DIY GIANT Halloween Spider
This simple Halloween DIY project will add a major spooky factor to your outdoor Halloween display and both impress and creep out your neighbors! What’s better? It cost me less than $70 to make!
Make this super simple DIY Giant Halloween Spider for your Halloween decorations in just a few hours on a super small budget!
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To know me is to know that I LOVE Halloween. For me, it’s an entire season that lasts the entire month of October at least. I’ll post some pictures of my decorations from years passed at the bottom of this post so you can see what I mean when I say I go hard for Halloween decorating.
Ever since we’ve moved into this house, I have decorated the front with large spiders I’ve purchased from Amazon. You can see a few of them below too.
However, the largest one I had found had a body of less than 12 inches in length, was maybe 5 feet wide, and was made almost entirely of long, super skinny legs.
The only alternative I had were the super expensive ($200-400) spiders and even then, a lot of them said they could be used on covered porches at most. Very little is truly rated for outdoor use. Here are a couple more expensive ones to try out if you want something more impressive but not DIY:
I wanted to go a few steps further and took inspiration from my high school art class. Our art teacher had us make sculptures with a product called Great Stuff and I knew it would be great for a super creepy, enormous spider for my display.
Don’t get me wrong–I own more than my fair share of skinny spiders too. How else would I fill my spider pit of death (making myself laugh here)?! See my Amazon spiders HERE.
But if you want a truly creepy, actually GIANT spider for your outdoor Halloween display, and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars, I have another option for you!
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial for how I made this giant outdoor spider and some of the best tips I figured out while making my first one.
First Step: Gather Supplies for Your DIY Giant Halloween Spider
For the Body: Great Stuff & Gloves
The body of my spider is made out of a foam sealant used in plumbing and concrete patching. I first used this product called Great Stuff in my high school sculpture class. It is incredibly sticky (hence the thick gloves on the supply list) but is otherwise fairly easy to use. It also dries to the touch within 15 minutes, which makes this project a whole lot faster.
OPTIONAL: If you want to use less of the Great Stuff, you could do what I did and ball up some thick packing paper (came as filler in some Amazon shipments) for the core of the spider’s body. Depending on how large you want your spider, this could save you a decent amount of money because you’d use far fewer cans of Great Stuff. But use any kind of paper or even bubble wrap you already have around the house–there’s no need to buy anything for this.
For the Spider Legs and Pincers: Wire, Foam, & Duct Tape
Any strong wire will do, but I used the wire used to hang ceiling tiles. I think it was 12 gauge. You basically want it to be thick enough to hold it’s form despite the weight of the foam, duct tape, and any incidental contact (thinking of the deer that scavenge in our yard and could bump into it at night). You will need wire cutters, of course. Then you’ll need duct tape and some sort of foam tube to wrap the legs. The most cost effective options you can use are pool noodles from the Dollar Store or foam pipe insulation used for plumbing pipes you can pick up at any hardware store.
Extra Creepy Look: Flat Black Paint & Red Eyes
I use my tried and true Rustoleum flat black enamel spray paint to cover the entire spider once assembled. The key, though, are the red eyes, which I created with submersible puck lights that operate via remote control. They tend to have an extremely long battery life and I love that I can change the colors, make them blink, or whatever I want from the comfort of my front porch.
Create the Giant Halloween Spider Body
As I noted above, I used some thick packing paper that came as filler in some Amazon shipments to make the two segments of the spider’s body. This helped me make the shape of each segment, made it go faster, and meant that I could use less of the foam sealant.
I started with the head/front segment. I made it smaller so it seemed like a good starting point.
I basically just started covering the paper with a thin (as thin as I could make it) layer of sealant, making sure to go back and cover any holes that didn’t fill up as the foam expanded the first round. I covered half of the paper ball, let that try, then flipped it over and covered the second side.
The picture on the far left is after about 15 minutes and the foam was dry to the touch, although it’s hard to show that in still photos.
The second segment started with a bigger paper ball and went the same as the first.
Once I had two completely covered balls, I placed them side by side and added the foam sealant in between and around where the two balls touched. Once that dried, the two pieces were firmly together. I then went back and built up the slope from the smaller to the larger segment so it looked more gradual or natural.
Add Wire Leg Supports
I cut 8 wire pieces about 2 feet long. Then I stuck the wire in through the foam and into the paper ball as far as I could. I ended up getting each piece of wire in about 4-6 inches. Then I added a layer of the foam sealant around the point where the wire was inserted to help lock it in.
Obviously, I could have and maybe should have put the wire in first before adding the sealant, but it would have been harder to maneuver and, ultimately, this worked out fine.
Attach Eyes and Make Pincers
I added a dab of the sealant to the back of the eyes and stuck them to the front of the spider’s head. Make sure they work with the remote first!
For the pincers, I made the two half moon shapes on the black plastic bag I used to protect the floor. Once it was dry, they easily came off. Then, you can probably guess what I did next…I used sealant to attach them to the base of the spider head.
Make the Foam Legs
The foam I purchased from the Home Depot was meant to be placed around pipes for insulation. This meant that it had a slit down one side. I cut the wire the length of the foam roll and slide it inside the foam. Then I used the duct tape I had to close that seam.
Then I worked to shape the leg with 3 bends so the leg would come up from the body, down toward the ground, and then flat against the ground. I used the duct tape to help hold the foam and wire in that shape.
Attach the Legs & Paint
Once I had each of the legs finished, I brought the spider to its spot outside and attached the legs by slipping the foam over the wire pieces stuck in the body. I added a couple pumps of the sealant to help it stay in place. It was starting to look like my DIY Giant Halloween Spider!
Then I sprayed the entire spider with the matte black spray paint. If you’d like, you can use a protective clear coat over that but after one season, it held up perfectly.
Position the Legs and Light Up the Eyes!
And that’s how I made this giant spider for my outdoor Halloween display! If you have any questions or if you make one of these yourself, comment below or tag me on Instagram!
