A tale of two Halloweens

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I have the dubious honor of living in a historic river town that has been dubbed one of the most haunted places in the Midwest. But even though my neighborhood is Spook Central, the only thing that goes bump in the night at my house is Dan, getting up to raid the refrigerator. So, if I want a few thrills and chills during this haunted season, I have to bring them in through my Halloween decorating.While I love to decorate for Halloween, I'm not a big fan of over-the-top displays. Instead, I like to add a few fun, spooky touches here and there, so subtly woven into my year-round and fall displays that you almost have to look for them. So when you wander through my house, you never know what's waiting for you around the corner or on the other side of the door.This year, why don't you join in the fun and fill your home with a few tricks and treats that will delight family and friends?Your first step is to find the right pieces for your Halloween displays. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when decorating for Halloween is thinking they have to fill their homes with scads of props. Personally, I'm spellbound by Halloween displays that incorporate the things you already own, reinvented with a few spirited touches.Excavate your china hutch, cupboards and bookshelves, and pull out anything that could be used to make a creepy statement: white or black dishes, old books, ornate silver or crystal bowls, gothic-looking candelabrum, black or silver trays, cloches, cake trays and black-and-white linens.Once you have your building blocks assembled, pick a theme that inspires you to ghastly glory. One of my favorites is Ghoulish Elegance, where you decorate your home in high style, but with a slightly sinister slant:-- To give guests a jolt at the dinner table, set it as you would for a formal occasion. Then, put a mannequin hand on a tray, positioning the hand so it holds a bottle of wine or serving utensils. Add a few creepy rubber spiders or snakes for extra effect.-- Place a cake plate on your kitchen island, top it with a spooky fake skull with a gummy worm crawling through an eye socket, then entomb the gruesome ensemble with a glass cloche.-- String a dime-store spider web from a cluster of candelabra on your mantel, then tuck in a few plastic spiders.-- Fill a lovely soup tureen, crystal bowl or antique box with fake warty toads, and place it on a side table.-- On your front porch, fill matching iron urns with bouquets of dead sticks. Perch a faux raven on a grapevine wreath on your door.If you have young children in the home, you may opt for the frightfully fun approach to Halloween decor, which swirls around bright, whimsical touches that are more silly than scary:-- Place a cluster of apothecary jars on your mantel, coffee table or side table. Fill one with candy corn, another with plastic spider rings and the third with rubber balls that look like bloodshot eyes.-- Set your kitchen table with a black-and-white tablecloth in a bold stripe, modern floral or toile. (Make one quickly and inexpensively by buying a few yards of fabric and ironing under the edges.)-- For a fun tablescape, try apple-green placemats, black dinner plates and spunky salad plates, like dancing skeletons. Add black-and-white monogrammed tip towels for napkins.-- Spice up your china hutch or bookshelf with a cadre of small rubber skeleton toys you can bend in interesting shapes. Create a playful scene on shelves by posing the skeletons in crazy ways, like trying to escape from a glass bowl, climb a stack of dishes or sit atop a candlestick.(Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three successful home-furnishings stores in Atchison, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. She is the author of several best-selling books on home decorating. Write her at nellhills(at)mail.lvnworth.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)