Decorating for Halloween

Halloween is one of those short decoration seasons that often gets overlooked. However, with rather competitive neighbors from the looks of their yard, it appears we need to kick it up a notch.

Now, inside the house we seem to be, well, okay. My rare fake preference is leaves because they almost always look and keep better than the real thing, unlike their cousin the fake flower (aka silk) which tend to always look, uh, fake. I’m sure if I would’ve gathered some leaves outside before the rains set in (since we just came off a record summer with no rain) those would’ve kept nicely, but alas, the thought never pervaded my mind. I especially love the packages of loose leaves because they can be used to scatter across a table or here and there for a casual wind-tossed look either in place of a centerpiece or in conjunction with one. However, my favorite thing to do with them is attach masking tape to the underside and place them on the walls in a way that they look like they are falling. It’s a quick and easy way to add color and interest without committing to, say, wallpaper.

 I also like to decorate for the rest of autumn at the same time as I put out the Halloween décor, or at least get a head start. Garland made from fake leaves makes a great valance above the windows and large mirrors, especially if you live in a rental and only have vinyl blinds. Dried corn with the husks pulled back work well for a simple table centerpiece, piled on a platter, or in a galvanized bucket. Intermixing all of this with black taper candles, lighted Halloween shops, and various themed paraphernalia gives the Halloween stuff a boost of decoration, and means I’ve got a head start when I finish decorating for fall on November first.

 Of course, no Halloween decorating would be complete without a little humor. I recently spotted on Pinterest a rather funny little jar filled with glitter and labeled “Edward Cullen’s Ashes”. I felt this would be appropriate to display on one of our bookcases in the living room with the Twilight books behind it and the far superior Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles novels on the other side. If I had a spice rack, that would also be a good place to put it.

Leaves

With the wind we’ve had the last couple days there has been an explosion of leaves fall from our trees. Unfortunately it’s supposed to start raining before we’d be able to get to them.

Some years our weather is so rainy and gross the leaves never really change to their pretty autumnal colors, they just simply go from green to brown. But this year, funnily after a wet and cold summer which followed a warm and dry spring, we’ve had a fairly warm fall with just a few days of rain. This has allowed the leaves to change into the gorgeous fall display most other parts of the country get to see, with yellows, oranges and reds gracing peoples yards. Of course, the downside is that they all have to be raked up before they kill the grass beneath.

One thing we’ve done this year is mow over the leaves with our lawnmower to mulch them, however the last time left quite a bit of mulched leaves which, hopefully, will start to break down before it kills the grass and turns our front yard into a swamp. I’m thinking it might be a better idea to use the mulcher on the leaf blower in vacuum mode and dump the rest of the leaves in the vegetable gardens to compost for next year. Of course, that means I have to clean out the gardens, which honestly, I’m pissed off at my tomatoes anyway so perhaps this will be quite therapeutic.