Halloween Party Decorations » Indoor Halloween Decorations

Elegant Halloween Wedding Decor

Lillian — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:18:18 +0000

October is the 5th most popular month for weddings, notes an article published in the June 16, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While not all of those are Halloween weddings, I’m sure a fair amount of them are. Despite the date’s popularity, though, good Halloween wedding decorations aren’t so easy to come by.

A lot of the typical Halloween decor is either too cutesy (think “kids’ party”) or too grusome to subject your grandmother and your little neices and nephews to. So for those planning a Halloween wedding, here are a few decor ideas that strike a good balance between spooky and tasteful.

Vampires’ Wedding

The vampire theme is easy to work with for a wedding. You can go with elegant, Old World spookiness or add as much ghoulishness as you think your guests can handle. Stock up on large cathedral-style candles if you don’t want any natural lighting. Placing red covers or theater lighting gels over also adds to the ambiance.

SpiritHalloween.com has a “Vampire Hot Shot Garter” that’s perfect for the Halloween bride. They also have the Nox Arcana Transylvania Music CD, which could work well for the prelude and the reception. Way better than cheesy, romanitc soft rock in any case.

One potential pitful with this theme is that it’s a little too death-oriented for some people’s tastes. The Twilight craze makes the “whole vampire thing” seem a little cliché right now. With class or enough humor, though, these facts shouldn’t be a problem.

Zombies’ Wedding

What’s not to love about those brain-munching zombies? One advantage the living dead have over the undead is they know how to party! Zombies are so over-the-top, so B-movie silly that you can add gore to your heart’s and other internal organs’ delight without appearing too morbid.

Make sure you set up at least one grave site, which can be as simple as speading some hay or woodchips or a piece of plastic, and set up a headstone along with a zombie prop digging its way out of said hay or woodchips. Small tiki torches add to that “zombies on a rampage” feel, strips of gauze bandages make good streamers and plastic body parts or bones can fit in almost anywhere. And dont forget a bowl or two of brains for your guests to snack on.

SpiritHalloween.com has a complete Zombie Bride costume for $40 if you’re looking for a budget option. It’s a little plain for a real wedding, though (what do you expect for $40?), so you’ll probably want to embellish it with extra ribbons, lace, bits of brains and so on.

Ghosts’ Wedding

The undead, the living dead, and last but not least we have the plain ol’ dead. If you’re not into gore and prefer a low-key, mildly spooky wedding, this is an ideal theme. It also works well if you want to put a spin on the traditional white wedding. In fact, you can even enhance your unholy paleness with black lights. If that’s a little too head-ache-inducing for you, try blue lighting to give the venue a cool, graveyard feel. Lanterns also fit this theme well.

Add plenty of cobwebs, the odd artificial crow or raven, and a don’t forget a headstone for the bride and groom. A fog machine also adds a nice touch, but make sure you have plenty of ventilation and remember the machine will coat everthing in a fine layer of fog fluid.

To add more ghosts on the cheap, hand a lenticular (”changing”) portrait or two. If your venue has an upper window, consider getting a ghost or scary faces DVD. Prop a large (35 – 40 inch) TV in the window and play the DVD so the faces appear in the window. While they’re a little more expensive and time-consuming to set up, “haunted” animatronics that move on their own can be a lot of fun, too. An example would be a small table that starts wobbling when a guest walks past, triggering a motion sensor.

Another theme to consider for your Halloween wedding decor is the Heaven and Hell theme, as long as either you or your betrothed don’t mind showing up dressed as the devil. This these also gives guests a little more leeway in choosing how the dress, since they can pick which side to take.

A Haunted Halloween Party: Decorations and Ideas

Lillian — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:47:39 +0000

When you’re planning a haunted Halloween party, spooky decorations and props are a must. Today’s high quality haunted house props and party decor let you easily “plant evidence” of your home’s haunting spirits in a way that will make your guests wonder just enough.

Halloween Ghost Decorations

What’s a haunting without ghosts? You may not have any real ones hanging around, but you can give the impression of their presence. Glass grabbers, also called window clings, are easy to press onto your mirrors or windows to give the appearance of a ghostly something floating on the other side of the glass.

