Happy Halloween!
One of my personal favorite ways to get excited about this season, other than doing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party with my family, is to read some of the poetry and short stories of Edgar Allen Poe–“The Cask of Amontillado” is without a doubt my favorite short story, and “The Raven” is my favorite poem.
When we were decorating our new home for the fall, I was hoping to create something fun to hang in our dining room. I designed some silhouettes of Ravens and put some iconic lines from the poem inside them. I framed them in three black matted frames we had on hand. (I actually took out wedding photos to frame these… Oops.)
To set the scene, I styled our dinner last night to show you how you can use these at your next dinner party. The best part? This was really cost effective. Enjoy some little tips below to help your last-minute Halloween party stay within budget.
- Like this stylish metal spider web bowl? It’s a $1.00 plastic basket from the dollar section of Target. It used to be an ugly purple color, but with a little help from some silver spray paint, it looks amazing!
- The chargers and dessert plates of our place settings were paper and plastic. Layered with a few pieces of our wedding china, they looked like a million bucks.
- I had a hard time finding napkins that were within my budget–which, I should mention, was nothing. I found these in the dollar section of Target (again) and noticed they had birds on them. I folded them to look like traditional cloth napkins and tucked them under the plates.
- I found these great bird place cards on Country Living. I colored them black in Photoshop and printed them on sturdy cardstock. The names were written on each bird with a silver paint pen.
- We hung the prints over a spooky Halloween bar. For excellent ideas for Halloween cocktails, check out this super adorable post on DIY network by The TomKat Studio! How seriously cute are these?!?
You can download the Raven prints for use in your home below. I’ve heard from some readers that Scribd has suspended their free account for downloads. I’m currently looking into utilizing new platforms. In the meantime, if you’re trying to download the prints and can’t, shoot me an email at allyjeanblog@gmail.com. I’m happy to help!
For more ideas for a party inspired by The Raven, check out Pinterest!
Happy Halloween!
Ally Jean Blog 