Halloween 2010

This Halloween was the first year that I really did something to decorate. Prior years we had gotten a small collection of odd and ends that we considered Halloween related. A few Halloween Barbies, a Zero and Jack that my wife's work produced, and some random miscellaneous things come out as our decorations in past years. This year I decided to spend a little and get a few more things. There were restrictions. I had to watch the budget (which I did spend a little more than originally intended), there could be no reference to anything referred to as evil in the Bible (e.g. witches, devils or similar things) and everything had to be kid friendly (no blood).

I got a little carried away. I've gotten inspired by a variety of blogs and sites describing how to make your own decorations. So I ended up spending a little more than the Mrs. would have preferred. You've got to start with something and while I have tools, I didn't have much in the way of supplies. So I bought some spider webbing, a bag of bugs/skeletons/bats, and a Blucky at Big Lots. At Michael's, I bought a giant spider, battery powered tea lights and some foam pumpkins. Later, I stopped into Party City and couldn't resist some squishy eyeballs and a plastic skeleton garland. I picked up some rubber worms (fishing lures), highlighters, candles and white Sculpy at Wal-Mart. More about how all these items were used in follow up posts. (Trying to take advantage of post Halloween sales, I also bought a Michael Myers mask, wighead, prop hands and a Midnight Syndicate cd). Total for Halloween (other than pumpkins for pie, Halloween themed drinks for the adults and candy) came to about $150. I try to be detailed on this list not to annoy the reader but more to remind me what I spent. My wife would have liked it if we spent less but she justified it saying that out of the ten years we've been married, we have spent very little on Halloween.

I have always had a do-it-yourself bug, though. Following Halloween, I have discovered sites like Stolloween that makes use of papier mache to make all of the decorations for very little money investment. So next year, my plans are to maybe pick up another Blucky or electrical/mechanical parts and everything else be made by yours truly.