I love Halloween. LOVE it. The smell of face paint combined with an itchy wig just gets me giddy. I love to surround myself in the decor, and when I say I surround myself, I do not mean that I stream fake cobwebs over every inch of my house, hang witches and ghosties from every tree, and try to make my front yard look like a cemetary. Honestly, I don't dig that. Here are some wonderful ideas for Halloween decor that I really DO dig:
1. Tattered books and Tarnished Silver
Take down all the year-round decor and use your landing spaces to group candles and tarnished silver. Add a tattered book, and a little spider for the finishing touch!
2. Creepy Art
It should still be art. A glitter fabric mural with a cartoon witch may be cute, but going abstract is what will really blow your guests away.
3. Magic Potion Jars
I've seen this done a few ways and it's always fantastic. Fill up mason jars with eyeballs, skulls, or worms from Archie McPhee or your local Dollar Store. Spray paint wine bottles black and make a new label that describes your poison of choice, line up antique apothecary bottles for a more vintage appeal, or stop over at Dot & Bo for some pre-made poison bottles.
4. Create a focal point
Every home should have a focal point anyway, so here's your chance to have some real fun with it. Pull the pretty candles and picture frames off the entry table and go a little overboard. But, just a little. Keep your cool!
5. Take it outside
Okay, here's where people lose it. Inflatable spiders, boards on the windows, cackling witches, and 50 gravestones in the front yard. Honestly, even as a kid I was thinking "wow, that's fun... but totally cheesy". My favorite trick-or-treat houses looked like REAL haunted houses! So, while we can't all create beautiful mesh wire ghosts in the front yard, a lesson can be learned from this amazing artwork. It is beautiful and haunting because it is simplified. Three of these are subtle in a decent sized front yard. Cramming together twenty of them with giant bats and a spider the size of the SUV... yes, it's fun, but it's not exactly creepy.
6. Bones in a jar
Okay it's a bit of a repeat from what I was saying in #3, but it further proves my point. Some bones in a jar offers a subtly creepy vibe to a an otherwise sophisticated space.
7. Haunt your doorstep with ravens
Forget the vinyl door cover with bright red "blood" and opt for something more subtle by placing a few ravens in and around your porch decor.
8. Cozy up between Trick-or-Treaters under a black throw
Not only do you get to snuggle up with something warm, but toss it over the corner of the sofa to add to the ambiance!
9. Rubber snakes
Okay, first you have to promise me that if you do this, the only other thing on your front porch are your jack-o-lanterns. This idea loses its fun if it is bombarded with other ideas. Place a bunch of dollar store rubber snakes under the doormat for a startle!
10. Add a Halloween tree
Christmas trees are great, but who says it has to stop there? Let's bring the outside indoors with a wonderful Halloween tree! You could even leave a few creepy "presents" below the tree!
