Talk or Treat- Nostalgic Halloween Decorations

Hello friends and welcome back to another Tuesday Talk or Treat! This is a fun mini series I'm doing for Blogtober, you can read the full explanation on the first post, here!

I had trouble deciding on what I wanted my treat to be today. I have many treat options including more roasted pecans, no-bake cookies that my mom made last night, or even some candy you'd find in a Halloween bag. For today, though, I went simple with a mug of hot coffee and pumpkin spice oat milk creamer. Drinks can definitely be considered treats as well!

I used to not care for pumpkin spice flavor. I typically don't like anything pumpkin, but when I can control how much creamer goes in my coffee, I like it way way better. Plus, you gotta have at least one pumpkin spiced something in the fall!

If you haven't treated yourself today, take this as encouragement to do so! Let me know what your go-to drink or snack is lately, as well.

As we get further into October, a lot of Dylan's neighbors are putting up their Halloween decorations. At night time, the darkness shies away from purple and green string lights and hides in the shadows of carved pumpkins, dressed up porch geese, and large wired spiders. It made me think of all of the decorations I took note of as a kid, watching blurs of decorations pass from the back seat or navigating around on Halloween night.

I wanted to go over some the decorations that I remember the most as a kid that I don't see in my area anymore and relish in the nostalgia!

Pumpkin Leaf Bags

I haven't seen these in what feels like so long, but it is something I remember vividly. It may be because I don't live in a neighborhood anymore or drive through many, but as a kid there were tons of these huge pumpkins filled with leaves! It makes me think that raking is not as common as it once was, I know I don't rake save for just sweeping the leaves off of the porch back into the grass.

Is this still a thing around your area? Let me know!

Bag Ghosts

Growing up, my aunt would throw both Halloween and Christmas parties for my cousins, brother, and I. It wasn't anything extravagant, but we always had a lot of fun playing party games and doing crafts and face makeup. One thing she did every year was make these ghosts out of old Walmart bags filled with newspaper or whatever filler works and hang them in the trees.

The drive up to my grandma's house where my aunt also lived was on an upward-sloped drive constantly threatened to be consumed by the tough weeds and trees of the South. Add some ghosts scattered throughout the trees up to the house and it was like something out of a movie for myself as a kid.

Here's some fun photos of some of the party activities, from around 2012.

This would be at the beginning of the party, getting hopped up on candy to fuel the sugar-rushed craziness. I am in the back, I would have been 10 years old. My cousin and I have our glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth in.

Now we get into the fun, a full vampire face complete with some sort of winged eyeliner and a full head of red hair, thanks to colored hair spray. I can only imagine the massacre that was the shower after this party haha! That is my little brother in the back, up next to get some zombie makeup.

This is what we needed the sugar rush for...

Can you see the crazed look in my eyes?? We were going ham on that witch pinata! Also, I had no idea I'd even find these photos to share with you all when writing this, but you can actually see the white bag ghosts in the background of this photo! Why does that make me emotional 🥲. Also note that all three of us older kids in the back have some sort of wild hair color haha!

Tombstones

This decoration is still popular today, and I think it will be forever because it is so easy. It is pretty much a no-fail method to spookify your home. I figured I would add it in this list because I found a photo of my brother and cousin playing around them during the Halloween party.

Spider Web

This is an indoor decoration, but I think I've seen it used outdoors as well. I have one specific memory, I had to have been around 6 or 7 years old, of helping my mom decorate for Halloween. In this memory, I am sitting by the front door after putting on the little decorative door handle hanger and most likely was just sitting there jingling the bells at the end of the ribbons.

Mom was on a stool and putting up the fake spider webs at the entrance to the dining room, and adding the spiders to go with it. I really liked the spider webs, I'm not sure why. Maybe they were less spooky than the real thing!

I don't think I'd buy decorative web these days, though, I feel like I'd just be inviting a spider to move in and Dylan is not merciful towards them like I am😭.

Boyds Bears and Friends

The last decoration I will share today is another indoor piece that lived in my grandma's home year-round: Boyds Bears and Friends!

She had soooo many of these around the living room and dining room as a kid, big and small, and I remember she had a few Halloween ones as well. Searching through photos online, I'm not sure if I found the specific Halloween ones she had, but I wouldn't be surprised if these were it. For some reason I always liked feeling the rough texture of the bear's fur. It was something that should have been soft but was hard and rigid, I wondered how they made it. I shouldn't be confused about that, though, because she also had a bunch of cacti that I was tempted to touch as well haha!

Conclusion

Writing this post with my warm drink and warm memories was a lot of fun. I always think I don't have many stories that are interesting to write about, but I think my own enjoyment of the times I had is enough for me.

What were the most memory-rich decorations you saw as a kid during this season? Let me know, and I will see you all tomorrow!