Day 28: Cheap Halloween decorating ideas

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 28: Halloween - Cheap Halloween decorating ideas

If you’re planning on having a family gathering or throwing a big Halloween party, turning down the lights and playing some scary music is not enough, you need to create the right atmosphere. Halloween night belongs to ghosts and goblins and when the dead rise from the grave and crows, rats, and spiders are there to welcome them. 

To party with them or at least be sympathetic to their plight, your house needs to be suitably attired. The following are some cheap Halloween decorating ideas.

Ghosts

You will need two or more white balloons for this trick. Fill the balloons with helium, attach different lengths of string and secure the string with weights so they don’t float to the ceiling. Cover the balloons with a white curtain or bed sheet. To get some movement in the balloons, enlist the help of a fan turned on to the lowest setting. Your ghosts will gently sway in the breeze.

Spiders

Fill a black balloon with Helium and let it float to the ceiling. Cut eight pieces of black streamer and attach one end with tape to the black balloon and the other end to various points on the ceiling or walls, thus creating the look of the spiders’ legs. If you want you can give the spider a face by using white or silver paint to paint eyes and a mouth on the spider. A word of advice though, this is not a good idea if any of your guests are afraid of spiders.

Coffins

If you have a couple of shoeboxes, you can paint them black or brown and decorate them to look like coffins.  For an open casket, place a skeleton on top of a pile of cotton wool or Kleenex tissues.

Tombstones

Get some Styrofoam and cut it so that it’s flat on the bottom and rounded on top. Paint the Styrofoam grey with the letters R.I.P. in black with your guests’ names and a message. That will creep them out.

Cardboard

Get some black cardboard and draw various sizes of bats, rats, and birds on it.  With a red pencil or paint, give the animals eyes, a mouth, and whiskers. Cut out the drawings and attach them with sticky tape to the walls or windows.

On orange cardboard, you can draw pumpkins and jack o lanterns. After cutting them out decorate them with leafs drawn and cut out from green cardboard.

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Halloween decorating ideas for the office

While you can go all out decorating your house for Halloween, you might have to tone it down a bit with Halloween decorating ideas for the office. After all, the office is a place of business where management meets clients, customers or patients.

That is not to say that you cannot bring a little atmosphere to your office or cubicle. In fact, a few tasteful ornaments might gain you popularity.

To start off, you might want to decide on a good place to decorate. This can be a corner of your desk, the top of a filing cabinet, a windowsill, or even some floor space.

To create the right setting, start off with either a black or an orange piece of cardboard. If you mainly want to use decorations such as ravens, bats or spiders, orange is your best choice.  If on the other hand, you are thinking of using or pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, or other colorful items, then black cardboard will be better suited.  Creating contrast is key.

A word of advice though, be sympathetic to your colleagues’ feelings. If you know of someone who has a phobia for spiders, best not to use them. You don’t want to give someone heart failure when coming face to face with a lifelike tarantula.  

However, if nobody in your area is afraid of spiders, they make for great decorations. You can have them sitting on your desk, crawling on walls, dangling from the ceiling, whatever you fancy.

Alternatively, you can use witches and scarecrows. Nobody is likely to go screaming when they see a witch or scarecrow in your office and they make for great, colorful decorations. Along with witches, you can add little details such as cauldrons, poison bottles, broomsticks, and apples.

Other Halloween decorations for the office could be a touch of the sinister. How about some coffins or headstones?  To jazz things up a bit you could add a ghost or two. 

Then there are the ever-popular vampires. Whether you work with dolls or pictures, nothing says Halloween like a blood-sucking creature. To give extra character to your display, you could make use of a few bats and goblets filled with some type of red liquid. 

If management doesn’t allow creepy Halloween decorations for the office, you could just stick to pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. Providing you have space, you could have the real thing in your office or cubicle, or you could have pictures or a banner.

If you don’t overdo it, most offices will have no problem with having a few decorations. Keep it simple, keep it tasteful and be considerate. 

Want to share your thoughts? Comments are welcome.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 25: Fears - What are you afraid of?

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 25: Fears

Everyone is afraid of something. Fear of heights, fear of enclosed spaces, death, illness, public speaking, water, fire, the list goes on and on.

