40 Outdoor Fall Decoration Ideas To Welcome Fall

Dreaming of fall already? We understand! Autumn brings abundant harvests, festive holidays, and that signature golden light.

When the weather eventually turns cooler, it’s the perfect time to welcome the season by decorating your home’s exterior—from porches and entryways to planters, patios, and front doors.

Get inspired for the changing season with some of our favorite outdoor fall decoration ideas below.

Plan ahead and celebrate the season beautifully when it arrives!

Decorate With Hay

Hay is the ultimate way to fill negative space when decorating your landscape for fall.

Pick up a bale from your local craft store and place it on your front porch surrounded by pumpkins, mums, cornstalks, and seasonal décor.

If you buy too much, use excess hay to make a DIY scarecrow by stuffing old clothes and finishing off the look with a straw hat.

Create a Miniature Pumpkin Patch

Bring the pumpkin patch to you by filling your landscape with a mix of in-season gourds.

Of course, orange is the most on-theme shade, but we suggest including a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes for added dimension.

You can find pumpkins in shades of white, beige, sage green, and even pink.

Turn Pumpkins Into Planters

Pumpkin Planter with succulents and flowers

Rather than keeping seasonal flowers in generic pots, plant them inside pumpkins instead.

To do so, start by hollowing out a pumpkin like you would when carving a jack-o’-lantern.

Next, fill the pumpkin with potting soil, then remove your plant from its current container and place it into the gourd.

Alternatively, you can hollow out the pumpkin and place the plant inside still in its original container.

Add Cozy Touches

Fall is all about embracing comfort—which you can do both inside and outside the home.

If you have furnishings under a covered porch, add a few decorative pillows and blankets to make your setup feel cozier.

Choose a pattern or color that calls to the season, like plaid or a rich brown.

Hang Cone Planters

Mums are perfect container plants, but if you have limited space on your front porch, consider displaying them in clone planters affixed to the side of your home instead.

It’s a stunning way to infuse your exterior with fall color without taking up space on a walkway or balcony.

Drape Some Garlands

fall porch colorful door garland pumpkins and gourds

Wrap seasonally inspired garlands around pillars and trellises, hang them from your front door, or weave them through the banister on the front of your steps.

No matter how you decorate with garlands, a display of cascading leaves and miniature pumpkins will add flair to any setting.

Display Jack-o’-Lanterns

Few fall activities are as exciting as selecting a pumpkin from your local pumpkin patch and bringing it home to carve.

Once it’s done, place a votive candle inside and leave it outside as décor.

You can carve classic triangle eyes and a toothy grin, or you take your pumpkin to the next level with shading, painting, and even embroidery.

Make Some Luminaries

Here’s a fun DIY décor project: Make luminaries to light the walkway leading up to your front door.

Start by collecting leaves and arranging them on top of colored-paper bags. Put a teaspoon of acrylic paint in a misting bottle, fill it halfway with water, and shake to combine.

Next, spray a paper bag with the mixture, then let it dry. Remove the leaves and place faux candles inside the bags to illuminate them.

Craft a Pumpkin Wreath

Make a wreath you can display all fall season long with this harvest-inspired iteration, which is made by bundling dried caspia.

Cut the caspia stems to approximately 3 inches long; then, bundle three or four stems together.

Insert the bundles into a grapevine wreath base using floral wire.

Finish off the look by spraying a few small pumpkins with copper paint then secure them to the wreath with hot glue.

Set Up Window Boxes

Window boxes with fall decor and flowers

Complement your front porch, balcony, or patio by filling window boxes with fall blooms.

Choose flowers that thrive in mild climates, like asters and violas.

Keep in mind that the the soil in window boxes dries out quickly because there is less volume, so you’ll likey need to water your plants daily.

Go Monochromatic

If you like a more understated palette when decorating, consider going monochromatic with a hue that encompasses fall: orange.

Lining your landscape with pumpkins and orange mums will encompass the season without opting for more obvious motifs, like bats and witch hats.

