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DIY Floating Witch Hat Luminaries

Add a bit of whimsy to your Halloween Porch decorations this year with these Floating Witch Hat luminaries! They even light up, making them a fun and only slightly eerie Halloween decorating idea.   If you like this project, you might also like these DIY Halloween Porch Decorating Ideas!

black witch hats hanging on front porch

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Halloween Porch Decorating Idea: How to Make DIY Floating Witches Hats

Our front porch has a section that is long and narrow.  It’s not quite wide enough for furniture, but I still love to decorate it.  Last Christmas, I hung giant stars from the ceiling of that section of the porch- (see the stars hung at Christmastime)

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

It always made me smile a little bit when I’d drive by at night and find them lit up.

Hanging paper stars on front porch at night

Since I’m always looking for clever front porch decorating ideas for Halloween. Building on that same idea, one year on Halloween I hung floating light-up Witch Hats along the porch (btw, is it Witch’s Hat as in a hat that belongs to a witch? Or is it Witches Hat as in multiple Witches with hats??) I’m not sure, I think both. If you disagree, I apologize for my grammatical infraction in advance, there is no need to offer your opinion 🙂

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

The Floating Halloween Witch Hats project is really simple and adds a fun and unexpected element to our front porch for All Hallows Eve. Let me show you how to do it. If you’re a Harry Potter Fan like we are, then I think you’ll agree that they add a special “Hogwarts-Inspired” touch to our front porch.

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How to Hang Candlesticks on a Porch for Halloween

If you’d like to learn how to hang floating candlesticks on your porch, you can also check out our Floating Candlestick Tutorial.

LED candles floating on front porch with black witch hats at night

The neighborhood kids always get a big kick out of the decor when they are out trick or treating. They would also be great to use as decorations for Halloween parties.

Floating Witch Hat Supplies

Inexpensive Black Witch Hats — available on Amazon

Fishing Line

Long Needle

Light Options:

  • LED light sticks – (linking to the product category on Amazon, not the specific item since the sellers keep raising the prices based on visits from this post, you want an LED light stick with a clip that is battery-powered and lightweight. )
  • A reader told me they used battery-powered tea lights, and they worked well. They tied the fishing line around the wick. Someone else also suggested using glow sticks.
  • In the video, I used LED Light pucks. I like these best since they have a hole in the backplate to run the fishing line through. They also have a remote and an auto-timer setting, so you don’t have to remember to turn them on and off each night. I did notice that the LED light pucks did not hold up as well to the weather as the light sticks, and I recommend using light sticks instead.

Safety Pins (don’t need if you’re using LED light pucks)

Outdoor Command Hooks for Lights

Ladder (this is our favorite)

How to Hang the Witch Hats

Before you begin, you must decide how many hats you’d like to hang on your porch and where you’d like them to be. I recommend laying the hats out on the floor of your porch to determine the number and spacing.

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

Step One: Attach Command Hooks to the Ceiling

After you’ve figured out where you’d like the Witch’s hats to hang, attach one command hook to the ceiling in each spot. Let the hook set up for about 10-15 minutes.

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

Two: Add Fishing Line to the Witch Hats

String about 2-3 feet of fishing line onto the needle. Feed the needle through the point of the Witch hat on the outside of the hat. Bring the fishing line through to the interior of the hat. DO NOT pull all the fishing line through the hat; leave it on the outside of the hat.

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

Remove the needle and tie the fishing line around a safety pin.

Three: Add the Lights

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

Use the safety pin to attach the fishing line to the light stick. It can be LED or the temporary kind you can find in the Halloween section of stores.  Just make sure it’s lightweight. I’ve had readers tell me that they used glow sticks or tea lights.

UPDATE: Since this post was first written, the quality and brightness of LED lights have significantly improved. You should be able to find a lightweight LED light easily.

Now just tie a loop at the end of the fishing line on top of the hat and hang it on the command hook.

Video Instructions

We’ve made a short video of the process to hang the hats on your porch. We used LED light pucks for the video. You can watch it playing on this page or view it on our YouTube channel.

Tips if you are making these to decorate your porch for Halloween!

  1. Most LED light bulbs will not last for 30 days straight. If you want to hang these up on Oct 1st and leave them on all month, that probably won’t work.
  2. I turned mine on and off each night. I did not plan for them to last all of October without burning out. In addition, one year, I only turned them on Halloween night. They look great lit up simultaneously as the jack o lanterns on my front steps.
  3. You can adjust the height of the hats as you like; just lengthen or shorten the fishing line.
  4. Even though we did this on our front porch, I think it would be adorable inside of the house too!

