Ideas for Fall Decorating – Five Classic Ways to Prepare for Halloween & Thanksgiving

Want your kids to get excited and your neighbors to envy your decorating skills? Here are some terrific ideas to dress up your home for the Fall season. There are few times of the year more festive than Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Fall season.

#1 – Gourds, cornstalks & pumpkins. The fall harvest has just been brought in and all around the fields are standing bunches of cornstalks drying our for winter forage. That is how they did it in the old days so why not bring some of that old time harvest feeling to your front yard. All it takes is one bunch of cornstalks and a few colorful gourds, giant squash and/or pumpkins to get that warm harvest feeling at your home.

#2 – Construction paper cut-outs. Don’t overlook your windows when it is time to dress up the house for fall. Some simple decorative cut outs taped in the windows is a festive site for anyone inside or out of the house. Grab some construction paper in fall colors (orange, black brown, yellow, gold & green). Now draw or trace some simple fall outlines on them like leaves, pumpkins, tractors, bats, cats, witches (and other Halloween shapes). Cut out the shapes and tape them in your front windows to show off your seasonal spirit.

#3 – Table centerpiece. Let’s not forget your fall table, the place where you celebrate so many good times with the family around a table of delicious food. All it takes to get into that fall feeling is a little straw and some colorful small gourds and squash. These items are plentiful this time of year at your local supermarket or farmers market. With the straw as a base just stack a few multi-colored and different shaped gourds in your table’s center and the fall spirit has come home.

#4 – Goblins & ghosts. The kids favorite fall holiday is of course Halloween. And what would a Halloween be without a few ghosts and goblins around? An old white sheet, some newspaper and twine is all you need for the ghost. Stuff the middle of the sheet with a ball of newspaper for the head and tie the twine to make the neck. Hang your ghost from the nearest tree limb and let him float in the breeze for that perfect ghostly effect.

Goblins can be made from any old clothes and shoes stuffed with newspapers. Use a couple of broom stick handles to hold him up or sit him in an old chair. A basketball with an old hat for a head and a pair of gloves, and you are in business. Make a scary face out of cut out cardboard if you feel inspired or simply put him in a dimly lit corner and the kids are sure to jump when they notice him.

#5 – A witch and her cauldron. Last but not least, why not invite your own personal witch to partake in the holiday festivities? All you need is an old black dress and hat from the costume shop, attic or local Salvation Army store. Stuff the dress with newspaper and broom sticks for support and cut out a cardboard face with a wicked grimace. Put her in a chair or prop her up in a dark corner of your front porch and watch the kids jump when they notice her.

Don’t forget your witch’s cauldron. All it takes is an old tub or large black kettle with a piece of dry ice and you have the perfect spooky brew bubbling at your witch’s feet. Now set her in the shadows of your front porch and watch the trick-or-treaters jump when they spot her ready to add them to her scary brew.

So there you have it … the perfect fall season decorating plan. Just what you need to get in the mood to give thanks for a blessed and bountiful harvest and the cornucopia of a life of plenty.

Amy Aimsly loves writing articles about ways to decorate the home. She also has additional simple and practical ways in her recent websites on the Wall Mount Ironing Board and the Wall Ironing Board.