I don’t know about y’all , but FREAKING BATS I LOVE HALLOWEEN, and if you do too you have come to the right place! Halloween in my house has always been a staple. My neighborhood growing up was filled with young families with children so when Halloween came around the streets of our neighborhood would be packed with trick-or-treaters. My parents, being the magical hosts they were would capitalize on this opportunity and invite every single person they knew it seemed like. Our house would be hustling and bustling with zombies, dead prom queens, bumble bees, skeletons, witches, and ghosts all with bellies full of my moms homemade & famous chili that only comes around on Halloween believe it or not. I remember never being able to be anything “cute,” my mom insisted that if I wanted to be a prom queen I would have to be a dead prom queen, if I wanted to be a cheerleader I would have to be a dead cheerleader…well you get the point. Halloween was THE holiday in our house.

Transitioning into my own house, and creating new traditions has been nothing short of amazing and so fun. For anyone who knows me knows I used to use fashion as my creative outlet, but the minute I got into my own home all of my budgeted “fun” money went straight to taking my house and creating it into the oasis and home of mine and Ethan’s dreams. Ethan and I are big holiday people. With our new house comes a blank canvas for both of us to stretch our minds and decorate to the fullest extent for each holiday. Last year we were honey-mooning during Halloween so this year we decided to go ALL OUT.

My creative juices were flying around trying to settle on what route to pursue. Sometimes when this is the case I find myself walking the aisles of goodwill and other second-hand shops trying to discover old things that can be re-imagined and refurbished. It helps my brain cultivate these ideas and bring them to life. While walking the aisles of my local Goodwill store I started running into a bunch of items that I wouldn’t usually buy, but would look perfectly spooky as Halloween decorations for my mantle. I started piling my cart high with items others retired as useless, but I would acquire as useful. My idea was to take these items and spray paint them black (I know morbid, but its Halloween). I sped home (safely) and began dusting off the pre-loved props and prepping by backyard for a spray-paint escapade. I covered each item in a couple brief layers (I am still learning the art of spray paint I am quite the overloader and I have to remind myself to keep it light so the paint won’t drip.)

As my mantle props were drying I began creating my “spell books.” I of course named one the “Book of Shadows” (s/o to Charmed – mine and my moms favorite show while growing up heehee if you haven’t seen it head straight to Netflix right now!!). I free-handed each of these using my hot glue gun as a “pen,” but I have seen instances where people utilized scrapbook stickers and sticker alphabet letters so the books looked a little more unified. I was just impatient and ready for my house to be immersed in all things Halloween. In between hot-gluing I would spray paint additional layers of black onto my props, and inspect them to see when they were “finished.” Once I had finished with my “Spell Books,” I took them outside and layered black spray paint on top of them until I believed they were perfectly witchy!

The next morning the props were dry & I was eager to work on my display. I ended up putting everything up, and still feeling as though there was a layer of emptiness. So I went to pinterest to discover a good and spooky space-filler, and discovered the bat phenomenon! I drove to walmart picked up two big black pieces of poster board and more tape, and began cutting out baby-bats, big-bats, medium-bats, oversized-bats, and every size of bat I could imagine needing. I recommend popping on a netflix show or halloween movie to distract your hand from feeling the carpal tunnel you will begin to feel haha!

I folded the poster board in half, and then folded the halves into halves. The one poster board became 2 sheets of poster board. Then, I folded the 2 sheets hot dog style (TBT hehehe – if you don’t know what I am talking about ask your local kindergartner), and began tracing out my bat wings from the fold. Finally, I felt “done” I hung the bats in groupings around various places in my house, but used the majority on my mantle to expand on the pre-existing decor.

Another fun addition we did was replace our usual household items with a spookier version. For example in our home I usually have a pot of flowers on our coffee table – in hopes of establishing a spooky sanctuary I found some used and pre-loved flower arrangements at Goodwill, and…yep you guessed it…spray painted them black! For a finishing touch I added a bit of the cheap faux spider webs to ensure my guests would feel “haunted.”

All in all, I am ready for our first Halloween in our house! I am excited for the opportunity to greet trick-or-treaters, meet neighbors, and build off of our cheap, yet spooky halloween decor arrangements!

Supplies to get “spooky:”

• Pre-Loved items with vintage and victorian era vibes. For example: Candlebras, angels, lanterns, flower vases, flowers, etc.
• 1 can of black spray paint
• Regular Scotch Tape
• Faux Spider Webs
• Torn fabrics
• Black poster board
• Scissors

To hang your bats: I recommend just using regular tape – I tried the double-sided trend, but the little stinkers couldn’t hold up!

xoxo,

Lex