halloween
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Anyone who knows me, or is one of our neighbors, knows my husband and I LOVE Halloween. Using the word “love” here. Even before we had a kiddo to celebrate with us, we had parties, decorating, visited Salem, MA and generally enjoyed Halloween. Now, with a kid, it’s even more fun. With the addition of getting costumes, trick or treating, giving out candy in a great trick or treat neighborhood, and “booing” which I didn’t know was a thing until 2020, it’s such a blast!
Indoor decor
A few of the spooky wreaths I made for indoor decorating
Our indoor decor usually consists of a collection of haunted houses we put on the hearth and mantle. I run a set of battery powered lights inside to illuminate them. They hold tea lights, which I find inconvenient and a bit dangerous. I have tried battery powered tea lights, but this is also inconvenient (to turn them each on and off) and I inevitably forget to turn them off and waste a lot of candles/batteries.
Some of my favorite things are these amazing haunted houses. I use LED lights to save on battery-powered candles
We also have a set of Halloween wreaths I’ve made over the years. I’m working on a set of instructions and will update here when I finish. The wreath in the upper left corner is a styrofoam wreath wrapped in black satin ribbon, with spider ribbon wrapping around that. I glued spider webs onto the back and placed a spider in the middle. The wreath on the right is a flat. wood wreath, painted black. I glued the orange ribbon every few inches to create a lifted effect. I glued the black cat, which I painted, to the back. The wreath on the bottom is a flat, wood wreath, painted black. I bought black roses which I pulled off the stems and glued them to the wreath. The leftover stems were used in a flowerless Halloween bouquet, which is wrapped with black satin ribbon.
Outdoor decor
We have experimented a lot over the years. I love the inflatables but don’t find they last more than a season, so I have a tough time spending the money. Here’s a few things that have worked for us:
1, Projectors - I really love these. They last even through snow in New England in October. Yes, that’s a thing. We hook ours up to a new, grounded outside plug, but before we had that, we ran an extension cord from the garage and put it on a timer. The timer helped not waste electricity all night long. The spooky ghost effect on our garage is really great. If you wait until the season is over, you can buy them pretty inexpensively.
Front graveyard with the bones holding the tombstones
2. Pallet prison - We took an old wood pallet we have, wrapped orange Halloween lights around it, and pulled faux cobwebs over it. After that, we laid it against the house, plugged it in to our outside, grounded plug (before we had this plug, we ran an extension cord through a nearby window), and weaved a bag o’ bones. I think the effect is pretty eerie.
3. Graveyard - The graveyard has moved around from flower bed to flower bed over the years, but always makes an appearance. Something about it being among all the dead and drying flowers makes it extra creepy. Our only issue is that it gets windy here and though we’ve always found everything, our tombstones and skeleton have made their way down the street and into our neighbors’ yards.
Dolores swinging from a shepherd’s hook in the front graveyard
4. Dolores - For me, Dolores is by far the creepiest thing in our Halloween yard. I made her from a mannequin head, ripped old t-shirts, and tea stained cheesecloth. We shine a solar spotlight on her at night. The first year, we hung her from a tree, but sometimes she’s hard to see because the leaves haven’t fallen yet. Last year, we hung her from a shepherd's pole and let me tell you, at night, when she’s blowing in the wind and looks disembodied, I run inside. She’s scary.
I’m working on a set of instructions and will update here when I finish.
5. Spiders - Generally spiders don’t bother me. If they’re in the house, it means they are killing other bugs. Big spiders are gently picked up and put outside. However, my younger sister dreads spiders, so I thought it would be fun to add some spiders to our menagerie of Halloween horror. The best spiderweb idea came from a blog called South Lumina Style where they use Trenton Mills beef netting for the spiderweb. It provides huge spiderwebs that last year after year. We added a few spiders in key spots. I also made spider eggs, because I actually do find those a bit creepy. Like with Dolores, I try to make my outdoor decorations durable so they can withstand the New England fall weather (wild temp swings, rain, and wind). I made them from jumbo Styrofoam balls, white pantyhose, and little black plastic spiders.
I’m working on a set of instructions and will update here when I finish.
6. Sam - Part of our Halloween fun is watching horror movies like the cult classic Trick r Treat which is a 3-story anthology that follows Sam, a footie-wearing demon, throughout the stories. He is somehow cute and creepy all at once. I made him using an upside down plastic jack o’ lantern, burlap, and a set of footie pajamas filled with plastic bags. Why the plastic bags? Again, I wanted him to be able to withstand the weather and last for multiple seasons. So far, so good. At night, it looks like some creepy kid is sitting on the bench alone. GAH!
I’m working on a set of instructions and will update here when I finish.
7. Jack o’ Lanterns - What Halloween decorations would be complete without a multitude of jack o’ lanterns. Click here for a great history of the origin of jack o’ lanterns. Here’s a montage of the many we’ve carved together as a family over the years.
