It’s October, the end of the month is creeping ever closer, and that can only mean one thing – it’s time to talk Halloween. Spiders, bats, pumpkins and various flavours of the undead are soon to be seen everywhere, and if you’ve got a Halloween party on the cards you’ve probably got a stockpile of decorations waiting to go.
Should you be in the mood for keeping your house tidy and moving the party outdoors, we’re here to help. While we can’t furnish you with fake webs, dangling arachnids (we’re more in the removal business there) and more black-and-orange bits that your local Halfords, we can certainly help you turn a regular garden into a party destination any zombie would love. Or just your kids and their friends, either/or.
Artist’s impression – hopefully your garden spiders are less gigantic and your rugs are ghost-free
- Atmosphere – lights and fire pits
- Warmth – patio heaters
- Planter life hack
- Scary-themed house plants
Getting atmospheric
And what is a spiral if not an abstract pumpkin?
Nothing’s more Halloween spooky than an ethereal glow, hinting at a world beyond our own and lifting the veiled curtain of the beyond. Our ectoplasm stocks are running low (that Ghostbusters sequel cleaned everyone out), but a few warm white LEDs or fancy modern filaments will still do the trick.
Go solar if you don’t have an extension cable to hand, string lights up on every tree and fence you’ve got, put one of these ‘humpkin‘ houses in a sneaky spot, then supplement it all with ?FIRE?. Or a smartly placed fire pit anyway, providing light and warmth into the night – though if it’s a kids party you might want to skip that unless they can be trusted to keep hands away
We do have one called ‘Hex’, but it went and sold out
This Basket Fire Pit has a witchy vibe, while you might be able to picture our Vancouver Firebasket sitting in a castle corner as the sun goes down and the ghosts wake up. Swedish fire logs are also an amazing atmospheric fire-maker, much cheaper than a fire pit if you’re only after frightening flames for one night of the year.
Keep Away The Creeping Cold
Scary though the cold is, it can be a bit of a party killer – especially if the guests are dressed in costumes ill-suited to a British October. It’s a shame there aren’t more spooky inuits and arctic explorers in our mythologies. Either way, if you want help convincing your guests to keep their muddy feet outside, you’re going to want a bit of warmth to seal the deal.
Like ghostly eyes in the night
Should the fire pits in the section above not be enough or the right thing for you, a patio heater will go a long way to keeping the Halloween chills at bay. It’s also another thing to hang decorations off or wrap with a bit of orange ribbon – just don’t hang anything off the actual heat-producing part, or you’ll have some spoooooky melted plastic to contend with. Choose black to keep with the theme, but as heaters are for life, not just for Halloween, you’ll probably just want to pick your favourite.
Pumpkin-like planters
If you’ve got yourself some terracotta pots or planters, have we got a trick for you. Grab some black paper or card, cut out shapes akin to a pumpkin carving (eyes, mouth, bats witches, grotesque scars etc.), then stick those right on your planters. Et voila, or as they say in France, ‘lookie here’, you’ve got a ready to go pumpkin with not a seasonal gourd in sight. And you can do it year after year too!
If you’re worried about them showing up after dark, throw a tealight in front of them – it’s like the torch-under-the-chin effect much favoured by scary storytellers.
Satanic House Plants
Argh, it’s a Monster(a)!
This one’s a bit of a cheat, as while the names could be considered scary the plants themselves are as innocent as they come. Monstera, Devil’s Ivy, Spider plants and Spineless Yucca are all kind-looking plants, but ham up the names when your guests ask you what they are (as they look at them through a window or patio door) and they’ll still work.
Header Photo by seungju lee on Unsplash
Fire Photo by Cullan Smith on Unsplash