In dim lighting, the more artistically made ones look strikingly real at first glance. These are a must for hallway and bathroom mirrors, where they can give your party guests a good startle.

In the same family of Halloween party decorations are ceiling clings. Stick one of these in the corner of your living room ceiling to create the impression of red eyes peering down from a hole in the ceiling.

These go well with “red skeleton foot prints” and “scratch mark” wall clings. Makes it look like a poltergeist has been at work. Unlike poltergeists, though, these decorations are easy to clean up after since they’re just “peel and stick” and leave no traces after removal.

Haunted Household Objects

Haunted Halloween party decorations run the gamut from fairly cheesy “possessed” dolls that crawl around and sing kid’s songs to pricey, to reasonably scary haunted house animatronics, to stunningly realistic 3D projection illusions.

While all these decorations have their places (well, at least the second two do), what really creeps people out is what’s going on inside their heads. Part of encouraging that is to put add a little spookiness where it’s least expected.

What’s one of the most popular ghost tricks? Playing with electronics, of course! On super easy way to haunt your house for a party is with timers. Hook your TV, lights or other electronics to a timer set to go on or off at seemingly random times. Obviously, you’ll have to be a decent dissembler to pull this off or your guests will figure out you planned it.

Another method is with PIR (passive infrared) detectors. ScaryGuys.com describes using this for a radio, so the radio is set to switch on and start dialing through stations when someone walks past.

Of course, “haunted” or “possessed” animatronics are the easy way to go. They aren’t all expensive. For example, SpiritHalloween.com has a “possessed portrait” that shakes and jumps along with a good selection of spooky changing lenticular portraits.

The object doesn’t necessarily have to do anything in order to appear haunted. Try sitting an antique doll in a doll-sized chair in a corner somewhere. Hang a large mirror in an area your guests will pass by frequently. You might surprised many people get creeped out by things like this even if the doll doesn’t “come to life” and no scary faces appear in the mirror.

General Spookiness

A large part of planning a haunted Halloween party is created a creepy, unsettling atmosphere that sets your gets on edge. Once you get their imaginations working like this, a bird can land on the window ledge and your guests nearly jump out of their skins.

Re-decorate you house enough that it looks looks well removed from the ordinary. Cover your chairs in black tulle, tied around the chair back with ribbon (this is easiest with straight-back wooden chairs). Use Halloween room setters that depict peeling plaster and rotted wood wainscot as a quick and cheap way to give your home that fashionable abandoned look.

The most important element isn’t visible at all, though: sound. Halloween music and sound effects that creates a “spooky soundscape” helps a lot. After all, even big-budget horror movies would be a lot less effective without the soundtrack.

Stereotypical sound effects like witches cackling and cheesy Halloween songs like Monster Mash won’t have much impact, though. What you need is truly unsettling music like that from Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana. These artists, available at SpiritHalloween.com, are both favorites of professional haunted houses.

Halloween Party Decorations for Kids

Lillian — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:16:11 +0000

Halloween party decorations for kids are, naturally, a little milder than the creepy, gory décor you’d find at parties for adults. They still use the same motifs of Jack-o-lanterns, witches, bats and skeletons, but they tend towards “cute” rather than scary.

Another thing is you really don’t need to spend a lot on Halloween party decorations for children. Just dress the place up a little and the kids’ imaginations will do the rest of the work.

Simple chair covers are a good example. Drape black tulle over your chairs to create a dark, Gothic atmosphere. If you’re going for a more ethereal, ghostly look, use white tulle instead.

You can make your own cheap, yet spooky (for kids) ghosts in a similar way. Buy a few yards of white tulle and white ribbon or string. The day of the party, buy a few helium balloons. Drape a square of tulle over the helium balloon “head” of the ghost, tie the neck with ribbon, and release your ghost it float around the room. A quiet rotating fan placed out of site can add to the effect by moving the ghosts around.

