Thrifty Halloween Decorating

by Ashley P
(Auburn, NY)

My favorite part of Halloween is the decorating.

Over the years we have amassed a large collection of Halloween decorations, but since we throw a large costume party every year we like to have new and interesting items to display in our house.

Some years there just isn't anything good to buy to add to our collection, or all the good stuff is really over priced and we can't afford it, so as an alternative we started to create our own Halloween decor items.

My favorite item I've created has been the "mad scientist specimen jars". You can go out and buy the fake severed fingers and fake hands and fake brains and put them in a jar, but this can get pricey buying all the parts for the "mad scientist" theme, so I changed my theme to a "witches brew" theme, or "witches potion" theme.

Whenever we ate pasta I saved the glass jars, when we finished a jar of pickles I saved the glass jar.

Then I went to the dollar store and into the kids toys section and there I found little fake plastic items to put in my jars (snakes, rats, assorted bugs, spiders). I also purchased some white ping pong balls and used black and red markers to color them in to look like eyeballs.

You then arrange your items to the appropriate size jars, and test them out to see how they will float once in water. After you have everything all set you fill with water and then add food coloring. The color stays!

I made my first set of jars 3 years ago and the water is still tinted! Test the color with the items inside the jar. For example, a blue tint tends to obscure black items.


If on a real tight budget you can get a can of spray paint, I like the crackly kind that gives it an old look, and paint the lids. You paint the lids for the look it gives it, but also to obscure the product name on the lid. Then with some twine or slender rope you can tie on description tags.
Come up with cute or scary names like "eye of newt" or "toe of frog". I used to tag my jars, but I have removed them because guests like to look at them and guess what is inside.

If you want to spend a little more money you can upgrade your tops and cover them in fabric. I bought Halloween fabric, but just plain black fabric would do. You cut it down into squares and then tie with ribbon (rope or twine) around the jar to secure it. The fabric idea I like because some jars have the product name embossed on them in the glass and the fabric if cut long enough can cover that part.

Display these jars just right and the light will shine through them and create a really creepy look. Every year I make more jars to add to my collection and I rotate which ones I put out for display. This year I experimented with real bones, one jar with some leftover chicken bones and one jar with bones you would give to your dog to chew on from the pet store.

I am not sure how they will hold up until next year, but they look great right now. This may be an item that would have to be replaced and refreshed each year, but I won't know that for sure until next year.

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