DIY - A Spooktacular Halloween Decoration

Who ever said that an awesome Halloween decoration had to be expensive? You can definitely create pieces that will give your house a dark and mysterious vibe, perfect for the Halloween season, without having to sell a kidney!

I really love Halloween and the change of season: Autumn and its colorful nature, the lovely cold and foggy mornings, new recipes and hot drinks...And Halloween adds that little something extra that I wouldn't miss for the world. I like mysterious, dark and history so celebrating All Hallows Eve is a must and as such, decoration has to be on point. More than just a commercial event, Halloween is the perfect way to merge symbolism, history and modern fun.

Halloween Party Tricks - Ordinary Brusse

Halloween Food - Ordinary Brussels - Lif

If you would like to know more about the origin of All Hallows Eve, here is a short extract of an interesting article:

"This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth." - History.com, History of Halloween

History and mysticism aside, these days we like to party and trick-or-treat in crazy costumes as well as to host scary dinners in a horrific decor. I personally am not a fan of gore decoration but here are a few ideas to impress your guests!

Floating Candles

Awaken your inner Harry Potter! Floating candles are easy to make and totally inexpensive! All you will need for this project is to buy sheets of thick white paper, LED candles, some glue, a ball of white or transparent thread, tape and a drill. Here is how to proceed:

1. Drill holes in the flame of every LED candle, preferably at the end of it;

2. Measure the circumference of 1 LED candle base to know how much paper you need;

3. Cut your paper to a size that will fully cover the base of the LED, adjust also the length if you'd like bigger and smaller candles;

4. Glue each piece of paper around a LED candle, covering fully the base;

5. Once the glue is dry, you can make the thread pass through the hole in the flame;

6. You have floating candles that you can now tape to your ceiling;

Floating Candles - Ordinary Brussels - L

Floating Candles 2 - Ordinary Brussels -

Flock of bats

Another really easy yet stunning decoration is a wall of flying bats. It takes time to make so start early enough the preparations. For this project all you need is a stack of thick black paper, 2-3 bat patterns that you like, a cutter and some dual-sided tape. Here is how to proceed:

1. Choose 2 or 3 bat patterns that you like and print them;

2. Cut them and use them to draw bat forms on your black paper;

3. Cut the black bats out and repeat as many times as necessary;

Decorating pumpkins / Carving pumpkins

Pumpkins are a real symbol of Halloween, the party isn't complete without one or two or dozens...Plus it is the perfect opportunity to enjoy a well-deserved soup after all the effort. As you can imagine, for this activity you'll need pumpkins, a pen/pencil, a few knives (different size) or a pumpkin carving kit, a spoon and inspiration!

1. Find your design or imagine it;

2. Draw the design on your pumpkin, adjust if needed until perfect;

3. Cut open the top part of the pumpkin;

4. Start emptying the pumpkin seeds, juice, etc.

5. Start carving carefully along the lines of your design;

6. Adjust the design with your knives/kit until it looks spooktacular;

7. Once you're done, light a candle and put it in the pumpkin

PS: you can eventually give your pumpkin a bleach wash to make it last longer. The pumpkin top tends to shrink as the candle burns though.

PS 2: need something even easier? Draw on the pumpkin with a thick marker or better, paint it, drill holes in it, be creative :)

Carving pumpkins - Ordinary Brussels - L

Pumpkin carving 2 - Ordinary Brussels -

Pumpkin Carving 3 - Ordinary Brussels -

Eat more brains!

Creativity is expected in the plate as well! I am not the expert baker but I can do cupcakes. They are an awesome base to create something totally fun and appropriate for Halloween > Braincakes! To create this look just bake cupcakes and buy some marzipan, food coloring and jam.

1. First of all, use the recipe of your choice to bake your cupcakes;

2. Let them cool down on a clean tray;

3. Cut your marzipan into portions and separate them;

4. Add the food coloring of your choice in each portion and mix;

5. Cut a piece of your marzipan and roll it into a little sausage;

6. When your cupcakes are cold, start placing your marzipan sausage on them in a zigzag pattern;

7. Repeat on each cupcake (like on the picture)

8. Add jam on the marzipan and there you have it!

Devilish Eggs

Give a little twist to a good old recipe! You may not believe it but it's the perfect appetizer for a Halloween dinner! For this recipe I used eggs, blue food coloring, mayonnaise, wasabi, salt and pepper.

1. First of all, prepare hard boiled eggs;

2. Once they're done, let them cool down;

3. When you can safely handled the egg, take one and start cracking it gently with the back of a spoon (basically tap it with a spoon);

4. Repeat on each egg;

5. In a pan, add water and your food coloring;

6. Then add the eggs and let them soak for a few hours;

7. After a few hours, peel your eggs and cut them in half neatly;

8. Remove the yolks and add them to a bowl;

9. Add to the bowl some mayonnaise and wasabi paste;

10. Mix everything together until you get a smooth paste;

11. Put the mixture into a pastry bag;

12. Using the pastry bag, add the mixture back into the egg halves;

PS: I am sure you could use avocado/guacamole instead of egg yolk, another idea to try!

Did you try one of these ideas? Do you have more to share? Drop a comment below ;)