Spooky season · free diagrams
Halloween origami
Ghosts for the window, pumpkins for the table, witch hats for the dolls and a fortune teller full of spooky predictions — all folded from single squares of paper, with animated steps you can replay as often as you need.
Countdown to Halloween
8 animated diagrams
Fold these for Halloween
Every model below animates fold by fold and prints as a free PDF. Start with the easiest ones and work up; most take under ten minutes, and all of them look best in orange, black, purple or lime paper.
Ghost
The origami ghost is a flat Halloween ghost with a round, domed head and a wavy hem of three points, folded from one square with the white side showing. It is an easy model with five steps and takes about three minutes; you draw the eyes and mouth on at the end.
Witch Hat
The origami witch hat is a flat Halloween hat with a tall cone, a crooked tip that droops to one side and a wide brim, folded from one square without cuts or glue. It is an easy model with six steps and takes about four minutes, starting from a simple kite.
Pumpkin
The origami pumpkin is a flat, rounded jack-o'-lantern with a short stem on top and three creased ribs down the front, folded from one square without cutting. It is an easy model of seven steps that takes about five minutes, and the face is drawn on at the end.
Paper Hat
The origami paper hat is the classic triangular newspaper hat, often worn as a pirate or admiral's hat, folded from a single rectangle with no tape. It is an easy model that takes about three minutes, and a double sheet of newspaper makes one big enough for a child or an adult to wear.
Cat Face
The origami cat face is a kitten's head with two pointed ears and a blunt chin, folded from one square and finished with drawn eyes and whiskers. It is a very easy model with five folds and takes about three minutes, so it suits young children and first-time folders.
Fortune Teller
The origami fortune teller is a four-pointed paper game, also known as a cootie catcher or chatterbox, that opens and closes on your fingers to reveal hidden messages. It is an easy model folded from one square with only corner-to-centre folds and takes about five minutes, plus a few more to write the fortunes.
Masu Box
The masu box is a traditional Japanese square box folded from a single sheet that locks together without glue. It is an intermediate model that takes about eight minutes, with one three-dimensional step where the walls are raised.
Water Balloon
The origami water balloon, also called the waterbomb, is a traditional model that you fold flat and then inflate by blowing into a small hole, turning it into a hollow paper cube. It is a beginner-to-intermediate model that takes about eight minutes, mostly for the waterbomb base and the tucks.
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Halloween is the one time of year when a slightly wonky fold is a feature, not a flaw. A pumpkin with lopsided ribs looks hand-carved; a ghost with a crooked hem looks like it is drifting. That makes October the perfect month to get children (and grown-ups) folding, and to fill a house with decorations that cost almost nothing.
This page gathers every Halloween-friendly diagram on the site in one place, and adds ideas for turning them into garlands, window scenes, party games and treat boxes. If you have no colored paper at home, you can print orange, black and purple squares — with pumpkins, bats or spider webs on them — with our free paper generator further down.
Easy Halloween origami for kids
The best Halloween folds for children have few steps, big reference points and a finish that gets decorated with a pen. A face drawn on at the end does most of the spooky work, so the folding itself can stay simple.
Start young folders on the cat face: fold it in black paper, draw two big yellow eyes and it becomes a witch's cat in about three minutes. The paper hat is just as easy and, folded from a sheet of newspaper, fits a child's head — paint it black or add a paper buckle and it turns into a witch or pirate hat for a costume.
When those feel easy, move on to the ghost and pumpkin. They use the same valley folds with one or two extra steps, and each one can be made in a few minutes. Older children can try the witch hat and the water balloon, which inflates into a little puffed-up cube that makes a surprisingly good pumpkin in orange paper.
TipFor small hands, use a bigger square: 20 cm (8 in) paper is much easier to line up than the classic 15 cm. Crooked folds are fine at Halloween — tell children every monster is allowed to be lopsided.
- Ages 4–6: cat face and paper hat, with an adult making the first fold. Let them draw the faces.
- Ages 6–9: ghosts and pumpkins on their own, then a fortune teller with help writing the fortunes.
- Ages 9 and up: witch hat, masu candy box and the water balloon pumpkin, plus folding a whole garland for the class.
Halloween origami decoration ideas
Paper decorations are cheap, quiet to make on a rainy afternoon and easy to store flat for next year. A few folded models grouped together look far more deliberate than a single one, so plan in sets of five, ten or twenty.
Ghost and pumpkin garlands
Fold a dozen ghosts from white paper and a dozen pumpkins from orange, then alternate them along a length of baker's twine. Thread the string through the fold at the back of each model with a needle, or simply fix each one with a small piece of tape. A garland of 3 metres needs about 20 models and looks great across a mantelpiece, a doorway or a classroom window.
