Halloween Decorating & Party Ideas

I haven’t decorated my front porch for Halloween, yet, so I decided to go through some of the pics I have stored on my computer for a little inspiration.  These are definitely some of my faves!

We decorate our front doors with garland for Christmas…why not do the same for fall?  I absolutely love this leafy garland!  I so want to make this!  Notice the scary “curtains” on the door.  Those would be easy to make from cheesecloth.

Halloween Decorating
Pottery Barn

Here’s another one of my favorite front porches.  Doesn’t this make you want to paint your front door orange?  If it just wasn’t so much trouble to change it back after fall/Halloween.

Halloween Decorating
Pottery Barn

This would be such a great way to decorate for a Halloween party…and so simple.  You would have the added bonus of a little extra protection against spills on the furniture.   Love the candelabra!  So amazing how a candelabra can be made to feel elegant for a dinner party or scary for Halloween with just the addition of black candles.  I think I’d also string some spider webs on the candelabra, too.

Halloween Decorating
Country Living

Here’s a great way to keep the drinks chilled for a party.

Halloween Decorating
Southern Living

Have a collection of creamware?  Here’s an easy, whimsical way to decorate for a party, or just for you and your family this Halloween.  Love the black roses and the great contrast created by the orange backdrop and black accents.

Halloween Decorating
Country Living

I am determined to do this for Halloween this year.  I’ve been saving all these files for inspiration…time to put them to work.  It looks like they sliced off the bottom and top of the middle pumpkin so they would stack properly.  Ummm, wonder what the trick is to keeping them from falling over.   Update:  I didn’t make pumpkin topiaries for Halloween 2011, but finally got around to making them for Halloween 2012.   They were super easy to make and can be viewed in this post:  Make Pumpkin Topiaries for an Autumn or Halloween Porch

Halloween Decorating
Southern Living

This would take some serious time to do…but I do love the look.

Southern Living

I don’t have window boxes on my home, but if I did,  I would so copy this idea.

Halloween Decorating
Southern Living

So clever!  I can see that I need to do some serious crow buying.  I’m lacking in the crow department. lol

Halloween Decorating
Country Living

Just when you thought decorating for Halloween had to be done all in orange…Surprise!  Love the different shades of gold.  I think you really need a black door, or at least a dark colored door, to pull this off.  With the addition of greenery and a bit or red and green ribbon, the door decor could go right into Christmas.

Halloween Decorating
Country Living
*If a post is sponsored or a product was provided at no charge, it will be stated in post. Some links may be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. *



 Never miss a Between Naps on the Porch post! 

*Subscribe to have updates delivered to your Inbox. 



Comments

  1. Thanks for reminding me how plain my front door is! LOL I like the gold against the black door. And the crows/ravens. Gotta have!

  2. Hello, there's still plenty of black Ravens or Crows at the Dollar Store here in San Diego. They're a dollar each and I thought it a lot to pay for such an ugly bird plus I thought they were also too tiny but to each their own. I love the orange door as well but paint it again after Halloween? That's too much trouble and at my age, I just don't feel like doing so. I am one of your 'groupie' now! Love your blog. Wishing you well, Nenette West

  3. Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says

    Nenette, thanks for the tip on the Dollar Store…will check that out! So glad you stopped by! 🙂

  4. Andi's English Attic says

    Enjoyed looking at these.
    We don't tend to decorate for Halloween so much in the UK, although it's getting more and more popular. I remember the wonderful tablescape you featured last year – the seriously black one. Really impressed me.
    I shall be dressing up as usual as Syble Trelawney from the Harry Potter books and reading everyone's tealeaves. xx

  5. Try toothpicks to hold the pumpkins together. I always love looking at all of your wonderful ideas!

  6. So many great ideas. My front door and porch thank you.

  7. laxsupermom says

    Fun ideas! I have a neighbor who paints her front door all the time for occasions, and I always marvel at the effort. It's black right now, but in recent months it's been copper, blue with stars, leaf green, etc. I really have to take a pic of her home once a month and share the pics sometime.

    Like the pumpkin carving ideas. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Jen @ Creating with the J's says

    The crows and ravens from the dollar tree are so realistic that the birds in the neighborhood have been attacking the one I have on the front porch! Thanks for sharing!

  9. Love,love this post..So many great ideas.Thank you and have a great weekend..

    Silvia

  10. Just what I needed — a truckload of inspiration and good ideas. Thanks! Annie

  11. Love this inspiring post. As for holding those pumpkins together, I think maybe toothpicks might work although they might not be strong enough. Maybe 1/4" doweling cut into 1" or 1 1/2" lengths?

    I just saw a tutorial for putting holes or star shapes into a pumpkin. Use a metal cookie cutter and a mallet and gently tap cutter into pumpkin. Pull cutter out with needle-nose pliers and then finish the cutting with a little carving knife.

  12. FABBY'S LIVING says

    As soon as I finish my cleaning and fixing after my house has been painted, I will make a tablescape for Halloween and I'm so glad I see many ideas and these are great! I think maybe using glue to paste each pumpkin for the pumpkin lamp my hubby says, that way they won't fall. Thank you Susan. Hugs, FABBY

  13. Yep, my front porch is lacking in Halloween fun! Thanks for the ideas and for the dollar store tip.

    Mary
    From Virginia

  14. Katherines Corner says

    Wonderful inspiration. I will add a jack o lantern to my Autumn decor . But I don't do to much other than that. I look forward to seeing yours. xo

  15. I'm baaack! And I'll be linking on Met Monday with my version of the first Pottery Barn porch pic! It have most of the same pics in my files as well and I finally got moving! Thanks for sharing… "See" you tomorrow!

