Halloween decorations bring fun and memories into the home

On the first day of October, I asked my husband to bring in the Halloween boxes from the garage. I wanted to start decorating for Halloween as soon as possible. I love this time of year-- the fall colors, the cooler weather, and the beginning of the wonderful holiday season. I especially love Halloween, and I've always enjoyed decorating for this occasion.

When my kids were younger I always involved them in the process of decorating for Halloween. For children, what is important is the experience of being included, not that the house looks "magazine-perfect." We hosted a number of playgroup parties here so the decor had to be child-friendly and fun. My kids' favorites were adhering Halloween-themed window stickers to the windows and stringing little orange lights on our stair railing.

With the kids older now, and my time in short supply, my seasonal decor has become a little more simple and subtle, with small touches of fall and Halloween throughout the house. This year I created a dining table centerpiece by arranging orange pillar candles on a pedestal cake plate, surrounded by fall leaves and a collection of ceramic mini pumpkins and gourds. I scattered amber-colored marbles on the table runner, and decorated the top of the china cabinet with a fall leaf garland and some Halloween collectibles.

On the living room coffee table, one of my favorite decorations is a haunted house with small tea lights in its windows. In the kitchen I have a Halloween plate on display along with a jack-o-lantern my daughter made in preschool. We also like using our Halloween dishes at mealtimes.

Years ago, my kids and I arranged some pumpkins, hay, and fall leaves in their wagon and set it up on display on the front porch. They collected leaves in the yard and drew scary faces on the pumpkins. One year my we even made a scarecrow using my daughter's shirt and overalls, a straw hat and a bandanna. We stuffed the body with newspaper and made the head from a plastic milk jug covered with papier-mache. He was a comical addition to the wagon.

For several Halloweens, we made jack-o-lanterns to hang from the trees in our yard. I purchased small plastic orange party favor bags and we stuffed the bags with newspaper. I tied the tops with green ribbon, and let the kids draw faces on the bags with black Sharpies. We recycled the little bags at the end of the season and used them many times.

Like many kids, mine seemed to amass a rather large collection of small Halloween toys and party favors. I gathered them all in a pumpkin-shaped basket, which kept the toys contained but accessible. They would have fun playing with the tiny toys and looked forward to digging through the basket every year, reminiscing about where and when each toy was acquired. 

Every year, when we open the Halloween box, happy memories emerge. Is there a better way to celebrate the start of the holiday season?

This article first appeared in Alameda Newspaper Group papers on Oct. 14, 2006.

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All articles copyright 2003-2008 Anna Jacoby.