I’ve always been a Christmas decorator.  Christmas is my favorite holiday and I like to decorate every corner of our house and yard.  Seriously,  I have to give a courtesy call to the power company the day before I turn on my lights so I don’t black out the neighborhood!
Other holidays tend to fall by the wayside when it comes to decorations; especially Halloween.  That is until we moved into our new neighborhood where everyone decorates.  Last year, we had the excuse that we were new and blah blah blah.  I quickly went out the day after Halloween and snagged some half price decorations so we could participate this year.  I also figured I would add to them a little bit this year.
Have I mentioned that I went to Ikea recently?  Oh, I did?  Sorry for the repeat mention.
I’ve been searching around for some reasonably priced lanterns and Ikea was happy to help.

I picked up two sizes of the lanterns and brought them home with grand plans to decorate them.  So far, only the little ones have decorations in them because my cheapness thriftiness is preventing me from paying the $30 it costs for the candles I need to finish the larger lanterns.
To fill the smaller lanterns, I stopped at Michaels, coupons in hand, and grabbed a bunch of random Halloween related items and brought them home.  Then, I selected some pumpkins and sparkly leaves to go in the lanterns.

The lanterns have this nice, large metal pick in the center to hold whatever you put in there in place.  I shoved a metallic pumpkin on it.
Then, I used my favorite new tool (for today anyways) to cut the glittery pumpkins and leaves off of their stalks. <Dad, if you are reading this, sorry but Mathlete wouldn’t tell me where his were>

I casually tossed in two glittery pumpkins and some leaves to finish off the lanterns.


Front view…oooh, glittery



Side view – the leaves are behind the pumpkins

 So, there you have my little lantern project.  All told, the entire project cost me less than $25 and I’ll get to re-use the lanterns for other holidays.  Since I know I love to see what people paid for things, I’ll share a breakdown of this project:
Lanterns:                                 $7.99 x 2 = $15.98
Metallic Pumpkins:       ($3.99 – 40%) x 2 = $4.79
Glitter Pumpkin Stalks: ($1.99 – 40%) x 2 = $2.39
Grand Total:                                              $23.16

So, do you decorate for Halloween?  Getting started this early?

Edited: Linked to Tater Tots and Jello Weekend Wrap up Party, the Marvelous Monday party at C.R.A.F.T., the Primp Your Stuff Link Party at Primp, Whatever Goes Wednesday on Someday Crafts, Show & Share on Southern Lovely, Show Me What You Got at Not Just a Housewife, Get Your Craft On Link Party at Today’s Creative Blog, the Unwasted Homemaking Party on Don’t Waste Your Homemaking, the Fall in Love Link Party on Decor to Adore, Coffee and Conversation at With a Shot of Brandy, Craft, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scrappy, Happy, and the Under $100 Linky Party at Beyond the Picket Fence.