Make a Flower Arrangement

Turn fall foliage into a beautiful bouquet, which you can display on a porch table or on your back patio.

Use fall branches and foliage to give the bouquet dimension, then use fall blooms from your cut garden to serve as focal and secondary flowers.

Incorporate Pumpkin Motifs

Go beyond living gourds and jack-o’-lanterns and incorporate faux pumpkin-themed décor into your outdoor details as well.

Copper pots shaped like pumpkins and planters with pumpkin faces call to the season in an elevated way.

Rustic Potted Plants

mum and kale arrangements in galvanized buckets near door

Galvanized planters add a rustic touch to any outdoor fall decor.

Fill each one with plenty of seasonal plants, like mums, flowering kale, and pansies, then showcase them on your front steps.

We love this fall container garden’s mix of colors and varieties.

Harvest Stairway

Gather galvanized buckets to host combinations of pumpkins, cabbage plants, and Chinese lantern plants.

Fill the containers partway with soil; this will help anchor the cabbages and give the pumpkins a boost.

Guide visitors through your harvest entryway by trimming your porch railing with a homemade garland crafted from hemp-wrapped coiled wire, baby gourds, and seeded eucalyptus leaves.

Jumbo Jack-o’-Lantern

Create supersized pumpkins from two wire baskets filled with gourds. To make this harvest display:

Fill baskets with gourds; top one with a thin board.
Hold the board in place while flipping the basket to sit on top of its mate.
Slide the board out and bind the baskets with wire.
Use driftwood or a piece of a thick branch for the pumpkin stem.
Add a felt face with hot glue for Halloween, then remove it to transition fall decor into the holidays.

Crow’s Nest

Black pumpkins with gold stencils on front porch

Glam up your outdoor pumpkin decor by making it shimmer with liquid gold leaf.

To make the gold leaf fall pumpkins:

Tape off the pumpkins’ stems using painters tape.
Paint the pumpkins black. Let dry.
Place a crow stencil on one pumpkin and trace it with a white pencil. Paint the crow with liquid gold leaf.

Decorate the other two pumpkins with a random arrangement of feather tattoos.

Tip: To make your crow pumpkins last year after year, look for craft pumpkins in shades of black or white.

Pumpkin Candle Holders

Light the way to your front door with a fall candle display.

All it takes to make this modern twist on a jack-o’-lantern is a pumpkin or stout gourd, a glass chimney (we found ours in the lighting section at a hardware store), a candle, and hemp-covered coiled wire from a crafts store.

Carve a shallow hole for the pillar candle, place the glass on the tip, then use U-pins to make holes to hold the wire.

These pretty gourd candles also make eye-catching centerpieces for fall and Thanksgiving tables.

Pumpkins with Personality

Welcome visitors with a friendly family of cheerful squash in your yard.

Cast-off hardware—such as drawer pulls and spigot handles—plus a few workbench extras, like a grinding brush and expired fuses, bring the season’s harvest to life.

Secure the hardware with nails, or use a hot glue gun as a backup.

DIY Pumpkin Planter

Spruce up your outdoor pumpkin decor with a chic vase blossoming with fall florals.

The DIY decoration thrives with a combination of autumn flowers, ornamental grasses, and sweet-smelling herbs.

This outdoor planter is perfect for your Halloween porch or can be used as subtle backyard decor throughout the fall season.

Seeded Eucalyptus Wreath

Create a layered Halloween display with hay bales, colorful pumpkins, tall ornamental grass, and a stunning fall wreath.

The outdoor pumpkin decorations accentuate this simple DIY wreath built from refreshing eucalyptus and threaded with berries and mini pine cones.

Arrange the wreath in the center of your door and hang with a large ribbon. Swap the ribbon for something more festive to transition this pretty wreath into winter.

Vintage Silverware Pumpkin

Pumpkin with "Fall" spelled with silverware

Welcome autumn with this eye-catching outdoor pumpkin decor idea.

Head out to your local vintage store and pick up some small silverware.

