Dark fairies need a home too
There’s nothing quite as whimsical as devoting a hidden little corner in your garden to tiny inhabitants that normally only live in our imagination. Enter the fairy village. When you think of little fairy dwellings, words like cute, playful and charming may come to mind. But as fall approaches, we can add another word to that list: spooky. Because, as little and lovely as they may seem, fairy houses offer lots of potential as garden decor of the eerie sort. Read on and find out how to create the Halloween fairy garden of your (darkest) dreams.
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Pumpkin fairy house
Without pumpkins, is it even Halloween? The spooky season just isn’t quite complete without the grins and scowls carved into those lovable bulky pops of orange. Even so, the realm of pumpkin carving isn’t limited to jack-o-lanterns alone. Pumpkins also happen to make for perfect little houses for a Halloween fairy garden.
In essence, pumpkin fairy houses are simple to make. You start with a tiny door and a window or two. These can be crafted with a few pieces of wood, or you can get some pre-made ones. Next, you mark the outlines of the door and the windows on your pumpkin. You carve those out just like with a regular jack-o-lantern. But rather than leaving the holes empty, you insert the door and the windows. Then put a candle in your pumpkin, and a warm light will emit from the windows. And just like that, it already seems like someone tiny is feeling cozy in there. Your pumpkin fairy house is ready to be placed in its spot. At the base of a tree for instance, or any other location that makes a good fright-to-be.
Gourd fairy house
Pumpkins can be a bit of a statement piece, with their bulky size and popping color. If you’re looking for something a bit smaller or low-key for making your Halloween fairy garden, consider using gourds instead. Cute little cousins to the pumpkin, gourds come in color tones that tend to blend in more with garden plants. With gourd fairy houses, you can therefore create a scene that is more hidden. A Halloween fairy garden that eerily beckons you to come closer and explore.
What makes gourds especially fun for creating fairy houses, is their variety. With different colors and shapes grouped together, gourd fairy houses have the most whimsical potential. This also happens to make them perfect to keep around for the following seasons of fairy garden whimsy. Especially when they have been properly dried to go unspoiled for a longer time. Gourd vibes all year round.
Halloween fairy garden styles
So far we’ve learned that plugging doors and windows into gourds and pumpkins is the first step in creating houses for a Halloween fairy garden. But let’s look a bit closer at that step. The doors and windows are all that make the difference between a fruit and a little home. So choosing the type of doors and windows will play a big role in giving the fairy house its character. Even within the Halloween theme, there’s plenty of styles to consider. Shapes, colors, and materials can give your fairy garden either a cutesy sort of spooky vibe, or a more eerie mood. In this section we’ll explore some of our favorite door-and-window styles.
Witchy pointedness
Nothing says Halloween like the iconic carvings in a pumpkin, making jack-o-lantern’s face. One fun way to make your fairy doors and windows, is to take inspiration from these classic shapes. Make them pointy, reminiscent of the triangle eyes. With the right slant, they’ll have an evil look to them. You can also add some jagged elements, similar to Stingy Jack’s wicked smile. Allow some playful crookedness to keep it whimsical, such as this ready-made one. Then add a touch of darkness by painting the frames black. You don’t need to limit yourself to the typical jack-o-lantern shapes, though. How about creating shapes that hint at a witch’s hat? With doors and windows such as these, your pumpkins and gourds instantly become not only houses, but spooky dwellings.
Wonky spookiness
A bit less obvious, and even more playful, is to take a page from A Nightmare before Christmas when crafting your fairy houses. Be sure to choose the most wonky and lopsided of gourds and pumpkins as a basis. If they’re looking a bit pale, even better. When it comes to the doors and windows, fight the urge to make them straight, aligned, or even proportional. You’ll want your fairy houses to look like something from a twisted dream world. Experiment with rounded shapes, angular ones (like this fairy door on Etsy), curly lines, or an eclectic mix of them all. The positioning and sizing of the windows does not need to make all too much sense. If they make the onlooker wonder what kind of bizarre layout of floors and rooms could be hiding within, you’ve nailed it.
Hobbity roundness
The last style we’ll cover here is the most fairy-esque one of the three. Give your fairy houses round doors and windows, and they’ll transform into the cutest little dens. So cute in fact, you’ll probably want to shrink down and move in yourself. Making your fairy garden this way is the most versatile approach, as these designs will work for non-spooky seasons too. But now you might be wondering, what’s scary about this style at all? Some Halloween garden that is. And you’d be right, but don’t dismiss it just yet. We’re still at the first step of the process. Next, we’ll get to the decorating bit. And that’s where you can turn even the cutest of fairy villages into a nightmarish place.
The finishing touches
The devil is in the details, they say. When it comes to Halloween fairy gardens, we can take that in a literal sense. Adding spooky elements to your creation will bring in the atmosphere, and the storytelling. After all, just because it’s small, doesn’t mean that creepy stuff doesn’t happen there. Here are a few ideas that you can explore to take your fairy garden over to the dark side.
Cobwebs
Any Halloween display gets spookier when you add cobwebs, and a Halloween fairy garden is no different. Well, maybe a little. Given their miniature nature, stringing a spider web along the houses plays with their scale. If the web is not mini itself, but properly sized for a real-life spider, that means it’s huge for fairy standards. In fact, some actual spiders might be happy to help you out with this bit. And that, in turn, implies that your creation is home to not only fairies, but a disproportionate eight legged monster too. Shudder.
Spooky mini props
When you think of a fairy garden, the little houses, plants, and stone paths are usually the first things that come to mind. But your mini Halloween scene can contain so much more. Such as a miniature black cat. And a tiny witch broom, placed next to a fairy door. Surely, that should come in handy this season. Not to fly on, of course. They’re fairies after all, they don’t need brooms for that. Rather, it’s to sweep away some of those pesky cobwebs. And how about some gravestones here and there? Voilà, instantly haunted. Feeling particularly macabre? Erect a miniature gallows as the centerpiece.
Terrain
Places that look like they might very well host a ghost or two, have one thing in common. That is, they’re old and weathered. Often abandoned altogether. So placing fresh and shiny dwellings and props will probably not have the effect you’re going for. This is where terrain supplies come in handy. With moss, for example, you can integrate the fairy houses into their natural surroundings. Like that, it will seem that they have been around for a while. Long enough for generations of fairies to come and go, and leave some restless spirits behind. For a more sinister touch, there are also other options. Such as a trail of blood, leading to a doorstep or a shadowy corner in your Halloween fairy garden. All of a sudden, we’ve reached the stuff of nightmares.
Darkness and fog
These last elements take no effort from your side, but they do a lot of the heavy lifting in creating an eerie atmosphere. There’s nothing like a misty, gloomy morning to set the mood for your Halloween fairy garden. Just be sure to light your fairy houses from within to have them glow like spooky little beacons.
That’s it for our Halloween fairy garden inspiration. While there are many more ways to go about it, we love the idea of leaning into the season by picking gourds and pumpkins as a basis for the craft. On that note, you might also want to have a look at our article about mushroom fairy gardens, for even more autumnal whimsy. Or, our article about mini forest folk, to learn how to make the little winged inhabitants themselves. As for Halloween fairy gardens, whether you are a seasoned miniature maker, just starting out, or mostly a lover of all things spooky, this craft is sure to get your creative juices flowing. Let ’em ooze.
