a pretty, I mean spooky, Halloween

Halloween has officially arrived at our home! I worked on and off for about a week to get the front yard decorated. I'm guessing it took me so long because this is the first holiday in the new house and it took some extra time to arrange and rearrange everything.... and this yard is much smaller than our previous home so getting everything to look just right has been a rather daunting task. 

In keeping with tradition, we chose a theme for costumes and decor and then last week we (as in Alaina) changed our minds about doing an Alice in Wonderland theme and have decided we will all dress as vampires this year. (She's really been into the Monster High stuff.) That also meant that all of the decor ideas I had to match the Alice theme, no longer applied. No Cheshire cat in the tree, no colorful flowers lining the walkway, no heart and playing card garland and no pink flamingos. I'll have to save those ideas for maybe next year. Instead, we're going with a little more dramatic decor in keeping with the whole vampire theme. I've brought out some really inexpensive silver platters, silver vases, used lots of gold and silver glitter to make things look less spooky and more glam and those pink plastic flamingos well I found a new use for them!

A little black spray paint, a very steady hand and some sparkly glitter turned those tacky pink flamingos into some very leggy undead birds! I painted 2 of them and let them hang out in one of the graveyards, I think they're a nice touch even if people don't recognize them right away. :) 

 

Well, I had resolved not to do any more decorating today but I just thought of a fun Halloween craft for the kids so we're off to pick up some paint and extra paint brushes at the store. I'm thinking some big Halloween flowers to decorate the rest of the bushes might be a good way to spend a Saturday evening!