Collette Hunt - VINTAGE Halloween Décor & Party Ideas

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came-

The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

- George Coopers October Party'

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS

Vintage Halloween is generally portrayed as running across the four decades from the 1920s through the 1950s. This covers a lot of different eras and leaves plenty of theme opportunities for your Vintage Halloween dcor or party.

You could have a fun Old-Fashioned Halloween Party with all your guests asked to come up with their own spooky costumes or you could designate a particular era such as the Roaring 20s, the 30s Great Depression, the War Years of the 40s or the 50s Atomic Age. Ive outlined a theme or party type or two for each decade plus the general Old-Fashioned dcor or Party. Then I just had to add a small section on Alfred Hitchcock. Since they are so distinct Ive arranged this first chapter to cover a general Old-Fashioned Halloween then moved into each decades ideas.

HINT! The best ideas really come in the individual era sections!

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS - COSTUMES

Here are some ideas for the costumes of the host and hostess that transcend all four decades:

Frankenstein & his Bride

The Mummy & his Beautiful Prey

The Wolfman & the Gypsy

Laurel & Hardy

Abbott & Costello

Cat & Owl

Ghosts

Scarecrow & Skeleton

Devil & Witch

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS - INVITATIONS

VintageHalloween.com has spooky tags that would be wonderful attached to your invitation. They also have some of the best invitations Ive seen and terrific postcards that could be used as invites.

FantaGraphics.com has some devilish old postcards that would work great as invitations as well.

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS - DCOR

Vintage Halloween decorations typically included drawings of pumpkins, witches, devils, black cats, scarecrows, ghosts, skeletons, crows and bats. Orange and black were the dominant colors, as you would expect. Combining these and autumns bounty of dried fall leaves, strings of Indian corn, cornstalks, pumpkins and squash makes for traditional Vintage Halloween decor.

True Vintage Halloween decorations can be quite expensive. Fortunately, many stores are now offering newly made vintage dcor and in fact there are several artists specializing in this arena. BayberryCove.com highlights some and has hundreds of vintage items. Its fun to wander through their website though youll never be able to do so without buying a cauldron full.

For a classy touch at your entrance you could place Halloween topiaries on either side of the front door. TouchStoneCatalog.com offers black topiaries in stylish urns with 250 clear lights, or you could make your own pumpkin topiaries. Take a look at 1Halloween.net for some ideas along this line.

You could line your entry walkway with Halloween luminaries or carved, lit pumpkins.

Candles in Vintage Halloween candleholders, carved and lit pumpkins, hanging vintage paper lanterns, spooky tin lantern votives and silhouette lanterns are all available to light the night. Take a look at AVintageHoliday.com and ChristmasTraditions.com as well as eBay for a wide selection of these old-fashioned Halloween decorations.

You can use clear, white or orange string lights wound through autumn leaf garlands for staircases, doorways, windows, bookcases and around buffet tables for a festive touch.

Fabric and craft stores have beautiful Halloween or autumn ribbons. For an empty area of wall, tack up some colorful Halloween masks and wind some of the lovely ribbons throughout the display.

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DCOR & PARTY IDEAS - DCOR

Noisemakers were popular at Halloween parties of old and make great vintage decor. They were believed to ward off evil spirits. There are numerous websites available which sell a terrific variety of them.

Decorate with paper mache figurines, ceramics, cutout boards, candles, silhouettes, garlands, dioramas and ornaments. Orange and black crepe paper is VERY vintage, as well as die-cuts, paper lantern garlands, tissue garlands and tissue hangings.

For the best holiday scent, have a cinnamon-rich apple pie just coming out of the oven as your guests arrive. Or you could simmer water, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and orange slices on the stove.

You can turn all flower pots into holiday displays just by adding orange, red and/or yellow leaves and white or orange string lights.

If time is a factor, purchase Funkins instead of pumpkins and carve them ahead of time. Funkins are imitation, carveble pumpkins from your local craft store.

Halloween trees are becoming more popular every year. You can find them all over the Internet and in some department stores. One of these would look so good lit up in orange string lights hanging with vintage ornaments. You can individualize them according to your theme. Ive given several examples in the decade sections.

Try looking through the Internet for some good Vintage Halloween clip art. Then expand it in size, print it out and frame it for wall art or tabletop displays.

You could check online for vintage posters. Halloween Parade is a great one on AllPosters.com. NostalgiaCollectibles.com has some terrific posters, such as Vintage Godzilla Reproduction for your 1950s party, or their Vintage Dracula, Mummy, King Kong or Bride of Frankenstein reproduction posters for your 30s bash. Saturday Evening Post has some wonderful Halloween images as well.

Another decorative item is a calendar from the decade of your choice. EBay can be a good source for these.

You could use some of those terrific autumn or Halloween ribbons in your centerpiece or coiling around a buffet table. Colorful ears of Indian corn and some pumpkins with ribbons threaded through them would make a lovely centerpiece.

Candles are always attractive on any table, but you could also go with the time-honored tradition of hollowing out apples, small pumpkins and squashes and placing votives inside.

I like to group similar items together sometimes. I have a shelf in my home entertainment center where I gathered my favorite witch and black cat Halloween items. The orange leaves above also help with the overall feel. This is a nice vintage view since its not particularly spooky, just attractive and it uses items that were key in olden days.

CENTERPIECES & TABLES

Vintage tablecloths can be hard to find and quite expensive but there are a couple of websites explaining how to create your own. The web addresses are quite long so it would be easier to run a search engine on vintage Halloween tablecloths and the make your own sites pop right up. Ive also seen some good ones on eBay, but of course this can be hit or miss. A simpler way is to go to your local fabric store and see all the charming Halloween fabrics they have to offer. Many of them have a vintage look. Then just cut and hem.

Those of you with some artistic ability could make a gingerbread haunted old-fashioned house. It would be a wonderful centerpiece for your dinner table or buffet table, or just a great piece of dcor for your coffee table or mantle.

TheStationeryStudio.com has delightful Halloween napkins you can purchase or they can personalize some of your own design if youre so inclined.

For a Vintage dinner table, there are marvelous place cards available at VintageHalloween.com. They also offer old-fashioned Fabulous Fortune verses that can be a lot of fun. The idea they suggested is to put a page of verse under each guests glass dessert plate so when they finish they can see the verse.