Want even more fun ideas? Follow me on Instagram to get your daily dose of creative inspiration! 

This post has been updated from a previous version to include all of the wonderful tips and tricks shared by readers who have made these Hanging Witches Hats.

black witch hats hanging on front porch. Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!
Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!
Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

UPDATE: LOOK how cute they are on Ali Edwards Front Porch (image from Instagram) !!!

Instagram screen shot of witch hat luminaires on a front porch with pumpkins.

More Halloween Decorations & Projects You May Like:

15 Frightfully Fun Ways to Decorate Your Porch for Halloween

Witch Costume Ideas for Kids, Teens & Adults

FREE Printable Non-Candy Halloween Treats

Recipe for Exploding Eyeball Cookies

Free Printable Fall Bucket List

Free Printable Halloween Treat Bags

If you love to quilt or sew, you might like:

Halloween Haberdashery Quilt Pattern

More than 25 CUTE things to sew for Halloween!

Clever decorating idea for a porch for Halloween, floating Witch's hat luminaries, they even light up at night!

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92 Comments

  1. This is a really neat idea. As to your question about the hats– it’s her Witches’ hat (possessive), the Witche’s hat (descriptive), and more than one are Witch hats. Hope that helps.

      1. So cute!!!

        BTW for your purposes, it would be “witch’s hat luminaries” because each one uses only one hat which belongs to one witch.
        In any case, I’m sure everyone can understand what you’re intending to say whether it is correct or not, which it is.

        1. Which witch is which?? 😉 Yes, “witch’s” is singular possessive ad “witches'” is plural possessive. If it’s at the end of a sentence, the apostrophe always follows the ending punctuation. On another note, which this post was originally about, I love this idea and want to do something along these lines, also. I’ve also seen the lighted, wire ghost frames with sheer fabric on them. Love that!!

          1. I’m not an English or Grammar teacher, but I am a writer by trade and heart. PEACE

    1. What?! It’s her witch’s hat or the witches’ hats. Unless a person’s last name is Witche, there’s no reason to add an apostrophe between the e and s in witches.

      1. Actually, it’s ‘her witch hat’, ‘that witch’s hat was tall’, or ‘All of the witches’ hats were pointy.’

    2. “Her witch’s hat” is singular (one witch) possessive. “Witches’ hats” is plural (more than one witch) possessive.

  2. Love! For the last two years, I’ve hung cheap black witches hats on our front porch, but I love the idea of putting the lights inside! Thank you so much for the idea. The kids will just love it!

  3. I’m a little late to the party finding this cute idea. I’m curious how you hanged the stars for Christmas. Will you post a tutorial! Thanks!

  4. Just signed on & love the witches hats! They’ll absolutely be on my screened porch…..& front this Halloween ! So glad I found you !

  5. Did you use yellow or white LED lights? The hats look so great that I’m definitely trying them this Halloween.

  6. Great idea. Something I would have never thought of. It’s easy enough and my grandkids will love it !!!! Thanks so much for this and all of your other wonderful ideas.

  7. I love the witches hat luminaries! I wish I had a patio or balcony to do this. Also like the stars! Thanks for showing how easy they are to make.

    1. Hang them from your ceiling/s instead. Just make sure the line is not too long so the tallest peson doesn’t bump into them. That is what I’m going to do.

  8. How did you secure the battery pack inside of the hat with the weight being even? Also, my hats are bottomless, did you close the bottom of the hat somehow?

  9. I’d love your input on a twist to this FABULOUS idea — after seeing it, I decided to do WHITE hats with black light, so they would glow in the dark. I’ve had a “devil” of a time making it work. White hats are no-where-to-be-found unless you want to pay $20 a pop. I tried spray painting fabric hats and that didn’t work, despite multiple coats and flat (not glossy) paint. I noticed that the white boxes from the black lights looked amazing in the black light so I made hats from poster board — super easy to make, BTW. But that didn’t really glow either. I’ve also noticed that white fabric glows particularly well, but research on THAT led me to understand that that is a build up of chemicals from washing (eeew… )

    So! Any thoughts? Love love love this idea!

