Dear Halloween, I love you.

I love Halloween. Like, really love it.

I am 100% convinced that my love for Halloween has grown over the years because my mother embraces the holiday with such zeal. Coming to her home for Halloween is an experience. At my mother's house there are decorations, CARAMEL APPLES, sugar cookies the size of your head, and king size candy bars.

Instead of getting a constant stream of kids coming by looking for quick treats, my mom gets large groups of kids--entire families coming up the driveway in their Minivans and Suburbans. She lives "out in the country" where trick-or-treating is a bit different from what it is in town. The kids are usually driven by their parents or older siblings to the houses of people they know (usually people from church). I imagine many of these parents wait inside while their kids go knocking on other people's doors...but not when they come to my mother's house. At my mother's house everyone comes inside. Moms...dads...teenagers that are so not into the whole trick-or-treating thing...everyone comes inside. They come because they've been waiting all year to get their hands on another one of those caramel apples. They want a sugar cookie so that they can eat half now, and half for breakfast. I've watched this happen year after year and it is truly a wonderful thing to behold. There is always a moment when the conversation between all of the adults lags, after the pictures have been taken, when mom looks at the parent (usually the dad) and says,

"and what kind of treat would you like?"

She starts to list off what she has...but she rarely makes it all the way through the list.

"oh, I think I'll have one of thoooose sugar cookies...." they say, looking almost timid--with a side of giddy.

And then it's thank you's all around as they scoot out the door. The room is getting too full and another SUV has pulled in the driveway.

If you happen to be in the area on Halloween, you should stop by. I promise you she has enough apples to go around.

Now that you have a better understanding of why I love Halloween so much, I'd like to share a few of my favorite decoration ideas this year. The theme here is DIY.

I am completely in love with my spooky black branches. I spotted the idea on Design Mom and immediately walked out into the open lot behind our house and started picking up branches. N8tr0n had already bought me some black spray paint for another project so I was able to start painting immediately. It was the absolute fastest "idea from the internet to actual product" turnaround ever. I'm sure I'll do this again next year with a little black glitter paint. I would have done the glitter this year but I didn't want to buy another can of paint.

Black spray paint became my best friend this year as I sprayed these little tchotchkes I had picked up at thrift stores. I got this idea from Blair at Wise Craft and she is absolutely right about how satisfying it is to spray paint these figurines. I believe she said "instant gratification." I concur.

Of course the owl is my favorite, and I plan to keep my eyes open during the year for more bird based knick-knacks to perhaps replace this evil rabbit family. I was in a hurry to get this done this year so I didn't have time to shop around. Although I will say that I'm intrigued by the kitty sitting in what used to look like a basket. Now it looks like a sinister throne where he rules over all of them despite his small stature.

These tip towels aren't necessarily considered a decoration, but they certainly make the Halloween fun spread into the often neglected kitchen. Target usually has a few different styles of tip towels each season/holiday. We use them as dinner napkins but they also can be used to make great baby bibs. I love to use re-usable items as often as I can so it is nice when things double as a cute display. It's all about function and form right?

Sadly, I do not have a picture of the last decoration because it is not finished yet. I'm using more of that crazy stack of fabric that my mom gave me to make some fabric bunting banners to hang around the house. I'm very excited to see the results.

In case you were wondering, I'm also dying to try these ideas:

::this idea from Design Mom is so cool. I'm thinking I can secretly buy thrift store plates slowly during the year without anybody (N8tr0n) noticing.

::pumpkins painted with bronze glitter you guys

::a leaf garland like this one from Rachel at Heart of Light.

:: spray painting some silk flowers black to replace the ones in my vases. Actually, I have some paint left over so I think I'll just go do that right now.


And now...what is YOUR favorite Halloween ideas? I collect them you know.