I don't know about you, but Halloween is closing in on me pretty fast. I dragged up the boxes of decorations at the beginning of the month and felt pretty impressed that I got a head start. And then life happened. A family funeral, a visit from my parents and brother, a long weekend in Plymouth and short weekend upstate. Lo and behold, October is almost gone and said boxes are still sitting under my dining room table. It's time to go with what I've got and finish up by decorating on the fly.
Here are a few tips to help you make do with what you've got and not reinvent the wheel when you're decorating for the holidays.
Look to mother nature.
Whenever I can, I try to incorporate the inevitable extra pumpkins we pick up throughout the month, both inside and out. In a small space like my living room, a little really goes a long way.
Here some small pumpkins and gourds sit atop a wooden tray and add a fun touch to an out of the way corner of our living room. With some dollar store decorations, they get a little spooky for Halloween.
Embellish the ordinary.
With little time and budget to buy or make a new wreath last year, I added a Thanksgiving sign I already had to a simple grapevine wreath I found in my basement. (If you're local, you can get something similar made for you here.) Adding some faux and real pumpkins to our stairs creates a warm welcome to our tiny entry.
Create a grouping of like items.
You don't need to spend a ton to make an impact. My husband is forever coming home with decorations from the drug store that I would never think to buy. Instead of "misplacing" them in the back of the closet (which is usually my first thought), I try to get creative to make them work. Here, I added a creepy bunch of styrofoam skulls that he bought last year to a glass hurricane. The kids love it and I don't have lots of little items scattered throughout the room.
Shop your home with color in mind.
Instead of immediately going to buy new items, shop your home first. Look around to see if you've got old books, tablecloths, pictures, etc. that suit a holiday or season's color scheme. I found these books in a box in my basement. Grouped together, they create a fun vignette and make another one of my husband's Rite Aid pick-ups work pretty well.
To add to this bargain item's "charm", it lights up and changes color each time the damn dog barks.