Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Instructables

instructables
Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations
by KevinByrne
"This is Halloween, this is Halloween..." Jack Skellington stands 10 feet tall, Sally's hair is 728
yards of yarn, Oogie Boogie glows in his lair and Zero
For Halloween 2020, I made good use of pandemic has a solar panel embedded in the back of his head to
stay-at-home orders by dedicating nearly three power his light-up nose. This post is really long but,
months to making this The Nightmare Before Christmas even if you're not interested in making all of the
scene for Halloween. I made each of these characters elements, hopefully certain parts are helpful to your
from scratch - primarily from foam wall insulation and project. Overall, the project took me over 200 hours
PVC pipes. I designed the display to be up and away and the total cost for materials would be about $400
from the busy street - for visibility and also to make (I had lots of scrap foam and fabric that helped me
theft/vandalism a little less convenient. In the end I keep my costs well below this amount).
made 10 di erent elements; some highlights include:
Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 1

Step 1: Materials and Tools
M a t e ria ls
Rigid foam insulation - 2" thick, 4'x8' (Foamular 150) - 3 sheets

Rigid foam insulation - 1" thick, 4'x8' (Foamular 150) - 1 sheets
Black foam poster board – 1 piece
White foam poster board – 1 piece
Foam board adhesive (Loctite PL 300) - 4 tubes
PVC pipes – 2” interior diameter – 3 10ft pipes

Metal clothes hangers
Metal rod – 1/4” diameter x 6 ft.
Hardwood – 3/4” thick
Galvanized wire
2x4s – roughly 12ft
1/4" plywood
Wood ller – 16 oz
Latex wall paint or drywall primer - 2 quarts
Sky blue acrylic paint – 3 2 oz tubes
Black acrylic paint – 1 medium tubes
White acrylic paint - 1 medium tubes
Green phosphorescent black light paint – 2 6oz bottles
Black light paint set
White fabric paint pen – 3 pens
Fabric marker set
Clear matte acrylic sealer (spray paint) - 2 cans
Burlap – 5 yards
Black craft felt fabric (72" wide by the yard) - 8 yards
White craft felt fabric (72" wide by the yard) - 2 yards
Brown craft felt fabric (72" wide by the yard) - 1 yard
Yarn – Bordeaux colored – 2 skeins
Yarn – Black – 1 skein
Black pipe cleaners – 1 pack
Black string
Hanging rotating motor – 2
UV LED Black Light
Solar Powered LED string lights
LED ood lights
Jack-o-lantern lights
Candy corn tube with pumpkin topper
2” “L” brackets - 2
Sandpaper
Hot glue sticks
Zip ties
Screws - variety ranging from 3/8" to 3"
Staples
To o ls
Snap blade shop knife

Surform shaver
Drywall hand saw
Rotary tool
Staple gun
Screw gun

Chop saw
Jig saw
Sewing machine
Table saw
Tape measure
Hot glue gun
Paint brushes
Safety pins
Safety gear (mask, glasses, gloves)
Airbrush (optional)
Step 2: Plan & Design
For visibility and to protect from theft, I have as much multiply out to get the desired height in feet. Jack
as possible on my porch and ( at) roof. I used ended up just short of 10’ tall (plus the length of pipe
Powerpoint to plan a layout for the display and to that’s not seen but used to secure him). Sally is pretty
determine the proportion of Jacks limbs, head, etc. tall too; if she were standing she's be over 6 feet.
More speci cally, I measure each part in pixels then
Step 3: How to Make Jack Skellington

Ca rv e a nd pa int his he a d roughed-in the spherical head with a hacksaw and
drywall saw before I moved to an extendable blade
I carved Jack’s head – and several other shop knife and surform shaver. Jack’s head is much
characters/elements – from rigid wall insulation. I more squat than a sphere, so I carved the base of his
glued layers of foam together with foam adhesive – head to be more attened and made a slope from a
be careful, many adhesives and sprays will eat short nose up his forehead. I carved his eye sockets,
through foam – and allowed the glue to set-up for nostrils and mouth using a Dremel rotary tool with a
24+ hours. I decided both Jack and Sally’s heads drywall cutter attachment. I then sanded the foam to
would be about 11.5 inches in diameter so I made a C- smooth some edges, spackled with lightweight wood
shape (like giant calipers) from scrap wood. I ller (I like DAP premium), sanded, spackled, etc. until