The “haunted harvest festival” theme is another kids’ party idea that’s sufficiently spooky, but not scary enough to have the little ones running for the door. Put out a few bales of hay, dry corn stalks, and colorful gourds. A scarecrow (spooky or cute) is another nice touch. Then add a fog machine and a black light. You’d be surprised how much the eerie effect of the fog and weird light impresses children. Just make sure the kids don’t try to get into the fog machine because the dry ice used to power it can burn skin.

The types of Halloween party decorations for kids you choose also depends on the age of the kids. What thrills five-year-olds will bore 10-year-olds. For older kids, a little goo and gore is just fine.

You might want to add a not-so-realistic headless man. Stuff an old shirt and pair of jeans with newspaper and add gloves and shoes. On the neck of the, slap on a little cooked hamburger and ketchup to show where your poor victim’s head used to be. Leave the bloody murder weapon, such as a plastic hatchet with ketchup on the edges, lying around nearby.

Unlike the pricey, yet realistic décor many adults prefer, Halloween party decorations for kids are generally pretty cheap and simple. If you’re the one buying the decorations for a little kids’ party, error on the site of cute so as not to give the little ones nightmares. For older kids, get their input on the types of Halloween decorations they want. You’ll probably be surprised at their enthusiasm for the scary stuff.

Halloween Pumpkin Decorations

Lillian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:44:24 +0000

Few things symbolize Halloween better than Halloween pumpkin decorations. As a décor motif, the pumpkin works well in both kid’s and adult’s party decorations. Because it’s more of a harvest/autumn item than strictly a Halloween thing, you can also leave pumpkin decorations up a little longer than you would the ghosts and vampires.

Scary Jack-o-lantern Decorations

Your average pumpkin isn’t particularly scary until you put a face on it at which point, of course, it becomes a Jack-o-lantern. If you’re not up to carving your own this year, look for a plastic battery operated model with a sinister grin and glowing red eyes. Some also produce sound effects or make comments when a motion sensor is triggered. Place one of these Halloween pumpkin decorations on your porch, in a window or hanging up in some other visible spot.

Halloween Pumpkin Lights

Jack-o-lanterns aren’t the only pumpkins that give off that eerie glow. Frame your windows or door with strings of pumpkin mini lights. Dress up your porch light with a pumpkin porch light cover. Another way to help guests make it to your door is set up some pumpkin driveway markers (electric lights you stick in the ground) or pumpkin tiki torches.

Indoors, get a pumpkin nightlight for your kid’s room or to light the way to the bathroom. Glowing pumpkin window decorations, which you stick on the window, are another simple decoration.

Pumpkin Tableware

Halloween pumpkin decorations for the table come in just about every type you can think of. Cover your refreshments table with a pumpkin patterned tablecloth. The pumpkin’s round shape also makes it ideal for plates and serving bowls. If you’ll be serving cocktails, pick up some pumpkin coasters and drink stirrers.

Dining by candle light? Ceramic pumpkin candle holders come in both cute and spooky versions. For something a little earthier, carve out some mini-pumpkins and turn them into candle holders.

Smiling Pumpkins and Friendly Jack-o-lanterns

Ceramic and terra cotta pumpkin, pumpkin pie scented candles, and carved wooden garlands make attractive Halloween home décor. Pumpkin piñatas, windsocks, window clings, stuffed toy pumpkins are great for kids’ parties. Pumpkins in costume also make good light-hearted decorations.

Put a pumpkin in a witch’s hat or stick a set of construction paper vampire teeth on it. Pumpkin painting is another popular way of dressing up a pumpkin without carving it. If you like carving, but don’t like the mess, try a Funkin Pumpkin. These are carvable foam pumpkins that come in several different shapes. These Halloween pumpkin decorations are fine outdoors, but you can’t use a candle inside them.

Halloween Party Decorations for Your Bathroom

Lillian — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:01:43 +0000

The bathroom may not be the first place you think to put up Halloween party decorations, but if your guests will be staying more than an hour or so, it’s worth extending your party décor theme to a room at least someone is sure to visit. The first step is to replace that bright but boring bathroom light with a black light or light in some other funky color. Which other Halloween party decorations you choose depends on how much you want to unnerve your guests.

