Halloween Decorations: Green, Cheap, and Easy

It's that time of year again where the major department stores pack the shelves with oodles of plastic Halloween decorations. I admit that I get a little spooky myself when shopping for Fall and Winter holiday decorations.  I just like the stuff; what can I say?

Believe it or not, though, a savvy shopper can buy a minimum of the plastic goodies and then use them wisely, year after year, in a large Halloween display.  This is because if you live in a home with a yard or garden of some sort, you probably have piles of spooky things just laying around ready to be used.  Literally piles of it.  Start with your Fall pruning and cleanup debris.  Twigs, leaves, and flowers that have dried up and even composted a bit are darned spooky.  That vase of roses you neglected and watched wither and die? Free scary stuff sitting on your table.  Pull down any weedy vines consuming your fence and wrap these around the columns on your porch or around a potted plant.  A week or two later, they'll be dried up and scary. 

In between trimming and composting, these things can be decorations.

But wait, don't act now because you may also have a pile of old wood fencing laying around waiting for the next neighborhood cleanup week. Rotted wood is spooky too. Anything you build out of it will look like it sat on a veranda in Castle Frankenstein for decades.

I store my old wooden decorations behind the garage in the backyard version of no-mans-land. Things grow on it, gnaw on it, and generally make it even spookier for the next year--free!

Sometimes, it's what you don't clean up that really gets things looking spectacularly decrepit.  Did the Mummy rake his leaves? No!  Did Dracula mow the lawn? No!  Yes, laziness can be a decorating style.  Revel in it.

With found items, a few store-bought decorations, and a pile of yard debris, you can re-use, recycle,  and restyle your Halloween.  It's green, cheap, and easy.