So Far

With the budget of time and money that I have, I can't always make fast progress at setting up decorations. The entire month is usually spent setting up and creating new decor. I have managed to get some stuff up.

My bottles have gone up. It seems every year I get one or two new interesting bottles or jars to add to my apothecary. The labels are mostly free downloads from the net but a few are homemade, usually inspired off a few favorite sites. Contents vary widely from the Shrunken Man's skeleton to "radioactive" liquids that glow in UV light.

My foam pumpkins have come out. I like the idea of having some classic jack o' lantern designs year after year. Saves a little money although I would prefer to buy and carve new ones every year. Eventually I'll repaint these to look more realistic which is good because the original paint is wearing off.

We have an archway that divides our living room from the dining area. A year or two ago I put a nail at the top and hung a big furry spider from Michael's up there. Everyone seems to like it because it always seems to get a lot of comments. I'm still working on a better way to create a spider web to go with it.

My wife and I have mini Halloween toy collections going. I have multiple Halloween PEZ dispensers and she has several Halloween Barbies and a Groovy Girl that have come out.

The decor is also in the kitchen. We have a variety of coffee mugs that we have switched out for spookier ones. Nothing like spooky right from the start of the day.

There is still a great deal left to come out and go up. My Blucky skeleton is still (mostly) in storage. I want to resculpt the head and perhaps the body this year (more inspiration from Dave Lowe). My wife's pillows need to come out (more on these later). Most of the paper decorations still to be put up. I have plans (inspired from R) to make

Spent my budget of the month at Target. I bought another foam pumpkin, a skull (I don't know why I didn't have one already but this one does look half decent for the cost), a single black silk rose, another mug and a Coraline DVD that had gone on sale for almost half off. I have been wanting to buy some more colored lights to add to the mood but couldn't justify the extra cost. I got more with the money I had.

Cheap(er) Halloween - Print Edition

I've tried to keep from spending too much on decorating for a few years.  DIY is probably the best way to do so.  Last year I started to look for decorations that could also store as small as possible.

Printed decorations are great for storage (they store flat) and cost (until you factor ink costs).  You can create your own, if your artistically inclined, or do like I've done and search for free graphics or projects from the web.  Disney and Martha Stewart are great resources.  They have a variety of things to print and decorate with.

If you like model making but don't have a ton of money, consider paper models.  It seems to be a big trend in places like Japan and Europe.  Print out the model on paper, cut it out, and assemble it with a little glue.  This is great if you have time but not much money.  I like Haunted Dimensions for their Haunted Mansion and related models but you can find other Disney related models at The Disney Experience (currently named The Haunted Experience).  Search the 'net for other paper models if your interested.

I've also took inspiration from a variety of sources and found graphics for bottle labels, spell book covers and pages, and wall decorations such as posters and framed pictures.  Keep in mind that many images can't be used in any money making situations but you could use them to decorate your house.