Halloween Decorations

It's time to pull out your tried-and-true Halloween decorations from years past. If you haven’t stored them all in one organized place this year, start finding them now. And, be sure you do save them together after this Halloween, so they’ll be ready for next year.

Make your house as creepy as you can. Dim your lights or use colored lights (red, green, blue, or a combination of red & blue in one lamp is great) - just be sure it's safe to navigate the rooms. Use flicker bulbs in chandeliers or candelabra. Place lighted candles in as many spots as you can safely monitor.

Place creepy creatures everywhere for startling visitors - bats, rats, bugs, eyeballs, fingers - everything is game this time of year!

Decorate throughout your house - Halloween soaps, dishtowels, decals on mirrors...

Old tree trunks or cut sections of thick limbs make great stands for your Jack O' Lanterns.

Hollow out mini pumpkins and use as votive candle holders. Paint or carve them if you wish, but I prefer the plain ones. (They’re also great for Thanksgiving.)

Write scary Halloween messages or draw body outlines on your front walk using washable fluorescent paint or fluorescent chalk. Use a black lights to enhance the effect.

Create an authentic Halloween centerpiece by filling vases with dead flowers, brown leaves, and empty branches. Tie a black bow around it and you’re good to go.

Some spider web is a must for your party decorations and haunted areas. It’s cheap, easy-to-use, and very effective. Stretch it into corners, over lampshades (not on the bulbs). Add spiders and other bugs.

Spread some talcum powder around as dust to add to the effect.

Hang long strands of white thread on your porch to simulate spider webs. Make them long enough so that little kids will be able to feel them, too. Spray them with water to add an extra creepy factor.

Make a scarecrow for your front porch. Just stuff jeans and an old shirt with newspaper; use a pumpkin for the head. If you can find it, a bale of hay is a perfect perch. Add some straw to the stuffing for effect.

Use mini ears of Indian corn, mini pumpkins and gourds to embellish your Halloween table and front door. In fact, they are great throughout autumn.

Tie small glow sticks to string attached to helium balloons and let them sail over your house for spooky lights in the sky. Check here for the how-to’s:  Goblin Light article

Use black lights wherever you can (not the screw-in type – you need the fluorescent ones).

Cover your furniture with old white sheets - old or new, it doesn't matter.

Set a nasty table by covering it with a black tablecloth & spreading with spider webs. Use a carved Jack o' Lantern or creepy candelabra as a centerpiece. Among the dishes you're serving, add a tray with a fake arm on it, some fake body parts under napkins, bowls of fake eyeballs and such. Carve guests' names into small gourds for placecards.

Use a plastic cauldron partially filled with hot water, then add some dry ice and a glow stick to create a great porch decoration or centerpiece for your table. Just follow some safety guidelines.

Decorate your vehicle: Hang a wreath or decoration on the front grill, have a Halloween slogan license plate holder made, make an antenna ball out of a little pumpkin! See how at Halloween-Online.

When choosing a pumpkin to carve for Halloween, make sure that you find one that fits the carving idea you have. If using a template, make sure that it will fit. You might even want to take your pattern with you. We pretty much have to take what we can get here, and choose (or alter) the pattern to match the pumpkin.

Keep all your pumpkin carving tools in a tool box and keep them available year-round. Carving is not just for pumpkins! You can carve watermelon and other melons, squashes, green peppers, etc. Keep them clean and sharpened and you’ll be ready to make the perfect centerpiece for a party any time of the year.

If you have the yard space, grow your own pumpkins for next year. After you have picked them, leave the vines as part of your yard decorations. See how at Pumpkin-Patch.com.

Make a Halloween banner for your front yard or porch from felt. Be cute or creepy - it doesn't matter!

Set out Halloween luminarias made from paper bags filled with sand & lighted with votive candles or light sticks - either spell out scary messages and warnings, or decorate with Halloween pictures. Martha Stewart has great instuctions.

Add artificial ravens and crows to the tops of tombstones, in the trees, anywhere they can sit and stare at your visitors. You can find them at most arts and crafts stores, department type stores, just about everywhere! Build a Halloween beacon to draw trick or treaters to your house. It’s easy to make using a large plastic jack-o-lantern, some ABS pipe and a few assorted attachment pieces. See instructions at Halloween-Online.

Use black lights and accessories such as fluorescent paint and body spray to add a special touch to your Halloween decorations. Check out yardhaunter.com.

Decorate your door first – with a Halloween wreath or door cover.

Fill your windows with scary silhouettes, either made from black paper or cloth, or purchased. They'll be nicely emphasized by a light from behind.

Add some color to your jack-o-lantern display by using some of the many varieties of pumpkins that are out there. Try out the Cinderella, Snowball,  or Atlantic Giant. For more info, check here.

Drop piles of bones and a skull in your yard or along the walkway.

Make a scarecrow (or several) to put in your yard. Add bales of hay, cornstalks and Indian corn for a perfect display.

Use a programmable doorbell and add recorded music, a spooky voice or wicked sound effects.

Cobwebs in packages are easily found and add great atmosphere. They are inexpensive decorations, too - put them everywhere. Pull and stretch until they are just thin strands.

If you have a bigger, thicker spider web, add a giant spider and place a strobe or flicker light behind it - it will look like the spider is moving.

Use your garage for setting up a small walk-through haunt. You can turn it into anything you want, a mad scientist lab, a vampires tomb, a grave yard.


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