2020 Mini Halloween House Contest

When I announced the 2020 Halloween House Contest, I didn't know how many entries to expect. I am blown away at how many people entered their wonderful little Halloween Houses. I think you will enjoy seeing what everyone has created.

Ok, here are the winners. I am listing them kind of reluctantly because having to choose the winners has been so terribly difficult. I want you to know that each judge commented on how difficult the judging was. One judge even wrote comments on every single entry because he loved looking at all of them. I'm going to add my own comments as well now that I'm not going to affect the judging.

Will the winners please send me their email addresses for I can get your Amazon Gift Card to you? I am now collating a list of honorable mentions.

1. Sheera's Halloween House

2. Sandy's Second Entry - the Fairy House

3. Manfred's Halloween House

We would like to note this houses as an Honorable Mention because they were so impressive:

Lynn's Halloween house, Melanie's Crooked House, Joan's Triple Tower, Cindy's Halloween House, Lara's Baba Yaga, Teri's Halloween Town (Hazel's cafe), Heather C's house in exploding box, Karen's Halloween House.

Here are the rules for this contest that we used for this contest

The prizes are as follows:
1st prize - $200 Amazon gift card
2nd prize - $100 Amazon gift card
3rd prize - $50 Amazon gift card​
​
A panel of 3 judges will decide who wins. They will review the photos of all the entries to decide.

• You can use your own pattern, my patterns, a Tim Holtz house, or even a purchased pattern.
• The house needs to be made out of cardboard.
• There are size limits - the base is restricted to 6 inches by 9 inches and the height of the house is limited to 9 inches. They don’t have to be that big. I actually like them to be smaller than that.
• Nothing gory or bloody. No bloody body parts or scary deformed creatures. Creepy and spooky are good, but not gross or gory. I think bones and skulls are ok.
• Creativity and originality are important and will be emphasized in the judging.
• You may enter more than once.

​Deadline for photo entries was October 21st and the winner has been announced on October 28th.​

Some of these great houses have videos and additional views on the Paper Glitter Facebook private group.

These Halloween houses are posted in no specific order. I'll list first names only.

Halloween Houses for the 2020 Mini Halloween House Contest

Cindy's Halloween House

 

Judges notes: There are several things I loved about this creation. The crows were wonderful, but the cats are truly special! I think the pumpkins used in this house were my favorite from all the houses! The house looked like it had great lighting inside!

Barbara's Halloween House

This Halloween house by Barbara has a marvelous cemetery on the side! I love the 3D effect on the front gable, and the darkening around the windows. Also the tree stump in the front is just the funnest detail along with the tree on the side.

Teri's House for Halloween Town - Hazel's Cafe

I loved the idea of making it into a cafe! The awning was a great touch and the imaginative shingles! The unique fencing is very impressive.

Teri's Dead and Breakfast

Such imaginative title! I think this had the most unique entry door shape in all of the submissions. The cant to the roof was a particularly nice touch!

Melanie's Crooked House

Truly this house explored the magic of angle so beautifully.. Straight, even lines are boring! Spectacular broom, too! Is that ‘usable living space’ at the very top?!

Rick's House of Nightmares

Loved the handrails on the right side of the front porch! The magic of this house, for me, was its setting, which I found reminiscent of a Halloween house on the beach! Why not?! I love the spires on the roof - seriously spooky.

Rick's Shack Entry

Elevating this house on a stone foundation was a terrific touch! It allowed what I think is the use of the best stairs among all the submissions. The fine retrofit plywood doors were also wonderful!

Rick's Halloween Hotel

There was so much creative inspiration in this house, it takes some analysis - a good thing! Once again the use of elevation was imaginative, with fine stone steps. I appreciated the crucifixes and the gravestones, with the shade consequences in the vegetation. One of my favorite things with this hotel was the detail in the roof damage. So authentic!

Steve's Halloween House

Orange really works as a Halloween-themed color. The witch and broomstick in silhouette are great, as are the leaves, thoughtfully swept from the approach. The slate roof was also very well done.

Steve's Halloween Putz House

I think the round base for this little house was exceptional, with lovely lettering. I can see the occupants of this house embracing Halloween with uncommon spirit, and that’s a great thing to convey in a little house.

Yvonne's House

Sheera's Halloween House

I think this house had the best use of internal lighting of all of the submissions. In addition, I love the linearity of the siding, and the front step pattern. And what about the owl? It's a marvelous addition to the setting of the spooky house! Excellent!

Mac's Colorful House

the use of rainbow colors was exceptional with this house. I could not read the text on the sign just about the door, nor on the placard above that. It looks almost elvish, like from Lord of the Rings. The most intriguing thing for me was the house shape, almost pumpkinized, as if it was overflowing with bright children who spend their days exploring the use of brilliant color.

Amanda's Halloween House

There seems to be almost a gravity effect working on this house, pulling it down, over time. The intensity of the roof shakes is extraordinary, as is the almost facial expression on the front of this unique little house. Well done!