  16. Thanks for sharing. They were all so much fun. I just adore the stacked pumpkins, but don't have a clue how you would keep them from toppling, unless they used skewers into the fleshy parts. I have seen the round holes before on pumpkins & they were done with an apple corer. It would still take a long time & a lot of muscle! LOL!!!
    🙂 CAS

  17. I love Halloween decorating and thoroughly enjoyed this! I love to use Colonial Candle for classy Halloween decorations, but haven't seen anything from them this year. Do you know if they will be selling Halloween items this year?

  18. Aunt Kristin says

    The porch in that first picture is priceless. We don't have fall colors (or weather) where I live, but at least I can fake it with fall decorations. Lol!

    These pictures are truly inspiring! Thanks for taking the time to share them.

    Kristin

  19. Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says

    Thanks for all the wonderful comments today. I've been out of town…attending an "extreme couponing" class with my sister and niece. I just got back in and have enjoyed reading all your comments.
    Anon…I just searched Halloween on the Colonial Candle site and they do have a few things. Doesn't seem to be as many as years past, though. Here's the link:
    http://www.colonialcandle.com/search/default.aspx?keywords=halloween

  20. I worked at a florist for awhile. I am guessing they may have used 6" green wooden florist pics (available at craft stores) to anchor the pumpkins to each other;
    and/or a wooden dowel placed through the center of all the pumpkins and wedged into a styrofoam base in the urn. Good luck!

  21. I love all the carved pumpkins! My daughter and husband do one every year.

  22. I made a "form" a few years ago to hold my pumpkin topiary. I used 2 empty plastic hanging baskets. The kind that had come straight from the store that spring with plants inside. The plants had seen better days and so go dumped into the compost pile. The pot of the hanging basket was the perfect size to fit into my urnsafter removing the hanging part. Hubby had some quick-crete in the garage and a 6 ft lenght of iron pipe. I got him to cut the pipe in half while I mixed the concrete mix and poured it into each flower pot. Then I let the concrete set for a bit to thicken and inserted the iron pipe. Hubby had recently used his saw horse and it was still setting in the garage. I positioned my pots on the garage floor underneath the sawhorse and used it to lean my pipes against to hold them straight while the concrete finished drying. Once it was dry I had a weighted base with a strong center support for my topiary.

    My 1st topiary was from real pumpkins and quite heavy. I snapped the stem of the center pumpkin and drilled holes through each pumpkin and just slid them down over the pipe.

    In successive years I have collected faux pumpkins and use them now instead of the real ones but I still use the concrete base with the iron pipe sticking up out of it. Each years topiary looks a little different.

  23. That would be a NO on the orange front door! I was a bride in the orange / brown phase of the 70's!
    I have done the leaf garland around the door for years. We just got a new front door and it is going to be red. I hope I don't get sick of it and wonder how I will like it with my porch decor in summer which favors blues!

  24. Oh, these are some great ideas! I love the pumpkin cooler!

  25. Fall Greetings, Susan!

    Thank you for the peep into your idea file for Halloween entryways. You gave me just the little nudge that I needed today. LOL

    I really enjoy your blog and will be back again and again, I'm sure…

    Linda at Beautiful Ideas

  26. I really love all those inspiring pictures! They gave me some great ideas. I especially liked the pumpkins on a stick in the window box. I have planters on my front porch that could work in. Cute!

  27. Both of those are great! I think the neighbors would run me out of town though if I painted the door orange! Love the classic fall yet spooky feel of the first one.

  28. Alycia Nichols says

    I have used Cling floral adhesive to keep pumpkins from toppling over. It works quite well until it gets bitterly cold, then it just bets brittle. But if it doesn't get below freezing, you're golden. I haven't put up one single fall decoration, so you've given me a little thump on the head to get crackin' on that. Thanks!

  29. Kathryn Ferguson Griffin says

    These are great pics! I haven't decorated my porch either. The only thing that is out there is a wreath. Glad you posted these…helps to put me in gear. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  30. The photos are great, some I have seen but most are new. I love the orange door but I don't think I could be that brave and I do love orange. Thanks for sharing. Kathy

  31. Lisa @ Lisas Creative Designs says

    Great post. We are having a Halloween party this year again and I am still not done decorating! I am going with a haunted house theme. I was thinking about putting white sheets over my sofa and loveseat. Now that I see the pics I think I am going to for sure!

  32. So many great Ideas for Halloween, I have shared many on my Pinterest! Loved this post!

  33. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    Oh Susan, so many beautiful displays. That top picture with the black door just wow’s me!! 😮 The pumpkin chiller is so clever. And the lighted pumpkins along the pathway are so beautiful. I love the ones with the maple leaf design. I wish somebody were making faux pumpkins like that! You know, I have to say, I love the look of those gold decorations. I never would have put ‘gold’ and ‘Halloween’ together in my mind, but I think they look great and very elegant.

    This is a great post. So many inspiring ideas. 😀 Thanks, Susan.

I'd love to hear from you! Please leave a comment!

*