shrunken heads, ghosts and mummy figures are a dime a dozen in department stores. But have you ever considered some more unusual haunts?

Mystery Formaldehyde (Skpy Flickr Creative Commons)

One way to look for inspiration is horror movies. Consider the stick figures from “The Blair Witch Project,” for example. Gather sticks from your backyard, bind them with twine to make stick men and hang them from trees in your backyard. Or, take a white shower curtain and paste or paint a silhouette of an old woman with a knife (from “Psycho”).  Sometimes the crudest decorations are the scariest.

Window Treatments and DVDs

The largest and most obvious elements in people’s homes today are windows and televisions.  The simplest way to change your home’s look and color theme is to change your curtains, sofa pillow covers and throws. Check out your local fabric store. If you are going for a more authentic haunted apartment, stay away from kitschy Halloween prints such as pumpkins or spiders. For curtains, use simple black lace. Nothing says “scary old witch’s house” like black doilies draped over lamp shades.

Psycho Curtains (SOCIALisBETTER Flickr Creative Commons)

Make pillow covers and throws from fake fur found at the fabric store. Or, if you really want to get gory, create “blood stained” pillow cases with white fabric and dye. Ew.

If your television is in plain view during your party, put it to use. While you do not want TV to be the focal point of your spooked-out social event, you can certainly create ambient art with scary DVDs.  The best kind of party ambient DVDs do not have much sound if at all (assuming you will be playing music). Turn your TV into a digital fireplace, a Dead Sea Aquarium, or a Possessed Painting.

Games and Party Favors

Even if it is not “game night” at your place, having a few Halloween-type games strung casually around your house can serve as a way for people to break the ice or strike up conversation.

The Ouija Board, Tarot Cards or even a mindless game like Operation are perfect distractions for party goers. Set these games up randomly around your house, and watch the laughter ensue as your guests get their fortune told by another guest or try to remove an organ without the buzzer lighting up.

Many adults – especially if they come to your house dressed up for a Halloween party – are kids at heart. Do not underestimate the power and amusement of a juvenile Halloween-themed toy box. Get a basket and fill it up with goofy stuff like slime, squishy brain or gurgling guts stress relievers, blow bubbles, Rubik’s cubes or other party favors. You may be surprised at how many people feel compelled to pick these things up as they drink and carry on.

~April Lentini writes for Apartmentguide.com