Halloween Decor 2014

As soon as we are done celebrating Baby Girl's birthday at the end of August, I exchange the birthday for my fall decor.  I leave up the fall for all of September, then as soon as October hits I get out the Halloween!  I keep out my pumpkins and leafy things, but take down all of my 'fall' photos to replace with Halloween photos.  I also add in all of my Halloween items.  I have found that if I leave every bit of fall out with the Halloween, things get too cluttered.

I'll leave it up Halloween through the end of October, then switch back to fall afterward.  I have a few Thanksgiving items that I bring out for November as well.....You can see that I'm not at all particular!  ;)

Last week we had a dark, rainy, thundery afternoon. It was perfect for Halloween decorating!
I made some cocoa, turned on the Scentsy warmers (with pumpkin ginger wax cubes), put the Little Man down for a nap and got to it.  Take a look!

Dining Room Table

Here I left my ceramic pumpkin and milk glass pedestal bowl full of gourds, but switched out the floral centerpiece.  If you remember from my fall decor post (you can read it here), the vase previously held colorful fall foliage and was filled at the bottom with buckeyes.

I took everything out and started over.  Now the vase is filled with black roses and ornamental grass.  In the bottom I tucked in a few fuzzy spiders.  Very Halloween appropriate, don't ya think?

The roses and ornamental grass were treasure hunting finds from a few years back.  The spiders were actually a fishing line garland that I cut apart.  I found them on clearance at a grocery store for $1 a few years ago as well.  The packaging showed them hanging from a ceiling in a straight line.  Because they were strung with fishing line, it looked like they were floating.  Pretty cool, but I wanted them to be more versatile.  I bought two packs, cut them apart and now stick them all over the place.  It just depends upon my mood ;)

 Kitchen Stove.

I like to decorate the stove.  It is the heart of the home and I think it should be dressed up for the holidays.  Baby Girl looked at it and said that now it looks like a witch's stove, perfect!

 

 A close-up of the stove items.

Festive dishtowels, a jar of candy corn and a jack-o-lantern luminary.  I like for my kitchen items to be food related when possible, especially candy or sweet treats!

The dishtowels are from Dollar Tree.  I love Dollar Tree for holiday dishtowels!  For a couple of dollars you get cute and fun linens that really jazz up the kitchen.  We don't actually use them for hand washing though as they don't hold up well. I keep a hand towel next the sink and stove for daily use, and hang our decorative towels from the oven door handle.

Here's a tip:  I don't actually buy 'kitchen' towels ever.  They are too thin and don't hold up to our frequent use.  We are a family that washes our hands often, and regular dish towels get soaked quickly.  I buy bathroom hand towels in colors that go with the kitchen and use them instead.  They are a lot thicker, softer and hold up better.  Even still, I end up changing the towels in the kitchen at least once a day!  

So what about the bathrooms?  I use a standard size bath towel as a  hand towel, and we use bath sheets for bathing....like I said earlier, I'm not at all particular!  :D

The faux candy corn is from decorative pics intended to be placed into floral arrangements.  I bought the pics from the florist I used to work for and cut the little 'candies' off.  I think the pics were around $1 each, I bought them during the after holiday mark-down.

This jack-o-lantern luminary (and the one you will see in a bit) I found treasure hunting.  They were each .50

A little more kitchen.

Top Left:  Here you can see my Halloween cookie cutters that hang above the counter.  I have a ton of cookie cutters for every holiday, season and occasion. Whenever possible I like to work them into the decor.  The cheap plastic ones I keep in storage for actual use, but the pretty metal ones I like to put out for the holidays.  It's another way to decorate in the kitchen with food related items.  

These are Wilton brand cookie cutters.  I can't remember how much they were, but I know I found them on clearance at Wal-Mart.

Bottom left:  I have another jack-o-lantern luminary that I tucked into the window sill.  I moved it here to spread the decor around the kitchen, but I don't actually light a candle in it while at the window.  With the fabric of the faux violets nearby and the gauzy curtains above, I'm too nervous about starting a fire!  So in the evening I put it on the stove top when I want to light it up.  As long as you are not cooking, the stove top is a nice safe place for lit candles.  There isn't anything nearby to catch fire and it's out of the reach of little hands.

Right:  My giant, ceramic, Halloween cupcake cookie jar!  This was a gift from former co-workers, and I love it.  Seriously, I give it a little hug each time I unpack it!  It's very happy sitting next to the stove where the jack-o-lantern on top can watch the comings and going of the kitchen.  Inside I stash our pumpkin carving tools...I don't know where else to put them :) We only use them once a year, so they don't need to be cluttering up the kitchen drawers and if I don't pull them out of storage right away, I'll forget I even have them...yes this has happened...:D

So where do the cookies go?  I never use 'cookie jars'.  Unless they have a really good seal, the cookies quickly harden.  I like our cookies to stay soft, so I put them in a Rubbermaid container in the fridge.  Does the cool temperature of the fridge help keep them longer?  I honestly have no idea.

Why then do I put them in the fridge?  Because I hate clutter!  Food items go either in the pantry or the fridge, not all over the counters.  I like clean, open counters and table tops.  Open space gives the eye a place to rest, which allows for the mind to rest, which is oh so much more relaxing.

