GORE or GORGEOUS

HALLOWEEN...it's the ultimate opportunity for exceptional repurposing!  It’s amazing what you can find right at home that will set the stage for a great Halloween.  Pick your preferred decorating style from fun to freakish, classic to crazy.  Scout your house for items that will fit into your Halloween theme.  Let pals of Halloween past become this year’s center of attention and you are on your way to nest filled with spooky.  Use what you have, shop smart and you can achieve Halloween happiness for next to nothing!

 

HALLOWEEN STYLE

The first step every Halloween is to choose whether you are going for the gore, or the gorgeous!  You can freak out your neighbors with a crazy scary scene or elevate the holiday to pure class with pumpkin pretties.  To blanket your environment with terror pull from a wide range of materials old and ugly, tattered and frightening.  Use any faded or warn fabric, clothing and decorations you have on hand.  Give them even more aging by adding dark stains and dirty blotches, or go full bore for gore and splatter with blood!  For a scene filled with fear stick with dark colors, deep shades of gray, and definitely black. For a classic Halloween go with traditional orange and black.  To achieve an upscale effect to your Halloween design, have one color as your principle palate and use accent colors sparingly.  This classic decorating style provides distinctive elegance to even the most frightening occasions.

HALLOWEEN STYLE

 

HALLOWEEN STYLE

 

 

 

PALS OF HALLOWEEN PAST

Old costumes make great NEW decorations!  Have full ensembles, or just accessories from Halloweens past?  Put each and every article to work.  Create an entire character to haunt your party, or separate accessories and scatter throughout the house to carry out the scene.  Full costumes, to individual accessories like hats, gloves, shoes and masks make first rate party props. 

                                                                                     RE-ANIMATIONPALS OF HALLOWEEN PAST

Turn those costumes into life size haunted visitors!  This is a great way to create giant Halloween character.  Lay out the full costume on a flat surface.  Run a long line of thin wire through the shoulder area, then stuff arms, legs and body with newspaper, old rags or even bubble wrap.  Use plastic grocery bags stuffed together to form a ball for the head.  Tape all items together in the back so everything will remain secure.  Cover the plastic bags with a mask for a face, drape with a veil, or just top with a hat pulled down low to rest on the neck area.  Remove a picture from the wall.  Attach the wire from the costume to the nail to hold the character in an upright position and you have a frightful Halloween visitor standing right in your living room!

PALS OF HALLOWEEN PAST

USE THOSE ACCESSORIES!

Turn hats upside down and fill with Halloween candy.  Place fake ears and fingers on a serving tray intermixed with the party snacks.  Stuff fake hands and gloves with paper then insert into a candy dish or position them poking out from a pile of fresh dirt.  Eyes are EXCELLENT hidden throughout the house peeking out from behind knickknacks.  Make fake blood and drizzle all over the accessories and you have a house filled with severed limbs and body parts!

use those accessories

 

TL TIP…

HEADS UP!  Kick up the freak factor with this inexpensive way to use old Halloween masks, wigs and hats.  Styrofoam heads make a great base for a floating head effect.  Cover the base in a full head mask, wig and face mask, or cut and paint the Styrofoam to resemble a disfigured face.  Position the head in the center of a platter, in the middle of a giant candy bowl or just place on a shelf.  Hang from a light fixture or insert a stick and lean against a wall or stick into the ground for a FREAKISH yard effect!  Inexpensive Styrofoam heads make for great Halloween fun.

TL TIP…

 

STACK ATTACK  

GIVE’EM A BOOST!  You can only be the star of the show if you have a lot of support!  Do the same for Jack!  Look around your house for items that will elevate your pumpkin presentation.  Anything with a base big enough to support you pumpkin will do the trick.  A pretty basket turned upside down, a cocktail glass for the little guys, a candy dish, a hearty candle stick and YES even a crock pot insert!  Cover with Halloween fabric or leave au natural.  You have everything you need to lift your pumpkin to new heights.

 STACK ATTACK

 

 

 

LAST MINUTE MARVELS

Halloween night, and no pumpkin or decorations in sight?  NO WORRIES!  Look around the house for a few items that will turn your party into an instant celebration.  Use any clear glass bowl; insert orange tissue paper, fabric or construction paper.  Turn it upside down and draw on a jack–o-lantern face.  Have a few terracotta or orange colored flower pots?  Grab a few stickers and fashion a cute pumpkin face design, fill with candy and you are ready for the gang.    No need to buy those specialty pumpkin lanterns, use a standard sharpie and you’re good to go.  And if all else fails…just click and print!  Go on line and download some free pumpkin clip art, print out a few pumpkin pretties and place around the house.  With a few unexpected supplies you can create a fun and festive Halloween party in no time!

LAST MINUTE MARVELS

 This year Halloween is on a MONDAY so expect trick or treaters on Saturday, Sunday and Monday! Be ready with candy and watch out while driving all through the weekend.

 

Be sure to have candy ready early in case little goblins

arrive before dark!