I have been slow to put up Halloween decorations this year. At first I blamed the wild life, as it was ripping up our lawn and wreaking havoc in our flower beds. Why risk the Halloween decorations being knocked over and damaged, I told myself. But as the weeks progressed I realized I’m just not that happy with our current set of Halloween decorations.

Most of our outdoor decorations just don’t work for our current home. There’s the “Welcome” orange street lamp that worked well on our town home front stoop, what with the non-existent front yard. At our home, it all but disappears from view on our porch. After nine years years the finish is coming off, it’s starting to rust, and it’s barely up right. There are the skulls and scattered bones that look cool, but you can only see them up close. Lastly there’s the posable spider which ended up being a huge mistake as it sheds like crazy and is hard to find a good spot for it.

We’ve been in our home now for two years, and plan to stay throughout the kids’ high school years. I thought it was time to do away with the decorations that just aren’t cutting it. Alexis has been a little fearful of some of the more animated and scary decorations, so I wanted something friendly and approachable while still being appropriate for the season.

My first concern was to light the walkway. I wanted to use luminaries, but rather than use traditional paper bag luminaries with LED tealights, I decided to go with candles. I found these. Ironically the reviewers chief complaint (that they’re too orange) made them ideal for me. It ended up being a bit pricey for luminaries ($24 for the candle holders, $10 for the tea lights), but they should last for years.

In the corner on the other side of our walk way I plan to put a non-animatronic stone statue and a lit pumpkin. I envision something made out of grapevine with twinkle lights. This would be perfect, if it was weather resistent. Alas, a carved pumpkin doesn’t work too well here. Last year our jack-o-lantern liquefied in 36 hours thanks to the intense UV rays.

I have my eye on a statue that will work, and am just waiting for the right sale. (I’ve waited this long, might as well wait a few more days.) The grapevine pumpkin is proving to be a bit more difficult. It seems to be a popular in door only decoration. Still, I’m nothing if not persistent. And frugal. Most of the time.