Halloween Decor - Around the House 2011

I don't do much seasonal decorating around the house, but when Halloween and Christmas roll around, I am willing to pull out my bucket of decorations.  The kids have a blast seeing all the little goodies that have been boxed away for a year, and it's a nice transition into the holiday season.  So, even though our little plastic pumpkins and homemade decor are pretty basic...we do make an effort. :)  And I say "we" because Ayla and Paxton were VERY involved in the process...they even helped me clean the house so that we could bring in the decorations.

Here's what we ended up with for our fireplace mantle in the playroom this year for Halloween:

My altered halloween house is my favorite decoration for this season, and the glittery pumpkin and "boo" garland is definitely a kid-favorite - especially since Paxon's favorite color is orange right now (he points it out everywhere).

I framed my "Being a Family" poster and included it on the mantel too (it & the other photos sit there all year). 

In the kitchen, we went for a more subtle decorating technique -- but I LOVE the element of surprise.  Check out our gallery wall and all the little masked friends!  I saved the black cardstock masks I used from last year so that all I had to do was find a photo that fit and stick 'em to the glass.

Plus, I made this trick or treat sign and have a special place in mind for it on our front porch (pictures coming soon!):

Since the weather finally cooling off this week, it's definitely starting to feel a little more like fall around here!  Might as well look like it too. :) 

Except now Ayla and Paxton think Halloween is MUCH closer than it is.  They don't really understand that it's still a whole month away...They've been walking around the house carrying little pumpkin bags, knocking on each door and saying "trick or treat" and handing each other toy cars and pretend candy.  Silly kids.