BOO!
I didn’t mean to startle you, but Halloween is right around the corner. Don’t worry, you still have time to create some fun do-it-yourself Halloween decorations before the big day!
If I’m being honest, Halloween was one
of my least favorite holidays…before our daughter joined the family. Obviously, I enjoyed dressing up and going trick-or-treating as a kid, but once I outgrew that stage, I no longer had any desire to participate in the spooktacular holiday. Having a baby changed all of that though…I mean who can hate a holiday where you get to dress your baby up in an adorable costume (and yes, every baby costume I have seen is adorable – even if it’s meant to be scary).
I happened to discoverΒ a new-found love for the holiday, that not only included dressing up my child, but also decorating our home, making Halloween goodies, venturing to pumpkin patches, and even stepping into a crazy costume myself. My husband loves Halloween and dresses up every year, so this was nothing new for him, but he does appreciate my new enthusiasm to celebrate!
Below you will find some of the fun DIY Halloween decorations that I found on Pinterest, and used to decorate my home for the festivities.
Tulle Monster Wreath
This monster wreath might just be my absolute favorite Halloween decoration that I’ve created. I followed Jill Krause’s tutorial atΒ http://www.babyrabies.com/2012/09/boo-its-a-monster-of-a-wreath-tutorial/Β and my wreath turned out great! We chose not to hang ours from our door, but just to the side of the door, so that the doorbell appears in the middle of the monster’s open mouth – this had caused a few kids to hesitate while trick-or-treating, but they usually risk it to get some candy.
Hanging Ghosts
This trio of ghosts is such a fun decoration. We tend to have a lot of wind in the fall (and snow is always a possibility before Halloween, where we live), so these ghosts usually find a home hanging in our dining room, until Halloween day when they get moved to our front porch. As a result, my daughter tends to randomly run into the dining room yelling, “BOO Ghosts!” I learned how to make these from Ashley Phipps at Simply Designing –Β http://simplydesigning.porch.com/pb-knock-off-hanging-ghosts/.
Mummy Mason Jars
This was a super simple craft, with an incredibly cute payoff. I got this idea from Claire atΒ http://alittleclaireification.com/2015/09/17/mummy-mason-jar-luminaries-halloween-jar/. However, instead of using gauze, I decided to use some of the extra cheese-cloth that I had left over from making the hanging ghosts. I secured the cheese-cloth to the mason jars using a spray adhesive, glued on some googly eyes, dropped in some flame-less candles and ta-da!
BOO Pumpkins
To add a little color to our front porch stairs, I decided to make these BOO pumpkins, after I came across a picture on Pinterest from dandelionsdragonflies.blogspot.com. I wanted to use these as decorations for years to come, so I purchased three fake pumpkins from Hobby Lobby and, using a pencil, lightly drew my letters onto the pumpkins (I am not good at free-hand painting). Once I had the outline of my letters, I filled them in with black paint. Then I took my ribbon and tied bows around each pumpkin stem. I used my hot glue gun to secure the bows to the pumpkins, so that they would not blow away. They are boo-tiful.
Spider Sanctuary
This one was a surprise decoration by my hu
sband. Now, if you’ve read my blog post about homemade peppermint spider spray (http://capturingparenthood.com/no-vacancy-spiders/), you know how I feel about spiders. Luckily, these spiders are fake, and they are not in my home…they’re only trying to break down the front door. I will admit that the large spider still gives me goosebumps when I catch it out of the corner of my eye.
Our front door is made of metal, so my husband glued magnets to the underside of each spider to get them to stick. And the white spiders were glow-in-the-dark! My husband tacked a few of those onto the side of our house to add another level of creepiness!
And there you have it…our favorite DIY Halloween decorations! Happy crafting and Happy Halloween!
