Note: This has been modified but check for updates.
Thank you in advance Reaper.
Please don't stress because I am easy to please and will love anything that you buy or make for me. I love homemade gifts if you happen to be crafty. If you aren’t, then garage sale/thrift store finds or store bought is perfectly fine. Also I am fine with just one gift if you desire since I seem to be running out of room to display things indoors, but if you prefer to send a selection of things, that is fine too. Don't let me ruin your fun.
This year for Halloween I will hammock camping (sleeping in a hammock under a tarp with a group of likeminded individuals) for Halloween weekend so some specific ideas would be:
• Decorations that could be strung between trees such as a skeleton, werewolf, or other ghoul moldering away in a hammock
• Sleeping vampire bats that could be attached to tree branches or flying bats
• Battery operated or solar operated lights of any kind. Some light up eyes could be fun.
• Luminaries
• Scary versions or ominous looking animals that would be normally found in the woods that could be set around my campsite. I envision owls, bats, wolves, snakes, crows, spiders, toads, foxes, squirrels, raccoons, bobcats, bears, or even gators since it is a swampy area.
• A scary face or two to attach to a tree to make it look like a haunted tree. Since it is a state park, the face parts would have to attach by dark string wrapped around the tree, no nails.
• A ghost story suitable in length for reading aloud around a campfire. Something from your locale would be fun. Feel free to even write one yourself.
For non-camping ideas I have added the below.
Tips to help out my reaper:
This year I will be doing a graveyard for the second time. I really needed a spot or flood light last year since my border of candle lanterns on hooks was pitifully inadequate.
I am hoping someday to come across the discontinued dinner/salad plate size of the dish pattern “Hallow's Eve” by 222 FIFTH. I bought the appetizer set of four dishes, but none of the stores around me had the bigger sizes.
I don’t have internet at home or access to a printer. So if you would like to print off some internet creepy pictures, I would love them. I bought a dozen 4 x 6 & 5 x 7 wooden frames to paint that are gothic looking, but have nothing much to put in them. Print outs of labels for potion bottles would also be welcome. So far my potion collection consists mostly of unlabeled bottles.
If my reaper is a person with lots of close up pictures of Jack-o-lanterns that they have carved over the years, I have always wanted to have a DVD of pictures of Jack-o-lanterns that I could use as a slideshow on my TV or in one of those digital picture frames.
Likes:
Traditional style Halloween things such as:
Animals: Bats, Cats, Wolves, Crows/Ravens, Spiders, Owls (Realistic ones, not ones that look like the 60’s or 70’s), Frogs, Toads, Rats, Mice. I seem to be especially fond of ravens lately.
Spooks: Witches, Ghosts, Skeletons, Skulls & bones, Gargoyles, Zombies, Frankenstein, Vampires (Not the super gory or “Teen Romance” kind, more of the classic Dracula/gothic vampire thing), Universal Monsters, Grim reapers, Scarecrows (especially spooky/creepy or pumpkin head ones), Swamp monsters, Werewolves, Headless Horseman
Objects: Jack O Lanterns, Pumpkins, Tombstones, Haunted Mansions, Witches Balls, Spider webs, Cauldrons, Spell books, Potion Bottles, Creepy-looking photos, Twisted Trees, Ancient Egyptian/ Mummy stuff, Vintage Halloween Stuff (...especially with witch, cat or owl prints), Ghost ships, witches broom, witches shoes, creepy plants
I am a want to be quilter. Don’t actually finish anything but do like to collect fabric, so some Halloween fabric would be welcome.
I have noticed in my house that the darker shades of orange or burnt orange look better than true bright orange which seems to clash. Also, brass, copper or gold goes better in my house than silver or pewter. My style is more traditional so ultra modern does not fit well either. I have never found any Halloween hand towels that would look good in the guest bath, so I remain on the look-out for ones that are predominately cream that would not clash with the bold stripes of burgundy and green on the wallpaper that I never got around to replacing.
Not that I need a tablecloth, but I am a sucker for dishes & table linens, so I thought that I would add that my kitchen table takes a 70" round. My dining room table takes the 60" x 84" size and either oval or rectangle works. I already have black spiderweb lace cloths.
Random gift suggestions of things I wouldn't mind:
Home Goods had some heavily carved pillar candles, black with bats all over and orange with pumpkins all over.
A container decorated for Halloween that I could keep my Secret Reaper or Card Exchange supplies in (packing tape, scissors, sharpies, glue sticks, postage stamps etc.) I picked up a cigar box to do this, but it was not big enough to hold a standard size greeting card, so it is back to the drawing board.
A mat for the kitchen in front of the sink
I used up the liquid soap in a ghost shaped pump bottle that I had so I could use another
Pot holders are always good since I never seem to have one when I need one
A fire and ice spotlight, green or purple
One of those fake frog, alligator head, or fish skeletons or even the small rat or the bat
The Walking Dead DVD's any season except 4 which I have
Dollar tree items: skeleton serving tong hands, graveyard fencing with the spiders not the gargoyles so that it will match what I already have, graveyard fencing that is two stakes with a chain in between, Halloween village people or trees (I have the houses)
Dislikes or have no real interest in:
Overly glittery
Babies/dolls
Nightmare Before Christmas
Roaches or maggots
Aliens (doesn’t say Halloween to me except as a costume)
Movie characters i.e. Jason, Freddy, Chucky etc.
Inflatables (because they use electricity, make noise, & I hate seeing a puddle of dead inflatable in the morning) otherwise I would like them
Satanic items
Overly Gory, bloody, grisly guts or body parts (potion bottle body parts o.k.)
Real Witchcraft items or Voodoo things
Horror movies (slasher films)
Socks
Scented candles
Window clings (have waaaaay too many)
Candy or food items
Annalee brand figurines
shot glasses
Can't currently use pieced earrings
Not currently needed since don’t have that theme (but some year I will probably want):
Clowns, Bio-hazard, Dia De Los Muertos, Pirates, Wizard things, Mad Scientist Stuff, Oddities
Thanks, in advance, to my Reaper! Please realize that I really will like anything that you give me. I have tried to make my list extensive so that you have plenty of ideas. If I have listed any items that are over $20, it is not because I expect you to get them, but you never know what kind of crazy deals you will come across at a yard sale or with a coupon, or you may see something elsewhere that is similar in style. Also, don't feel constrained by my list, if you want to send something that I didn't even think of, that is perfectly fine.
I have barely started pinterest, but maybe it will help a little to see what I found interesting enough to pin. I will try to add to it soon.
https://www.pinterest.com/candycreature/