With Halloween next week, my thoughts have shifted to spooky and scary decorating and baking ideas. Even though we don't celebrate it largely in Australia, I'll take any excuse to get a bit festive and get into the spirit of things. But I must tell you, I am so OVER the crappy kitsch Halloween decorations that you find in the shops and all the gruesome baked treats that are made to mimic bloody fingers, eyeballs, brains and ghosts. Do we seriously need to decorate our houses with fake cobwebs, plastic skeletons and witches hats and make monster face cake pops? I think not. I'm so over it! So this year my Halloween inspiration ideas are simple yet classic, using this years trends with some bold colour ideas, with no plastic skeletons or cotton wool cob webs in sight!
CHEVRON & STRIPES
I just love love love these festive Halloween wreaths and painted pumpkins I came across on Pinterest. Chevron and stripes have been very big this year, and how easy is it to mask up a few different size pumpkins with masking tape and spray them with some spray paint? Or make your own wreath with a cardboard circle wrapped in some simple stripy or chevron fabric. Keep your colour schemes simple though black, white and maybe a hint of orange and green. Which leads me to my next idea!
THE BLACK AND THE WHITE OF IT ALL
I think you would agree that sometimes Halloween can look a little OTT with all that orange, green purple and red, all on top of the traditional black and white colour scheme. But why not get back to basics and keep it classic and simple with stark black and white decorations. Spray different types of pumpkins in bold black and white imagery and patterns, decorate your house with different sized black and white candles, and get creative with black and white foods and baked treats. Use hints of orange and green for little bursts of colour.
SWEET AS PUMPKIN
Right you won't find any cakes or cupcakes that look like ghosts or ghoulies here. This Halloween embrace the actual pumpkin in your baking, rather than making your baking look like pumpkins! Ditch the Halloween kitsch and get creative with pumpkin! Try these pumpkin Oreo cheesecake bars, pumpkin spiced oatmeal cookie cups or pumpkin spiced pretzel bites as featured below. Or simply whip up a traditional pumpkin pie or a loaf of pumpkin bread served with lashings of butter. Yum!
MILK AND COOKIES
We can't forget the kids at Halloween, especially given it's mostly about them anyway! And what better way to celebrate after a night out trick or treating than some milk and cookies. Again, we don't need the kitschy baked treats that can often look scarier than they're meant to, instead keep your cookies rustic, simple and of course cute. Matched with some classic bottles of milk themed with black and white stripy straws, it will be the perfect end to a spooky night. And for those young and heart adults maybe try adding a bit of baileys to that milk!
For my full Pinterest board inspiration and image credits click here.
Happy Halloween!
