Decorating for Halloween

Halloween is upon us. It’s a good excuse to decorate our homes and have a bit of fun with our kids, or to organise a Halloween-themed party. This can be really quick and easy – with a little imagination you can create a memorable festivity.  So here are a few suggestions to brighten up our environments:

Halloween Wreath

You can customise a basic Christmas wreath – one that is made of twigs, berries and cones – and add some dried fallen leaves, candies or a witch. Put this on your door or above the mantelpiece. You can make smaller ones which you can put around candle holders, bowls or vases.

Halloween Garland

You can utilise a winter wonderland garland, just like above, or make a new one using wire, leaves, cones, twigs, dried fruits and anything interesting you can find in a park or forest. Use the garland to wrap around baskets, shelves, or just simply put it onto a large plate.

Fruit Bowls

Create displays using fresh or dried fruits (such as cranberries, apples, oranges etc), nuts and pumpkins – add some cinnamon sticks and cloves to create a fresh aroma. Decorate your display with some golden dried leaves.

Dinner Party ideas

You can be creative here. Put around your home some of the above mentioned displays. Add some candles. For your table, carve some pumpkins and place candles in them. Put these in the middle of your table. Alternatively just carve one large pumpkin for a centre piece. Use dark, preferably black, tableware together with red/purple/orange napkins and tablecloth. If you want to add some surprise and fun, hide a few rubber spiders, bats, skulls or any other scary creatures under the napkin, in the glass, on the seat – or even in the food!

Party ideas

You can create a buffet-table similar to the dining table described above. Also, add some props to the interior – it’s more fun if you play with the idea of surprising or scaring your guests. For example, put a skull on the inside of the bathroom door, hang a witch in an unlikely spot, put a large black cat (not a real one!) in the window or spray frosty ghost-like figures onto the windows and so on… If you have kids, make some decorations with them out of scrap-paper and cards – hang these with a fishing-line around the window.

Lazy decor

If you really don’t have time to make things, just add some spices, fruits and nuts to a wooden bowl or small basket. Place these on your coffee and dining table. Add some scented candles – but plain church candles are just fine – place these onto a few leaves or twigs you can pick up outside. Turn off the lights and enjoy the mystery of the candlelight!

Warning: Remember to put out all candles before going to bed, and don’t have candles at reachable places with young children around!