Ask 99% of women what they are afraid of and among other things they might mention spiders. I happen to be one of them.

I’ve read up on the subject and some say that the fear of spiders is hereditary. Which is interesting really. So does that mean that our parents are responsible for our fears? If they had given us a spider as a pet, instead of a kitten, a puppy or a bunny, would we have grown to love spiders?

Personally, I can’t imagine such thing. Can you? Can you imagine sitting with a spider on your lap and cuddling it? Curling up with it in bed? Proudly sharing pictures of it on Facebook ... I didn’t think so.

I often wondered why spiders were created in the first place. Some might say that they play a valuable role in nature and I understand that, they probably do some good. What I don’t understand is why they have to be so ugly.

When spiders were created, why couldn’t they be made to look like hamsters, koala bears, pandas or even squirrels. I can’t think of a single person who is afraid of these creatures. For one reason or another they might not be fond of them because they are dangerous or carry diseases, but nobody goes running, screaming, when they see one.

And believe me, I’ve done my fair share of screaming. As afraid as I am of spiders, they seem to be very fond of me. My mom, dad, or brother never came across a spider, but if there was one in the house, I would be the one to find it.

When I was growing up, I regularly saw them. I saw them in the basement, in the hallway, in the bathroom, or their personal favorite, in my bedroom.

Every night when I went to bed, I switched on the light of my bedroom and did a thorough inspection of the ceiling, walls and floor. If my folks heard a scream, mam would instruct dad to go upstairs, armed with a shoe.

The worst case ever was when I literally came face to face with a huge spider who was sitting next to the light switch on the wall. She had one of her eight legs on the light switch and another on the doorframe. As I flipped on the light my nose was literally less than an inch away from the monster and in addition to an ear- piercing scream, I stopped breathing. 

As I was told later, by the time my dad and brother came upstairs and found me on the landing, I was turning blue. My brother had to slap me out of it.

Since that time, I’ve encountered a number of family members of the spider, from babies to grandfathers, and they all give me the creeps.

Two years ago, I thought there was hope for me yet when I met Karen. She told me that she too had suffered from a severe case of arachnophobia until she decided to do something about it.

“And what did you do?” I asked her.

“Hypnosis or something?”

“I adopted a spider,” Karen said. “I bought a tarantula, I placed it in a glass case in the living room, and I observed it every day.”

Was the woman out of her mind! She was afraid of spiders and she invited a spider to live with her! A tarantula no less! Never, not even in my wildest dreams would I even consider living with a spider under one roof. No, no way, absolutely not!!!

Karen invited me for a visit, so I could observe the spider, how it ate, drank, washed itself and slept. I politely declined. Not a hair on my head even considered this.

When she offered to bring the spider to work, so we could all have a look, Brian strongly advised her not to do this.

“Why not?” Karen asked.

“Because I say so,” Brian told her. “If you do, I go straight to personnel and file a complaint against you. I’m not kidding. Don’t you dare bring that thing in here.”

Hmm, it would appear women are not the only ones who are squeamish about spides, some men are too.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Spiders are only good for one thing …

People are weird. I’ve said it a number of times and with each passing day I’m becoming more and more convinced of it.

Have you heard the latest? A woman in Australia has rescued a spider and called it Charlotte. Yes, you read that right, she RESCUED a SPIDER!!!

Now I’m all for rescuing animals such as cats, dogs, bunnies, wolves, foxes, even certain types of birds and fish, but I draw the line at spiders. In my opinion spiders are only good for one thing … to be killed and judging by the poster above, women and men all over the world agree with me.

As for the Australian spider … it was found in a barn and according to a CNN news report the monster sports 15-inch legs – that’s 38 cm for my European readers.

I saw a picture of it, and I’m telling you, if I was to come across a spider that big, I WOULD HAVE TO BE RESCUED!

It was Dieter who told me about this particular rescue. If you think I looked up the news article online, think again. Being confronted with a spider, big or small, on my computer screen is enough for me to scream, throw my laptop away from me, and go running. I would probably survive, but my laptop might not.

While at first I wanted nothing to do with the Australian rescue, after a while my curiosity got the better of me. Being too chicken to look for the CNN article myself, I asked Dieter to do it for me. He had already seen the spider, so its size would come as no surprise to him.

