our spooky halloween tree | DIY project

Every store.  Every single store. They all have Halloween displays.  My kids have to explore every single one.  This adds an average of 35 minutes on to any errand we run.  I don't mind them looking at the displays so much as the non-stop begging and insisting that we NEED to have these spooky decorations.  I decided we could make our own at home for less money since they didn't like my idea of buying some decorations when they went on clearance after Halloween.  These kids are way too hung up on the whole instant gratification thing.

So I went digging in the backyard for an old cast iron planter I knew had been relegated to an out of sight, out of mind corner of the yard.  It was not aging well.  Apparently neglect causes rust.  Then the kids and I set out on a hunt of the neighborhood for that just-right fallen tree branch.  After a lot of walking and finding nothing we came home, looked up, and voila!  Dead tree branches right there above us in the tree.  I tried to pretend the neighbors didn't notice me jumping up and down repeatedly trying to grab the branches to pull them down.  It only took 5 tries to get two branches, I'm sure nobody saw me.  Even the ones standing in their doorways looking our way with odd looks on their faces.  Carry on.  Just carry on.  We stuck the branches in the planter - which looked way better with the unknown dead plant removed and a new coat of black spray paint.  Then we spray painted the branches with the same black spray paint.  Another coat of spray paint - but this time with silver glitter.  My front yard has a nice glittery glow to it when the sunlight hits it - bonus.

After nap when everything was dry we strung some orange string lights on the tree and placed it in the front flower bed.  The dead tree branches matched well with the dying plants and bushes in there.  Made me think I could have saved myself all the jumping for tree branches and spray painting trouble and just hung the lights on the dying bushes.  The boys think its really cool, and spooky. We'll call this a success even though I'm not all that impressed with it.  My kids impressed = success.  All my husband had to say when he came home and saw it in the front yard was 'That thing is not going in the house'.  I guess he wasn't all that impressed either.  The sun had just about set when he got home so he didn't get to see the pretty, glittery lawn.  I'll let that be a surprise for him for another day  :)

So total cost for two cans of spray paint and a string of lights = under $10.  Probably more than something similar would have cost us at post Halloween clearance sales.  ::sigh::


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