Given the ghouls and ghosts that have made an appearance in my local supermarket, it would appear Halloween is upon us again.
In the past I’ve been known to carve a mean pumpkin but that’s usually as far as my devilish decor goes. Here are a few ideas if you fancy more sophisticated way to party on the 31st October.
Pumpkins
White pumpkins are amazing yet they are a blumming nightmare to get hold of. A few years ago I actually whipped out some paint and painted over an orange ‘munchkin’. On the Rock My Wedding Fall shoot last year we were lucky enough to get our hands on some white gourds courtesy of Mrs Umbels and I took a few home to load up my mantlepiece. I am yet to find mini white pumpkins locally but will definitely be stocking up on mini gourds and squashes for my house.
Regardless of their colour, if you can’t be bothered with the carving lark, then how about studding with drawing pins, decoupaging with vintage prints. Alternatively get busy with a gold sharpie pen or some sparkly glitter.
Black and White Cake Stands
It wouldn’t be too difficult to create your own version of this dessert bar from Glorious Treats, with a few black and a few white cake stands plus some monochrome sweet treats. Striped paper bags would be ideal for holding trick or treat goodies.
Crows
I had a quick scoot on eBay and found you can pick up a faux raven for as little as 99p. Admittedly we don’t all have atmospheric bits of driftwood hanging in our living room like Holly from In the Fun Lane but you could set up a spooky vignette with a few crows squawking over a mass of candles. Alternatively another idea would be to cut out silhouettes of birds and add them in to frames you already have hanging on your walls.
Cloches and Apothecary Jars
Domes and ornate jars are readily available these days. In my TK Maxx there are always some glass cloches crying out to display an exhibit.
There’s some great inspiration over at the Happy Heathen, Evita set up dinner with the Mad Scientist, complete with links to create your own downloadable specimen labels.
Insects
If you’re not too freaked out by creepy crawlies, then how about making these drink stirrers from the Glitter Guide? I saw a pack of plastic spiders in Sainsbury’s last night that would work perfectly. Keep them black or spray them with paint and fix to a drink stirrer for a scary addition to your drink.
Are you throwing a bash for Halloween? Do you ever decorate your home with ghoulish decor? More importantly has anyone found white pumpkins in their area? Please share where you found them!
Some great ideas Lauren! The Crows look particuarly sinister on driftwood In the Fun Lane. It got me thinking where the saying Stone the Crows comes from? So a quick google and the most likely explanation is that the saying orignated in Australia where the sheep farmers threw stones at the crows to frighten them away from the new born lambs. Bit of Triva for the day!
I love a bit of trivia Lesley!
This is much prettier than the garish halloween birthday parties I had as a child. We grew white gourds last year but given that they weren’t particularly tasty this would have been a much better use for them! If it ever stops raining I will head out to the garden and see if hubby has chosen to grow them again this year. I will be very dissapointed if he hasn’t now as I want to get the gold glitter out! x
Oooh Charlotte I hope he did. Lots of gold glitter and sharpie pens are required 🙂
Ooooo perfect timing as the boy & I have just decided to bring back our annual Halloween party (we actually had friends requesting it! haha)
Usually we end up going to the pound shop & loading up on Halloween tat!!! But this year maybe I will try to go a little classier. Am LOVING the drinks stirrers, could definitely make them! 🙂 We usually head to a farm not too far away for our pumpkins as they have some of all sizes – am in love with the cute little ones they have! Still not found white ones though 🙁
Right, off to get pin happy & plan this party! 🙂 xx
Your parties sound legendary Becca. Love that you’re bringing them back by popular demand 🙂
LOVE these pumpkins! We get married at the end of this month and our ‘theme’ is sparkly fall – think pumpkins, logs, pine cones and lots of sparkle! When I tell people we are having pumpkin centrepieces they look scared! I hope everyone will be pleasantly surprised on the day! 🙂
For those of you looking for white pumpkins – I have found some in warwickshire…
It’s a place called pumpkins are us (google warwickshire pumpkin farm) and it’s in Barford just outside warwick. They literally have thousands of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, including lots of teeny tiny ones, and lots of white ones in a variety of sizes! We have just been to stock up for our ‘party’ 🙂 They’re lovely there too. They did say half term week gets busy (26th – 31st) so if you are after any white ones it might be worth paying a visit prior to that. X
Kat, your wedding theme sounds incredible!
Thanks Rebecca… 🙂 I’m hoping it comes together as amazing it looks
In my head. 😉 x
Firstly, huge congrats Kat. The style of your wedding sounds amazeballs.
Secondly, thanks so much for the recommendation. Warwick isn’t too far from me at all so I will definitely try to pop by x