I seem to get our house Halloween-ready earlier each year now. It’s a great celebration when you have kids and it’s a perfect time to throw a costume party for adults too. Last year I went for sparkly Halloween decorations (read here) but I decided to keep things a bit more minimalistic this year. Mainly, because we have a lot on at the moment and I don’t think I will have time to do much DIY or even throw a party. I still wanted to add a few simple touches to our house that are classy and bring a bit of colour to our black and white decor.
I am loving orange at the moment. Bright orange roses are ideal for Halloween. Sometimes all you need is a simple vase and some pretty flowers. It can be tricky to find the right shade of orange but I think these are perfect. They are fluffy and bright and add an instant pop of colour to any white room.
Having few single roses works too. I find that often less is more and I tend to use this candle holder more as a vase than anything else. I got it in sale last December from John Lewis but you can find a similar one from here.
H&M have a great selection of Halloween accessories this year and I am loving their monochrome tableware. Black and white are always an elegant choice for a dinner party and I don’t think you can go wrong with it for Halloween either. It’s definitely the classier alternative to Halloween but I do wonder how long it will be before the mini-decorators will take over?! I tend to use paper cups and plates for Halloween since they are so convenient and easy with children. It’s also nice to be able to go for a different look each year. I got the Chilewich Mod Placemat in brass from my favourite online shop Amara and it has now found it’s permanent spot on our Habitat KILO side table. By the way, Pretty Little Party Shop also have a great selection of stylish Halloween supplies to choose from.
I am also a big fan of vintage glassware at the moment. There are plenty of second hand shops near where we live and I like to visit them every few weeks to see if anything new has arrived. It is a bit of a hit and miss sometimes but I have recently gotten very lucky. Often I just end up buying something and spray painting it in different colour (especially if it has some marks on it). I got these vintage ice cream bowls a while ago and I keep using them all the time. They are almost a bit too small for ice cream (or perhaps I should be making smaller portions..) so I tend to use them for decorative purposes most of the time.
I don’t usually share recipes on the blog but I had to take a picture of these decorated marshmallow pops as they were incredibly easy and quick to make. I had to prepare something very fast few days ago when a friend was visiting and these fit the bill perfectly. I dipped the marshmallows in (melted) white chocolate and covered them with sprinkles. My daughter actually did most of the decorating and seemed to enjoy the preparation almost as much as eating them. I didn’t have any lolly sticks so I just decided to cut our striped paper straws in half. I will be definitely making these for our next dinner party!
Finally, I couldn’t resist getting this door sign for our house from Waitrose. I’ve been looking for one since last year and this one seems to be much better quality than anything else I’ve seen. I cannot wait to hang it up on our front door on the 31st and wait for the trick or treaters. My husband wore a skeleton costume last year and managed to scare most of the kids (and adults) on our street so I just hope that they do show up this year!?
Happy Halloween!