Becky's Halloween House

Witch flying across the moon! Terrific! And excellent lighting within the house! One of my favorite touches with this submission is the employment of a gazebo! And why not!

Joan's Halloween House

One of my favorite things about this submission was the rockwork around the property (and the house!) foundation I found the entrance door to be intriguing as well as the decoration in the porthole windows on each of the towers! The eyes in the tree are an unexpected (but welcome) surprise!

Susan's Halloween House

There were a number of things I loved about this submission, starting with the bow and the lace netting in the foreground. I also liked the contrast of the black and white, and the silver doorknob. Another house made more intriguing by the partially opened door.

Sharon's Halloween Manor

This submission, too, makes excellent use of an adjacent cemetery. It makes - by far - the best use of decay in Halloween theme. I loved the vegetation encroachment! The spectacularly twisted tree was another great touch!

Sharon's Faded Mansion Halloween House

There were so many things I liked about this submission - the three brooms propped against the front porch, the lighting on the right, and is that a fire pit?! It’s clear that some real work went into the unique pumpkins! What faces they have! And the witch’s hat atop the gable!

Priscilla's Halloween House

The gate work around this house was exceptionally well done. Once again we can see the power of orange in Halloween-themed houses. And the ghost above the widow’s walk was great! The ghosts are a great touch.

Sadie's Halloween House

Halloween comes to the Ponderosa! I know not many will remember the house in the old Bonanza tv series (it ENDED in 1973!), but for me it resembled that. This house also displayed excellent use of roof shakes. And the driveway and fencing are just wonderful! Houses never stand in a vacuum. The little cemetery out front is best appreciated in the other photos on the Facebook group. The color contrast with the chimney works especially well for me.

Iris' Halloween House

I really liked the grounds around this house, the austere green, the minute elevation changes within it. The tiny cemetery out front is a nice touch. The house and tower are black, but it is great use of the color, accentuated by the best smoke effect from the chimney of any of the submissions! Extraordinary attention to detail. The right side of the property looks like it is poised along a cliff edge! Spooky! And the out-building on the left adds to the impression.

Joel's Halloween House

The most appealing thing for me about this submission is the light effects of looking all the way through the house, as sometimes happens in the larger world we live in. My next favorite thing was the brilliant focus on the shutters, each unique in its own way. And finally I loved the striated texture of the silvery finish on the surface of the house. I could look at that for hours.

Jackie's Halloween House

Jackie’s house has a commitment to bright color, a testament to the fact that Halloween need not be dark, the treatment even extending to the tree behind the house! The two dimensional pumpkins on the fence and in the tree are wonderful, and the fencing around the property is great in its own right. It is a fine presentation of boldness and pride.

Jackie's Witches Brew House

Jackie’s Witches Brew house continues the embrace of bright color. There is a wonderful crow on the support for the Potions sign. The cauldron inside the picture window is unique, and it is balanced by a marvelous cat and witch atop the widow’s walk.

Bobbi's Ghoul School

This fine submission has a delightful cadre of ghouls sitting in front of the house, incorporating a ghost AS the smoke coming from the chimney! So creative!

Bobbi's Bat Manor

Bobbi’s Bat Manor has a compelling purple roof! There is a pumpkinseed child, a witch and a ghost looking at the house, which is another with very realistic smoke coming from the chimney, bats all around! True to motif!

Bobbi's Boo House

Bobbi’s Boo House features witches flying above, with ghost coming out the front door between two punkins! Imaginative submission!

John's Haunted House

John’s Haunted house has a delightful facial aspect, with a striking yard fence around the periphery. The interior lighting really brings out the haunted nature of this house.

Brian's Halloween House

Brian’s house is all about the atmosphere, with witches around a cauldron, two wolves! (The only ones in this contest I believe?!), a grim reaper and a coffin in the spacious, fenced-in yard. I really like incorporating a complimentary scene into house presentation!

Carol's Halloween House

Carol’s Halloween House features stunning color, complete with glitter and ghosts! The cemetery headstones and nested pumpkins add to the creative display.

Karen's Halloween Mansion

Karen’s house has a roof with slivery striations, with fascinating bluish rock-work highlighting the walls. There are lots of windows and spiderwebs! Spooky!

Sandy and Daughter's Candy Corn House

Sandy’s house (made with her daughter), is a candy corn house with brilliant color! The stepping stones lining the entrance are a very nice touch! There is more than creativity in this entry, there is love! I particularly like the idea of collaborating with the younger generation to share the creative experience.

Sandy's Fairy House

Sandy’s fairy house is the most organic house I have reviewed, with ample vegetation and ornamentation (including the entry door!) that looks like it was made of small twigs. The roof shakes are just magical! Very nice rock elements down low. All of it may best be appreciated in the video.

Cheryl's Halloween House

Cheryl’s house is placed on a base that looks like chocolate gingerbread! The fencing around the property is on two levels, which looks just great, and the grey house is perfectly proportioned for the presentation, with a nice porch and balcony, and lovely roof shigles. The pumpkins are displayed to great effect with greenery, and trees in the back corner complement the look, with two of the best skulls I’ve seen and some scary bones!