The Creepy Bathtub or Shower

Setting up a scene from Bates Motel is the most obvious idea, of course. Gruesome as it is, though, it’s not very unique. For something different, try putting a weird aquatic creature prop in a tub half full of green colored water (a green light overhead will do). A shower stall filled with spider webs and inhabited by a giant spider is also fairly nightmarish.

The Haunted Mirror

When you’re in the right mind set, even a normal mirror can be a little spooky. Under the influence of enough ghost stories, you half expect to see something emerge from the depths of the mirror. The easiest and cheapest way is to haunt your bathroom mirror is to stick a ghost window cling to the glass. You can buy a cheap mirror and etch a ghostly image into the back. If you really want something special, Halloween party decorations like ghost mirrors can either replace your mirror or be hung on in a highly visible spot.

Quick screams

Want to really startle your guests? Set up a noise-making prop with a motion sensor that’s triggered by the opening door. If you’re bathroom’s totally dark (or you can make it that way) stand a large prop right next to the first thing your guest sees when they flick on the light is that “thing” towering over them. Alternatively, if your bathroom has a window, set up a prop on the outside looking in so it looks like a creepy peeping tom. An eerie ghost hanging over the sink or commode can also be unnerving.

Halloween Skeleton Decorations

Lillian — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:28:18 +0000

Ordinary Halloween skeleton decorations are easy to find, but it’s what you do with your skelly that makes it unique. Of course, it doesn’t take a whole lot of work to make a skeleton look scary. After all, even in “normal” settings such as anatomy classrooms, full size skeletons still look creepy. Here are a few easy ways make dem bones look even creepier.

Enhance Your Skeleton

Few Halloween skeleton decorations are impressive right out of the box. That’s not such a bad thing because half the fun of using skeleton décor is seeing how gruesome you can make it look. Turn your skeleton into a corpse by coat the bones in latex, stretch a gauzy cotton material like cheese cloth over the sticky bones. When dry, paint and corpsify to as you like.

Animated Halloween Skeleton Decorations

Part of the reason human skeletons give us the creeps is that somewhere in the back of our minds, we’re afraid the thing is going to come to live. Play into that fear with a motorized, motion-sensor activated skeleton that rattles and shivers when someone walks by. Extras like flashing and jangling chains add to the effect. The most basic animated skeleton props start at around $50, but you can find torsos, arms and skulls for less.

Set a Scene

A skeleton is a lot scarier when you let your guests’ imaginations work on what made that skeleton in the first place. Instead of leaving your skelly lying around by himself, create the scene of his demise. Cover a large area with spider webs and place a giant spider inside. Lay the skeletal remains of one of the spider’s recent victims, wrapped in webs or not, beneath him. Create a prison scene complete with rats and chains. Dress your skeleton in striped prisoner garb and ankle shackles. Put your skeleton in pirate hat and stick a plastic cutlass through his ribs.

If you’ve got a graveyard scene in your yard, include some “ground breaking” Halloween skeleton decorations. These are the upper body and hands (sometimes other parts) of the skeleton designed to look like the undead is digging out from the grave.

Halloween Ghost Decorations

Lillian — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:27:12 +0000

Halloween ghost decorations come in perhaps the widest variety of all Halloween party decorations. The ghost décor out there today ranges from Casper and his friendly smile to realistic looking phantasms your guests won’t even want to approach. Here are a few ghost decoration ideas you may not have thought of yet. I’ll try to resist calling them spook-tacular.

Truly Scary Halloween Ghost Decorations

A decent ghost decoration isn’t that hard to manufacture, so even the moderately priced props can look disturbingly realistic. These are typically the models with a carefully detailed face that looks properly undead. Hang one of these ghosts in a corner of the ceiling in the bathroom or hallway, where your guests will least expect it.

String up some white ghost lights (a string of holiday lights in ghostly shapes) or a banner of paper gut-out ghosts. Light your living room with a ghost lamp that glows an eerie purple, green, or pure white.

