Don’t let expense scare away Halloween fun

BY HEATHER WARLICK-MOORE Comments 0
Published: October 15, 2009
Modified: October 19, 2009 at 2:29 pm

Planning a haunted Halloween party? Want to stay on a budget while thoroughly creeping out your friends and family? If you flex your creativity muscles and aren’t afraid of a little craftiness, you can throw a ghoulish bash and stay on a reasonable budget.

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A great source for Halloween decorating ideas is the Better Homes and Gardens Web site, www.bhg.com. You can find recipes such as the ones at the right in "Ghoulish Goodies” by Sharon Bowers (Storey Publishing, $14.95). For a huge selection of decorations, costumes and party favors, search local haunts such as Party Galaxy.

Here are some tips for throwing a fantastic Halloween bash from Halloween expert Bruce Elsass, Halloween collector and Hobgoblins designer for Bethany Lowe Designs.

→Create an eerie entrance. Make your guests pass through a macabre graveyard scene before entering the house. Elsass recommends creating realistic grave markers by using rubbings from real headstones and transferring them onto florist’s foam. A carving knife dipped into hot wax helps makes carving easier, he said. Age the faux monuments by spray-painting them in weathered-stone colors.

→Plan your garden for spooky effect. Choose plants such as sunflowers, cosmos and other tall wildflowers for a spring garden. When Halloween arrives, these plants will leave behind spooky silhouettes and towering shapes to frame your entryway.

→Use architectural salvage for ambience. As part of the yard decor, Elsass perches a menacing black crow atop a vintage wood post from a house demolition sale. Draping the post with rumpled cheesecloth gives it a haunted look. Shop craft stores and Halloween shops for feathered, fake birds.

→Encourage guest participation. Entrance to Elsass’ parties requires more than an invitation. Each partygoer must bring a fully carved and lighted pumpkin. Scatter jack-o’-lanterns around the "graveyard” to help guide latecomers to the front door.

→Boost the "Wow!” factor. Add ambience to every room and a thrill around every corner. Elsass suggests making sure every room, even the powder room, is fully decorated with ghoulish delights. "I open up the entire house for my parties so people can explore,” he says. But if you’re trying to stick to a tight budget, make the biggest decorating statement in one area and use "caution” tape to corral guests.

→Include outdoor rooms in the fright fest. Elsass has decorated his sun porch as a mad scientist’s laboratory. For an easy, quick touch to turn your abode into a haunted house, "blow a handful of flour over everything to create ‘haunted-house dust,’” he said.

→Use lighting to enhance the mood. Increase the air of mystery by dimming lights and adding strobe lights in strategic gathering spots, such as the dining room. If you don’t have dimmers, buy 7-watt bulbs, which give enough light to see but help keep the atmosphere scary. Colored lights and black lights also create a great ambiance with a low price tag.

→Protect your treasured possessions. Little hands (and sometimes big ones) find Halloween toys irresistible, so Elsass recommends planning ahead. If a piece can be handled without damage, place it within reach for guests to enjoy. Store more valuable pieces in a glass case or out of reach.