(*cue music*) It’s beginning to look a lot like…..Halloween!!

Well, there’s nothing like waiting until the last minute, especially for Halloween decorations that I’ll need to take down in three days.  I haven’t really done a lot of Halloween décor in the past, but now that Elin is here, I feel like I should.  Or maybe she’s just my excuse for it, I don’t know.  Also, it’s not just Elin.  Our friends, Jon, Ali and their girls are coming down from Phoenix for Halloween.  It has sort of become a family tradition to celebrate Halloween with them.  It’s a tradition that has grown in population each year, because the first year it was 4 adults and one little baby – Amelia.  Last year it was 2 adult men, 2 pregnant women and 1 bigger baby - still Amelia.  This year we’re ready to trick-or-treat with 4 adults and 3 little girls - Amelia, Olivia and Elin.  I’m just hoping that these statistics aren’t linear.  They should start rounding off any time.  I’ll be sure to update my blog with lots of pictures.  Until then, here is what I’ve done so far to prepare for Halloween.

Bats!

When I saw these on MADE, I knew I had to make them.  They really are the perfect Halloween decoration because they’re cheap, easy and not ridiculously tacky.  Win-win-win.  I know it’s late in the game, but here is the template if you’re interested.  I just used the original size and then also scaled it down to 70% so I had a little variation.  I used a manila folder for my template; the paper was too flimsy.  I picked up some black cardstock at target (fyi – apparently Office Max doesn’t carry black cardstock), fold each piece in half, trace, cut and voila!  A colony of bats!  Just get some double stick tape and you’re ready to go!  Duct tape if you’re putting them outside.  Obviously, the cardstock won’t last forever, but I’m guessing I can get a few good years out of these babies.  Elin loves them.

Pumpkins!

Yes, I know, these aren’t REAL pumpkins.  These are the foam ones from Michaels that I love.  The first year we were in Arizona, I discovered the hard way that if you spend hours carving an incredibly detailed jack-o-lantern a week before Halloween, by the next night it will start to curl in on itself until it eventually just collapses and starts to smell.  Yep.  You’d better take lots of pictures of your pumpkin the night you carve it because they just don’t have much of a life span in 94 degree heat.  Yes, it was 94 degrees today.  Sooo……I turned to my good friends, the foam pumpkins that never die.  I do a new one each year, and this year I honored the bats.  I really enjoy bringing out my pumpkins from Halloweens past.  I just wonder down the road, say 10 years or so, if Matt is willing to build me a pumpkin shed to house them all.  If he loves me he will.  J 

Not to be outdone, I do have 3 real pumpkins that we bought in Wilcox at the pumpkin patch.  They’re holding up surprisingly well.  I think they’re actually gourds, and I don’t really know if they can be carved, but I think I just want to keep them out and see how long they last.  They’re really cool, and I think they’d be pretty for Thanksgiving, although I doubt they’ll last that long.  So I have my foam jack-o-lanterns and real gourds, but the purist in me still wants to carve an actual pumpkin.  Don’t worry, we have plans to do that with Jon, Ali and the girls.  So everybody wins.  I’ll be sure to give updates on that as well.  Until then, have a very Happy Halloween weekend!