Thread: Back-to-basics theme?

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Hey all. I was really contemplating a "skeletons" theme for this year. I wanted to get a whole bunch more poseable skellies from Oriental Trading. These were surprisingly good. I was going to have them climbing the side of the house.

But now I'm wondering...should I do a "back to basics" Halloween? Sort of an American nostalgia one? I was thinking: silhouette cutouts in the windows of very traditional settings (a witch with a pot and her cat, etc.); drapey ghosts, tons of pumpkins...I don't know. What do you all think? What would you personally add to this theme to make it really fun?

I was thinking I could still use my tombstones and all that, just not have them be the focus...or maybe they could just take up part of the yard and have nostalgic decorations around them...scared cats & all that?

Does this sound dumb?

I don't think it sounds "dumb" at all. Actually a nice refreshing take on traditional Halloween. Growing up in the 60's, our house was decorated with Beistle cut outs and jack o lanterns. No one had any high tech props or sophisticated decor. IMO, there are some very traditional Halloween icons that you can't go wrong with. I think using your tombstones and the posable skellies would work well, along with the jacks and cut outs. A couple of sheet ghosts hanging from a tree would look great too. Maybe, in our quest to be uber creative and over the top each year, we get farther away from the real Halloween traditions. I like your idea a lot!

I actually really like this idea... as a kid growing up in the 90s I never saw this sort of thing, most people just stopped with this kind of decorating (at least in my area); however, I've always been somewhat partial to when I saw this sorta thing in the movies.

I honestly don't know what to give as to advice on how to pull that off; however, I do like the idea.

Sounds like a good idea! Sometimes simple is better...

The ghosts hanging in a tree, you know made with those old rubber dodge balls as heads. That is my first Halloween memory was making about 30 of these for this huge oak tree in front of my grandmas house.

I'm a great traditionalist, so I like this idea a lot. Even though we never saw things like this in the UK when I was a child.
I would just be a little worried that the effect and the traditional aspect may be lost on the young TOT's.
So many of them are used to us doing up our yards and houses like Horror movie sets with special effects lighting and hi-tech props.......

A real taste of nostalgia for the parents though...I think they'd love a "retro" Halloween!!

Thanks so much; these replies really gave me food for thought and made me feel really good!

jdubbya: My memories are SO similar to yours. I grew up in the 70s (born in the late 60s) and we all had those cardboard decorations...and tons of orange and black. And of course every single house had a pumpkin. Only the most grumpy of households didn't have one.

ChangedReality: How great to know that you have a feeling for this theme although you didn't grow up with it. You're right; this is the sort of thing they usually show in the movies if they're trying to impart a real "neighborhood"/family scene (like in the original Halloween, trying to show it was such a nice, family-style 'hood to make the activities of Michael Meyers even more shocking).

HalloweenNight: Thank you!! And I like your orange font.

Biggie, oh my gosh, so did we, or if there were no small-ish balls around that we were willing to sacrifice temporarily to the cause, we used wadded up newspapers or tissues!

Baron Semidi: I agree that very little kids might not be impressed. That's why, when I first thought of it, I thought, Oh, but wait, I HAVE to put up my lights and tombstones and...and...So I am thinking I may do both: a background of old-fashioned Halloween, plus a few, more realistic things thrown in there.

Thanks so very much for the ideas!!

I love that idea! I would love to come see your house when its done! My fondest childhood memories and my favorite type of decor are vintage halloween cutouts, simply carved pumpkins, handmade ghosts...its great!

It would be fun to add a few of those small (table-top sized) blow-mold lights (the JOL & Black Cat lights, witch, pumpkin-on-straw) to put out, or have in your windows. I remember those & JOLs were the main thing folks would display (I, too, TOT'd in the '70s ;] ).

Also, if you could get ahold of some vintage TOT costumes, you could dress up a skelly (or build a straw-man) or two in them and have the TOT'g in the yard.

I don't know when they came to be popular, but I love those ghosts-playing-ring-around-the-rosey (ghosts in a circle holding "hands"). That would be fun to add too.

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

My earliest memory was making ghosts out of tootsie pops by draping a napkin over the sucker and drawing black dots for eyes. You could pass out these for treats....or apples,I remember getting alot of those back in the 60's!