Friendly Ghosts

Whether your party is for kids or adults, a few Casper-style friendly ghosts lighten the mood a little. Cute inflatable Halloween ghost decorations are cheap and easy to hang. Ghosts decorations are also some of the easiest to make yourself. Make little ghosts by wrapping gauzy material around lollipops and securing the “neck” with ribbon. Create large outdoor ghosts large white trash bags by stuffing one corner with newspaper, tying the neck with string or ribbon, and if you want, drawing on a face.

Deaden up your refreshments table with a ghost serving bowl, ghost-printed plates and napkins, and other Halloween party tableware.

Haunted Objects

Haunted Halloween party decorations change and move seemingly all by themselves. In reality, of course, they move when the internal mechanisms are set off by a motion detector or timer. When set up just right, few things scare guests more than a seemingly normal object that starts moving and talking like a thing possessed. Take the “haunted radio” for example described at the ScaryGuys.com Website.

For a simpler haunted item, try a changing portrait that shifts from a normal face to gruesome apparition depending on your angle. That added haunted atmosphere will make your Halloween ghost decorations that much scarier.

Halloween Witch Decorations

Lillian — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:44:11 +0000

You can use Halloween witch decorations to create a witches’ ball or coven meeting theme or just add a little human touch to all those vampires and ghosts. If you’re expecting nothing more than the plain old pint-sized standing or hanging witch dolls, though, you’re in for a surprise with today’s variety of witch décor.

Indoor Halloween witch decorations

If you’re working with a witch theme for your Halloween party, a good quality life-sized witch prop will do a lot. A simple standing or hanging witch prop, without sound or animation, can be for less than $50. If you really want to go all out, look for an animated talking witch prop.

Cheaper models go for less than $100, moderate high quality ones for around $250 and professional haunted house props can easily top $1000. In addition to life-sized models, witch dolls, posters, window clings and other Halloween witch decorations range in style from the friendly good witch variety to the scary Blair witch type.

Witch accessories

Besides the witches themselves, add some Halloween witch decorations to help your witches feel at home. Pointy black witches’ hats, flowing capes, witch shoes with curling toes and of course, brooms.

A few books of witches’ spells, tarot cards, crystal balls and other magical objects will help you witches get some work done, too. In addition to the traditional ravens and black cats, fill your house with other spooky animals like bats, owls, spiders, snakes, and lizards.

Lighten the mood a little with a crashing witch decoration (a flattened “crashed” witch you mount on your wall so only her back is visible). Use serving wear shaped like cauldrons and goblin hands and ornate goblets to serve your witch’s brew.

Outdoor Halloween witch decorations and scenes

Use heavy cardboard (or plywood, if you’re handy with a saw) to cut out the silhouette of a hunched over witch. Place her in front of a fogging cauldron. Add a few of her familiars, like black cats and ravens. Set up a fog machine and replace your porch light with a green light to add to the eerie atmosphere.

Put out a few extra cauldrons, possibly with a ghouls or goblins peeking over the edges. Give your garden witch a sister and hang her, mounted on her broom stick, from a nearby tree. Before you buy Halloween witch decorations for your yard, though, make sure they’re made for outdoor use.

Halloween Home Décor: Three Great Themes

Lillian — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:45:37 +0000

Home décor for Halloween isn’t necessarily the same as decorations. Decorations are meant to dramatically change the mood of your home for a holiday or party and while they do a good job of that, they tend to stick out and get in the way. Halloween home décor, on the other hand, lets you enjoy the season without worrying about knocking something over.

Autumnal theme

If you like breaking out the Halloween decorations the first day of October, consider a fall theme. The main benefit is that seasonal décor wears better, so you’re less likely to be bored with it by the time October 31st rolls around. It’s also less limiting. You’re no longer restricted to orange and black, but also have red, brown and yellow, and deep green to work with.

The main theme here is the harvest. Place a bunch of dry corn stocks and gourds near your door and a wreath of colored leaves on the door itself. As Halloween approaches, start adding more holiday-specific décor. Replace the pumpkins with Jack-o-lanterns and hang a ghost in the nearest tree.

