Deck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies

While my decorations don't change drastically from year to year, I like to swap things around and add things here and there.  This year's mantel. 

And To All, A Good Halloween Night

"And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Halloween well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!"

Deck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies

Time for my annual post of my interior decorations.  They don't vary much from year to year, but I like to share anyway.  Everything (almost) in these shots were garage or estate sale finds.

Garage Sale Haunts

I thought I'd do something a little different today.  Rather than showing you what I found at garage sales, I'll share what houses I saw while garage saling, specifically those decked out for the season.

Hopefully the pictures are large enough when clicked on to see the details (blogger seems to be having an issue with that the last couple years), because some of these are great.

Spirit Ball Memories

I'm not usually into modern Halloween items or props (although granted this is 17 years old), but this piece was pretty cool, the price was right and it reminded me of something from my childhood (more on that later).

Deck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies

Well, the big night is here, or "the big dance" as we in the know call it. Okay, nobody calls it that.

I hope you've enjoyed the past 31 days of Stranger Finds.  I leave you with Halloween wishes for a magical night along with some pictures of my decorations this year featuring all of my Halloween finds.  I wasn't able to get outside pictures this year due to the weather (rain, high winds, rain, freezing temperatures, rain).

What a Bunch of Crepe

I gasped when I saw this batch of vintage Dennison Christmas crepe paper in a pile of other plain wrapping paper at a garage sale this summer.  It's rare to find vintage items at garage sales these days.  Especially marked as cheap as these were at a quarter a piece.

Mr. Blinky

I found this Mr. Blinky glow lamp a few years ago. I don't believe I've posted on it before, but if I have, here's a refresher.

Witch Blow Mold

I was surprised to find this witch blow mold at an estate sale this past summer. It was later in the day and only priced at $1.  Normally, Halloween items are snatched up in the first wave of estate sale pickers.

Based on the UPC sticker on the bottom, it's not that old, but still a nice addition to my blow mold collection, even if it does have an incredibly short cord.

Take Your Pick

Rounding (or pointing) out my cake decoration finds of the past year is this set of Halloween Cupcake picks.  I remember these being used in the cupcakes from grade school Halloween parties.

K.T. Cat

Found with the witch scooter cake topper from yesterday was this cat and crescent moon cake topper.

This one is also marked "Hong Kong" and "K.T. No. 812".  So far, I've been unable to identify what company used the initials "K.T." There is a K.T. Plastics company, but it was formed in 1989 which would be at least a decade too late for this piece.

Witch Scootin' Boogie

So what does a witch do if her broom breaks down?  She jumps on her scooter.

This flat cake topper decoration is made in Hong Kong and probably dates from the 1970's to early '80's.  Manufacturer is unknown.  She doesn't appear in my Wilton catalog.

Today's post was a little short, so why don't you scoot on over to the Countdown to Halloween and park yourself there for a while.

Wreck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies 2017

Okay, I didn't really wrap up this season's posts.  I'll finish with these shots from this year's haunt.  Pretty much the same as last year, with the addition of a new "Grave-in" Theater theme. 

Melted Plastic Popcorn Witch

During the earlier part of summer this year, I was driving home from my sister-in-law's house in the city of St. Louis when I spotted this sticking out of the top of a dumpster.

Witchy Women

I was at the annual Canterbury Subdivision sale in Affton (where participation dwindles with each passing year) and spotted what was clearly a newer, clear Jack O' Lantern plastic container, something that probably contained pretzels or some snack like that.  But this one contained some smaller Halloween decorations. I might have ignored it, but I saw a smaller version of the Wilton witch cake topper I wrote about here pressed up against the inside. Upon further examination, I saw it was a whole family of witches, 5 in all.

Cake 'n Roll

I found these Rock 'n Roll teeny bopper cake toppers at an estate sale this past weekend.

The Island of Misfit Christmas Decorations

Here are a few Christmas decorations I picked up last year that didn't make the cut for a permanent place of home decoration. Actually, my wife took them out of our decorations and put them by my computer which is essentially the Island of Misfits.

 What is it?  A snowman head on a spiky plastic ball decorated with berries on a stand.  The snowman's expression reveals how he feels about the whole situation.

The disembodied head of Santa impaled on a stake of poinsettia sets the mood for this piece.  His dead eyes stare out blankly.

Take half a Styrofoam ball, add some foil and plastic leaves and tiny pine cones and what do you get? I'll be honest. I have no idea.

Wreck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies

I'm finally getting close to being done with decorating.  I KNOW HALLOWEEN IS TOMORROW!!

Really, I mean it, I'm almost done!  Here's what I've done so far.

Baring the Mantel of Halloween

It's time to unveil this year's fireplace mantel decorations.  I took two sets of photos, one with a flash and one without. It looks better without the flash, but it's difficult to see the details, so I'm giving you both.

Halloween Comes Early

It's Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of Summer. Something consistent I've noticed over the years about garage sales at this time of the year; it's generally the only time I find Halloween-related items. This weekend was no exception. I picked these up at various sales on Saturday.

Empire Plastics Lighted pumpkin on hay shock - 1967. I have one of these almost identical to this one, except the pumpkin is atop a black cat. That was also a garage sale find. I'll profile it in an upcoming post. I love the vintage blown plastic Halloween displays. I bought this one from an elderly lady (exactly 75, it was her birthday.) She said she was getting too old to put out her decorations. I told her I'd put them out for her.