Holiday Planning & Ideas Halloween Halloween Projects & Crafts Halloween Decorating Ideas Hanging Bats DIY On Halloween, welcome trick-or-treaters in hair-raising style by turning your front porch into a bat cave. Best of all, these high-impact paper decorations are simple to make with our printable template. By Martha Stewart Editors Martha Stewart Editors Facebook Instagram Twitter Website An article attributed to "Martha Stewart Editors" indicates when several writers and editors have contributed to an article over the years. These collaborations allow us to provide you with the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive information available.The Martha Stewart team aims to teach and inspire readers daily with tested-until-perfected recipes, creative DIY projects, and elevated home and entertaining ideas. They are experts in their fields who research, create, and test the best ways to help readers design the life they want. The joy is in the doing. Editorial Guidelines Updated on August 13, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email As you get your porch ready for Halloween—and this year's horde of trick-or-treaters—you might be searching for an easy way to up your entryway's spooky factor. Enter this Halloween craft: These paper bat cut-outs, which are simple to make thanks to our printable template, will transform the front of your house into a bat cave. Creating these creatures of the night is straightforward, but get creative when you suspend them from your porch's rafters. Hang your bats in different orientations (make sure a few sleepy critters are upside-down) and enlist twine or string to ensure a few hang down from the ceiling—bats are scariest when they're mid-flight, after all. What You'll Need Materials Half-bat template Thick black paper Scissors Bone folder Painters' tape or removable hooks Instructions Print our half-bat template; then fold a piece of thick black paper down the middle, place the template on the fold, and trace. Cut out, and unfold. Use a bone folder to crease wings (and fold opposite the direction of body fold). Poke holes in the bat for monofilament: in the tail for an upside-down bat, in the wings and head for one that's right side up. Hang from ceiling with painters' tape or removable hooks.