Then, arrange them to spell “fall,” attach them to your pumpkin with wire or floral pins, and your creation is complete.

Welcoming Fall Chalkboard Sign

Chalkboard sign on door that says "Welcome, Fall"

This easy fall welcome sign requires just a small chalkboard, a little paint, and a pretty checkered ribbon.

Change your message to welcome guests to your autumn celebrations or wish trick-or-treaters a Happy Halloween.

Outdoor Pumpkin Decor

Pumpkins in various colors and sizes make beautiful outdoor fall decor when piled in a planter and placed near your porch or in the backyard.

If your planter is too big for your pumpkins, use a block of florists foam to balance the gourds at the top of the display.

Fall Natural Terrarium

A bell jar and a shallow terra-cotta bulb dish easily create a fall-inspired terrarium perfect for spotlighting your favorite natural elements.

We recommend starting your fall centerpiece with Spanish moss, small pumpkin decorations, and bright leaves.

Cornucopia Centerpiece

Transform a traditional cornucopia into an outdoor table centerpiece that’s wow-worthy for fall. Shop the supermarket for squash, shallots, onions, nuts, and pears.

Pile the Thanksgiving decorations in a woven basket that’s treated to withstand autumn weather, along with a few dried naturals from a crafts store, and place the display on any outdoor surface or use it as gorgeous fall home decor.

For a sweet-smelling fall centerpiece, add potpourri of your choice.

Pumpkin and Milkweed Outdoor Decoration

pumpkin milkweed outdoor fall decoration

Let nature set the table with this rustic fall centerpiece.

Fill a woven tray with small gourds, mini pumpkin decorations, and a glass vase filled with downy milkweed seeds.

Accent the backyard decor with calming shades of brown, gold, and orange.

Outdoor Window Box

window box fall display mums and white pumpkins

Transform a forgotten space into a fall window box filled with the season’s best blooms.

Here’s how to build a windowbox to decorate with your favorite autumn florals.

Fall Squash and Foilage

Pair bright orange squash with earthy pottery for an outdoor autumn decoration that will impress any guest.

Fill the vase with beautiful crab apple branches full of ripe fruits and lush leaves, and place it on a small table near your front door.

Decorative Fall Urn

Guests will ooh and aah over this gorgeous DIY autumn porch decor.

To make the fall decoration, cut a square of florists foam and place it inside a plastic urn or large hanging basket.

Cover with Spanish moss (available at crafts stores), keeping the moss in place with green pins.

Add a collar of burlap around the urn, and build your arrangement with artificial leaves, berries, Chinese lanterns, dried lotus pods, and other fall favorites.

Harvest Pumpkin Basket

Fall home decor is primarily associated with the brightly-hued harvest.

Fill a wicker or woven basket with your favorite outdoor pumpkin decor, colorful squash, and other bright gourds.

This display can be placed on your doorstep or backyard porch or used as a bountiful fall centerpiece.

Outdoor Maple Leaf Pumpkin

Why not get creative with your outdoor pumpkin decor ideas and dress up your doorstep with a sophisticated design that fits any Halloween or Thanksgiving theme?

Trace a maple leaf onto the pumpkin, then use a ribbon tool to scrape out the design of the leaf.

Be careful not to cut entirely through the pumpkin to keep your design fresh.

Backyard Holiday Getaway

backyard patio area with outside furniture

Decorate your back patio in a mix of warm hues and bright fall colors, and this effortless backyard decor theme will last from Halloween through Thanksgiving.

Buy fall mums and other seasonal plants that fit your color scheme, but don’t stop there!

Make your patio furniture and pillows match your plants and pots for a seasonal look that’s both fun and cohesive.

Halloween Outdoor Decor

front porch with spider webs and pumpkins

Get ready for your most gorgeous front door display yet.

These Halloween decorations and pumpkin pairings will upgrade any front porch from drab to dynamic.

Giant spiderwebs and lots of jack-o’-lanterns make this seasonal display bold and fun.

