How To Decorate For Halloween (& Other Holidays) Without Losing Your Sanity, Spending All Your Cash & Over-Loading Your Storage Space

October 18, 2017

I have clients at both ends of the holiday-decorations spectrum. Some, as you can imagine, have tubs and tubs of themed decor for each and every occasion. For others, the holiday decorations are scant. Yet, I’ve noticed a tendency among those in possession of modest decoration collections: there is an underlying belief that to not go balls-to-the-decked-out-walls is to have failed, in some sense. It is to have deprived their offspring of obviously celebratory atmospheres.

“Annie, am I the worst mom ever if I don’t decorate for Halloween?” One of my clients recently asked me.

I’m not sure when, exactly, intensity and quantity overshadowed all else, but they certainly have become the standard to which we hold ourselves. As marketers have pushed merchandise and Pinterest has pushed aspirational images, subtle, Simple tokens of celebration have taken a backseat. In the vehicle we might colloquially term “#Goals,” lavish, labor-intensive installations are cruising shotgun.

The good news is: you’re still the boss, pumpkinsauce! Good enough is a measure you define. Perfectly themed is a classification you make.

You don’t have to buy two cartloads of paraphernalia at Target or at the craft store. You don’t have to hang trinkets and signs from every ledge and hook. You don’t have to be responsible for storing tub-full’s of decorations.

A few things that summarize the spirit of the holiday for you, placed strategically in high traffic areas to maximize visibility and impact, are always sufficient.

Classic, timeless pieces that might even be so subtle as to possess the ostensible ability to blend into your decor year-round will always serve you well in the long run.

Holidays can often be alluded to through the use of colors, often with just as much, if not more, success than through specific shapes or symbols.

Organic materials are usually the most affordable, most natural-looking, and least storage-space-requiring means of decoration.

These principles hold true for any holiday. What with Halloween being on the horizon and all, let’s peep some examples of decorations that Live way Simply.

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Angie Holden

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Caitlin Cawley

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Good Housekeeping

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Honestly Yum

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Flax & Twine

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Stylizimo

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Midwest Living

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Good Housekeeping 

Sanity-saving, wallet-relieving, storage space-freeing rules for holiday decorating.

Image credit: Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

 

Now tell me what you’re being. No, scratch that: tell me what candy I can expect were I to trick-or-treat at your doorstep.

3 Comments

  1. jenseeme on October 18, 2017 at 5:54 am

    Brilliant suggestions, Annie!! And I love the photos that so beautifully illustrate your point.

    • Annie on October 18, 2017 at 8:09 pm

      Yes, thank you Jenifer!! So glad to hear that whole thing came across as I had intended it. xx

  2. […] recognition of this, I published a post entitled How To Decorate For Halloween (& Other Holidays) Without Losing Your Sanity, Spending All Your C…, which lays out general strategies one might employ. Today’s post is a follow up, with […]

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3 Comments

  1. jenseeme on October 18, 2017 at 5:54 am

    Brilliant suggestions, Annie!! And I love the photos that so beautifully illustrate your point.

    • Annie on October 18, 2017 at 8:09 pm

      Yes, thank you Jenifer!! So glad to hear that whole thing came across as I had intended it. xx

  2. […] recognition of this, I published a post entitled How To Decorate For Halloween (& Other Holidays) Without Losing Your Sanity, Spending All Your C…, which lays out general strategies one might employ. Today’s post is a follow up, with […]

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