I love to decorate our house for Halloween but I am always looking for some new ideas. I went to Alla
FleetingStillness for inspiration with this matter.
Alla is a great stained glass items designer, I really love her style. I am proud owner of two wonderful pieces made by her and I am completely trusting her with home decor!
1. What does Halloween mean to you?
To me, Halloween is the most fun holiday of the year. I like it even more than my birthday. I think I like it because it is a holiday that does not celebrate anything in particular, at least for me. I know Halloween has a rich history, but it is not really the history that is celebrated. This is the most fun, no-obligation, crazy, come up with your own theme and let-it-all-out holiday. It can be very much fun for adults - I hosted a black-tie champagne party once, and always is fun for kids - last year we had a huge turnout of kids and parents, probably 70 people total. I like hosting parties, and Halloween parties are the most fun.
2. What would your suggestions be for picking Halloween decorations?
I love to decorate my house, both inside and outside. Every year I buy a few more items and my husband complains that they take up too much space in the garage. But he sure stops complaining when I open all those boxes and decorate the house, making sure it looks different every year.
I have neighbors that pull all the stops out while decorating outside. Last year, they had a huge installation with three life-sized surgeon figures operating on a zombie in their front yard! I think this is absolutely wonderful, but if you are not up for an effort of this scale you could just put out some strategically placed string lights, a few carved pumpkins, or votive candle holders in paper bags decorated with scary drawings. Just make sure you put sand into these paper bags to avoid fire.
Inside, I like to have a couple of focal points, so last year I got 3 5-foot-tall cardboard figures with repositionable limbs (a witch, a mummy, and a zombie) and attached them to the wall at the entrance. I also got a plastic sheet to cover the refrigerator with a picture of an open refrigerator full of spoiled food and severed limbs. This year I am planning to get a motion-activated broom that waltzes around and cackles.
After your focal points are in place, just pull out your last year's decorations and use them in a different way, or not as intended. For example, last year I took my old vampire shoulder-length black gloves, stuffed them with crumpled newspaper and stuck them behind a mirror - it looked pretty nice - two black hands reaching out :)
There are simple touches and small-scale handmade projects you can do that will add some extra spice. Transparent plastic sheeting from a hardware store (that is normally used to cover up the floor and furniture while painting) can be transformed into a removable wall mural of a cemetery or a Halloween table cover with help of only black and red permanent markers. White balloons wrapped into leftover plastic sheeting make wonderful floating ghosts, and also are great party favors for the kids.
3. What costumes are you and your family thinking about wearing this year?
This is the hardest question of all. I do not know yet. Last year I was The Queen Of Hearts, and my husband was what we called An Elegant Vampire, my daughter was a Witch with an electrified costume, a and my son was a Ninja that lost half of his gear. So far, my daughter has changed her mind about a 100 times, going from Hermione to An Indian Girl to A Witch to a Ninja… My son wants to be a zombie boy and he found a pretty cool costume for that. I will probably pick costumes for my husband and I after we're done picking for the kids. As the last resort, my huge butterfly wings, cat tail and ears, black feather boas, veils and other items left over from the past parties could be mixed up into some sort of a black mutant animal :)
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