I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween and a night full of spookable frights with plenty of tricks and treats for all. We went trick-or-treating with our little puppy dog and Black Symbiont Spiderman, and also celebrated our anniversary today. Tomorrow we’ll be heading out to scavenge the Halloween clearance sales for next year’s stockpile and continue to add to our usual household decor. Since Halloween in our home never ends, I’ll be continuing this blog year-round. I will most likely be exploring the darker & elegant sides of Christmas and other holidays in-between, and including unusual Gothic home decorating ideas. I’ve had a great time compiling my Creepy Treats and Arrangements sections of my Halloween blog and am now accustomed to posting in whatever spare time I can finagle out of life. Only 364 days to prepare for the next Halloween – don’t leave yet!
Only 2 more days until Halloween!
Create easy last-minute elegant Halloween decorations by using simple spooky supplies that are available everywhere such as flowers, leaves, pumpkins, ravens, and plastic skeletons. Here’s two examples of quick dark arrangements that I have completed within the last few weeks:
More ideas for original arrangements and centerpieces:
Halloween and Fall Centerpieces
“Eye” spy something that is round…and maybe a little bit squishy when stabbed with a fork. It’s always the eye kills that make me turn my head in a horror movie. I don’t mind watching the rest of the body hacks and slashes – eyeballs are just so vulnerable.
So if you like having your food look back at you, these Halloween creepy treats are worth a peek. Simply quite eye-catching, if you ask me. Feast your eyes on these eye treats (or is it treat yourself to these eye feasts)??? All in favor…say “eye”!
Eyeballs on a Stick
Eyeball Soup with Bugs
Eyeball Caprese
This hauntingly delicious candied apple recipe deserves its own post. I won’t even dare to mix and match these with traditional candied apples because there has never been a more dark & elegant Halloween treat dropped out of the orchard before…in Snow White fashion – these apples are simply to die for.
These candied apples are dripping with blood red and black glass-like candy with natural twig branches that serve as the sticks. They are perfect for Gothic and Vampire themed Halloween parties. Kudos to the talented apple dipper and the stunning visuals from the photographer. I can foresee these forever charming my macabre dinner parties for many years…
My masquerade pumpkin invitation cards have been popular on Zazzle for a little while, most appropriately used for Gothic weddings and Halloween parties. This year, I decided to make the real-life versions by hand-stitching them in Venetian style with elegant black cording and beautiful rich textured fabrics. I’m holding one in my avatar…after almost 15 hours of hand-stitching and yelling obscenities at these things in standard New England tradition. lol
My piratey renaissance neighbor and friend, Faustus, from FriedMush received his skull pumpkin version today and loved it. You can order them directly on my website here: Gothic Masquerade Pumpkins or on my WebSpinstress Etsy Store. I decided to give Etsy a try for quick listings for my blog – we’ll see how it goes. Grab them quick if you’re interested – I only have a few days to ship them in time for Halloween. I’ll have them listed all year round though for Gothic and masquerade themed wedding decorations. These are the darkest, most elegant pumpkins available and you won’t be disappointed!
With an entire weekend of mixed freezing rain and huge fluffy white snowflakes falling to the ground, and now killer ladybugs and zombie bees attacking my screens today in 60 degree weather is trying to kill my Halloween inspiration. So, I turned to visions of smiling lit Jack-O-Lanterns and ripped apart pumpkin chunks to search for the perfect carving template this year.
I didn’t end up finding the perfect spider web pumpkin template, so I created my own instead. Hopefully it will keep it’s intricate slivers intact as I attempt to carve out my new masterpiece. If you’d like to print a free pumpkin template, click HERE for the full-size image…
If you’re looking to add some extra height to your Fall and Halloween arrangements, a pumpkin topiary is fun to create and makes a memorable display for your guests.
Simply drill and shove a dowel through the middle of their innards and then embellish your stacked pumpkin collection.
