EEK! It’s that time of year when everything starts to get super busy! Although the pressure is on me to tackle lots of small projects, attend (and sometimes even plan) several events like holidays, birthdays, costume parties etc., I seem to thrive. I think that keeping busy helps me stay out of the slump of seasonal depression that we can all easily fall into. As the nights grow darker, we start to turn inward physically into our homes and mentally into our own thoughts. I think that is one of the reasons why I love to decorate for the fall and winter holidays. Having my space as festive and cozy as possible allows me to live in the moment, and celebrate whatever is coming my way.
One of my favorite Halloween traditions is not just decorating though, but making the act of decorating an event of its own. In the past, Mom and I found that we would struggle to get our homes decorated to our liking. Either there was not enough available time, or not enough help. So, we devised a plan to help each other be more accountable by helping decorate each other’s houses.
In order to maximize the time enjoying our decorations on display, we decided that we should put them up as early as possible, without being an annoyance to our neighbors, of course. This year, October 1st landed on a Saturday, so we chose that as our “decorating day,” and as you know, we are planner girls, so we planned that date about a month in advance and marked our calendars. It all starts with that planning ahead factor. We picked the date and time, then the rest fell into place accordingly, but not without a little extra effort to plan and be prepared.
Prepping for holiday decorating doesn’t have to be a huge fiasco, but the better prepared you are, the quicker you can get your decorations up, and then you can move on to your scary movies or whatever activities you like to do in October. In September, I plan and schedule to do some fall house cleaning, sort of like spring cleaning but in the fall. I put away anything that is too summer-like and pack away any decorations that would be in the way. I have a huge Scentsy collection so I pack away my summer warmers and my summer scented wax. I give the house a good dusting, sweeping, and decluttering. I have my decorations packed up in the garage, so I will bring those into the living room as well. If there are any decorations that I want to buy, I go ahead and purchase those in advance so that they are in hand on the day we decorate. Get out any tools that you might need also. Be sure to have things like hammer and nails, adhesive hooks, tape, scissors, a step ladder, extension cords and batteries handy for those decorations that need it. I found myself making several trips out to the garage for tools and such, and I could have saved my energy by getting it all rounded up beforehand.
This year we started off around 10 AM. It's really not a big ordeal; I didn’t have drinks and snacks ,or music like I would have for any other party, but I am not afraid to entertain that thought for next year. I think some spooky Halloween music would have been fun and inspiring, similar to how Christmas music gets you into the holiday spirit while decorating the Christmas tree. Even without the motivational soundtrack, we were able to work through four tubs of decorations in a timely manner. My fall and Halloween decorations were mixed in together, so it took a little bit of sorting. We used my dining room table as an unloading station and we determined which decorations were going out for Halloween, and what would stay in the box until November 1st. From there we could pick up one item and agree on what was going where. I think we had everything decorated inside and out in about an hour and a half. We took a lunch break and then drove to Cindy’s house to put up her decorations following the same method.
I am really glad that we started decorating this way; it really takes some of the burden off, and removes some of the decision fatigue by having someone else provide their input and ideas. I also find that it is just another added bonus to get to spend quality time with my mom and Reyna and whoever else might be helping.
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