How To: Nightmare Before Christmas Holiday Door (to Halloween Town!)

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a BIG deal in our house. After watching it 375 times, I got the idea to add a Nightmare Before Christmas holiday door (to Halloween Town!) to one of our trees. And so… I did!

If you recall, at the beginning of the movie, there’s a jack-o-lantern “door” that opens (the nose is the knob!) and that’s how you enter Jack Skellington’s world! It’s one of seven holiday trees pictured in the film.

This was such an easy project and makes such an impact if you have a little one who loves the movie, or if you yourself do. It’s a sort-of spooky, totally iconic, makes you smile kind of front yard Halloween decoration.

And it’s really fun to pretend to open the door and “fall” into Halloween Town as we head out on our Halloween scavenger hunt walks. 😉 Learn how to make your own below!

Supplies You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make your Halloween Town door:

• 2mm EVA Foam (This foam is stronger than regular craft foam. Depending on the size of your tree, you could also use a flexible wood for this project!)
• Paint in Orange, Brown, Green, White
• Paint Brush
• Scissors
• Hot Glue
• Nails (for hanging)

Note: We live in Los Angeles where the weather is rather temperate. If you live where you have stronger weather at this time of year, you may want to consider outdoor paint or other materials that will hold up better over time in rain, snow, etc. 

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How To Make the Nightmare Before Christmas Holiday Door

Follow the steps below to create your door and transform a tree in your yard or community!

1. Cut the pumpkin shape out of your EVA foam. I just freehanded this. If you have a projector, you could project one of the images from the movie onto a wall and trace it.
2. Lightly sketch the face onto the foam.
3. Use the back of your paint brush, or the back of a pen, to “carve” grooves into the foam to give it the appearance of a tree’s texture, like it has in the movie.
4. Paint the pumpkin! I combined a few oranges, and made one part of it lighter to mirror the lighting in the movie. I used a dark brown color for the face shapes. Paint the stem a deep forest green.
5. For the nose, cut out three triangles. Hot glue them together, one on top of the other. Paint the stack a beige color. Let dry.
6. Hot glue the nose onto the pumpkin.
7. Use nails (or another method, depending on where you’re hanging it) to hang!

Photos by Jeff Mindell

We’re now on a mission to find a life size Jack Skellington to stand alongside this. And maybe a Zero. And a Sally. This is gonna get expensive quick, haha! 

And don’t worry, we’re already planning on swapping it for a Christmas Town door come November. 😉