Because infancy is such a short time, Little Man's baby food is actually on one of the counter tops right now.  Gasp!  He goes through at least three containers a day and when I grocery shop I buy food for two weeks at a time.  That's a lot of baby food and there isn't room in the fridge or pantry.  Let me tell you, I seriously considered for a minute sticking it out in the garage fridge...oh how I love my counter space...Maybe I should change the title to this post to, "Ok, so maybe I am particular"...nah!

Now back to the fall decor! 

Buddy the Snake

Buddy is the corn snake that lives in our kitchen.  He enjoys Halloween too, so he gets his own spooky skull to slither around on :D  You can see him in the photo on the left; holiday decorating makes him very thirsty!

Moving back into the dining room.....  

Here on the big window sill I have a few Halloween jars filled with spooky fun.  A jarred spider and a collection of miniature skeletons add to the atmosphere.  Baby Girl loves these skeletons, she plays with them like they are Barbie Dolls!

The spider is from the garland I mentioned earlier.  The skeletons were a Dollar Tree purchase.

Meet Mr. Who

Mr. Who is the owl that lives with us during Halloween.  He is very realistic.  I found him on clearance a few years ago, before we even had children.  The night I bought him, Husby happened to be getting home late.  It was well into fall by this time and so the nights got good and dark pretty quickly.  I positioned Mr. Who as though he was sitting on one of the porch chairs, turned off the porch light, went inside and waited (while peeking out of the window).  Pretty soon Husby arrives home, walks up to the door and then suddenly sees this huge black owl.  That my friends, is the night I learned that Husby is proficient at karate....:D :D :D  

Mr. Who survived being kicked across the yard and now happily helps us decorate every year.  And every year I dissolve into giggles as I remember Mr. Who's 'welcome home party'.  Even now I had to take a break from typing because I started laughing too hard.  Ahhh, I have way too much fun with my life!

Dining Room

Here you can see the corner of the dining room that Mr. Who presides over.  This is where we have a few pumpkins and a cauldron full of naughty jack-o-lanterns.  I keep our carving pumpkins inside because when left outside the squirrels always eat away at them.  

Two of the pumpkins here are real and the tall one in the back is fake.  I found it treasure hunting for only .50

We have a lot of fun with the cauldron.  Just the other day Baby Girl and I made jack-o-lantern stew for the goblins and ghosties we invited over for lunch ;)

Pirate Chests!

So in addition to flowers and cupcakes, I also love pirates.  I'm multifaceted like that ;)  Because of my adoration for pirates, I have been given these awesome pirate chests as gifts.  I wasn't sure how to use them at first, but then I realized they would go well with my Halloween decor.  Now they come out every year too.

The top one was a gift from my brother.  Inside I have foam skeleton pieces and a tattered map of the West Indies.  This was a new map that I wrinkled up to look old and worn.  I also used a lighter to burn the edges a bit, really giving it that tattered look.

The bottom chest was a gift from my parents, and is a replica of a chest owned by the pirate Jack Rackham.  (Also known as 'Calico Jack', he sailed the Caribbean in the late 16 and early 17 hundreds....ok, ok, I'll stop now!)  Inside this chest I have another set of foam bones.  I am on the look out for 'treasure' that I can add to these as well. I think it would be fun to fill them with coins and jewels!

Pumpkin Buckets

In another corner I stacked up these treat buckets.  Baby Girl and Little Man each have an orange one, and Baby Girl also has a pink one.  We will be adding a blue one for Little Man this year as well.  There isn't really anything special about these other than they make me smile!  

I think decor should be personal to the family that owns the space.  Having things look 'department' store is all well and nice, but until you add in those personal, memory invoking pieces it just isn't finished :)  This is why I use things like personal framed photographs that relate to the holiday, and even keep their adorable out grown clothing items if possible.  I have used boots in the spring, baby hats for winter and you know how I like to make clothing into quilts!  Life is about making wonderful memories.

Skeleton Wreath

Remember these leafy wreaths from my fall post?  I leave them up during October and simply layer the Halloween wreath on top of it.

I bought a package of foam bones for $1.  (They are the same kind foam bones that I tucked into the pirate's chests).   I used a Dollar Tree wreath as a base and glued the bones in place.  It got the job done, but it looked a little morbid.  I like things to be fun-spooky, not scary or gory, so something had to be done!  I pulled out a little black tulle and wrapped it around the bones.  The tulle helped to soften the look of the wreath and make it a little more friendly.  I am happy with the results but I think the skeleton needs a little hat.  I'm on the look out for something suitable!

A few electrically lighted Jack-o-lanterns.

It was so dark that day during the thunderstorms that at one point I was able to light the night time decor.  Thank you Mother Nature for setting the mood perfectly!

Coffee Table Books

I love to make the holidays fun and exciting for the kids, so I also have books for each season.  I keep them packed away after the holiday is over, so each year when I pull them back out it's like getting new books.  Baby Girl found these right away when she came home from school that day!

Halloween Ducks

I found these three Halloween ducks at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago for $1 each.  The towels were a treasure hunting find at .25 each.  They are very tiny and we don't actually use them, but they are cute folded over the edge of the tub.  I love having a little bit of Halloween in the kids bathroom too, it makes things so much fun :)

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed our version of Halloween.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014