We may be too old for trick-or-treating, but we aren't too old to love Halloween.
Unfortunately, Halloween decorating usually involves a lot of plastic skeletons and plastic spiders that eventually end up in the landfill.
We wanted to skip all that, but we also wanted our apartment to look a bit more festive for All Hallow's Eve (and for Friday-night dinner guests). So we decided to do a little seasonal decorating, without any unnecessary plastic purchases.
While not exactly spooky, we're pretty happy with how this all turned out.
It was simple to do; the materials were cheap; and everything is either reusable or compostable.
We took a yellow baking dish out of the cupboard and filled the bottom with some dried soup beans and green lentils (from the bulk food isle at Berkeley Bowl) -- then we set three mini pumpkins on top and placed the whole thing on the coffee table.
Next, we grabbed a few mason jars (we have tons because Mom loves to make jam) and filled them with some green lentils, red lentils, and soup beans and set them up on our plate shelf. Why we had orange whirly-gigs lying around is still a mystery -- but we added them for a little whimsy.
If you wanted to go for a more traditional Halloween look, we'd suggest swapping the green lentil for black lentils or black beans.
And, of course, you could forgo the whirly-gigs entirely ...
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It's really sad that most people resort to plastic skeletons and the like, because Halloween is one of the easiest holidays to decorate via nature.
Autumn leaves, anyone? Pumpkins and gourds, Indian corn, jack-o-lanterns (you can even make them with beets and turnips, as the ancient Celts did before squashes were brought to Europe). I was at a party last weekend where the hostess had a big bowl of apples and pears of various colors, shapes, and sizes as the centerpiece.
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For a higher creep factor while still avoiding plastic, you can buy glass jars and bottles at the thrift store (and save them from your household) label them with creepy potions names, and fill them with colored water, spices, bits of nature and et cetera. Many dry filler ingredients (like lentils, for example) are shelf-stable, so you could keep the decorations for next year.
I've done it this year to decorate my cubicle at work, and popular opinion says the creepiest thing on my shelf is the small glass jar with golden raisins and lemon juice. It made a really gross-looking swirl of milky yellow with puffy wrinkly things in it. I labeled it with an appropriately gross name, and now it is really yucky creepy but completely compostable.
(Natural fall things, while gorgeous, don't say "Halloween" to me. Of course, I still dress up in a costume if I can, so I may be in the minority on this one.)
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I love the dried bean and lentil idea. I can see putting candles on top of that, too. Thanksgiving is at our house this year and I'm brainstorming all natural decorating ideas for the table. Thanks!
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