I love holiday decorations. If I waste money on something, it is probably some sort of sparkly holiday-themed creature or lights. I love holiday lights. If I won the lottery, our house would be lit up for each day in a different theme. Our dining room frightened my mother on Skype today, because a small army of cats guard our table. I am not working in hyperbole here- themes just make life better.
So, now that I try to slow down our consumption as a family and buy ethical, green, and made in America stuff, I feel genuine sadness that I cannot go to Michael's and splurge on this junk. I love this junk. I don't want our house to look scary, I want it to feel fun and festive. And unabashedly cheesy.
But if my sparkly cats were made of cheap, wasteful plastic by someone who was treated badly, and then it had to travel thousands of miles using a bunch of fuel and resources, can they still be pure joy? Because right now, they fucking bum me out. I am not sure the cats can just be fun anymore (I mean, I still love mine, but the army won't expand any time soon), but I feel like my holiday closet can continue to grow until it has to be a holiday room. You can make lots of things, so we will be trying some of our own in the next few weeks. I also love Etsy, because some stuff is adorable and some is wonderfully bizarre.
So, in case you are like me, and can't let go of kitsch while you let go of all this crappiness that comes with it, I have started looking for Halloween decorations I can still buy. Here are a few gems!
Dorky Art- You can find basically any art on Etsy. If you want
Victorian silhouettes of skeletons, they have that (from Murfreesboro, Tennessee no less!) You can also get something much more subtle like
this print. They have
candy corn family blocks (less kidnappy than the car stickers).
Hanging candy corn (this reminds me I haven't had any yet- horrible oversight) I love this
wood skull garland as well. Or you can get this
bat banner from Erie, PA!
Stickers and Clings- You can either buy
window stickers like you are rocking an elementary school classroom or you can get all kinds of
cool silhouette wall stickers on Etsy. We had
bats on our previous walls, and they were pretty high impact for like 17 dollars (not sure if you can find reusablew ones though- how do you feel about
year-round wall spiders?).
This witch would look amazing near your stairs.
Pillow Covers- This is a relatively cheap, high impact choice that can suit lots of styles from bravely tacky to pinterest ready (white walls, wood, and slightly industrial? haven't seen that before)! You can have this
chic baby one, or this awesome Mr and Mrs Frankenstein ones (that I may have bought by the time you read this). I love this simple
"trick or treat" one and this
spiderweb pillow.
Candles- I bought a beeswax skull made here in Seattle as my own Halloween decoration this year (because when you have a baby, it's time to add more fire). It is really freaking cool and made in Seattle. So be cool like me and buy some Halloween candles- here's
some skulls from Indiana, a
Damien Hirst number,
creepy melting hand, or a random
owl in a pumpkin.
Pumpkins- Anything with a pumpkin motif can come out in September and last until Christmas decorations go up, so you get more bang for your buck.
Rustic wood ones seem to work well for all purposes, and
these ones from GFT Woodworks is made of reclaimed wood! Recycle Reuse! I love this
mosaic pumpkin- so pretty and it could read just a teensy bit spooky (in a good way). Fishsticks sells little
ceramic jack o lanterns. You can get
burlap pumpkins as well. If you want pumpkin decor, you have about a million options; search "pumpkin" on home and garden on etsy, and you get 50,000 finds. You can find exactly what you want Made in America!
Wreaths- You can make a pretty classy statement with a wreath. My cousin just made fall wreaths that look absolutely amazing- we can do it too! If making wreaths isn't your jam, you can buy a pretty
jack o lantern one or a
simple berry wreath. I actually love this
simple Boo one, or you could get the fancier one.
Something that Doubles as a Toy- Oy, children. They really must touch everything. Rather than fight the battle all the time, you are better off to find things that also work perfectly well as toys to decorate with (and things that hang way way up). I LOVE these fuzzies by
Fuzzigles. So genius and so adorable, while still being on theme as well. A
candy corn worm? How have we celebrated Halloween without it? I am also obsessed with these
little felt mummies, but the
skeletons might be the most impressive thing I've seen all day.
Candy Holder- You don't want to be that sad person who hands out their candy from a bag (oh, you do? That probably works then). If you do want to put it in something,
this is pretty cute and made in the USA! If you don't want a candy holder, you can get some on point booze holders like
these ones from Mary Elizabeth Arts.
As a side note, I also really like these Halloween
temporary tattoos as a candy alternative, for people who hate children. I will never be granola enough to not love candy. It's delicious, people have to deal with it. But the temporary tattoos are cute.
I also love these doormats from
Be There in Five- they even give microloans to low income women starting new businesses (and their less seasonal mats are also awesome), so this seems like a great place to spend your decoration budget!
So there you have it- TONS of decoration options for the season that are made in America. I just have to stop shopping at Michael's and spend even more time on Etsy. It's a big sacrifice, but I think I can handle it.
