My Second Most Favorite Holiday
Let’s not talk about the fact that I am still awake after midnight. Let’s just say that Bryan is in San Francisco for work till Saturday, and while the cat’s away the mouse will play. And when I say “the mouse will play,” I mean the mouse will sit at her computer and look at Ning member pages and Etsy stores all freaking night.
So! Anyway! We love Halloween round these parts. Almost as much as Thanksgiving, which is my Numero Uno favorite holiday – mainly because it involves: No gifts, thinking about what is good in our lives, and EATING FOOD TILL YOUR CHEEKS EXPLODE! Yee hah! Those pilgrims sure knew what they were doing!
Oh, what was I saying? The screen is starting to turn all fuzzy.
Yes. Halloween. That rockin’ pagan holiday that drives fundamentalist Christians completely bonkers! Another total GEM.
But here’s the thing. While I love Halloween, I must admit I feel a bit Martha Stewart about all the crappy and cheap decorations that are available. Seriously, yuck!
So this year, we took matters in our own hands (and totally copied an idea out of the Grandin Road catalog) and went for a full theme across the front of our house. No stupid blow up Frankensteins that cost a hundred bucks. No yucky plastic mummy hands that wave at the neighbors when they walk by.
Bonafide arts and crafts, dude.
Sorry the last two are a bit blurry. After all that cutting, I *really* didn’t feel like digging out my tripod for a photo shoot.
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UPDATED TO INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Choose a highly visible set of windows for your display.
2. Find Halloween icons that you like. There is the thing called the Google that I hear is really good for finding stuff like that. But I actually bought a Halloween recipe magazine that had a bunch of cool shapes in the gutters of the pages, so I took photos of them and blew them up in Photoshop.
3. Sketch out your display (see first photo above).
4. Estimate the size needed for each shape to fit in the window according to your plan.
5. Print out each shape at approximately that size. We had to “tile” a few of the larger ones onto several pieces of paper and tape together to get the template to be large enough.
6. Cut out your template.
7. Trace template onto large sheets of black poster board.
8. Cut them out.
9. Tape the black shapes to the inside of the window according to your plan.
10. Then tape a full sheet of yellow or orange tissue paper over top the black shapes in the whole window. Trim the tissue paper to the edge of the window.
11. Turn on the lights in the room and check out your creation from outside!
HAVE FUN! Send me pics if you make a window display like this!
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Awesomeness! The best part, of course, is the making something with your kid part, a key ingredient and something he’ll remember long after all $100 blow-up Frankensteins are landfill. Looks great.
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! It is my favorite holiday – EVER – outshining Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and July 4th! I’m going to be Medusa this year – how about you?
Home made really ARE the best! Very nice…
That looks fantastic! Our house is painted orange so someday I want to turn the whole thing into a giant jack-o-lantern.
FUN!
I really need some how to instructions to follow your lead. MPP asked me to decorate and I haven’t a clue where to start. And I’d much rather do something like this than buy the other stuff……I await your guidance!
That looks amazing! Those windows are perfect for that.
I can’t wait to start decorating. It’s finally supposed to get BELOW 95 degrees this weekend so my pumpkins won’t cook on the steps….
love the decorations. you’re inspiring me to put some bats in my front window. 🙂
Gorgeous Aimee!
fyi – the kids are on their way over…since clearly you are way better at this than i 🙂
Nice! I love your ideas.
Maybe we’ll do some Halloween crafts this weekend. One thing we do is carve a new pumpkin each weekend ’til the big day.
(oh and I totally agree with you about everything Thanksgiving – my fave!)
Your tree is the absolute best! I love that! those are so so so cool. Cannot wait to see it in person this weekend!
Very Cool! I love it. I’m also a huge fan of Halloween.
~Michelle
Spirit Lake, IA
Those look so great. I love the floating ghost, the tree, and the cat! I should do this with my kids. Thanks for the idea.
Thanks all! :)))
And CHECK OUT MISS SPIRIT LAKE MAKING A COMMENT!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
I am so doing this. Just last night, Hubby told me how “white trash” my current window decorations are. 🙂
Those are awesome! I LOVE Halloween!!
Coolio. I think I might try something similar! Directions?
Those are terrific!
Wow! I think even Martha would be envious of your window!
It looks great, and spooky and creative!
So cool. I love Halloween because it is socially acceptable to decorate your house and your person in orange. I love orange!
These are great!!! I know what you mean about cheesy decorations, these don’t have any icky cheese factor to them!
How creative! I would have never thought of doing something that involved!
Cool!
Halloween rules!
I am SO with you on Thanksgiving being number one. And I’d love Halloween as much as you if it weren’t for the fact that our dentist just informed me yesterday that Jonah has FOUR cavities. Halloween = candy = bad things to teeth.
Speaking of Jonah, I showed him your Halloween decorating pictures and he BEGGED me to let him do the same thing to our windows. We did. I will be posting pics ASAP. Thank you for sharing this!!
Eating food till your cheeks explode. Can I come? 😀
Our neighborhood is celebrating Halloween with a kiddie parade. I’m so excited!!! I’ll be taking pictures of babieeees.
that is awesome! i may have to give that a try! thanks for the crafty tip! we love halloween around these parts, too!
sigh. those look awesome. once again i enter my yearly phase of depression that nz doesn’t celebrate such a totally awesome holiday.
Fabulous!! I steel yr windoo ideeaz tu!
Catherine, I am SO honored! 🙂
And welcome Lunchbox, Kelly and Nylon! Very excited to have you come visit! :)))
That is CRAZY COOL! I’m totally stealing that idea.
Very cool!!!! Thanks for the directions, I just might have to do it. (and thanks for the vote btw over at Cactus-Fish)
fantastic! Love the paper cut outs. Thanks for the sweet ideas!