Halloween Decorations on the Cheap

Halloween is just a few weeks away - can you believe it? If you want to make your house festive and not drop a ton of money, I'll let you know what I did with my house this year.

I didn't want a ton of cheesy looking decorations, so I looked to Young House Love for some inspiration. Of course, I am no John and Sherry (they are ah-mazing), but I loved some of the ideas they had...and I stole them.

First, I went to Michael's and found a ton of fall stuff on sale. I got a bag of 6 plastic gourds for $5 and got a can of white glossy spray paint for $5. I spray painted the gourds white, and I'm planning on using them beyond Halloween for the rest of fall and Thanksgiving. Plus, even though I spray painted the crap out of the gourds, I've still got at least 3/4 of a can of spray paint left for other fun projects though. Bummer? I spray painted my walkway...oops. Lesson learned - make sure you have a place to craft that won't make your spouse mad.

Next, I wanted to create a kind of macabre (oh yeah, I just threw out macabre) look for our console table. I picked up a 12 inch apothecary jar (for $7 at 40% off), 5 59-cent fake carnations and a can of black spray paint for $5. I spray painted the carnations black and put them in the apothecary jar for a funeral-y look. Kind of reminds me of the rose in "Beauty and the Beast" - right? I also thought this California condor was totally cool and spooky looking, so I picked him up for $5.

To complete the look, I picked up 12 black tealights at Target for $3.

And nothing says Halloween like candy - pick some up! But if you have a hard time resisting grabbing a handful every time you walk by (or worse, making up excuses of why you have to walk by so you can get your candy on), make sure you only fill the bowl when company's coming so you can have some help eating it.

My total spent on Halloween decorations: $33. Might be a little steep, but when you consider I'll be using the gourds for the next few months AND for another holiday, plus the spray paint can be used for other projects, I think I did pretty well.

Other ways to save on Halloween decorating:

*Use things you already have - candles, black tableclothes, scarves, vases - you'd be surprised at how much you can do with a little creativity and a lot of resourcefulness.

*Try to plan for multipurpose use when purchasing to get a bigger bang for your buck - just like I did with the gourds, think about how you might be able to use the same thing for multiple holidays or occassions. I'm thinking the apothecary jar would look really cool with Christmas ornaments in it. Maybe some silver candlestick holders would look really festive for New Year's Eve but you can put blood red candles in them for Halloween.

*Shop sales - duh. But Michael's is just one of many places having sales on their fall craft items. Look into your store circulars to see what you can get for the lowest price.

What about you all? How do you decorate for the holidays? Any money saving tips?