totally smooth. I then applied two coats of white latex into the PVC of his forearms.
wall paint I had on hand to cover all exposed foam.
Black acrylic paint were used to paint the mouth and Ca rv e his bo w t ie
nose and a gradient of colors – black to medium grey
– were used to add depth to the eye sockets. I used a I made the bow tie out of foam which I shaped with a
hole cutter drill attachment to cut a hole in the base knife then Dremel. I used three separate pieces of
of the head to insert a PVC pipe “neck”. I had a snug t foam which I then connected with adhesive. I didn’t
but you might use some foam adhesive within the bother with spackling and additional sanding since
head to help anchor it if needed. I patched any rough the black paint would obscure any roughness,
spots around the hole and painted both the base of especially when seen from a distance. I used adhesive
the head and the PVC (so it’s not shiny). Once to attach aps of black felt to the back of the tie. The
everything was painted, I used matt clear coat to seal felt was then hot glued to Jack’s suit. Note: since hot
the paint. Be aware that spray paint – even clear coat glue often melts foam, I use this trick a lot: glue felt to
– will eat through exposed foam so make sure all foam using foam adhesive then use hot glue to attach
foam is covered before applying clear coat. the felt to some other surface (typically another
fabric).
Build his bo dy
S e w a nd pa int his s uit
I made his body from 2” PVC pipes and his joints were
made from two layers of 3/4" oak. For strength, I I use a lot of felt in my displays. The reasons: it’s pretty
wanted to use a hardwood and I layered the two cheap, it’s thick enough to hide irregularities behind it
pieces of wood with the grain running in di erent and it doesn’t hold a lot of water (ie: it stays fairly
directions and attached them with screws and glue. I lightweight) in the rain and snow. Before sewing the
then trimmed the oak joints on my bandsaw (setting sleeves and pants, I used white fabric markets to draw
the platform at an angle) so they t snugly inside the pinstripes. In the movie, Jack’s pinstripes were wavy
PVC. I made 5 wood pieces – shoulders/neck, pelvis, and irregular so I just freehanded them. I made the
two elbows and one knee. I chose to have one of his body of his suit coat by wrapping and folding the
legs straight to make the structure more solid once he fabric around the torso. I don’t love sewing shoulders
was standing. When cutting the PVC for the legs, I in costumes so I was in luck; I just cut holes through
included an extra two feet at the bottom to be used the coat body and pulled the sleeves through the
for securing the structure. In my case, this was behind openings (no sewing involved!). Once attached, I drew
the parapet wall on my at roof but you could sink the pinstripes on the body of the suit, glued on a
the PVCs in a hole in the yard or somehow hide the single button and glued on his long coat tails.
braces used to keep him upright. I used foam to make
a triangular torso and a cylindrical midsection to add At t a ch a nd s e cure his lim bs
a little thickness to his body.
I found it easiest to dress him before attaching all of
M a ke his ha nds his limbs. I also waited until he was in position before
attaching his legs (he’s really tall and awkward!) by
I, once again, used the foam insulation for his wrist drilling holes in the PVC and using 3/8” screws to
and nger bones. To connect the bones, I wanted to anchor the pipes to the wooden joints.
run a single piece of wire clothes hanger through
each bone but I would accidentally poke the wire out
the side of the long, skinny nger bone whenever I
tried to insert it. My nal solution was to use 6-7”
length of wire for each joint. I cut the wire to make
sharp ends to poke in the end of the bones and, when
inserting the wire, I’d coat the wire in foam adhesive.
The foam wrists were trimmed so they t snugly down

