Step aside pretty Autumn Decor 🍂 it's time to let the Ghoul times roll.
Halloween is the ultimate time of year to be creative, let go and have fun transforming your homes into a vision of wickedness.
I love to decorate my home in the week leading up to Halloween 🎃 and really get into the spirit of things fully embracing the occasion for all that it is.
Halloween is rapidly growing in popularity in the UK year after year which is just brilliant, any excuse for a little fun is good I say.
I was blown away by my own community last year. I'd never seen so many homes decorated and happy for little trick or treaters to come knocking. The street was full of children dressed up in their favourite costumes smiling and having a good time, it was such a great night for the children to be entertained by their surroundings.
So nows the time to grab your ghostly favourites, those bony skeletons hiding in the closest and your frantically bubbling Witches cauldrons, and let the halloween spectacular commence!
Let me talk you through what we get up to as a family in the week leading up to Halloween 🎃
Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin carving is the most traditional fun for all of the family to get involved. My son Lleyton carved his very own Pumpkin for the first time last year, he was so proud of what he had achieved by himself, and in his words excited to do it all again bigger and better this year.
My husband Karl is the known artistic one in our home and has carved some amazing pumpkins over the years. This is one of my personal favourites.
Once you have completed your pumpkin creations they can then sit proudly inside your home, or outside in the front garden is an equally fantastic place to be admired by people passing by too.
The front garden is a vivid starting point and if you're happy to open the door to trick or treaters this indicates that others are welcome to knock here.
Last year (2022) my son wanted to create a small area outside our front door so I purchased some pumpkins, and a few other little accessories and he was on his way experimenting and enjoying his creativity. He had so much fun producing his very own little masterpiece.
DINING TABLE
This is one of my favourite places to decorate. I love experimenting with different weird and wonderful looks.
Remember to keep it manageable so you can still use the space for everyday dining. (this is my polite reminder)
Witches Cauldron
Create your own witches cauldron at home it's straightforward to make and hugely effective. You can reuse it year after year and it looks visually fantastic.
All You Need Is...
A Large Cauldron
Clear Ball Balls ( I used sizes 5cm & 8cm mixed) pad out the bottom of the cauldron to use less balls.
Mist Light, Small Bowl (for water) and a Glue Gun
The Mist Light is amazing (amazon) it creates a bubbling effect in the water and forms a mist surrounding your cauldron. The lights change on rotation adding to the visual it a real showstopper.
Additional Space
If you have any extra space around your home for e.g fireplaces, shelving or kitchen islands you could also have some fun styling these areas too.
ARTS & CRAFTS
This year we wanted to include some of our fun painting talents which are brilliant for adding those little sentimental finishing touches to your decor. Here's what we've been up to.
BAKING...
Any excuse for cake and I'm in! If you enjoy to do a little baking it's a pleasant way to include your children. Messy but fun of course!
Cupcakes are a favourite for us as they're time efficient, nice and easy to make and (normally) tasty. The best part is the decorating and bringing them to life.
Garden Party
If you have a garden space you may like to host a halloween party for family and friends.
Here are a few games we play to keep the children entertained
1. Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss
All you need is one large Pumpkin and one smaller pumpkin to sit on top and two bean bags. Simply cut out a large hole in the front of your pumpkins and stack them securely on top of one another.
Aim Of The Game...
If you get a bean bag in the hole you get 1point for larger pumpkin and 2points for the smaller one. Whoever ends up with the most points after your chosen amount of rounds wins a surprise.
2. Balloon Burst Surprise
Fill balloons with different messages for e.g some might say you win a treat, whilst others might be a funny dare like sing a song or tell a joke etc. Pop them randomly inside the balloons each person chooses one to pop and reveal their fate inside. Continue until all balloons are gone.
3. Halloween Bingo
Who doesn't love Bingo? I purchased a halloween themed Bingo game online using cards (not balls) and the children and adults had a great and very competitive time playing.
4. Halloween Piñata
Fill a piñata of your choice full of spooky fun and let the game commence.
Some of you may like to fill yours with treats, others may prefer to fill with some tricks that people think are treats. The choice is yours!
5. Name The Halloween Tune Quiz
Split into teams or play individually if there are less of you. Give your team a name (halloween related of course.)
The host will play a snippet of a tune for the team/individual to write down their answer. How many questions you do is up to you. I always find 10/15 is a good amount.
If it ends in a tie break situation have two team members stand up and face one another then play a final tune and see who gets it right in the fastest time.
6. Stand Up Bingo
This is a favourite party game for sure. If you've not heard of it before all you need to do is give each player a bingo slip, you can use the same ones which you used for halloween bingo and have everyone stand up.
If they have an image called out on their card it means they're out of the game until we are left with one winner.
It's basically the reverse of bingo being that you don't want to have anything on your card revealed and be the last one victoriously standing!
7. Tin Can Knockdown
You need 6 empty cans simply remove their labels and paint on some of your fun and spooky creations, for eg Spider, Mummy, Ghost, Witch, Monster, Eyeball.
Stack them 3 at the bottom, 2 in the middle and finally 1 on top and with 3 bean bags get behind the throwing line and try and knock them all down. After your go has ended restack them for the next person and keep taking turns having fun.
8. Walk By Numbers
Place a circle of numbers on the floor (a4 size) walk around the different numbers holding your halloween bucket ready to fill with treats. When the music stops quickly stand on a number if you are standing on the number that is picked out of the Witches hat you win a sweet for your bucket.
9. Pumpkin Carving Competition
Ready, Set, Carve set your timer for your chosen amount of time and create your master piece. When the timer ends line the pumpkins up anonymously for the host to select the overall pumpkin carving champion.
10. Halloween Charades
A great way to complete an evening in style. Each of you write down a few halloween movies and whichever one is pulled out on your turn is yours to get your acting talents on.
Do you have any Halloween traditions?
I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.
If you have any of our gorgeous autumn/halloween pieces in your home you can share them with us over on our instagram we love seeing how you style our products.
Instagram - sweet_decor_from_me_to_you
Have have a spooktastic halloween filled with lots of fun and creativity
Sarah
Xoxo