I Refurbish Old Dolls Into Creepy Halloween Decorations

by Patrick Penrose Published Nov 12, 2025

I’m a full-time mother and amateur artist who tinkers with various media. While my passions are painting and beadwork, I’ve recently applied both interests toward a new hobby, refurbishing vintage porcelain dolls.

Since I live in a house with three guys, I sincerely try to keep the girly stuff to a minimum, but this October, I stumbled onto a Halloween decoration project that meets my girly needs, AND the guys love it. I found several of my old dolls from the ’70s and ’80s while sorting boxes at my childhood home, and decided to refurbish them as scary Halloween decorations. I gave each of the creepy dolls a new face, jewelry, and fancy little clothes, which I made using vintage fabrics belonging to my late grandmother, which some might say, make these kids’ toys even scarier.

When I saw the dolls, I immediately knew I wanted to do something spooky and Halloween-themed with them. My sister and I had just seen the movie IT, and I knew one of the dolls would be a Pennywise before the week was over. When I finished Baby Pennywise, I moved on to the next doll, then the next. When I ran out of dolls, I started crafting tiny props for them. Pennywise was given his balloon, and the other dolls were bestowed reading the material and tiny lanterns lit with led candles. The lanterns are tiny replicas of the larger versions I’ve made for my home, constructed with masking tape, wire, and leaves plucked from my East Texas garden.

The dolls subsequently, and completely on their own, formed a book club, and they’ve been meeting daily in my living room throughout the Halloween season. Together, they travel through time and discuss scary books. My kids check on them daily to see what they’ve summoned up. We’ve enjoyed them immensely and thought others might get a giggle out of them, too. We hope you enjoy them and wish you the happiest Halloween!