Suggestions on decorations and theme?

2275 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by scareme, Aug 17, 2012

TarotByTara

Discussion Starter · Aug 15, 2012

it seems every year i am cheated out of my halloween experience, due to one drama or another.

this year i'm determined NOT to let anything get in my way and actually enjoy my favorite holiday for once. so i really want to try to put up decorations OUTSIDE the house, as well as decorate inside this year, and enjoy it!

this may not sound like a big deal to some, but to me it's been a battle for many years. the last time i was able to do this was when i was still in grade school. since then i've lived with people who did not like halloween nor thought money put towards decorations was sensible.

so this year i really want to go all out.

so a few questions:

1. when do you think is an acceptable time to put up the decorations? when i was in grade school, i remember putting up decorations inside when it was the end of august. now, that's inside the house. but what about outside? is the end of september too early?

2. what kind of "theme" should i go with? i want this first year's try to be somewhat uniform and tasteful (almost martha stewart like) simply because it's not my house. my boyfriend takes a lot of pride in his house-- it's a manor over 100 years old and he's spent a lot of time restoring it, so out of respect to him i want to keep it a bit on the "pristine look" the first time around.

3. where do you guys go shopping for decorations and what are some good sites to visit? i was in hallmark the other day and, of course, their inside decorations are quite expensive. just buying one tiny figurine is like $20 already. but i want to start this year, at least, accumulating a lot of stuff. any suggestions?

4. anything else you can think of in terms of tips/advice, i'm all ears.

thanks!

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Hauntiholik

· #2 · Aug 15, 2012

TarotByTara said:
1. when do you think is an acceptable time to put up the decorations? when i was in grade school, i remember putting up decorations inside when it was the end of august. now, that's inside the house. but what about outside? is the end of september too early?

Some of these threads might help you determine the best date to set up your decorations.

When Do You Start Decorating?

When will you put your props out?

Anyone started putting out their displays yet?

Decorating on Oct 1st

TarotByTara said:
2. what kind of "theme" should i go with? i want this first year's try to be somewhat uniform and tasteful (almost martha stewart like) simply because it's not my house. my boyfriend takes a lot of pride in his house-- it's a manor over 100 years old and he's spent a lot of time restoring it, so out of respect to him i want to keep it a bit on the "pristine look" the first time around.

There's nothing wrong with the Martha Stewart style of decorating. The first question needs to be are you going to make props or buy props.

Outdoor Halloween Decorations

Outdoor Decorations

Tombstone Yard Halloween Decorations

TarotByTara said:
3. where do you guys go shopping for decorations and what are some good sites to visit? i was in hallmark the other day and, of course, their inside decorations are quite expensive. just buying one tiny figurine is like $20 already. but i want to start this year, at least, accumulating a lot of stuff. any suggestions?

These threads can give you a idea of what people are buying and where they get the items from:

2012 Halloween/Autumn item sightings

Post your 2012 Halloween Purchases (Store Bought Items)

2011 Halloween/Autumn item sightings

2010 Halloween/Autumn item sightings

2009 Halloween/Autumn item sightings

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Lunatic

· #3 · Aug 15, 2012 (Edited)

Well now, that's a lot to think about. I'm not the best person for decorating advice. I can understand that you want to do something less hokey and more classy. If you like Martha Stewerts ideas then maybe you should Google some of her stuff and make what you like.

Out of the gate I'd say plenty of pumpkins and perhaps corn stocks. You can use them inside and out. Pick a window and place a ghost there made from a white sheet with a black light in front of it to make it glow. An automated FCG or flying crank ghost would be a nice look.

I don't start before October but the end of September I'm sure is fine. You could start out slow adding some fall things which is appropriate and then add the halloween things as time goes by.

I can imagine you will be getting some great suggestions from the members here. Good luck!

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Dixie

· #4 · Aug 15, 2012

Damn, that was a good answer, Haunti!

My only advice - start small and build up every year. Not only will it keep you from buying a bunch of store bought stuff that you just find cheesy in 5 years and toss out, but it will allow you to evolve into your own style naturally. Even if you start with a graveyard with no particular complicated theme, you will be the rockstar of your block.

Oh, and we start the outside display around the third weekend of September with just the countdown board (which is on our columns). Full scale build begins October 1.

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Sawtooth Jack

· #5 · Aug 16, 2012

Dixie makes very good points; start small and learn what you like and want to say with your display before you leap into expensive purchases. And yes, you will be amazed at how far a few hand-made items will go toward making you the "talk" of the neighborhood.

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TarotByTara

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 16, 2012

awesome! thanks so much for the tips and links, everyone.

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RoxyBlue

· #7 · Aug 16, 2012

This was posted on another thread - the latest Creative Ideas magazine from Lowe's has decorative Halloween projects that might inspire you and are also classy and relatively inexpensive:

http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/extras.aspx

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Troll Wizard

· #8 · Aug 16, 2012

RoxyBlue said:
This was posted on another thread - the latest Creative Ideas magazine from Lowe's has decorative Halloween projects that might inspire you and are also classy and relatively inexpensive:

http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/extras.aspx

I was just going to suggest that RoxyBlue, cause I just got my mag from Lowe's today in the mail. They have some really great ideas for decorating and not going overboard. Very nice clean look for Halloween.

But I do have to say though, you couldn't have picked a better home to decorate than a 100 year old manor house! You could almost do a very stylish Dark Shadows kind of haunt! I would also check out your local craft store for ideas as they are now pretty much in full swing for the fall look.

