DIY Cereal Box Halloween Tombstone Decorations

12 Materials
$15
2 Hours
Easy
Learn how to make your own DIY Halloween tombstone decorations from upcycled cereal boxes and create a spooky graveyard in your front yard for Halloween!

The cost of this project is a little tricky as it depends on additional materials you may or may not have for this project such as craft paints and a clear indoor/outdoor sealer. If you're able to use a 50% off coupon on the granite paint indoor/outdoor paint and are making more than one cereal box Halloween tombstone at a time, your cost per tombstone obviously goes down.

This project is actually rather easy and doesn't require any technical skill, so it's a great weekend craft project to create for Halloween with the kids!

For additional step-by-step photos and details on completing this project, be sure to check out THE FULL TUTORIAL ON MY BLOG HERE.
To create your first DIY cereal box Halloween tombstone, begin with a large empty cereal box. Begin by cutting off the top front and back flaps of your cereal box.


Next, using a marker, draw a half circle about 1-2″ down from the top of the box on the front of the cereal box. It should form a tombstone shape when it meets the edges of the box.
Carefully cut off the top front portion of the cereal box along and above the line you just drew saving the piece you cut out to trace onto the back. Then cut out the matching back section of your cereal box.
Now round the sides over the curved edges of the box you just cut until they meet in the middle and tape them together. Use more tape to seal the entire top of the box.



Open the bottom flap of the cereal box and cut two lines vertical lines on either side of the back bottom flap. Then cut two more small horizontal lines off each of the vertical lines you just cut and fold the flaps you created over.


Then cut a small square out at the top of each flap, just big enough for your skewers to fit through.
Place your wooden skewers inside the cereal box and tape them in. Then close and tape the bottom of the box up with the skewers sticking out. Reinforce with more tape as needed.
Now spray paint your tombstone on all sides using the decorative stone spray paint. Allow to dry then apply a second coat of paint.


You can "age" the "stone" by spraying excess paint in some areas, then use dried leaves or paper or even your fingertips to distress the paint so it looks like weathered, chipped stone.
Once the paint dried, I then glued on foam letters for a three dimensional phrase on the tombstone. I then applied additional details with acrylic paints.


Finally I dusted glitter into the wet paint, blowing off excess glitter I didn't want. I then sealed the tombstone with a clear indoor/outdoor spray paint/sealer.
To display my DIY cereal box Halloween tombstone, I then pushed the skewers into the ground and pushed leaves around the base. Lights, fake spiderwebs and some skeleton hands then completed the look.
For more great DIY ideas as well as a multitude of giftable DIY projects for Christmas, be sure to visit Soap Deli News blog here for my full collection of tutorials.
Suggested materials:
  • Empty cereal box
  • Krylon Natural Stone Decorative Aerosol, Granite Finish
  • Tim Holtz block Upper Cling Foam Stamps, optional
See all materials
Rebecca D. Dillon
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Szw16521886 Szw16521886 on Oct 15, 2018

    I did this project it was really easy and they look great out in the front yard. I did some without cutting the boxes only because it would make it easier to store them away after Halloween.

  • Keyshia farmer Keyshia farmer on Oct 14, 2020

    i really like this project it is cool with halloween a couple weeks away

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