Spaghetti Monster

I made spaghetti last night for dinner and decided to make it a little more fun for my boys.  I piled the spaghetti up and then added two meatballs for the eyes.  I cut a grape in half as the pupil and used broccoli for the ears.  By the end of the meal my boys had added broccoli at the top for hair too.  They enjoyed their monsters and ate almost all of it which is a plus in my book.

Outdoor Halloween Decorations

I saw a fun idea for turning the front of your house into a monster on Pinterest.  I knew right away I wanted to do something similar.  We get a lot of wind in the evenings so I knew we had to make it out of something sturdy.  After looking around the hardware store I decided on 1' foam board.  I traced out the design on my teeth and eyes and cut it out using the blade of a hand saw.  I then painted everything white using flat white paint.  I added the eyes and teeth outlines using acrylic paint.  We originally hung everything with nails but the pieces blew down.  We rehung the pieces with longer screws and the teeth have a board across the back to hold it tightly against the house.

 

It has been fun to watch the cars slow down in front of the house and check out the monster face.

 My other new decoration this year is dug up skeletal remains.  I had some skeleton pieces from last year so this project didn't cost me anything.  I used one of our old wheelbarrows and filled it with dirt.  I threw a few leaves on top but they quickly blew away in the wind.  I set the skeleton pieces in the dirt and leaned an old shovel against the wheelbarrow.  It was easy to do and looks great in the front yard.

Have you come up with any new inexpensive decorations this year?

Indoor Halloween Decorations

One holiday that my family likes to decorate for is Halloween.  We like it so much we actually put up our indoor decorations on September 16th.  I know it is early but I couldn't hold my six year old off any longer.  He loves to decorate his room and looks for items at yard sales during the summer.  He has them stored in his own tubs and knows exactly what is in each one.  It is fun to see where he puts all the decorations each year.  He has quite an imagination.

 

A lot of my decorations have come from Michael's craft store and yard sales.  I try to change things a bit each year to make it more interesting.  Here a a few pics from some of the areas in my living and dining room.

 

This area is set up to look like a witch's potion area.  I had more spiders and webs up by my cat keeps trying to eat the spiders.

 I kept my mantel fairly simple with just a couple houses and stacks of books.

 Our pirate skeleton

 Cowboy skeleton

 I found the glassware at a thrift store and added a few spooky things.

Sorry the pictures aren't the best.  I hope it gives you some ideas of things you could easily do around your own house.