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Halloween Decoration Ideas – Vintage Halloween Decorating Ideas …

  • April 25, 2010 7:21 am
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While a lot has changed in 100 years, you may be surprised that the essence of great Halloween Decorating has remained almost the same. Unlike the 1900′s, we do have modern amenities like electricity, electronics and LED lights to bring more pizazz to our Halloween decorating. I invite you to use these vintage Halloween decorating ideas along with modern twists to create a classic and spooky Halloween scene throughout your home.

Outdoor Halloween Decorations:

If the place where the festivities are held is held in the suburbs, the lawn in front of house should be decorated with hanging lighted jack-o’-lanterns. The eyes, nose, mouth in each one should be different and as grotesque as possible. If there is a fence around the yard, put a jack-o’-lantern on each post. Drape black above the front door and, in the center over the door, hang a skull and cross-bones.

Entrance way Halloween Decorations:

Once inside the home, the entrance way should be in total darkness except for light coming from jack-o’-lanterns of all shapes and sizes on tables, and hanging from doors and ceiling, and around/in the fireplace. The entrance way should be draped in black and the person who opens the door should be dressed in black.

Living Room/Family Room Halloween Decorations:

Decorate the main rooms with jack-o’-lanterns made from apples, cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, etc. Hang them somewhere in the room or place on stands, tables, and mantles. Use also green branches, autumn leaves, apples, tomatoes, ears of corn and drape the room with red and yellow scrim and cheese-cloth. If possible, have a fire going in the fireplace.

Halloween Decorations for a Spooky Room:

The best place for spooky Halloween happenings is the garage, attic or basement. Have guests enter your spooky room immediately after hanging their coats. If you are creating your spooky room in a building detached from the house, build a large bonfire. The spooky room should be decorated with gruesome things – jack-o’-lanterns, skulls and cross-bones, black draperies, witches made out of cardboard and suspended from the walls, cats, bats, owls, etc. The shades and spirits should flit about. Use this room to tell ghost stories, play gruesome games or for fortune telling.

Dining Room Halloween Decorations:

The dining room should have festoons of nuts, branches of oats, strings of cranberries, autumn leaves, goldenrod, odd lanterns, yellow chrysanthemums and whatever else goes along with the theme. All the decorations of this room should be cheerful and suitable to the season. Charming maidens flit about serving the guests. For a festive Halloween table center piece use a large pumpkin with top cut off, pulp removed, and filled with water holding a large bunch of chrysanthemums or goldenrod. Bay leaves should be scattered over table and around the dishes. The menu card at each guest’s plate should be of burnt leather bearing a sketch of a witch. After all unmask, lights in dining-should be turned up and room made brilliant.

Some modernizations of the above could include solar powered jack-o’-lanterns, spooky sound effects and a skull with glowing red eyes. Enjoy putting your unique twist to these vintage Halloween decorating ideas to create a fabulous setting for your Halloween Party.

Halloween Decoration Ideas – Vintage Halloween Decorating Ideas …

Halloween Happenings in Tampa Bay Florida

  • April 5, 2010 5:21 am

Tampa Bay Florida is no stranger to creepy and crawly Halloween Happenings. All over the Tampa Bay area spooky events will begin showing up around the first of October and they promise to have you screaming for more! There will be many haunted houses and freaky attractions guaranteed to bring in the crowds. Some of the popular haunted Halloween events are fun for the whole family, while some are better suited just for adults.

o Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay has featured it’s Howl-O-Scream for the last few years. It last for 16 nights and tickets are sold separately. Runs Thursday through Sunday beginning on October 5 and consists of six haunted houses, five scary zones, and two twisted shows. You can even ride the roller coasters in the dark which makes them even scarier. Younger children are probably better left at home with the babysitter, there’s a lot of screaming and scary costumes around every corner.

o Ybor City in Tampa, FL on Saturday, October 28 will host its famous Guavaween Festival. Guavaween has a separate day and night event. During the day, kids can enjoy the Children’s Costume Parade and Contest. In the evening, there’s live music and local artists and the festive “Mama Guava Stumble Parade”. You guessed it, daytime appeals to the kids and the whole family, while the nighttime “Mardi Gras” version appeals to mature adults. Last year the daytime version drew in some 20,000 people but when the sun went down and the party changed to load music, there were approximately 80,000 people lurking around in some really wild costumes. It’s all free.

o In Largo’s Heritage Village you will find The Haunted Village. Heritage Village is Pinellas County’s 21 acre living history museum. Put on by three local Rotary Clubs, this not-too-scary family “trick or treating” adventure will be open for three nights, October 29, 30, and 31. Admission is $5.00.

o Don’t miss Lowry Park’s Zoo Boo, held in Tampa on the weekends starting at the end of September, weather permitting. Lowry Park Zoo will transform at night into a special event for the whole family with haunted houses and trails, game zones, and a spooky horse-drawn carriage ride. They are adding some new features this year for kids “Frankenstein’s Foam Party” and “Unearthed: Secrets of a Museum”. There is an additional charge for this event.

It’s definitely getting spookier in Tampa Bay. Families and individuals can find lots of Halloween Fun throughout the Tampa Bay area. Start planning your Halloween costume now!

Halloween Happenings in Tampa Bay Florida