Spook your Neighbors with a DIY Haunted Pirate Ship for Your Halloween Front Porch Decor

Ayy, you dirty scalawags. Yer ghostly pirate ship has nearly run aground!

As soon as I learned that I was selected to be part of Oriental Trading Company’s Skeleton squad, I started thinking about Halloween decorating ideas for my front porch.

A DIY haunted pirate ship seemed perfect and sounded like so much fun to put together!

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How to Make a DIY Pirate ship for Halloween

My porch is a little weird. Instead of running along the face of our house it juts straight out from the front door. It’s an odd arrangement for a porch but was perfect for transformation into a haunted Halloween pirate ship. All I had to do is finish the look with a ship’s bow made out of cardboard.

My hubby got me a refrigerator box from the local appliance store dumpster and I cut it to fit the height of the porch.

I used wood stain and black paint to get the look of the wood. No need to be precise there, it’s a haunted derelict pirate ship after all.

I used a whole bunch of black gossamer fabric to darken the porch and hide the bush in the front before I added fishnets to round-out the look

The huge net I used is actually our old trampoline net. It had developed a couple holes and was making us a little nervous. When we got a new one, we cut the old one off of the padded frame, ran it through the washing machine and kept it for Halloween decorations. It worked perfectly!

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The barrels are also made from cardboard boxes and painted with wood stain to look like old wood. A friend of mine made them for our Vacation Bible School this summer and let me have them afterwards.

The sail is an old tablecloth and I made some cute pirate flags out of a red and white striped fabric.

close up of pirate banner with red and white striped fabric. Press Print Party!

I used the skeleton mermaid and the pirate mermaid from Oriental Trading as my centerpieces.

The mermaid skeleton got a beauty treatment with some paint and the prime spot on the bow. A little fishing line helped her to sit up straight.

skeleton mermaid on DIY pirate ship made out of cardboard. Press Print Party!

And the pirate was the greeter on the porch itself. He was very easy to seat on the barrel and he looks majestic under his pirate flag.

Pirate skeleton with pirate hat and parrot on his shoulder. with a chalkboard pumpkin. Halloween front porch decor ideas - Press Print Party!

Do you see the little bats hanging all around? They’re available as a free bat Halloween printable craft for kids here.

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You can even find them upside down.

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Pirate skeleton with pirate hat and parrot on his shoulder. with a chalkboard pumpkin. Halloween front porch decor ideas - Press Print Party!

The pirate skeleton guards his hidden treasure.

Pirate treasure chest with treasure map. crown, pirate hat and necklaces- Halloween porch decor ideas- DIY pirate ship- Halloween pirate decorations - Press Print Party

The treasure chest is usually in my living room and is actually full of blankets. I added the black gossamer fabric to hide the blankets and threw in pirate coins and tons of necklaces to make it look like a treasure.

A pirate hat, treasure map, jewels, a crown, swords, hooks, and random bones add to the crazy pile of pirate booty.

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The path to the front door is full of old boxes and a little surprise.

This old pirate treasure box from Oriental Trading turns on and off and a scary cat is trying to claw his way out! It’s motion activated and loud and the paw moves faster than you’d expect. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

close up of old treasure chest

The wreath on the porch is much more friendly and very easy to make with some old wood and some pirate coins. It would work great for a pirate party also. You can check out how I made the pirate wreath decoration, complete with video.

Halloween wreath pirate wreath diy with pirate coins and red and white striped fabric. free pirate skull and crossbone printable - Press Print Party!

At night the pirate ship came alive with a purple LED light aimed at the skeleton mermaid and little purple lights on the bow.

The porch light was on but dimmed by the gossamer fabric. 

My kids loved the fake burning flame of the mini cauldron near the door. It’s an awesome, colorful, little prop.

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skeleton mermaid on DIY pirate ship made out of cardboard. halloween front porch decoration idea. night lighting LED purple light - Press Print Party!

Add some smoke and you’re in business for the best haunted pirate ship Halloween front porch decor in the neighborhood.

You can find my haunted pirate ship (I’m #75) and lots more skeleton ideas on the Oriental Trading’s 365 site.

 

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Don’t forget to pin it:

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7 thoughts on “Spook your Neighbors with a DIY Haunted Pirate Ship for Your Halloween Front Porch Decor

  1. Susan-Sugarpartiesla says:

    This is all too cool ! I even love the fog effect you added. It looks so fun for the kiddos. I mean come on who doesn’t love pirate skeletons!

  2. Bri Adams says:

    This is just the BEST!!! Those skeletons are awesome and your porch makes the best ship ever. Love that you reused your trampoline netting. So smart. And it works perfectly. Love the treasure and the lighting and that cool chest with the cat. Although it would probably scare me to death!

  3. Lori says:

    Your porch transformation is amazing!! I can’t believe those barrels and big crates are cardboard!! And what a spooky “scare” to have the motion detector chest! How fun!!

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