Window ghosts
Fold ghosts from plain white printer paper, draw hollow black eyes and a round mouth, and stick them to the inside of a window with a loop of tape. From the street, a whole family of ghosts peering out at dusk is delightfully creepy. Mix sizes — 20 cm, 15 cm and 10 cm squares — so they look like parents and little ones.
A window full of ghosts
A window full of ghosts is one of the simplest dramatic decorations there is: 20 to 30 white paper ghosts stuck to the glass so they seem to drift up from the bottom corner. Start with a tight cluster and let them spread out and get slightly smaller as they rise. Draw a different face on each one — surprised, sleepy, grinning — and they look lovely from the street after dark with a lamp behind them. Removable poster putty or washi tape will not mark the glass.
The Halloween table
Scatter origami pumpkins, witch hats and black cats down the middle of the table, put a folded masu box of sweets at each place and hang a couple of ghosts from the lampshade with thread. Black paper cats with orange eyes make lovely napkin toppers, and a ring of ghosts taped around a glass jar with a battery tea light inside looks spectacular with the lights down (keep paper away from real flames).
Halloween party ideas with origami
Spooky fortune tellers
The fortune teller — also called a cootie catcher or salt cellar — is the ultimate Halloween party game. Fold it from orange or black paper, write colors or monster names on the outer flaps and numbers inside, then hide a spooky-but-friendly fortune under each of the eight inner flaps. Children take turns picking and counting, and the reveal always gets a shriek. Here are eight ready-made fortunes to copy:
- A friendly ghost will follow you home and help with your homework.
- You will find an extra piece of candy at the bottom of your bag.
- A black cat will cross your path — and bring you good luck.
- Tonight you will hear a howl. It's only the dog wanting a treat!
- A bat will teach you to hang upside down.
- Your pumpkin will grin at you when no one is looking.
- A witch will lend you her broom for one wild ride around the block.
- You will laugh so hard at a joke that your skeleton rattles.
TipWrite the fortunes before folding the last steps, while the square is still flat — it is much easier than squeezing words into a finished fortune teller.
Candy boxes
A masu box folded from a 20 cm square holds a generous handful of sweets, and a second box made from a square about 5 mm larger becomes its lid. Fold them in orange and black, put a paper ghost or pumpkin on each lid and use them as party favours, trick-or-treat giveaways or a sweet surprise in a lunch box. Children love filling them as much as receiving them.
Place cards and invitations
Write each guest's name on a folded black cat or ghost and stand it by their plate — the cat face stands up by itself if you fold the chin back a little further. For invitations, slip a folded ghost inside a card with "Boo! You're invited" on the front, or send a fortune teller whose inner flaps hold the date, time, address and dress code.
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Printable Halloween origami paper
No orange or black paper at home? Print your own. Our free printable origami paper tool now has Halloween patterns — pumpkins, bats, spider webs, candy-corn stripes and ghost dots — and a spooky color palette of pumpkin orange, midnight black, witch purple and slime lime.
Choose a square size (15 cm is the classic, 20 cm is easier for kids), pick a pattern and download a PDF with several squares per sheet and cut lines. Print at "Actual size" on ordinary 80 gsm printer paper and cut along the dashed lines. Printed paper is colored on one side only, which is exactly what the diagrams expect: start with the printed side down and the pattern ends up on the outside of the model.
Print Halloween paper →Halloween origami questions
What is the easiest Halloween origami for kids?+
The origami cat face and the paper hat are the easiest: both need only a few simple valley folds and take about three minutes. Fold the cat in black paper and draw big eyes for a witch's cat, or fold the hat from newspaper and paint it black for a costume. Ghosts, pumpkins and witch hats are the next step up.
What paper is best for Halloween origami?+
Ordinary 15 cm origami paper in orange, black, purple, white and lime covers every model on this page. Printer paper works well too: cut it into squares or print patterned Halloween squares with our free generator. Use white paper for ghosts so you can draw the faces, and black paper for cats and witch hats.
How do I make a Halloween origami garland?+
Fold 15 to 20 ghosts and pumpkins, then thread them onto baker's twine or thin ribbon, either with a needle through the back of each bat or with a small piece of tape. Alternate white ghosts with orange pumpkins and hang the garland across a window, doorway or mantelpiece. Space the models about 10 to 15 cm apart.
Can I print Halloween origami paper?+
Yes. The printable origami paper tool has Halloween patterns — pumpkins, bats, spider webs, candy-corn stripes and ghost dots — in orange, black, purple and lime. It makes a true-to-scale PDF with several squares per sheet and cut lines. Print at 100% or "Actual size" so the squares come out the right size.
What can I fold for a Halloween party?+
A fortune teller filled with spooky fortunes is the classic party game, masu boxes make great candy boxes and party favours, and folded black cats or ghosts work as place cards. For decorations, fold a garland of ghosts and pumpkins or fill a window with paper ghosts.