Video Tape and Trash Bags

Yeah, this year we've gone a bit overboard for Halloween. It is our first year in town after 25 years on a mountain. Plus our grandkids live close by, so we HAD to do this! But I didn't want to spend any cash so here's what I came up with....

Lots of creative thinking went into decorating. Let me break it down. First, get those old video tapes out and make.....

...a huge spiderweb in your yard! I love the way it shimmers and moves with the wind and you can make it as big as you want. We did two with one old video and could have made more. It's easy to work with looks fantastic. Of course, an oversize web calls for an oversize spider.....


...made out of two trash bags. Insanely Creative Christy stuffed it with newspaper and used wire to give the legs some stability. She also knotted the legs to look like joints. Smart lady! We thought it looked dumb until we googled trash bag spiders. It doesn't look half bad compared to what we saw online!

Look! Trash bag curtains for the temporary arch on the deck. Just cut in strips, you don't have to be accurate at all. Staple it up and tie it back like this for a kind of Victorian Gothic drapery effect or.......

...cut 'em loose and let the wind blow them about like the torn sails on the Flying Dutchman or the tattered curtains in the Haunted Mansion. I like the windblown look, so spooky.


And just one more cheap and easy tip....use Dollar Store plastic tablecloths to make ruffly black garlands. They look great and they're weatherproof, too.

Here are some draped on my baker's rack. Just cut them in 2 or 3 inch wide strips and stretch the edges carefully a few inches at a time. Voila, ruffly black garlands, baby!


I attached a dozen strips to the bottom of my black wreath. The rain doesn't bother them and they blow around with every breath of wind. Love it! Don't let the plastic cockroach get ya.

The only thing I bought new this year was the tablecloth, and I still have plenty of it left to try out some other ideas. The trash bag pumpkins, pumpkin light string, and cat and bat signs were yard sale finds this last summer costing me less than $5 total.

So we're pleased with the way it's turned out. But come November 1st this will all come down and autumn decor will take it's place...in a more subtle, stylish way, of course.

I'm linking up to the parties on my sidebar. Come check them out and see all the creativity blogland has to offer.