BHG has a unique Halloween display of pumpkin topiaries using orange pumpkins, large spiders with painted diamonds and stripes. I love how a portion of the dowels are exposed and painted to continue along with the topiary design. It radiates with masquerade appeal…and I can think of a few special ideas to spooky up the design a little more.
I found this display from Imperfectly Beautiful, who created a tall and whimsical pumpkin topiary. It includes hand-painted black and white polka-dots, ravens, and an elegant birdcage design stacked on top of a planter with Spanish moss placed carefully around the edges.
Black and White Pumpkins are elegant and fun. These pumpkin arrangements are made with just stickers, but you can duplicate the same look by using swirly vintage rubber stamp designs or by painting them yourself. Beautiful collection of centerpieces, by the way…don’t forget to check out the complete blog post!
For other ideas for stacking pumpkins in your Halloween or Fall display, there’s a few of my favorite pedestals and pillars here: Pumpin Topiary Displays. Happy stacking! 
I found this resource earlier this morning as part of my daily, sporadic, random clicking-around-to-see-what-I-eventually-land-on ritual, and I am still in awe at how creative and versatile these FREE Halloween project templates are. All you need are a pair of scissors and a little bit of glue to get your Halloween party games started!
This entire collection of printable games can easily be crafted yourself such as Phantom’s Vortex, The Vault of Mystery, or Undead Checkers, and could easily be the life or the death of your Halloween party. Projects such as the coffin boxes and CD cases would make excellent party favors, and toys such as various masks or creatures such as “The Splatterbot” would make fun projects to print out in multiples for your guests to enjoy. Goodbye toilet paper roll mummy-wrapping games…
Some of these would also make great centerpieces and table decorations when arranged with other props, such as skeletons and spiders.
Oh, you want the link?
RavensBlight Printable Toys
Here’s a free printable word search I’ve created for my kids with spooky words and Halloween creatures.
Click on this small word search image to open the full size version in another window, then click again with the magnifying glass to view actual print size.
To view my entire saved bookmark collection of Halloween printable coloring sheets and activities, view my lens here: Halloween Printables.
Not for the faint of heart, these recipes might have you seeing red if you dare to slaughter an attempt at recreating these creepy treats. Looks like a ton of bloody dripping fun to me…
Surprise your guests with a few gross Halloween treats this year, such as Blood and Guts Potatoes and Blood Drip Martinis.
Cut out and then…um…cut up a few batches of Zombie Cookies. They are just dying to lie in a pool of red icing, and may sever an extra limb or two along the way.
Most importantly, you cannot skip over the cupcakes recipes that I have featured above in the photo! Blood Clot and Brain Cupcakes are definitely winners in the grossness and gore category. Almost enough to freak your guests out enough to lose their appetites. At least they’ll be plenty of ahem…leftovers?
To create your own specimens, you need a good assortment of clear glass containers. Use canning jars, potion bottles, apothecary jars, wine bottles, or rinse out the spaghetti sauce jar from last night’s dinner. The concept is simple – refill the jars with colored water, add a slimy and creepy specimen, and embellish with labels, paint, and twine.
Wilton makes a Halloween drink-coloring dye set with green, orange, red, and black already mixed for you, available at your local craft store. Hard-boiled eggs, cauliflower chunks, mini skeletons, and light-colored creatures work well in dark colored dyes for the added appeal of not being able to distinguish clear details apart from each specimen.
I found a very inspiring display of potion bottle specimen jars arranged on an antiquated bookshelf with a full tutorial included. Create your own Witches’ Kitchen this Halloween for a unique party theme that will have your guests brewing and bubbling over (with anticipation, I mean. I certainly hope you don’t plan to stuff them into the cauldron…).
Use vintage-style potion bottle labels for added authenticity, such as this beautiful set from the talent behind Love Manor: Bottle Labels.
For more apothecary jars, potion bottles, and specimen jars ideas, visit my complete list here: Halloween Apothecary and Specimen Jars
