Photo credit here
It’s getting to be that time again when all the witches and ghosts come out for a night of scariness and fun. But you’re living by yourself and all those decorations your mom kept in a box in the attic for just such an occasion are still at home! Now how will you celebrate Halloween? No fear, fellow festivity lover! Here are 13 (ohhh, what a spooky number!) tips to help you get your room ready for October 31st!
1 – Buy a pumpkin. Spend the $5 (alright, $6 with tax) for yourself or carve one up with a bunch of friends to make it even cheaper. Yeah, I know it’s messy, but nothing takes you back to the good old days of childhood like scooping the slimy innards of pumpkin all over your kitchen. For the squeamish pumpkin haters out there, you can always draw some scary faces onto those oranges that have been hanging around in the bottom of your crisper or buy yourself a mini pumpkin for $1 from the Hannah & Samuel flower shop in university village.
2- Find some black construction paper and cut bats out of it. Hang them behind closed doors and freak your roommates out when they come in for the night (this works best if you turns the lights out too – environmentally friendly and scary!)
Photo credit and instructions here
3 – Make some spooky signs or cut out some Halloween-y silhouettes and tape them up in your window. Your neighbours will (probably) think it’s hilarious.
4 – Forego your overhead lights for some candles or black lights (bulbs or plug-ins will work) to add an eerie glow to your home sweet home.
5 – Make yourself a Halloween playlist of your scariest/creepiest songs (now’s a good time to whip out that Ghostbusters or Aadams family theme song that you skip past every time you put your iPod on shuffle) or pull up the Songza Halloween sounds playlist to create the perfect Halloween atmosphere.
6 – Add googly eyes to all of the containers in your fridge. There’s something really creepy about a milk carton that looks back.
7 – Flip on the television and search around for a Halloween movie special. Complain the whole time about how terrible the acting is, but secretly enjoy it.
8 – Make (or buy) Halloween themed goodies like cookies, pie, or brownies with the girls on your floor – whatever it is, do it to console yourself over the fact that you are officially too old to get the free candy that trick-or-treating always delivered.
Photo credit and inspiration here!
9 – Buy some food colouring and dye your food orange or black to make even your breakfast cereal Halloween festive!
10 – Run over to the dollar store and spend a few bucks on cheap Halloween stuff – it might make you happier than you think. Fake spider webs are super easy to put up and make for a pretty scary atmosphere. If you have some extra white sheets lying around, you can throw those over the furniture to give your pad that uninhabited, maybe-it’s-haunted look.
11 – If you don’t already have some, invest in some twinkle lights. They’re multi-purpose, so you can reuse them at Christmas, or just leave them up all year to create a softer glow in your room. For Halloween specific twinkle lights, wrap the bulbs with orange and black tissue paper to make a spooky glow instead.
12 – Halloween nails and orange and black clothes make everything a bit more festive! (I know that these things don’t technically count as décor, but when you’re in your room you totally add to the atmosphere; all I’m saying is that if your room is rocking the Halloween theme, you might as well look the part too)
Check out this great Marie Claire article on simple DIY Halloween nail art designs!
13 – Print off a skeleton template and cut the bones out separately. Connect the bones with those brass fastener pieces that Staples sells to make yourself a dancing skeleton that you can hang anywhere! Or if you’re artistically inclined grab more of that black construction paper and some white chalk and draw your own skeleton outline. (By the way, if you live in Gage you can totally use chalk on the ugly blue doors – just good information to have for communicating with your roomies or whatever).
Above all, find a way to enjoy the festivities, whether you spice up your room with some of the suggested Halloween flair or head out in costume to party it up – Happy Halloween!