For those of us who can’t wait to bust out our bag of decorating tricks at any moment, Halloween season is one of the best times of year. It allows creative people a chance to really let their imaginations run wild, with one-of- a-kind displays featuring your favorite creepy crawly characters and props. While you can find inspiration for your own decorations just about anywhere right now (or even shell out tons of cash on pre-made ones) we’d like to offer you some easy and cost effective ideas on turning your beautiful home into a Halloween haunt.
Cheesecloth is your Best Friend
A lot of people are tempted to stop by Halloween specialty stores that pop up around September to buy their decorations, and we can definitely see why: it’s easy! But there are a number of ways to make your house the most talked about stop during trick-or-treat night without breaking the bank. A special little product that can pull double duty on Halloween is cheesecloth. Cheesecloth, shredded a little with the use of a knife or scissors makes for absolutely perfect spider webs, and will cost you less than buying those individual wrapped bags of synthetic webs. There’s also a certain charm visually in their appearance that just can’t be captured by today’s standards (that, and they’re a million times easier to clean up!) Another awesome idea utilizing cheesecloth is by making ghosts that seem to float effortlessly on the wind. Simply take a white balloon and tether it to anywhere of your choosing before draping a sheet of cheesecloth over it; you can use tape or glue to keep it from slipping off. Once again, the effect is much more whimsical and original than something that anyone can pick up at the store. If you’re unsure about using a balloon and are looking for something a little more durable for yard display, a large Styrofoam ball can be perfect for a ghost head.
Fun with Gourds
Pumpkin carving is a Halloween must, and while it just doesn’t feel right to celebrate without your standard triangle-eyed jack-o-lantern, you might want to give some of our ideas a whirl as well. Don’t underestimate the use of non-pumpkin based objects when creating your jack-o-lantern, things like fake plastic Dracula teeth or googly eyes can create a cute and funny pumpkin display for your front porch that children will love. Another option if you’re pressed for time is to not carve your pumpkin at all and instead simply decorate the outside. Our favorite method is by spraying the pumpkin with an aerosol adhesive before sprinkling a shimmery super-fine glitter over it. By using a neutral colored small flake glitter, you’ll allow the pumpkin’s natural color to come through, with just the hint of shimmer. Another option is to spray paint the pumpkin, which I know sounds kind of crazy until you see the after effects. Glossy black and metallic purple make for great Halloween themed decorative pumpkins and you can even use stencils to create creepy images on its surface. If you’re looking for something a little more sophisticated, metallics in gold, silver, and copper create the perfect palette for harvest themed pumpkins which can be used through Halloween, into Thanksgiving, and all the way until the end of fall.
Grave Ideas
There are a number of great Halloween decorations you can easily make from scratch, and the place to start is at a craft shop like Joann Fabric, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby. Almost all of these stores offer a plethora of supplies; literally everything you need to complete your spooky displays.
If you want to turn your immaculate lawn into a decrepit graveyard complete with aging tombstones, simply take a sheet of Styrofoam from any craft store and make your own! Remember that the thickness of the Styrofoam will decide the durability of your stone, and that it will have to withstand rain, wind, and whatever the weather does for the month. Using whatever you’re comfortable with (we suggest a box cutter, but it’s really up to you) saw out the shape of the stone; you may want to do a quick Google image search before deciding on your shape. Remember, not all stones are alike and they don’t necessarily have to be perfect to get the effect you’re going for across. From here, all you need to do is spray paint the Styrofoam grey (check the can before to make sure the spray isn’t corrosive enough to eat the foam) and use a sharpie to write in the details of your tombstone. If you want the stone to look a little more authentic, you can use a knife to carve out the words you’ve drawn on, or even take a lighter colored grey paint and sponge it onto the stone to make it look like real stone. From there, it’s simply a matter of attaching the stone to a couple stakes, and then pounding them into the ground. This method is quick, cheap, and effective; store bought stones can sell anywhere from $10 to $20 at a specialty shop. Our solution can give you multiple stones just for the cost of Styrofoam sheets and paint.
There are a number of other sites out there that can give you ideas on making your home come alive for Halloween that we recommend. Martha Stewart’s holiday page has a lot of ingenious, easy solutions to decorating for Halloween, as well as some truly delicious recipes if you’re going to be entertaining. HGTV as well has their own page dedicated to the spookiest day of the year, and also offers tips on displays both inside and out, as well as food and costumes. Also, check out Better Homes and Garden’s Halloween page as well for some of the cutest decorating ideas we’ve ever seen! No matter how you choose to decorate your home, we wish you an Outstanding October and a Happy Halloween!
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