    1. I’m pretty sure it would not work to paint the hats, you need the fabric to be sheer and when you add any kind of paint it will make the fabric more “solid”. If I see white hats anywhere I’ll let you know, but for now might have to stick with black

    2. Did you try Glow in the dark spray paint on the hats? It’s a sheerish green yellow color that might work. You might also want to consider having black hats and white hats so during the day black hats are visible and at night with a black light the white poster board hats are visible.

  10. How does everyone string these up without them falling? Its a bit windy so mine all blew down as I used duck tape to tape to the ceiling of my porch.

      1. I also have hung the witches hats and found using fishing weights (small ones) hold the hats in place unless you have a lot of wind. Place the weights on the inside of hats about 2 inches from the top.
        For your Christmas stars use LED packs placed in the points of stars and hang them with fishing line.They are beautiful floating .

  11. I put these hats together and unfortunately they don’t look anything like I thought. Basically, a glow stick in a hat. You can see the stick clearly so I’m thinking of maybe putting web in there to try to hide the stick a bit. Definitely disappointed

      1. Hi i want to thank you for the Witches Hat idea I work in a local nursing home and every year we each take one hall to decorate for Halloween and theses will be very nice hanging from the ceiling every year we open up to the commuinty and have a trick or treat for the community we usually spend about a thousand dollars for the candy everyone comes it seems and our residents do bake sales and different things to help to buy the candy and then go shopping for the candy and will sit in the doorways and the kids go up and down the halls it is usually packed and this idea can be used to make our home alittle bit brighter my friend and i chose to do the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown this year but next year we will go back to the Witches and i am a Nurse not a English teacher Thanks so much for the ideas and i come here frequently to see what you are doing again Thanks

  12. We have “trunk-a-treat” in my area (homes too far apart for the young ones to go door-to-door). So we gather at a local restaurant and decorate our trunks with a big bowl of candy for sure! This gives me ideas for this years trunk. Thanks.

  13. To answer your query, the answer would be in this instance anyway, “witches’ hats” thus signifying the hats belonging to multiple witches.

  14. Hello ! I did this last year but I used a different type of light . The batteries in the light were to heavy . So I’m looking at the LED lights that you put in the link . Did you get colored or white ? I don’t see just white . I want to go ahead and order them now but I’m not sure if I get a color it would make the right effect . Help !!

  15. It’s witches’ hats (plural possessive… Multiple witches and the hats belong to them) Very cute idea! I love the stars too!

  16. I really like this project! I was wondering if some green lights might be cool? Anyone know if you can get green lights? Or those snap stick things in green? On the grammar thing… You have more than one hat, so, it is hats. Now, do all those hats belong to one closet-challenged witch? Or to a bunch of witches? If it is one witch, then it is Witch’s Hats. Now, if it is a bunch of witches, it is Witches’ Hats. When you have plurals that end in things like “es,” you add just the apostrophe, not the apostrophe+s. Hope that helps!

  17. i used glow sticks this year and they were no where near bright enough! i will have to get the led sticks for next year and try again … even though we got NO trick-or-treators 🙁

    1. I have done the hats on our porch since 2015, and haven’t been happy yet with the lighting sources we’ve tried. I might just skip the lights this year…. We also get no trick or treaters, but I LOVE decorating for Halloween.

  18. It worked great, I used glow sticks and added clamp on fishing weights to lower or raise the lights or hats.
    Great idea

  19. What kind of witch hat should I use? I bought one that has sheer cobwebs around the top portion of the hat, but for some reason the LED lights still do not show through enough. Really love this idea just wish I knew how to make it work.

  20. I did this last year, and glow sticks were not bright enough. I also tried tea lights, and could barely see them. I was thinking of LED lights of some sort…

  21. I would like to copy the instruction for the witches hat,may I do so. I’m a senior citizen and don’t remember well. thanks

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  23. I love this decor! I have done this for the past few years and every year they end up a mess due to wind. The strings end up all tangled together. I have even tried to add small weights hoping that would help prevent the swaying so much.

    Any suggestions ??

  24. I am in love with this! The kids want to do this for Halloween this year however I have been trying to find the light sticks and can only find green ones, can you point me in the right direction

  25. If using LED light pucks that do not have holes on the backplate, how would you suggest attaching the fishing line to them?

      1. I wish I could upload a photo of my Halloween decorated front porch. Thanks to your easy to follow tutorial, I was able to replicate your idea easily and beautifully! I used tea lights in mine. I took off the battery door, threaded the fish string through the on/off switch, threaded it back through the door, tied a knot, closed it back up! Everyone loves it!

        Definitely doing this again next year!

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