Fall & Halloween Decor

Seasonal decor budget and home dupes!

I wasn't super into seasonal decor until I had Mason. Apparently (for me), having a kid put me in a more "'Tis the Season" spirit. Our first two apartments never had seasonal decorations - I didn't want to spend the money on it (newly married, bills + bills + bills, adulthood responsibilities...AHH!). Our third apartment had a little window that I designated as our mini seasonal showcase space. We had more winter holiday decor in our fourth apartment but still nothing crazy as we had all the baby stuff everywhere, so I didn't want to add more clutter to our home. In our current apartment, we have more space, but now with both Mason and Harvey walking around, I still have to be conscious of what I put out and where. Fall and Halloween are the same to me, and I wasn't about to gradually put out the decorations. For this mama's peace of mind, the decorations are either all out at once or forgotten about and left in the closet.

Let's talk budget for a minute: while I appreciate a good seasonal decor set-up, I have to keep our living space and spending in mind. Personally, I like to keep it simple (coming from an apartment living mindset) and relatively uniform in colors. I like to feel that our home is in the spirit of the season but not totally taken over. I set the budget for Fall and Halloween decor at $100, and I mean ZERO wiggle room, tax and shipping included, that's the max., no going over it. Anything leftover? Great, that money can go towards stuff for Mason. I also make sure that the items I purchase can fit in our home's storage space, which also helps to omit the larger items.

This is the first time ever that I've put more than one decorative pumpkin on display for the Fall season. This is also the first time that I learned faux pumpkins can be pricey, and I'm not spending $40 on just ONE faux pumpkin. So I started to search for more affordable items, which led me to Target, Amazon, and Michaels. I knew that I wanted to have mainly black and white decorations. I just love the look of a chic spooky space. I purchased a skull, a plastic* cloche, and a few pumpkins from Target's Hide & Eek! Boutique. Click a photo below to shop these items from my page: LiketoKnow.It/thesomedayroom

I always thought the bats on the wall looked so cool and a little spooky, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to put bats on our walls. After a few scrolls on Pinterest, I also found this awesome idea (hence the cloche purchase from Target). I love our windows in the living room, but didn't want to cover them in bats. Then I thought about hanging the bats from the window shades, making it easy to set up and take down/store. I found these bats on Amazon and with some clear string and tape - boom! A simple spooky bat display.

I also love a spooky old book look. Those antique style "Potions" or "Spells" books are beautiful and easy to place. We already have an old faux book (that's actually a box) in our living room. I decided to fill it with white rocks and purchased little figurines from Michaels (click a photo below for item's link) to make it a small display box of potions and spells. I want to do more with this idea for next year, but this did just fine. I already had a few decorative vases on our windowsill, so I also got these faux black eucalyptus stems from Michaels to put in the two larger vases. The rest of the vases remain bare. I saved (and cleaned) some leftover ginger beer bottles, similar to these ones, to stay within budget.

Total amount spent: $94.24. I'm so happy with our Fall and Halloween decor because each piece fits our space, lifestyle, and budget. Harvey and Mason can't reach anything, the decorations include BOTH Fall and Halloween vibes, and these items are all super easy to store. Also, if anything were to be damaged (and couldn't be repaired) - no hard feelings because these were each under $15.

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Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you found a little seasonal inspo for your space!

Would love to hear about Fall and Halloween decor that you love in your home - feel free to comment below!