Katherine's Halloween House

Katherine’s house has the only sheet metal roof in the contest, with boarded up windows adding to the spooky effect! I really like the light siding, as well! The fangs are just incredible an the way the windows and the fangs suggest a face is wonderful.

Lynn's Monster Mash House

Lynn’s Monster Mash house uses brilliant color combined with the most incredible glitter of any submission! I think this house would be an absolute child-magnet!

Sandy's Halloween House with newspapers in the windows

Sandy’s second house has the most authentic wooden beam supported porch, terrific trees, great windows and roof, and lovely rocks down one side. Pumpkins and a slightly open front door complete the scene. What happens when you look at this house more and more, you see the lattice work, the old newspapers, and just detail after delightful detail.

Manfred's Halloween Manor

Manfred’s Halloween House is one of the most striking houses I’ve seen, with realistic vines creeping around the near corner of the house. The windows are lit, but opaque, and the shakes are falling from the roof, as might happen when a house deteriorates. The recessed front porch just draws you in, and the entrance door, in this view, is left totally to the imagination. I like how light the colors are. For me, the tan really works.

Lynn's Halloween House

Lynn’s house, with its magnificent roof shakes, looks like it houses a bunch of Hobbit babies in its own little corner of the Shire. This is a beautiful house, rich with imaginative touches!

Cindy's Halloween House

Cindy’s house is dominated by its tall black tower, with a fine fence, a marvelous owl and even a water wheel on the right side! Magnificent!

Lisa's Halloween House in a Pumpkin

Lisa’s house in a pumpkin embraces the pumpkin both in color and in its garden, where it even calls them punkins! A fence and a ghost in the back complete the picture!

CK Artist House

The CK Artist house could almost be a manger in another season. It has marvelous imaging on all of the walls, with intriguing coloration on the roof.

Lara's Baba Yaga in the Purple Wood

Lara’s house elevated on chicken legs is a visual feast! The house has fending on two levels, with a delightful upstairs porch. The purple moss covering the background trees makes a stunning backdrop to this unique creative submission.

Lara's Here Be Ghosts

Lara’s second house is an ethereal vision! Silvery and blue, it is full or ghosts and glitter, with unique steps and a foreboding open gate at the entrance to the steps. There is a lattice-work of vines into which the house is nested. Wow.

Claus' Halloween House

Claus’s house has drawer with a brilliantly lit pumpkin, it has windows with a seemingly complete skeleton, and it has a widow’s walk at a tower with the legs of a Wizard of Oz witch sticking out the top of the chimney! Very imaginative! Excellent job with the lighting in the video!

Linda's Beware House

Linda’s Beware House almost seems to suggest that Halloween can invade Christmas with terrific decoration, realistic pumpkins and remarkable decorative detail throughout! A yawning skeleton presides over the display.

Elizabeth's Halloween Manor

Elizabeth’s house features a luminous blue, with something that looks like gold flake on the roof. Even the front door, slightly open, looks metallic. The black chimney forms a noice contrast to the blue, and the silvery skull and crossbones over the door is a spooky touch!

Gail's Halloween Mansion

Gail’s house is dominated by a scary spider that seems in the process of taking possession! The realistic spider webbing contrasts nicely with the blue house and white windows, with an excellent black slate roof.

Gill's Halloween House

Gill’s house is also in a pumpkin! It actually features two houses, in a neighborhood depiction, with one fence for the pair, and nice ghosts, bats, pumpkins, cats and a spider!

Heather G's House in a Jar

Heather G has placed a Halloween house in a jar! The house is elevated on a green base, and has two pumpkins and brightly lit windows, with an orange Halloween bow securing the jar. Very creative!

Heather G's Second Halloween House

Heather G’s second Halloween house in a jar has a Halloween house with prominent windows, a smiling pumpkin alongside the door, two hovering crows (it looks like), three gravestones and a corn stalk out front and to the side! Love the plaid ribbon on the jar, as well!

Gabi's Bat Wing House

Gabi’s house has a novel bat wing theme that extends to the roof itself. There is a nice porthole window over a coffin-shaped door, with pumpkins and a large orange spider guarding the door!

Heather's House in an Explosion Box

Heather’s house in an explosion box has to be viewed in video on the Paper Glitter Glue Facebook group to get a full appreciation of the magic of the submission. The I Put a Spell on You box does not release until the top is lifted, allowing the sides to lower. The entire house is black and shades of grey, except for a pumpkin in the back and a purple front door. The house also lights up! And it looks like there are unique Halloween cards tucked into each of the four wings of the box! How imaginative is that! It reminds that the creative appreciation shouldn’t be limited to just the house.

Maria's Pet Cemetery

Maria’s house has what looks like a wonderful terra cotta roof, with a tower and a widow’s walk, and a cross at the top. The pet cemetery on the right is very nicely done for a cohesive look that is reminiscent of a location on a shore.