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
faux fall grass sems
black witch hats
feathers
ribbon
jewels
embellishments
pillar candles
white candles
plastic spiders
assorted glass bottles
candies and treats
Bonus: More great images to frame and place around the home:
