Halloween is one of those holidays that I get so excited about.  When I think about it, I can picture and smell my childhood.  The air was always cool and crisp and I can still smell the fallen leaves.  My mom would pull out the Halloween decorations and I would all but loose my mind with excitement.  She always had dried Indian corn and then one year we got these cool wavy foam ghost cut outs that she hung by the windows.  Of course the best was getting to carve pumpkins.  Always the classic version with triangle eyes and snaggled teeth.  My mom went all out on making Halloween costumes for my sister and I.  I had no idea how good we had it, and just how hard she worked on them, until I was older.

Even with our calendars being so completely backed this time of the year, I want to make sure I do some fun Halloween decorating for the kids.  Just like I did as a child, they get so excited when I pull the decorations out.  I basically do the exact same thing every year, but the kids love it.  Each time I open the box they squeal over the paper bats I made years ago and the paper mouse silhouettes I bought a long time ago.  As long as they love them that much, I’ll keep putting them out.  No sense in fixing it if it ain’t broken!

Easiest Halloween Decor

Spoiler alert, all you really need is black craft paper for silhouettes and faux crows.  Seriously.

I had already transitioned the house to Fall a few weeks ago so adding in some Halloween touches was quick and easy.  The pumpkins from my Fall Home Tour were moved from the stairway into the fireplace.  I think I will always love the look of pumpkins spilling out onto the hearth.  I added a few of my fake pumpkins into the mix to beef it up a bit.

Bats and Crows

Of course our favorite part are the paper bats taped to the wall to appear as though they’re flying out of the fireplace.  These were just free-handed and cut out of black craft paper.  Nothing fancy.  You can buy similar premade versions here if you don’t want to mess with cutting them out, but it really wasn’t that bad.

The clippings that I added for Fall have started to curl and dry but that just makes them look even more perfect for Halloween so I’ve kept them.  Placing fake crows around the house just might be the quickest and easiest way you can decorate.  Stick and crow here, stick a crow there, done!

This black ceramic cat was my grandmothers.  I cannot tell you how happy this cat makes me!  She’s got her eyes on all of those winged creatures.

More Faux Crows

All the dining room needed were a couple of birds.  The greens in the centerpiece dropped more leaves as it dried.  I left them because it was like it was decorating the table for me, ha!

Oh, and a little wire spider.  But with that bird eyeing him, he might not last long!

Mice Silhouettes

I have the hardest time getting a photograph of our stairway.  The lighting is odd there and my camera is on it’s last leg, but anywho, here it is.  The Martha Stewart mice will always be a favorite in our house, even if they have been around for years.  Apparently they don’t make them anymore, but I did find similar looking ones here.

Do you have any favorite Halloween decorations you like to pull out year after year?  I’d love to hear what they are!

Get the Look

For more simple Halloween decoration ideas you can pull together with plain black paper, check out this post!

Looking for Halloween costume ideas for the kids?  Check out our past costumes here!