Halloween parties can be a lot of fun, but you don’t have to settle for mass-printed paper decorations and a punchbowl full of candy to complete your theme. With a little imagination and a DIY spirit you can transform your gathering from vague to vogue.
Pumpkin ice buckets
Store your cold beverages in hollowed-out pumpkins and fill in the remaining gaps with ice. For a more eerie look use white pumpkins. Don’t carve a face into the gourd or you will have a watery mess on your hands.
Masquerade
It’s hard to keep a consistent theme when your guests come dressed as a ghost, The Joker and a space ninja. Instead of costumes, encourage your guests to come in a limited formal wear and supply them them with masks. Consider black tuxedos for the men and white dresses for the women, such as ones from our line of cotton sleepwear. You can purchase a collection of masquerade domino masks or even create your own felt animal masks to liven things up.
Black cocktails
It’s one thing to create mixed drinks along a theme, but it pays to go one step further and give them a striking visual tie-in. Consider getting black sugar to rim the glasses and add whole blackberries into the mix, or try classic drinks like a brain hemorrhage or blood-red sangria.
Party by candlelight
Create some good mood lighting by unscrewing or disabling all the lights and use expressive candles instead. The dim lighting will give the party an inky atmosphere. You can opt for clusters of thick white candles and mix it up with a few skull-shaped candles here and there. Just make sure you have some type of barrier to restrict the melted wax so it doesn’t spill onto the carpet.
Monochromatic candy
It’s routine to see a mix of orange and black candy in a dish during Halloween. Make your display stand out by limiting your candy to a single color, such as all red or all white candies in a clear glass dish. You can order bulk M&Ms and jelly beans in any color and mix in marshmallows or licorice.
Here at Jacaranda Living, we love Fall in New England. We thought it would be great to bring you some easy ideas for Fall centerpieces for your home. We searched and found the prettiest and easiest do it yourself centerpieces featured from weddings, home decor magazines and design blogs. We found the ten we thought were the best. Enjoy!
You don’t have to be having a wedding, event or dinner party to decorate your table for Fall. Get the same look as any professional florist but do it yourself with the many resources the Fall season has to offer.
1. Pumpkins gone wild…
Use pumpkins and goards for your fall centerpiece. Photo: Martha Stewart.com
Find various sized real or faux pumpkins for your local farm or craft store. Add nuts and any sort of dried orange flowers. Create multiple plates and place together or spread around your table, countertop, sideboard or entry table.
2. Vintage Romantic Victorian Fall Display
Vintage Fall with Flowers and Candles.
How to create this look:
It’s time to pull out that old silver or grandma’s china you never use along with that antique platter sitting on your sideboard or a silver tray from your serving drawer. If you don’t already have these items they are easy to find at a flea market, vintage or thrift store or online from one of our retailers such as Lavender Fields ($210.00 available online) or Cachet’s in Wellesley MA, Silver Demask Tray ($34, available online)
Arrange together orange and yellow Dahlias with fall berries and submerse with a bit of water in your silver or vintage china dishes. Add 3 – 4 white votives in white or other Fall colors. Place this gorgeous peice anywhere around your house and your guests will be impressed.
3. Indoor Foliage
Bring the outdoors – indoors with tree branches Photo: Martha Stewart.com
How to create this look:
Bring the outdoors into your home! Trim one of your outdoor Fall trees branches off in any size and arrange into some sort of heavy vase. Here are some vase ideas from a few of our retailers such as this rustic garden vase from Cachet in Wellesley MA ($45) or these gray cup vases from Lavender Fields ($150). Arrange pumpkins and ghords into wooden or Fall colored dishes around the branches. This arrangement makes a large statement!
5. Romantic Fall Candle Display
Romantic Fall Candles Centerpiece with acorns. Photo: Wedding Colors and Themes
How to create this look:
Find vases of all shapes and sizes around your home. Send your children outside to collect acorns or use shelled nuts to fill the vases about 1/4 full. Insert white candles into 4 – 5 vases and arrange together. Add greenery or leaves around the candle vases. Be sure holders are heat resilient! Be safe!
6. Warm Pumpkin Pie Centerpiece
Pumpkin Candle Pie Centerpiece. Photo: Wedding Colors and Themes
How to create this look:
Carve a fake or real pumpkin at the stem and place melted wax or a candle holder directly into the hole (try to carve the same time to avoid rotting). Place candle into the holder and decorate with faux berries. You can create this centerpiece in any size, mini-pumpkins, larger pumpkins, just have fun!
7. Mini-Centerpieces: Acorns and Dahlias and Votives with cranberries
Mini Fall Candle Centerpieces. Photo: http://blog.myweddingreceptionideas.com
How to create this look:
Acorns & Flowers: Fill glass jars, vases or candle holders with acorns and decorate with faux Fall Flowers or add a bit of water to the bottom and use real flowers.
Cranberries & Candles: Fill glass candle holders with cranberries (real or faux) and insert white candles into them.
8. Country Farm Mason Jar Arrangement
Country Farm Mason Jar Arrangement. Photo: howtonestforless.com
How to create this look:
This is likely the easiest centerpiece of all of these to make. Three mason jars with votives, some beach rocks, faux or real berries. Simple as that. Be careful of hot mason jars if you leave candles burning too long, you could also use LED faux candles, available at Pier 1 imports and other retailers.
9. Fall Lantern Centerpiece
The Lantern Fall Centerpiece. Photo: How to Nest For Less
How to create this look:
Purchase a candleholding lantern from Michael’s Craftstore or another store such as Pier 1 Imports. place faux leaves and mini pumpkin goards around the centerpiece.
10. Happy Thanksgiving Centerpiece
Happy Thanksgiving Centerpiece.
How to create this look:
Collect various sized white pumpkin goards and stencil the letters onto them in black. Scatter with various sized dessert dishes add candles and other goards. Here are some gorgeous beaded candleholders from Furbish Studios ($29) or these Beechwood Pine candles also from Furbish Studios ($14) that would add some vintage romance to this look. For this white look, keep everything white. For a multicolored look add oranges and reds.
We hope you will add some Fall joy to your table and visit us or one of our many retailers mentioned above online for design ideas, products and inspiration!