Gourd Candleholders

gourd candleholder tray with hedge apples

Gourds easily transform into candleholders by simply cutting off the tops and hollowing out the centers.

Set the decorative gourds alongside other natural fall elements, like hedge apples, in a tray for a beautiful outdoor fall centerpiece.

Autumn Raffia Wreath

Take the simple approach to fall outdoor decorating with our autumn-inspired wreath.

For this easy, eye-catching decoration, all you need are orange raffia, thin-gauge wire, and an unadorned twig or grapevine wreath.

Bundle strands of raffia and pinch in the middle. Twist wire around the pinched center and attach it to the wreath.

Continue all the way around the wreath, being sure to fluff both sides of the raffia bundles so they flow in the same direction as the twigs.

Fall Backyard Porch Decor

porch deck furniture with fall decor and flowers

Decorative lights aren’t just for Christmas anymore.

Add a string of outdoor lights to porch railings to illuminate your backyard landscaping and decorations on any crisp fall night.

This decorative backyard look is just as stunning for fall front yard decorations.

Pumpkin Wheelbarrow

welcome friends fall pumpkin porch display

A wooden wheelbarrow filled with gourds, dried leaves, and berry sprigs makes beautiful outdoor pumpkin decor.

Work with various pumpkin shapes and colors to achieve a vibrant display that captures the essence of fall.

Paint a “welcome friends” message on two large pumpkins and place them on top of the wheelbarrow.

Weave artificial berry vines around the wheelbarrow for a splash of stunning red.

Add Pumpkin Votives

Take your carved pumpkins up a notch or two and make them into elegant patterned votives.

Skip the scary face carvings, and instead go with a pattern like these polka dots added in various sizes with a cordless drill.

Mix in a variety of Cinderella pumpkins for a truly charming stoop.

Make a Mumkin

Pumpkins and mums are two classic Fall decorations, so why not combine the two?

This adorable display is known a “mumkin,” and makes a stunning, vivid decoration for your porch.

Design an Autumnal Entry

Create a fall scene on your front porch with an assortment of pumpkins and hay bales.

Stack hay bales vertically on either side of your front door as a base for eye-catching towers of pumpkins.

Then use metal baskets to display a cornucopia of gourds and squash.

Make Your Pumpkins Owlfully Cute

If you want to twist up your typical jack-o-lanterns, these owl pumpkins are an adorable switch on the classic.

With less mess and even more creativity, these will be a hit this season!

Create a Pumpkin Cooler

If you’re throwing a Halloween party, you’ve got to make this easy yet impressive pumpkin cooler.

Your guests will be talking about this for many Fall seasons to come, and it doesn’t take too much time or mess.

Layer Greenery

Not satisfied with a pumpkin or two? Go big.

Add leafy greenery like these ornamental cabbages to an assortment of pumpkins in varied hues, as well as a festive over-the-door green garland, to make a big front-door statement.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment with Color

Bountiful Container with Ornamental Kale and Cabbage

While the warmer colors are more common in traditional Fall decor, throwing in cooler colors can be a great way to add contrast and uniqueness to your porch.

This porch features a gorgeous blue cabbage head that creates a beautiful display.

Fill Up Urns with Pumpkins

For an easy way to incorporate pumpkins into your curb appeal this Fall, get some decorative urns and fill them to the brim with gorgeous orange pumpkins.

This is a no-fess yet stunning way to get a hint of Fall on your porch this season.

Hang a Garland

There’s nothing like an autumnal garland to instantly update your entry for fall.

The waxy green surface and rusty brown underside of magnolia leaves make a perfect combination for fall decor.

Magnolia garlands stay fresh for about a month if kept out of direct sunlight, and can be kept dried for years if handled carefully.

Plant Fall Flowers

For no-fail outdoor fall decor, look no further than fall-blooming plants and autumnal flowers in fiery hues.

The large blooms of these daisy mums add cheer to a planter.

Keep them blooming by placing in a sunny spot, deadheading spent flowers, and watering when dry.