HARRIS HOUSE: Trick-Or-Treat!

Can you believe that it's October already? Wow, time flies! I am certainly not looking forward to winter, but its coming rather I want it to or not. With that being said, I decided to do a little seasonal decorating. I've never been a big Halloween fan, but for some odd reason my kid loves it...go figure. After putting a few decorations on the outside of the house and seeing how much he liked it, I figured why not bring a little bit of Halloween inside?
While I made sure that the outside of the house was totally kid friendly with cute little felt characters, I wanted something a bit more "grown up" for the inside to blend with my existing décor. I had no clue what I was going to do, but I knew that it needed to be executed cheaply and also it couldn't be too scary--I didn't want anything giving me the spooks while I was trying to watch T.V alone at night. Good vibes only please!
So of course I headed to the Dollar Tree (my go-to spot) to put my plan into action. Now one thing about the dollar store is while you can find amazing goodies, you better get them when you see them--if you blink they're gone. I missed out on some pretty cool trinkets simply because I hadn't planned on decorating beforehand. But instead of crying over spilled milk, let's take a look at what I managed to get my hands on :-)

I must admit, by the time I got home I was so excited to get started decorating that I completely forgot to snap pictures of my findings. Thank God for the power of the internet! I picked up the monster and the mummy up top to sit on my mantel (they have the little dangle legs).

These glittery black birds caught my eye, so I got one. The one with the turned head was my fav.

Ohhh! Creepy Crawly! While some people find spiders scary I definitely don't, but I picked up the two pack anyways hoping that it would add something to the overall look.

When I first saw this cloth I wanted it, but had no idea what I would use it for. Luckily, it was still there when I returned. I decided to drape the cloth over my mantel to add a bit of definition.

Along with the creepy cloth I thought that Spanish Moss would be perfect for texture! I was right. I hated my mantel display...until I added the Spanish Moss :)

I also picked up a Crow Menu that isn't pictured separately here, and my hubby bought me cool flameless candle (from Burlington Coat Factory) that I had my eye on for about a week. Although the candle wasn't purchased with the intent to use it for Halloween, I decided to add it to the space because with the surrounding items it sort of looked like something a witch might have ;-) I decided to also keep my "crystal" homemade candle holders because they looked a bit mystic and the vintage lighted "H" my hubby bought for me a couple of weeks ago stayed too. In total, I spent $8 to completely transform my mantel. So how does it look?

Whomp, Whomp, Whomp!

I must admit, I took some pretty crappy full pics, so I ended up with these fragmented photos of each side of the mantel. Anywho, welcome to the Witches' Lair (which I'm sure my husband will agree that sometimes I can be pretty wicked, lol).

First up is the right side of the mantel. I think Mr. Monster & Ms. Mummy like it here ;-)

Here's a close up of my letter "H" and spider slinking his way through the moss. A part of me hates that I got the spiders. My son is completely infatuated with them, so they'll probably go straight into his toy box as soon as I take them down.

Close up shot of my "Lucky Raven" menu and flameless candle. Doesn't the candle fit in well with the Halloween theme?

The left side of my mantel stars the raven!

& even my sea-grass vase is dressed for the occasion.

I stuck to the traditional orange and black color scheme.

$1 orange lights from where else but the Dollar Tree? :-)

And that concludes the inside of the house.

My felt characters are now amongst my harvest décor! By the way, I took this shot after the rain--I didn't notice at first, but my guy scarecrow over there got beat up pretty badly..I'll have to remember to fix him up tomorrow.

And here's a close up of my cute little spookies! I just want to pinch their cheeks! Mauh! :-)

So there you have it--my Halloween effort! In total I think I spent just fifteen bucks. Since my little guy likes the décor I will add to it each year--until he's over it, of course. Quiet as kept, though, I sort of got off into it. It's amazing the way a child's joy can make things seem new. Even though I normally pass out candy I've NEVER decorated for Halloween, now I can't wait to welcome all of our little Trick-Or-Treaters! What to know another thing I can't wait for? This:

Is this not the best darn Halloween show of all time?

Over the weekend we also purchased my little guy's costume--and it was the first time he picked out his outfit on his own *sniffle*. He's going to be the world's friendliest vampire :-) My husband was worried that being a vamp might be too "dark", but I assured him that it's classic Halloween attire and it will be more "aww" than "eek". And just for good measure here's a Halloween pic from last year.