Step 4: How to Make Sally

Ca rv e a nd pa int he r he a d with foam adhesive and several 3” screws. This will be
used to secure Sally once she’s placed in position
I followed the same general approach for Sally’s head outside.
as I did for Jack's. While carving the head, you’ll want
to identify where her nose will be to leave a bump for S e w he r dre s s
that. I did a lot of rounds of spackle and sanding to
make her face as smooth as possible. The top and I rst made the general shape of the dress from white
back of her head will be covered with hair so don’t felt onto which I laid out the fabric which would be
worry about smoothing those. I chose “sky blue Folk used to make the patchwork dress. I used scraps of
Art acrylic paint” for her skin color. Whatever you quilting fabric my mom had from old projects. Pale
select, I recommend choosing a store-bought color as pinks, greens and tans mostly. I used fabric markers to
opposed to mixing your own; you’ll need to do make some of the patterns on the fabric from the
touchups and don’t want to deal with trying to match original movie. I sewed this patchwork to the white
colors. Another piece of advice, as borrowed from felt backing to ensure that you couldn't see through
theater/drag queens: paint for the back row. the thin cotton - especially in the rain. I used black
Translation: do more highlight and shadow than you’d yarn to make the oversized, black stitches. I,
expect. Floodlights tend to atten everything visually, essentially, made a big smock so I could wrap her
so that nose you carefully carved will look practically body and secure the dress in the back with hot glue.
nonexistent without highlight and shadow. If you’re
not sure how to paint (especially Sally’s nose), watch a Add he r e y e la s he s a nd ha ir
drag queen makeup tutorial video. Seriously. I used
the same approach of highlight and shadow for her For her eyelashes, I poked holes with toothpicks and
stitches. I encourage you to make them bold so they shoved in black pipe cleaners. Once they were in
show up from a distance. Once everything was place, I trimmed them for length. For hair, I rst made
painted, I applied a couple of coats of matte clear coat a brown, felt base for her hair. It looked like a sort of
(this was the same for the painted portions of her veil or nun’s habit. I cut, folded and hot glued until it
body). was the general shape of the hairline and length in
the back. I then made “tracks” of yarn for hair. Each
Ca rv e a nd pa int he r bo dy track was made of bundles of 50 strands of yarn
which were then sewn to small pieces of brown felt.
I had never carved a full body so I took it in pieces: The length of the yarn on each track was about 40”
legs to the knee, arms, neck and torso/thighs. The and I used two full skeins (728 yards total) for the hair.
most important thing I learned is to locate the seams I hot glued the felt of each track to the felt “veil” to
so they’ll be covered with the costume. I actually had ensure that the felt was totally covered when viewed
her shoulders as part of the torso originally but from the front. My advice: make sure the yarn is long
disconnected them and attached them to the arms enough so you can adequately secure the ends of the
later on. The di erent pieces were attached with hair on her back. I originally used a couple of felt
adhesive and dowel rods. The 3/8” dowels were loops/straps to hold the hair to her to her back. Based
roughly 8” long and one or two were sunk into each on high winds in Chicago, I eventually went back and
piece being attached. added more loops and large safety pins to keep the
hair in place. Since making this addition, Sally hasn’t
Down the center of her back, I cut a 1” deep channel had any y-aways. :-)
into which I laid a piece of 1”x2” lumber. I secured it

Step 5: How to Make Zero

Ca rv e a nd pa int his he a d a nd bo dy dispenser from Dollar Tree. I tightly coiled a strand of
solar-powered LED string lights to t inside the
Just like Jack and Sally, for Zero’s head: foam, foam pumpkin and reattached the two halves of the
adhesive, cut, carve, spackle, sand, paint and clear pumpkin. I cut a recess in the back of Zero's head so I
coat. For his body, I used the same approach but just could embed the solar panel and secure it with some
cut a shallow, oval disc. I then covered the upper wires and screws. I chose this lighting to withstand
surface of of the disc with white felt. The blue of the the weather and, since it's solar powered, it would
adhesive could be seen through the layer of felt so I come on daily and be self-contained in the head (not
painted the felt with white acrylic paint. A larger piece requiring wires running down the pole onto which he
of felt was cut in a rectangular sort of shape with was placed).
wavy edges and longer points at the four corners. I
attached it to the back with hot glue. Eventually, I M a ke t he s t ruct ure
discovered that the wind would ip this fabric up
onto his back (not ideal) so I attached shing line near I chose a 1/4" thick metal rod to serve as the base for
the edges of the four corners which I attached to the Zero. It has enough ex that it sways in the wind and
pole onto which he was placed. is strong enough not to bend or snap. The main
challenge with this approach has been preventing his
M a ke his e a rs body from spinning around the pole (ending up with
his body underneath his head). I attached an Allen
I used a single metal clothes hanger for each of the wrench to the rod – securing it with wire and tape –
ears. I left about 2” of wire to then poke into the head and cut a small channel in the underside of the body
once ready. I sandwiched the wire between two pieces to prevent it from rotating around the pole. This
of felt which I glued to the wire (and to the other helped but high winds still spun the body so I added
piece of felt). shing line to keep the body in the correct position
once it was installed. The metal rod t into a wooden
Lig ht his no s e base which held the rod vertically and prevented it
from swaying too much.
I wanted his nose to glow like in the movie so I found
a small plastic pumpkin that was the top of a candy

