I love all holidays - Christmas, New Years, Easter, Halloween and everything in between. I feel like the holidays are always a great excuse to bring people together to have fun and celebrate. I especially have always enjoyed Halloween since it lands right around my Birthday, making it the perfect excuse to have a themed birthday celebration. And since this year I am turning the big two-five and have had such an incredible year being 24, I am even more excited to bring on this next year.
But while I love all holidays, I have found they can be expensive (and clutter up your apartment) if you don't shop smart. This Halloween, I headed over to my go-to thrift store (and one of my favourite places to thrift for clothes, too) - Value Village. I went on the hunt for items that I could bring home and revamp to create stylish expensive looking decor. I love DIY projects and holidays are always a fun excuse to try out something new. So I grabbed a few things, brought them home, and began to get creative. If you're looking to be a bit more crafty (and save your money!) with your Halloween decor than be sure to click through today to see my easy and chic halloween DIY project!
Pumpkins & Skulls:
To start, I don't like scary things. While some look at Halloween as a great excuse to turn their homes into playful haunted houses, I take a lighter approach. I like adding in softer holiday themed accents to add a bit of festivity to my home rather than large scary displays - and you'll never come to my house and open the door to a speaking skeleton. But you will likely see painted gold pumpkins and skulls placed with care around the room.
I grabbed a few small plastic pumpkins and skulls while at Value Village and decided to spray paint them at home. I've seen golden Halloween decor around but honestly their pricing put me into a shock. I decided that rather than splurge on temporary decor that I would try my hand at a at-home DIY project! The gold spray paint is from Home Depot (priced at $8.27) - there are other colours (such as rose gold and silver) available as well. I happened to have a spray paint primer on hand so I quickly just went over all the items before coating them in the golden paint. I have to say, I feel they came out looking incredibly professional and like I purchased them at the store already like this!
Mini Festive Fruit
In the Christmas section at Value Village, I actually ended up finding a bunch of plastic fruit. I spotted a few little pumpkins in the mix and thought it would be a fun addition to my Halloween decor. I spray painted these gold and placed them in a pretty centrepiece bowl along with the skull. Without the skull, these golden fruit don't have the Halloween vibe that I had been looking for. Just like the pumpkin and skull, I quickly applied primer to these items before coating them in the golden paint for a more even and professional look.
In small areas, you need to get creative with how you decorate it, and I am thrilled that these pieces gave our apartment that festive-feel we were looking for without cluttering our apartment. Best of all, once I remove the skull from the mix, these items can all easily be re-used during the Christmas holiday season.
Candy Cups
I repurposed a few glass cups at home and placed them around the apartment filled with festive Halloween candies. This is an easy way to add a bit of a Halloween feel to your apartment without breaking your budget - plus, when you throw your halloween part all of your friends can indulge in Halloween treats!
Vampy Flowers
While I love real flowers, there aren't many out there that naturally take on these dark hues. When I saw these purple, black, and burgundy fake flowers while waiting in the line-up at Value Village for only $1.29 each I decided to pick up a few and add them into my vase at home. They were super inexpensive and they really go along with our subtly spooky decor.
Picture Inserts:
You needn't leave the comfort of your home to add a bit of festive vibe to your home (so long as you have a printer) because you can easily print out a Halloween themed picture insert. We've seen pretty prints all over the place lately (heck, I have three hanging over my bed!) but there are many holiday themed ones which you can print for free online!
If you end up heading to Value Village for your costume, home decor, or to begin a fun DIY project - be sure to tag your photos with #thriftortreat! I'd love to see all the incredible things you all come up with!