Decorating For A Halloween Party

My annual Halloween cocktail party is just around the corner. Over the weekend, I pulled out all I had been gathering from the past few weeks and set the mood for the event with some spooky decor. This year I went with a raven, classic Jack-O-Lantern face and skull theme.

Since I live in a small place and always have, I usually like to keep the decorations at chest level or higher. When you get 20-25 people in my place all you see is bodies unless you look up. I find that decorations look more sophisticated and less cluttered when done in displays or smaller groupings throughout the public spaces of the house or apartment.

I usually do one display near the front door in the living room, one in the dining room and one above the kitchen cabinets if there is space in addition to something outside the front door. Those are the areas people tend to gather during a party so they present a great opportunity to let your imagination run wild. Since guests pass through my bedroom to access the restroom, I did something there as well.

Think outside your local discount store's Halloween department when planning your decorations. I placed different sized and shaped apothecary jars with lids in the dining area filled with retro sweets like candy corn, Tootsie Roll Kiddie Mix, Pixy Stix, M&Ms and Smarties candy rolls.

Above the kitchen cabinets I placed artificial carved Jack-O-Lanterns from one end to the other. Two grapevine wreaths unwound connect the area between the pumpkins and give it a creepy effect. I placed raven silhouettes cut from black card stock around and on the pumpkins and filled in the holes with Spanish moss. Everything was backlit with orange string lights against the wall...spooky!

On the dresser in my bedroom, I purchased an antiqued urn to hold bare limbs that had fallen from a tree outside. I stuffed tissue paper around the limbs to hold them upright, filled the urn with miniature skulls and placed stuffed black birds from a craft store in the branches. A full-sized skull next to it repeats the theme.

All the normal framed photographs in the house got a macabre makeover when I downloaded black and white cemetery scenes from the internet, printed them out on my home printer and replaced the smiling faces of my family. One last touch...candles everywhere, just be sure to use a cup or deep tea light holder so your party doesn't go up in flames. Remember, candlelight always sets the mood for any party and always makes everyone look better!