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a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation

10.02.2003

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eat, drink & be eerie how to throw a fabulous halloween party by Yee-Fan Sun | 1 2 3 4
continued from page 2

decorations
Your lil' old self isn't the only thing you have to think about costuming come Halloween night: your digs need a spooky makeover as well. Naturally, no Halloween party is complete without the traditional jack-o-lanterns (have a carving pre-party a couple of nights before the big bash). But here are a few more simple ideas to get you started…

lighting | Replace all of your regular boring old white bulbs with colored bulbs and blacklights. I like red lights best, but go with whatever suits your fancy. String lights in orange and purple are readily available for cheap this time of year, and add a nice subtle touch both indoors and outdoors. The one thing I avoid is real candles - the combination of drunk folks and open flame just makes me too nervous. If you're hell-bent on having real candlelight, be safe about it: stick with floating candles or use glass hurricanes.

playing with fabric | Scour thrift stores and discount fabric shops for cheap fabric and sheets -- anything black is great, especially in velvet and lace; orange, red and purple also work well with the Halloween theme. Use the fabric to embellish (and protect) tabletops, bookcases, and other furniture; arrange lace over windows and doorways for a Victorian feel. You can also go the haunted house route by draping all your furnishings in tattered sheets.

paper silhouettes | One of the cheapest, coolest-looking decorations I've done involves cutting bats and spiders out of black paper. Don't just snip out the exact same image twenty times; use an array of different shapes and sizes for a much more visually interesting end result when you stick them all over your walls. Need help with drawing bats? Download this pdf and copy away.

spider webs | Fake cobwebbing clings brilliantly, allowing you to easily create spiderwebs wherever you feel like it. You can buy bags of the stuff pretty much anywhere they sell Halloween décor.

but wait! there's more this way...

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