Halloween decoration ideas usually call for pumpkins, bats and ghosts — but an origami gravestone is a charmingly different way to set the scene. It looks like a tiny Western tomb, the sort that Dracula might step out of under a full moon, and it is surprisingly quick to fold once you get the rhythm of it.

The best part is how customizable it is. Leave a little more white showing around the cross and the grave looks completely different, and you can play with the height and width to make your coffin tall and lean or short and round. Since one grave is so quick to make, folding several and joining them into a ring makes a lovely wreath for your door. Kids especially love watching the paper shrink down as they fold.

Learn how to fold a paper grave (coffin). It makes a wonderfully spooky decoration for Halloween.

The finished model looks like a Western grave — the kind you half-expect Dracula to climb out of at midnight.

It is very easy to fold, and the paper collapses down smaller and smaller along the way — which is why little kids seem to love it, happily folding it down to the tiniest size.

And tiny though it is, it looks adorable.

Because this grave (coffin) is so easy to fold, you can make several and join them into a ring for a wreath-like decoration. Let's get straight into folding the origami grave (coffin) for Halloween.

How to Fold an Origami Grave (Coffin)

This Western grave and coffin is folded from a single square of paper. You can use any color you like, though it is probably best to avoid anything too bright.

Fold the paper in half horizontally and then vertically so that you have two creases.

Fold the bottom-left corner inward, a few millimeters away from both the vertical and horizontal center lines.

Repeat with the other three corners, each a few millimeters from the creases. This makes the cross on the coffin.

Fold the left corner inward, about 1.5 cm from the vertical center line.

Turn the paper over as shown, then fold it in half along the center line so that the left side lands on the right.

Align the lines on the right edge and fold it toward the center.

When you unfold the half-fold again, you will see the symmetrical horizontal bar of the cross.

Fold the bottom corner up to set the length of the part below the vertical bar of the cross.

Fold it so that the top corners are aligned to the left and right, and make a crease.

Unfold and fold the top corner to the crease position.

Fold it down along the crease.

Turn it over and valley-fold the left and right sides along the dotted lines.

Bend the upper left and right corners inward.

Turn it over and the casket / grave is complete!

Nice work! How did yours turn out?

The grave looks completely different depending on how much white paper you leave showing, so try a few variations.

There is no fixed spot for the folds that set the width or the height, so you can make your coffin slim and tall or short and chunky. Have fun experimenting with different proportions.