It's that time of year again - time for the 2026 Miniature Halloween House Contest, where you can share your creativity by designing and submitting your own handcrafted miniature house inspired by Halloween! Whether you love candy corn cottages, whimsical witch mansions or spooky forest retreats, this is your chance to share your artistry and win some fun prizes!
🏆 HOW TO ENTER
Submission Opens: October 1, 2026
Entry Deadline: October 23, 2026
Winners Announced: October 26, 2026
To enter, create a miniature house that embodies the spirit of Halloween or Autumn. You can use cardstock or cardboard as the main material for your house, Submit a photo of your creation along with a brief description of your design to my private Facebook group or email the photo to me - [email protected]. More details below.
Design Inspiration for Halloween House Contest
Not sure where to start? Maybe ...
Halloween cottages decorated with ghosts, witches and ghouls, cemeteries or haunted houses with spooky features of every kind
bats, owls, pumpkin people or plain old pumpkins, fences, moons, and scary trees.
ENJOY THIS EVENT! FUN IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT! The first day to enter the contest is October 1, 2026. Your entry must be in by midnight on October 23rd. We will announce the awards on October 26th here on this post and on the live video on Monday, October 26th.
Remember the entry date start on October 1 and the deadline is October 23, 2026. Winners announced October 26th.
PRIZE LIST FOR THE 2026 MINIATURE HALLOWEEN HOUSE CONTEST:
- First place - $100 Amazon gift card
- Second place - $75 Amazon gift card
- Third place - $50 Amazon gift card
- People's Choice award - $25 Amazon gift card
- Whimsical award - $25 Amazon gift card, for the more whimsical version of Halloween
- Innovation award - $25 Amazon gift card, for the submission with the most novel innovation. That can be part of a house or structure, or it can be an embellishment, or anything else super creative you can think of.
- Two Kid's awards for two separate divisions (10 and under, and ages 11-16) - $25 Amazon gift cards
Please note that the Whimsical and Innovation awards go to submissions that did not win in the top placings.)
I almost always add extra awards for creative entries.
RULES FOR THE 2026 MINIATURE HALLOWEEN HOUSE CONTEST
1. HAVE FUN - that's rule No. 1
Fun. That's the whole purpose of this contest. Make a house that expresses a Halloween or Autumn/Harvest seasonal theme or atmosphere and enjoy the process.
To emphasize this point, the contest period is now open to what we call "Joy of Creation' submissions. Every year we seem to have members who just want to participate in the creative challenge, not the contest itself. We applaud this mindset, because it reflects the generous spirit of our group so well, where satisfaction is found in creation of little houses and scenes and in the sharing of that with friends.
2. Name Your Design
First NAME YOUR DESIGN! This helps the judges (and visitors) remember each project.
It's much better for those viewing your creation if it has a name. Some of the names of submissions in prior contests are incredibly creative. Naming your design enhances your submission, and is an avenue of creative expression in its own right.
In addition, please write a sentence or two about your creative process, your inspiration, or construction because this helps inspire others. After all, inspiration is contagious.
3. How to enter the 2026 Miniature Halloween House Contest
a) Post your house in the Paper Glitter Glue Facebook group with the tag #2026MiniHalloweenHouse.
Please join this Facebook group so you can enter there. It's the very best way to enter. (This is best way to insure your submission is captured without issue.)
b) Email me a photo on or after October 1. The address is [email protected]. Please include the title 2026 Mini Halloween House in your email title so I can find the photo easily and include it as an official submission.
The Whimsical and Innovation awards will go to submissions that did not win in the top placings category.
I reserve the right to expand prize categories and awards, and I always like to do this.
The Joy of Creation Option
We enthusiastically welcome Joy of Creation submissions because you may not be interested in competing for prizes - you just like to create. We want to see and appreciate what you make. In addition, we are not setting any limit on such submissions. Just please add the tag #JoyOfCreation when you post them. For that matter, these submissions can also be items too large for contest qualification, items from previous years or even creations that are not houses. Express yourself!
This is important! Finally, after you have submitted your house and we get the entries all posted here, please check to be certain that we have entered your submission or submissions correctly. Email immediately if we missed something or made an error with it.
4. Permission to Post Your Entry on the Paper Glitter Glue website and on social media
In submitting your creations, you allow me to post a picture or pictures of your project on my website and social media. I love to share your projects because they are all so incredible. This allows all site visitors and guests to see your creations, which can help inspire them in turn. We only post first names with the house names with no personal information.
5. Size Limitations for the 2026 Miniature Halloween House Contest
Because this contest is for MINIATURE houses, there are size limitations on the houses. They can easily be smaller than the limitations below, but no larger.
Here are the size limitations:
Base - no limitation on the base so you can landscape as much as you want, but the size of the house does have limitations
House height - no taller than 12 inches tall
Width of House - no wider than 12 inches
Depth of the House - no deeper than 10 inches
Villages or small groups of houses are welcome as long as each house is no bigger than the measurements listed above.
Note: It is hard to take in all the details in one photo, but we only use ONE photo per house. In other words, we need one really good photo for the judges to look at. Post as many photos as you like, but for the judging we only have room to include one photo.
6. Use any pattern you like
For your entries, you can use your own pattern, my patterns, patterns from my friend, Jackie of A Cottage in the Forest, Tim Holtz houses, or even a purchased pattern. That really doesn't matter. The important detail is that they must be made of either cardboard or cardstock as described below.
7. The house must be made of cardboard or cardstock
Your house needs to be paper-based - made out of either cardboard or card stock. No wooden houses. But you can use other materials for the base, landscape, and embellishments.
8. Creativity and Originality are emphasized
Creativity and originality are important and will be emphasized in judging. Hint: Let the fun shine through!
Also creativity in naming your house helps to make it more special. Please tell us a little bit about your house - how you made it, what inspired it, etc. We all love to read about the creative inspiration behind your projects. We are delighted to note that people are so creative with house names. It's just another fun detail that adds to the appeal of your little houses.
9. You may enter up to 3 houses, but the houses must be unique and constructed in 2026
Up to three submissions, all of houses created in this calendar year. (Again, note, this rule does not restrict submission 'Joy of Creation' houses, which are not eligible for prizes.)
10. How to Vote for the People's Choice Award
You have TWO votes for the People's Choice Award - one as a comment on this post and one on my YouTube channel..
You will have one vote when you post a comment at the end of this post AFTER ALL THE ENTRIES ARE IN, VOTING STARTS ON October 24th and lasts until midnight on October 25th.
Your second vote is on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to get notifications of when we post the contest video. Please note this is intended to be about fun and creativity, not competition. Vote for your choices, but please don't 'stuff the ballot box.'
GET THE KIDS INVOLVED MAKING A MINIATURE HALLOWEEN HOUSE!
We always love to see house submissions from your children (in two categories this year! Ages 10 & under and 11-16.
Please note their age with the submission so we can get them properly entered in the correct category). Allow their youthful creativity to flow.
The names of the children's submissions will be placed in a hat and drawn randomly. Those submissions aren't - and should not be - competitive. They should have fun with no other concerns! But we love encouraging them to exercise their imaginations and creative skills.
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