Haunted HouseNo. 9659 · The 2026 edition
A Little Decorating for Halloween
Transform your home into a cozy Halloween haven with autumn touches, spooky ghosts, and warm treats.
Our own summary of the original — the full post and photos live at betweennapsontheporch.net.
This party idea showcases a home decorated for Halloween with a ghost, topiary, and pumpkin accents in the entry, family room, and porch. Serve hot mulled cider and ginger snaps to complete the festive atmosphere.
About this
A photo-tour blog post showing how the author decorates her home, entry, family room, kitchen, and porch for Halloween and fall. It mixes seasonal decor ideas (a Hallmark ghost, a cardinal-and-birch fire screen, Tom Clarke gnomes, a porch topiary, seasonal pillows) with a hot mulled cider and ginger snap treat and ends with a Jack Prelutsky Halloween poem. Readers get a cozy, low-key Halloween decorating walkthrough rather than a step-by-step party plan.
The plan
- each fall — Buy mulling spice from Williams-Sonoma each fall
- during a party — Simmer the mulling spice in a kettle or pot on the stove during a party so guests notice the scent and ask the secret
- as the weather turns — Bring out the fall fire screen and other seasonal decor as the weather turns
- Turn on the dragonfly lights on the porch topiary; it glows on summer evenings and gets more decorating at Christmas
Decoration ideas
- Set a plant in the entry to balance the height of the lamp, borrowed from the upstairs family room
- Display a scary ghost figure found about 20 years ago in a Hallmark store
- Swap in a fall fire screen decorated with cardinals and a birch tree for the family room fireplace
- Light a real fire in the fireplace on chilly fall evenings
- Display a collection of Tom Clarke's whimsical gnomes
- Place a faux topiary shaped like a Christmas tree, in a pretty urn and strung with dragonfly lights, on the porch
- Add the Max cat pillow in fall colors to the porch
- Replace the swing's spring pillows with pillows in fall colors; the green cushions act as a neutral that works with any season
- Set a pumpkin from HomeGoods on the porch
- Decorate the hutch with Halloween pieces
- Display a Fitz & Floyd pumpkin pitcher (about 25 years old) on the hutch alongside pumpkin plates from Walmart
- Hang a green basket, found antiquing the previous summer, on the door leading from the porch into the family room
- Add a witch figure to the porch swing
Food & drink
- Hot mulled cider made with Williams-Sonoma mulling spice and a cinnamon stick
- Ginger snaps served alongside the cider
- Williams-Sonoma mulling spice given as a fall gift
Activities
- Sit by the fire, put your feet up, and enjoy cider and a snack
- Read Jack Prelutsky's whimsical Halloween poems to young children
More photos
Photos hosted by betweennapsontheporch.net.