Step 6: How to Make Oogie Boogie
Ca rv e a nd pa int his he a d Pa int a nd a dd t he s e a m
Foam carving but don’t worry about spackle or I painted Oogie Boogie with black light reactive/glow-
sanding. Otherwise, same as Jack or Sally. I painted in-the-dark paint. I tried a number of approaches to
the holes for his eyes and mouth. application including spray bottle and air brush. In
the end, I just settled on diluting the (thick) paint and
Co v e r his he a d painting it on with a 2-inch paintbrush. Since the
paint is expensive and painting was time consuming, I
I covered his head with black felt using foam focused the paint on his top half since he was going
adhesive. To the felt, I then hot glued burlap. to be standing behind a railing which would block
much of his lower half. I used one and a half of the
S e w a nd s t u his bo dy 6oz bottles of Wild re Glow Green Phosphorescent
Black Light Paint (this stu is great; I highly
I sewed a big sack out of burlap and stu ed it with recommend it). I then used black acrylic paint and an
black trash bags containing foam scraps and packing airbrush to add contouring around his face, neck and
peanuts. I then placed the head on top of the body side seams. I did not clear coat this character since he
(stu ed burlap sack) and secured the two parts with was being positioned on the porch and should stay
hot glue. From here, I draped arms with an additional out of most weather. I also stitched a side seam using
piece of burlap and stu ed them with some scrap black yarn.
bubble wrap. I then hot glued the burlap to seal in
the bubble wrap and shape the arms to their desired
form – trying to minimize seams that were visible.

Step 7: How to Make the Cat

Cut w o o d s t ruct ure pictures). After the body and legs were all glued
together, I used separate pieces of 1” foam for the
I cut three pieces of 1/4” plywood which would serve neck and tail and a piece of 2” foam for the head. I
as the supports since the legs, neck and tail were found it easiest to carve the ears separately and
going to be so thin. One piece would support the attach them to the head with adhesive.
front legs, one would support the back legs and one
supported the neck and tail. At t a ch t o s t ruct ure
Ca rv e a nd pa int I used corner/L brackets to attach the rear legs to

piece of 2” x 6”. To keep the brackets hidden from the
The cat was layered with foam and wood as follows front, I angled them so I needed to chisel out an angle
(starting from the back): wood for back legs, 1” foam on the 2" x 6" to accommodate the angle of the
for back legs and body, wood for neck and tail, 2” bracket. This piece of wood is low enough to not be
foam for body (not tail or neck), wood for front legs, 1” seen from the street below but is heavy enough to
foam for front legs and body. To make the pieces t keep the cat from blowing over in the wind.
together without gaps, I needed to cut small troughs
on the foam being used to make the body (see

Step 8: How to Make the Gravestones

Ca rv e a nd pa int sealed them with clear coat.
The gravestones are made with a combination of 2” At t a ch t o t he s t ruct ure

and 1” foam. Few things in the movie have right
angles so I intentionally designed them to lean and To make the bases for the stones, I attached dowel
have some skewed angles. To add some texture, I rods to 2x4s (just drilled holes and hammered in the
mashed a broken piece of blacktop against the dowels). I then drilled holes in the base of the stones
surface, varying the direction of the blacktop to keep and inserted the dowels after squirting some
the markings irregular. I also cut some cracks using a adhesive in the holes.
Dremel with the drywall cutting attachment. I then
painted the stones with highlight and shadow and

