Five Tips For Some Classy Halloween Decorating

Use Real Pumpkins

Decorating with real pumpkins is a great way to make your house feel festive both inside and out.

While Jack-O-Lanterns are the traditional option, avoid carving your pumpkins until just a few days before Halloween, as carved pumpkins only last a week or so. In the meantime, there are plenty of way to festoon your pumpkins.

Grab some black lace and wrap it around the squash for an easy decorative accent. Or use paint to add designs or geometric patterns. You can also paint the entire pumpkin one color. Black, white, and a ghostly gray are all seasonally appropriate colors.

For a fancy touch, cover your pumpkin in orange or gold glitter.

Witch Hat Luminaries

Here's another decoration idea that can be used both inside and outside your home. Use inexpensive witch hats, fishing line, and small lights to create luminaries which are both fun and elegant.

These would look great lighting up your front porch for trick-or-treaters, and would also make for spooky lighting inside the house. You can find the full tutorial here.

Paint on Burlap

Burlap has long been used for fall decorations, as the fabric itself seems to be seasonally appropriate. Using for Halloween decorations is easy, and there are tons of possibilities.

To create a banner, use black paint and stencils to paint letters on small pieces of burlap. Fold the top edges of your burlap pieces over twine, then hot glue them in place.

There are a huge variety of phrases you can use for this, from the kid-favorite "trick-or-treat" to an Edger Allen Poe inspired, "nevermore".

Make Window Silhouettes

If you have skeletons or other cheap Halloween decor that is too garish or cheap-looking for your taste, spray paint it black and pose it inside a front window. When it gets dark outside in the evening the light from inside your home will create a cool-looking silhouette in your window.

If you don't have any extra decor to transform, use a poster board to cut out Halloween-inspired shapes. Spiders and spider webs, bats, birds, ghosts, and tombstones are all fun ideas. Then attach these paper shapes to your window instead for a similar effect.

Fake Crows, Spiders, and Bats

To add a bit of spookiness to any corner of your home, purchase realistic-looking black birds, spiders, and bats.

Place them around your house for a subtle Halloween touch. Perch a crow or two on your fireplace mantel, drape a spider onto a picture frame already on your wall, and hang a few bats from the ceiling.