Halloween Decor Gallore

Christy's post last week on fall decorating got me in gear to go shop around for some fun Halloween decorations for the kiddos. This is one type of shopping the kids actually enjoy. They love pushing the buttons in the store to hear the witches cackle and so on.

We bought some spider webs (Target $2.99) that came with some plastic spiders, but those wouldn't do, so I bought some larger spiders to spread around the web (Wal- Mart $2.00). Then, we had to have the focal point for our porch - the bigger dropping spider (Garden Ridge $9.99). Cooper especially loves the dropping spider. If you clap or make any loud noise it drops and then wiggles back up the line with red glowing eyes. I had the pleasure of seeing our neighbor, Nate, who's 3 jump when the spider dropped yesterday when he came up to our porch to ask the kids to play. Too funny. Kenzie and Connor go outside multiple times a day just to clap, stomp or scream "Trick or Treat" to make the spider drop down. Anyway, adding a few simple decorations has really gotten the kids excited about Halloween.

Just today we made these tree ghosties using trash bags and twine.

And, the kids have been painting these skeletons (JoAnn's $2.30/each) after first coloring them with crayons. It has been an ongoing craft project they enjoy. I may even paint them white when all is said and done so they can reuse them again next year. (Connor wanted an apron too, so I grabbed him his armor - a more manly option. I wonder if this would work as a bib for Cooper - would have come in handy for our lasagna dinner last night!)

Kimmo and I made this Halloween candy corn wreath featured on All Things Thrifty while watching Temple Grandin last weekend. (Great movie. Hadn't heard anything about it and had no expectations, but apparently it won some awards, and Claire Danes did a phenomenal job playing the part). Our wreaths took the length of the movie to complete. Visit All Things Thrifty if you want to see how to make one yourself. I enjoyed the project since Kimmo made one too, and Brien took over kid duty. Brooke also has a lima bean wreath tutorial that I might tackle another day. It would be more versatile for the different holidays just by changing out the ribbon.

Now, I just need to find some spooky music, and we'll be all set.