Creative Dollar: Classic Literature Halloween Theme

Want Classic Literature themed halloween decor? Here's a few ideas that can be replicated with dollar store materials.

Great Expectations: Miss Havisham's rotted wedding feast.

Set up a table like a wedding cake table, draps with white or lacy cloth. stack three varying size white hat boxes or make fake ones from foam board circles and tag board sides. Glue together. To tier the layers, use candlestick holders. Add white fake flower blossoms and strings of mardi gras beads as iced decor. Spray paint it all white Top with two toy skeletons (dollar stores usually have the rubbery kind or use the skeleton party straws) Decorate as bride and groom with scraps of black fabric. Make a bridal bouquet with white and black flowers and tie with a black ribbon. Lay alongside cake. Cover the entire table with a wrap of spider webbing as thin as you can get it.

Dollar store supplies:

Toy skeletons or jointed skeleton straws

Black ribbon

Black and White faux flowers

white foam board

white tag board

superglue

candlesticks

spiderwebbing

White spray paint

white lace doilies

White plastic table cloth

Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven.

Set up a halloween vignette. With a piece of chalk or a white paint pen white quotes from the book on a piece of black tag board and use this as the back drop. Grab a dollar store easel and set up a copy of Poe's book. If you don't have one, find a cover you like online and print out a full page color copy, glue to white foam board. Throw down some tattered cheesecloth or Dollar Tree creepy cloth and some black craft feathers or feathers plucked from a second bird. Get a small silver ornate frame and add a photo of Poe to the table. If you're lucky enough to have a decorative bird cage, place a feathered raven inside. Print NEVERMORE on a strip of paper and glue it to beak as if he were holding it in his mouth. If you don't have a birdcage, glue a roll of black tag board or a stick to the top of a candlestick horizontally, Spray paint black and glue bird atop. Nab a couple ceramic bird sculptures and spray paint black, add red painted or glitter eyes. Mix in any other number of household items like black and hard cover books, pumpkins, clocks, an old typewriter, a vase of fake flowers, etc.

Dollar store supplies:

Back spray paint

black plastic tablecloth

halloween creepy cloth

ceramic bird sculptures

black craft feathers

black tag board

foam board

chalk or white paint pen

easel

small silver ornate frame

feathered raven

candlestick

fake flowers

vase

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow: Ichabod Crane.

Paint a pumpkin white and write 'Ichabod' on it in a fancy script. If your handwriting is not the best, print a large font and cut it out and glue it to the pumpkin. Top with a top hat. Here's a link to make a top hat from tag board, scrap fabric (like a black t-shirt) and wire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKcbk6xnSz4

You'll also need a hot glue gun and sticks. Percha atop a wooden stool. Add a pirate spyglass painted black from the party favor section. Decorate hat with a black ribbon hat band.

Dollar store materials needed:

white spray paint

black spray paint

black tag board

black t-shirt

pirate spyglass favor

hot glue gun

glue sticks

black ribbon

Alice in Wonderland: The Red Queen.

Spray paint two more pumpkins white. Paint the Queen of hearts silhouette on one. Secure a frame of black lace around it with sewing pins or glue. Use a victorian face silhouette like in the picture or a full body silhouette like in the clip art below. On the second pumpkin write 'off with your head in black permanent marker or cut and paste printed letters. Decorate with thin black ribbon and more pins or glue.

Dollar store materials needed:

white glue

sewing pins

black lace

black ribbon

white spray paint

Mac Beth: The three witches.

Set up a dessert buffet that recalls the three witches from MacBeth. Cover your table in black or lime green plastic tablecloth. Add halloween creepy cloth. The dollar store usually has small plastic cauldrons. Fancy these up by super gluing them to black spray painted candle sticks, upside down ice cream glasses and plant holders. Mini cauldrons can hold nuts and candies. Make witch broom take home favors by vertically shredding brown paper lunch bags. layer two together and fill with candies. gather loose ends around a stick and wrap tightly with black electrical tape or a twist tie. For centerpieces: the dollar store has some great fall grass and pussy willow stems tight now. Grab a couple bunches and slip them into a pair of black shoes or boots. Place in the center of the table. On either side of the shoes, display two simple black witch hats that you have decorated with feathers, ribbon, pom poms, jewels and whatever else you find. Perch them atop pillar candles set in black spray painted candle holders. With a permanent marker, write 'bubble, bubble' and 'toil and trouble' on two white candles. Or pint and wrap around the pillar candles. For added effect, super glue a glass plate to an upside down ice cream glass to make a cake plate, Fill with assorted bottles from the dollar store and your recycling bin that are labeled with ingredients mentioned in the passage and decorated with plastic spiders and bits of ribbon.

Check out my next post for a simple dollar store dessert buffet!

Dollar store supplies needed:

black or lime green plastic table cloth

Halloween cheesecloth

small and mini plastic cauldrons

candle sticks

ice cream glasses

plant holders

black spray paint

brown paper lunch bags

black permanent marker

black electrical tape