Cute and Kid-friendly

If you have kids around, provided they haven’t yet been desensitized to gruesome decorations, you may want to keep the décor in the “cute and charming” department. Friendly looking ghosts and scarecrows, smiling Jack-o-lanterns, and black cats wearing orange bows all add a touch of spookiness without giving the kids nightmares. Reasonably well-mannered witches and vampires also tend to go over well with kids. Any one of these figures can be found as useful items like soap dishes, throw pillows, rugs and lamps.

Spooky Gothic and Victorian Décor

You don’t need to live in a dilapidated mansion to get the creepy look of an abandoned haunted house. String fake cobwebs on the trees and shrubs around your home. Mount a gargoyle over the door (extra points for glowing eyes) or frame the doorway in a Gothic . Then add a few rats or ravens to the mix.

Inside the house, more spider webs and gargoyles will look great. Hang a “changing portrait” in among your family portraits. Replace your ordinary home décor and items with a Gothic style clock, candelabras and wall lighting, chalices or goblets, crosses and elaborately framed mirrors. If you get tired of the Gothic or Victorian, bring in a few unusual pieces of Egyptian home décor for the mysterious feel of ancient Egypt.

Halloween Party Decorations and Ideas

Lillian — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:28:16 +0000

If you’re looking for creative and low cost ways to decorate for a Halloween party, you’ve come to the right place. At HalloweenPartyDecorations.ORG, you’ll find not only a selection of affordable, unique, (and scary) decorations, but also ideas on decorating for Halloween that will help you get the most out of your decor choices.

Kids’ and Adults’ Party Decorations

It’s hard to know who loves Halloween more—the little kids or the “big kids.” What I do know, though, is how frustrating it is to be searching for cute kids’ party decorations and keep coming up with gory haunted house props. On the other hand, those pleasantly smiling Jack-o-Lanterns and friendly scarecrows don’t do much for the grownups. That’s why I’ve separated the cute kids’ stuff and the truly scary adult Halloween party supplies into their own categories.

Halloween Home Decor

Given the weather in late October in many areas, chances are your party guests will be spending the majority of their time indoors. That means home decor for a Halloween party had better be good. What it doesn’t have to be is expensive.

A good part of creating a creepy, spooky atmosphere in your home is knowing how to set up your decorations. Not to many decorations look good if you just stick them on an end table somewhere. Using soundscapes and lighting effects will also work in your favor. In fact, I’d say you really shouldn’t do without them.

I’ll also give you some ideas for Halloween door and window decorations, some of which can be surprisingly disturbing is used just the right way. Presuming your guests aren’t too nervous to eat, Halloween table decor adds a finishing touch to your party. If you want to go all out in this department, you won’t have any trouble.

Halloween Outdoor Decorations

Nothing sets the mood for your arriving guests like a well designed outdoor display. Besides, they’re just plain fun to create. In warmer climates, holding some part of your party outdoors around a bonfire adds an special element. Halloween yard decorations like…

If you really want to go all out, You might be surprised just how much of this stuff you can get on a tight budget if you know where to look. Even if you’re not really planning on doing much outdoors, a good Halloween tree decoration hidden behind a big elm or up in the branches of an old maple adds an element of spookiness.

Halloween Decoration Ideas

Decorating for a Halloween party sounds like fun until you really get into the details of what kind of decorations to use and how to use them.

A large part of the problem is that many party hosts don’t come up with a theme. Without a theme, you can end up spending way too much on decor and still not getting much of an effect. Your party decor end up looking like a haphazard second thought.

Choosing a Halloween party theme will help you do more with less. Decor themes include like a graveyard, insane asylum, pirate ghost ship, vampires’ or witches’ ball, horror movie (like Friday the 13th or Psycho), zombie invasion, and a Gothic haunted house for classy party (think “The Addam’s family hosts a dinner party.”)

Halloween decorations and props range from mild creepiness to all-out gore, so whatever theme you choose, you’ll have plenty of decor ideas to select from.