Here is some useful advice on making decorations for Halloween:

With 36.1 million trick-or-treaters visiting homes in 2006,
it comes as no surprise that we all want our homes to look
as “Halloweenish” as possible for the big night.

Here are some simple Halloween decorating ideas that will
make your home look festive but won’t break the bank.

Orange Lights

Change the light bulbs in your outdoor
lanterns or house lights to orange lights. If you can’t
find orange light bulbs, you can purchase inexpensive
Halloween themed string lights (like Christmas lights) and
hang them around your front door.

Make Your Own Luminaries
Place homemade Halloween luminaries
alongside the sidewalk or walkway up to your front door.
You can make easy and inexpensive luminaries with paper
lunch sacks. You can either leave them the original brown
or spray paint them orange.

On each bag, lightly draw in pencil a rough outline of a
pumpkin, ghost or spider. With a sharpened pencil or nail,
poke holes about every inch along the outline of the design.

Fill each bag with approximately 1 �-2 cups of sand. Place
a votive candle in a glass votive holder and securely place
the votive in the sand (or use glow sticks if you’re leaving
your home unattended). Light the votives at dusk on
Halloween night and your home will have a beautiful
Halloween glow.

Make Your Own Scarecrow

Using old slacks, an old flannel
shirt, some hay and a straw hat, you can make your home come
alive with a friendly scarecrow welcoming your
trick-or-treaters. The other supplies you’ll need are twine,
permanent marker, an old pillowcase and an outdoor chair.

Stuff the pants and shirt firmly with hay, leaving some of
the hay sticking out from the bottom of the legs and bottom
of the sleeves. Position the scarecrow’s pants in the chair
and shift the hay so he “sits” comfortably in the chair.

Tie the arms and legs off with twine. Stuff the old
pillowcase with hay. Tie off with twine and position the
pillowcase inside the shirt collar to appear as the “head”
of the scarecrow. Secure the pillowcase to the shirt by
tying off with twine. With the permanent marker, draw a
scarecrow face and place the hat on top.

Make Your Own Pumpkin Family

By painting silly and
whimsical faces on pumpkins, you can create an entire
pumpkin family that can be proudly displayed on bales of hay
on and around your front door.

On paper, sketch your ideas of what kind of face you’d like
to put on your pumpkin. Transfer that design to a cleaned
and dried pumpkin using a non-permanent marker. Paint the
design using craft paints. Seal with a spray glaze or
sealer.

If each member of your family (even the little ones) paints
their own pumpkin design, you’ll have a memorable collection
of painted pumpkin decorations for your home.

About the author

If you’re looking for unique ideas for a costume this year,
why not try a Lindsay Lohan or Michael Vick Halloween
costume? You’ll find lots more fun & unique costume ideas on
the Get In Costume website.

Plus, get a free copy of my special report “The Family Guide
To Halloween Safety” at
http://www.getincostume.com/freereport