The time old argument is whether Halloween is an evil holiday has become so hum-drum to me that I ignore it nowadays. Instead, I embrace what I know and that my ancestors were one of the first to celebrate this now beloved holiday. A few years ago, I celebrated by teaching my children some of the old Scottish traditions surrounding the holiday and the fall season but this year, I'm keeping it Americana. It's important to me to not only celebrate where you distant ancestors came from but also your closer families traditions. One of the biggest parts of Halloween tradition to me is to of course, decorate!
I would say the scarier the better, but being a mom of a toddler and two older kids that are a little on the sensitive side (or at least were in the past), I don't believe that's the best of ideas right now but, trust me when they all get older...our house will be awesome! For now, we still have our scary/spooky aspects but the most important part is to let the kids partake in the raising of the decor and to spookify our home! I have to say, my husband is such a good sport! I'm not sure whether he actually enjoys the decorations as much as I do or if he just enjoys the stops, stares, ooh's and ah's from the neighbors but, he really helps out a lot! As a matter of fact, when he's not here I find the kids and I just do bare minimum and leave it at that!
The hard truth is, no matter what we are going through, where we are living or how much/little we have we will always find a way to make any holiday happy and celebrate that we are here for another year! So, below are a few tips to help spookify your home this haunted holiday season!
There's my silly oldest and youngest posing the night they created the "haunted graveyard" in the front yard. They were both so excited and great sports to partake in putting all of the decorations up for the SECOND TIME! The double hurricanes hitting our state made it difficult and we were very late in the game putting up all of the outdoor decorations.
FOR INDOORS:
Try to keep it moderately simple. Outdoors is for the "crazy all over the place" decor. Inside should be kept minimal but still reflect your personality and likes! For instance, this year we acquired my grandmother's piano (that she had been asking me to take for over ten years). We also found out that this beauty is over 120 years old! So what better way to show off its new home than to make it a "haunted piano"...figuratively speaking of course. Let's hope it's not really haunted!
It's kind of a scramble of objects this year because we just adopted two kittens and the LAST thing I wanted was their tiny claws on the piano so the very top shelf is adorned with beloved items and my viola to deter them from climbing up there!
But, the second shelf took on a whole new life when I decided to make that our "haunted piano" focus! I started with placing decorations that I absolutely did not want the toddler to get a hold of! Next, I arranged and rearranged all of the decor several times. Try to place the taller objects on either end and the middle to give focal points. Then place smaller objects next to/in between. Finish off with the tiniest of decor in the front. Lastly, have some fun with those cheap spider webs from the Dollar Tree! Stretch, stretch, stretch those pesky webs until see-through! The stringier the better!
Now for the fireplace (if you have one). If you don't...who cares?! Pick your main focal point for your living room/any room and start there! For ours, I kept it simple. I placed a few candles on top of the fireplace mantle, strung cute ghost/pumpkin lights from the bottom with Halloween garland, hung witch signs/caged skeleton on either side and finished it up with purple string lights which I ran from under the fireplace through the other lights. We also have a bookshelf to the left of the fireplace so why not add more to connect to the same power strip?! A glowing pumpkin on the wall + a string of skeleton lights sums it all up. It's such a beautiful sight when all of the lights are off at night!
After you finish your main points in your room, add a few extras to other parts! For our home, I added a battery operated mummy light string to the entrance of the dining room. So cute and super fun!
I then added a few small bits of Halloween decor and a witchy night puzzle that I had glued a few years ago to the back wall (aka my big cat wall)!
Also notice on either side of the piano I added spooky black netting to my lamps. A much loved extra!
Main room done! For extra fun, add other decorations throughout your home! I added a fun lantern handing from our dining room chandelier, window clings to the back door plus many other small fun items through the rest of the house!
Bottom line, have fun! Don't over do it indoors. Save that for outside! Make it look like Halloween threw up in your yard! Just kidding! Don't do that! Instead, go based on your landscape! Every year we do something different with ours and we add new stuff constantly! It keeps it exciting not only for us but also for our neighbors/friends!
Happy decorating!!
{Sarah B}
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