As far as when to put out your decorations, really will be decided on how much you have to display. Since you are just starting out it might just be something simple as a few pumpkins on the porch way, and some fall garland hanging around the doorway. If you choose to go that way, then you could start putting it out the first week of October.

Since fall decor mixes well with Halloween, you could start as early when fall begins just by adding some autumn colors to the outside.

There are a lot of ideas you can find on the internet and just by maybe entering "Decorating for Halloween" you can get some really interesting ideas. And like you said going to Martha Stewart online and check her website for decorating ideas for the outside for Halloween.

If you've never had TOT'rs come to your house then it would be a good idea to get something outside for people to see, especially kids so they know that you will be celebrating the Halloween season. Then they know to come to your house. It also let's parents know that you house is a safe one to take their kids to on Halloween night.

It would be really great to see a picture of the outside front of the house that your going to decorate. If you could post one HF, that might help some of us in giving ideas on helping you decorate.

Plus that fact, I just like older homes like that! :jol:

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TarotByTara

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 16, 2012

Troll Wizard said:
But I do have to say though, you couldn't have picked a better home to decorate than a 100 year old manor house! You could almost do a very stylish Dark Shadows kind of haunt! I would also check out your local craft store for ideas as they are now pretty much in full swing for the fall look.

that would be cool! i just have to use a lot of discretion because not only is my b/f really particular of how the house looks, he's a reverend so his house being associated with halloween is kind of "bad" for him. trust me, if it was up to me, i'd go buck wild on this place!!! there'd be decapitated bodies and cobwebs galore. but like i said since it isn't my place and he's seen as a very conservative religious figure, i have to make it a bit more family-orientated (even decorating for halloween is kind of pushing it, really). i like your dark shadows idea. i was here on halloween last year (started living here around last august) so all we did was carve jack-o-lanterns. it's not an area that has a lot of trick-or-treaters, which is disappointing. we didn't get any last year. i'm hoping the house will conjure up a few this year if i decorate it enough. i'll make sure to upload pics if everything goes well and show you all what i did!

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Lunatic

· #10 · Aug 16, 2012 (Edited)

Dark Shadows is a great idea! Decorating to create a creepy atmosphere without accentuating any particular religious genre would work. My haunt is creepy without the horror of blood and guts, satin worship, etc...

I've seen some very creative Halloween decorations but I don't remember the source. One was a black silhouette of a witch and cat cut out of some plywood and painted black. It was then backlit to make it look like a black shadowy silhouette set back in the yard scape.

A house near me did a beautifully executed Wizard of Oz theme on their front lawn. It was Dorothy and the 3 characters in a still pose arm in arm, with one leg up in the air...bodies tilted back as if they were happily singing and walking down the yellow brick road. The entire bodies were made of hay/straw with their appropriate clothing/costumes covering it. It was very cleaver. I would love to recreate it but I'm not artistic enough to pull it off.

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k-angel

· #11 · Aug 16, 2012

Be careful

Round here not wise to set up much before Halloween because of thieves. A friend has had among other things stolen, a blow-up hearse, large gargoyles, but all her items were store bought while mine are homemade and thieves tend to over look those.

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Lunatic

· #12 · Aug 16, 2012

Excellent point k-angel. I don't trust anyone so I set up my haunt for one day and thats Halloween and I live in a nice neighborhood. It only takes that one kid to sneak in at night and screw things up.

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Troll Wizard

· #13 · Aug 17, 2012

TarotByTara said:
that would be cool! i just have to use a lot of discretion because not only is my b/f really particular of how the house looks, he's a reverend so his house being associated with Halloween is kind of "bad" for him. But like i said since it isn't my place and he's seen as a very conservative religious figure, i have to make it a bit more family-orientated (even decorating for Halloween is kind of pushing it, really). i like your dark shadows idea. I was here on Halloween last year (started living here around last august) so all we did was carve jack-o-lanterns.

Here's something that might help you with your decorating. Within the short time that I have been on hauntForum, I have noticed that there are a lot of people that are decorating their Halloween's not with a scary or dark themes, but with more of an upbeat or family oriented as you are wanting to go with.

I have read where there are themes like Circuses, Carnivals, Wizard of Oz, Harvest type themes, Corn Stalks in rows with a Scarecrow hanging in the midst. You could do Fairy Tale themes, Dragon themes, and so on. But always remember the pumpkins, it wouldn't be Halloween without them!!!!!

I guess that you will probably need to stay away from the traditional themes like witches and goblins, ghost and zombies and so on. So maybe instead of thinking in terms of a traditional themed Halloween, you might try going in a different direction and maybe not get your b/f upset with you or the community. You would still be able to celebrate the season and still enjoy Halloween and maybe everyone would be happy! :jol:

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scareme

· #14 · Aug 17, 2012

I've inheirted a 125 year old house, so I'm starting to collect vintage Hallowen decorations. And with vintage items, they tend not to be gory. The big problem is, they are pretty expensive. So what I've been doing is getting ideas off esty, and making them myself. You can make a lot of the old style decorations out of paper and cloth, because that's what they used. And your boyfriend would probably go for the vintage idea, since it's in keeping with the age of the house. If you're making things for outdoors, instead of paper I would use craft foam sheets. Like make bats out of the foam sheets and hang them from the porch or trees. Or make a spiderweb from yarn and cut out some spiders. You coud make it any size you want, or any size your boyfriend allows.

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