Halloween Decorating Tricks For Less

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Halloween is right around the corner, and it’s time to decorate!

Without ado, here are my top four Halloween decorating tips.

1. Color

The orange and black of the season makes me so happy; ya’ll know I bleed orange, right?  Go Pokes!

Halloween can be so black and white, but I love the pops of purple and orange, especially orange, to take things to another level. 

Get your adorable glittery pumpkin here!

2. Consistency

Bats, vampires, ghosts, witches, crows, skeletons, skulls, spiders, jack-lanterns, oh my!  I tend to stick with a limited number of themes around my house.  Personally, I’m not a vampire or ghost fan, but pumpkins are definitely my jam. 

I suggest that you stick with a theme or style around your home for Halloween decorating!

More glittery pumpkins!

3. Not too spooky

Many people love the guts and gore of Halloween, but please leave it at the store for decorating your home.  Halloween décor can classy and fun without grossing everyone out or scaring the children.  I love the cutesy décor that store like Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree stock in droves. 

Stay classy with your Halloween decorating.  No need for blood and guts, friends.

This guy is the closest I've ever come to guts and gore, and honestly, I'm still on the fence about how much I like it.  

4. Height

And finally, my favorite and most importantly, height.  Huh, height?  The biggest challenge I’ve found is that all of my Halloween decorations are fairly close to the same height.  Honestly, it just makes any display look dull and boring. 

Check it out.

And here’s the final dining room display for Halloween!  You can see that varying the height of the pieces makes a huge difference in how attractive the display is.

And a bonus! 

Halloween decorating can get expensive quick (almost as fast as Christmas decorating), but…just say no!  I made this entire display for under $20. 

How?

I started with my own Halloween décor.  The lone witch’s shoe.  Add a trip to Dollar Tree and Goodwill, and we’re done. 

3 wall hangings @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (get your artsy skeleton here)

3 glittery LED-lit pumpkins @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

2 small lanterns @ $1/each from Dollar Tree 

2 pillar candles @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 witch’s hat @ $1/each from Dollar Tree

1 skull @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 BEWARE yard sign @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 shiney pumpkin @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 creepy cloth @ $1/each from Dollar Tree (found here)

1 candle holder @ $.50/each from Goodwill

3 orange ornaments that look suspiciiouly like pumpkins @ free from my Christmas décor

1 large black lantern @ free from my donate pile

= $15.50! 

My frugal soul loves to see that total!

And my time in Nebraska taught me that I should always have a decoration on my front door, so here we go!  I think these from Dollar Tree are super cute!  

    

I’d love to hear about your decorating tips and “tricks” for Halloween!  Comment below.

Baby Prez: 22 Weeks

Dear Baby Prez,

This week was your very first Halloween, and you were SO cute!  

Weight:    About 17 pounds.  Size 2 diapers, but you've almost grown out of them.  You might be in Size 3 diapers by next week!

Health:  Very healthy!  

Sleep:  You are basically sleeping through the night...most nights.  You go to sleep between 8 and 8:30PM, and then Mommy pulls you out of bed for a dream feed around 11PM, right before I go to sleep.  You usually don't even wake during the feeding, and if you do, you fall right back asleep as soon as your little head hits your pillow.  (You don't actually have a pillow yet, but you get the idea.)  Then, you sleep until about 5 or 6AM.  That's six or seven hours of sleep for you and Mommy and Daddy!  

Social:  You got to see lots of people at our outing to Boo at the Zoo, and as usual you grinned at everyone!

Diet:  You drink about 6 ounces of breastmilk every 3 or so hours, plus cereal and fruit for breakfast and veggies and barley for dinner.  

Likes:   Jumping, grabbing your toes, smiling, sucking and chewing on your fingers, toys

Dislikes:  Being hungry and laying down.

Milestones:  

First Halloween


Mommy and Daddy were so excited for your first Halloween.  The very first outfit Mommy bought you was a Halloween outfit!  After thinking about lots of costume ideas, we decided to do family costumes with a Doctor Who theme, which was one of my favorite costume ideas.  You'll know all about Doctor Who when you get older.  Daddy was the 10th Doctor Who, Mommy was his companion, Amy Pond, and you were their time and space machine, the Tardis.  And you were the cutest little Tardis ever.

Since you were too young to go Trick-or-Treating, we took you to Boo at the Zoo.  We didn't know what to expect, but we took you all around the zoo and all kinds of characters were handing out candy.  Everyone commented on how cute you were and lots of people recognized who you and Daddy were dressed up as.  Not as many people knew who Mommy was dressed up as, though.  A police officer thought you were dressed as a little police officer, but one of his friends corrected him!

On Halloween night, Mommy did a photo shoot with you in your back-up costumes!  Then we scooped out pumpkins for carving.  You weren't sure what to think of the pumpkin guts, but you seemed to like playing with them.  Mommy and Daddy each carved a pumpkin, and also carved a little Baby Prez pumpkin using our initials as the eyes and mouth.  You weren't too excited about handing out candy, but we had a fun night!

Love,

Mommy

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Missed a week?  Watch my Little Prez grow!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21

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Favorite Family Halloween Costumes {Five on Friday}

In my search for my son's Halloween costume, I have found so many costumes that are fun and adorable! I highlighted 5 of my favorite baby costumes in this post.  This week, I am focusing on family costumes!  I love the Verizon Halloween commercial with the Star Wars family costumes!

#1 Adventure Time

My husband loves this TV show on Cartoon Network, so when I came across this idea for family costumes, I immediately wanted to share it.  It is cute and pretty simple to put together.

Sources: Rebloggy and Adventure Time Finn Backpack and Hat Costume Combo Set

#2 Lobster Baby and Cooks OR Fishermen

Sources: Natick Mall and Meaningful Mama

Get the costumes at: Lobster Baby Costume, Adult Chef Costume, Adult Fisherman Costume

# 3 Smores

Sources: Spoonful and Pinterest

Get the costumes at: Hershey's Bar Pattern and Women's Hershey's Chocolate Bar Costume

#4 The Incredibles

Sources:  J@Monkey and Costume Works

Get the costumes at: Mr. Incredible Costume, Mrs. Incredible Costume, Violet Costume, Dash Costume, Toddler Costume

#5 Hot Dog Vendors

Source: Project Wedding

Get the costumes at: Hot Dog Vendor Apron and Baby Hot Dog Costume