While he searched on his laptop, I put some distance between myself on his computer. If I was going to see a huge spider, I wanted to do so from a few feet away. When he found the particular article he asked if I was ready and then turned the screen of the laptop toward me. And eeeeeew what a beast it was. I couldn’t imagine anyone rescuing something like that, much less a woman.

Two weeks ago, when I first shared the poster above on Facebook with friends, Andrew (not his real name) commented that spiders shouldn’t be killed, but captured and set free. He suggested getting a glass and a piece of paper. To put the glass over the spider, slide the paper between the wall, floor or ceiling, thus trapping the spider and then take it outside.

When I read that I shivered all over. Me … putting a glass over a spider and holding it in my hand to take it outside … no way, not for a million dollars. And I mean that, if someone was to offer me big money to rescue a spider I would never get to enjoy it as I would suffer a heart attack in the process. Not a hair on my head actually considers doing such a thing.

Yet another friend, let’s called her Maureen, send me a video of a contraption to capture a spider and set it free again. The contraption looks a little like a dishwashing brush. The plan is to open the brush, put it over the spider (effectively capturing it between the bristles), closing the brush and then releasing the spider in the yard.

With all due respect Maureen, you can keep this contraption. I have NO intention of EVER using it. No way am I going to capture a spider between those bristles, walk with the monster less than 8 inches away from me, and releasing it, free to scare the bejeezus out of someone else.

Besides, even if I was brave enough to capture a spider, what would I do with it? I live on the 11^th floor of a condo building … would I drop the spider off the balcony? If I did there would be three possibilities:

1. The spider would land in the grass below and run away

2. It would hurt one of its eight legs, be unable to move and die a slow death

3. Catch a strong gush of wind while being dropped and land on a balcony below mine

Just imagine if it was to land ON someone. The poor man, woman or child might scream and suffer a heart attack.

No, I’m much more in favor of what an Australian friend did. She recently felled a tree, a couple of spiders as such became homeless and went running in her yard. Amanda (not her real name) didn’t think twice. She sprinted to her barn, grabbed a pitchfork, ran back to where the spiders were, raised the pitchfork a few times and killed the lot of them (or as many as she could hit).

Me and spiders … we are sworn enemies.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Halloween decorating ideas for the office

While you can go all out decorating your house for Halloween, you might have to tone it down a bit with Halloween decorating ideas for the office.  After all, the office is a place of business where management meets clients, customers or patients.

That is not to say that you cannot bring a little atmosphere in your office or cubicle.  In fact, a few tasteful ornaments might gain you popularity.

To start off, you might want to decide on a good place to decorate.  This can be a corner of your desk, the top of a filing cabinet, a windowsill, or even some floor space.

To create the right setting, start off with either a black or an orange piece of cardboard.  If you mainly want to use decorations such as ravens, bats or spiders, black is your best choice.  If on the other hand you are thinking of using or pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, or other colorful items, then orange cardboard will be better suited.  Creating contrast is key.

A word of advice though, be sympathetic to your colleagues’ feelings.  If you know of someone who has a phobia for spiders, best not to use them.  You don’t want to give someone heart failure when coming face to face with a lifelike tarantula. 

However, if nobody in your area is afraid of spiders, they make for great decorations.  You can have them sitting on your desk, crawling on walls, dangling from the ceiling, whatever you fancy.

Alternatively you can use witches and scarecrows.  Nobody is likely to go screaming when they see a witch or scarecrow in your office and they make for great, colorful decorations.  Along with witches you can add little details such as cauldrons, poison bottles, broomsticks and apples.

Other Halloween decorations for the office could be a touch of the sinister.  How about some coffins or headstones?  To jazz things up bit you could add a ghost or two. 

Then there are the ever popular vampires.  Whether you work with dolls or pictures, nothing says Halloween like a blood sucking creature.  To give extra character to your display, you could make use of a few bats and goblets filled with some type of red liquid. 

If management doesn’t allow creepy Halloween decorations for the office, you could just stick to pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns.  Providing you have the space, you could have the real thing in your office or cubicle, or you could have pictures or a banner.

If you don’t overdo it, most offices will have no problem with having a few decorations.  Keep it simple, keep it tasteful and be considerate. 

www.connymanero.weebly.com