Step 9: How to Make Bats, Dice, "Halloween Town" Sign, Jack-o-lanterns and Oogie’s
Boys
The bats were made using black foam poster board, Jack-o-lanterns were carved from pumpkins with led
one coat of white paint and two coats of black light- lights on timers.
reactive paint. Foam poster board can be used for this
since it’ll stay dry hanging on the porch. I hot glued Oogie’s Boys (Lock, Shock and Barrel) were printed on
black felt to the bat’s feet to make hanging easy. multiple 8.5”x11” sheets of paper, pieced together and
attached to white foam poster board that was custom
I reused some dice from a lawn Yahtzee game and sized for the window
painted them with black-light reactive paint. I hung
them using shing line and a hanging spinning motor
to keep them turning.

Step 10: Install and Light
Ja ck To contrast Oogie Boogie’s glow, I covered the porch

in black felt that was stapled (using a staple gun) into
I used a wooden box (sort of like a table structure) to place. Each piece was hot glued to the other and I cut
be Jack’s base as it was hidden from view by the aps to allow wind to pass through (for the part that
parapet wall. I cut holes in the top of the box so that was not hung tight to the façade of my house). Oogie
the PVCs could pass through this layer and rest on the was secured to the railing with a loop of galvanized
lower level of wood. I cut 8 pieces of ~1 inch thick wire around his middle. His arms were kept lifted with
wood with triangle/half-circles cut out of them and black string stapled to the ceiling. The bats were also
used these to pinch the PVC pipes to hold them stapled to the ceiling and the spinning dice were
tightly. These pieces were held in place with screws hung with cup hooks. The lair was lit with an LED
and the box was weighted down with extra lumber black light oodlight which worked very well.
and a 25 pound plate. I also sank on long screw into
the wood used to make Jack’s pelvis. To this, I S a lly & ca t
attached 4 guide wires which were each anchored
about 10 feet away. To tighten the wires, I used zip tie Sally and her cat were both secured to a wooden
loops like turnbuckles (see picture). structure (left over from a Christmas decoration)
which was hidden from view by the parapet wall. The
G ra v e s t o ne s cat was backlit by a oodlight sitting on the roof.
I used 1/2" wood planks with screws and washers to Ja ck- o - la nt e rns
clamp onto the gutter braces. To these anchors, I
screwed the 2x4 bases of the gravestones. I wouldn’t To discourage theft of the pumpkins, I cut a disc of
recommend placing a lot of weight on the gutter but 1/4" MDF (any hard material would work) to place
this wood/foam is pretty lightweight. For added inside the pumpkin which was then screwed, through
stability in the wind, I attached wires to the tops of the bottom of the pumpkin, into the wooden step
the gravestones with 3” screws and secured the other below. If someone wanted to take the pumpkins, they
ends of the wire to the roof via other gutter braces. could but this might slow them down enough to
Just in case with wind knocks down the gravestones, hopefully make them reconsider.
these wires will keep them from blowing away.
Oo g ie B o o g ie ’s la ir

Step 11: Enjoy!
If you have any questions along the way, please ask!
Thanks for reading!
Kevin

https://youtu.be/nVCi68yIRXM
This is amazing! Sally looks so adorable :)
Thank you!!!
I love Nightmare Before Christmas! Very nice job :)
Thanks Penolopy!

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Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 1

Rigid foam insulation - 2" thick, 4'x8' (Foamular 150) - 3 sheets

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 2

Snap blade shop knife

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 3

Step 2: Plan & Design

Step 3: How to Make Jack Skellington

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 4

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 5

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 6

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 16

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 17

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 32

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 33

Ca rv e a nd pa int his he a d Pa int a nd a dd t he s e a m

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 37

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 41

Ca rv e a nd pa int I used corner/L brackets to attach the rear legs to

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 42

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 44

The gravestones are made with a combination of 2” At t a ch t o t he s t ruct ure

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 45

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 46

Ja ck To contrast Oogie Boogie’s glow, I covered the porch

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 48

If you have any questions along the way, please ask!

Thanks for reading!

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 53

This is amazing! Sally looks so adorable :)

I love Nightmare Before Christmas! Very nice job :)

Nightmare Before Christmas Outdoor Halloween Decorations: Page 56

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