4 Types of Fall Decorators: Which One Are You?

Everyone has their own taste when it comes to decorating in October, but styles typically fall into one of four categories.  Read on to discover your type--you will have a chance to vote at the end.

1.  Fall Festival

This type of decorator doesn't like creepy Halloween decorations and sticks with harvest imagery like pumpkins, scarecrows, straw bales, mums, and corn shocks.

For them, it's a celebration of fall--the harvest, colorful changing leaves, and cooler temperatures.  It's about cozy decorations inside and out, wearing long sleeves again, sipping hot cider, and cooking a plethora of foods containing pumpkin.

If you bedeck your front lawn and porch with pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn, you know squirrels and other wildlife can't resist stealing a nibble.  

Here's a tip to keep curious and hungry pests from ruining your pricey ornaments.  Spray your pumpkin and gourds with aerosol hairspray.  Next, pour white vinegar to make a perimeter.  After that, sprinkle red pepper all over your edibles and in a tighter perimeter than the vinegar.  If you have owl decorations to tastefully include in the display, they will also frighten off these nature bandits.  If your decorations are rained on, you will have to repeat the process, but it works!

2.  Crap Fest

Even though we all have different tastes, some decorators cross the line into the abyss of bad taste.  This type of decorator works hard to adorn their homes with seasonal motifs, but their efforts fall flat. 

While some people can throw resources together and produce gift shop-like results that could grace the pages of Home & Gardens magazine, others who try to do the same end up with homes that look like the Dollar Tree exploded on them.

  

Just check out the photo above as a prime example.  Garlands are never meant to be slapped on the side of a house for no apparent reason.  What did this person do?  Did she aim for the trash can but accidentally dumped the rest of the decorations on a rotting hay bale and thought maybe it worked?  No....just.....no.  

3.  Party Pooper

The Party Pooper is the person who doesn't decorate for the changing seasons.  They have their reasons.  Some are older, and their bodies just aren't up to the task.  Others are too busy trying to stay on top of the leaf collection.  Juggling careers, kids, and extra-curricular activities doesn't leave wiggle room for decorating at some households.  An honorable mention also goes to all the lazy people who just aren't motivated to go to the trouble.  

As a side note, the lazy ones do muster enough spunk to decorate for Christmas--they are the ones who leave them up and lit through April.

4.  Scary

Why would anyone want to make their home look like the gateway to hell?

Whether it's zombies emerging from the ground and animated props that make your heart skip a beat, this kind of decorator believes the scarier, the better.

Some even use diabolical clowns in the "spirit" of Halloween, as if clowns aren't already in their own category of creepy year-round.

I would insert images here to give you the gist of how spectacularly gruesome some houses  become for this spooky celebration, but then you would never be able to "un-see" it.

Your eyes are the window to your soul, and Halloween offers snapshots many of us could do without. 

Considering most trick-or-treaters are pre-school and elementary-aged, many parents don't appreciate the nightmares their kids experience from such harsh images piercing their little souls.

Some decorators offer tamer spectacles, like covering their homes with spiders.

As a person who shrieks at the sight of a tiny, hopping spider and becomes a human wrecking ball to smash it, I'm not sure how anyone in such a house could sleep at night.

Image courtesy of Pansa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sending the Wrong Message

The average person creates macabre Halloween scenes because they see themselves as being festive.  They may not realize most of the traditions surrounding Halloween are rooted in pagan rituals or that Halloween is one of two big holidays for those who celebrate the dark side.

You know those "Stop Here, Santa" rooftop decorations some display at Christmastime?  What are people welcoming with these grisly and morbid displays?  The devil and his minions?  

Flirting with evil at Halloween is not having innocent fun.  While the decorator might be ignorant of the spiritual component of these displays, what they are actually celebrating is death. 

Draw the line after fake cob webs on your hedges.

Vote for Your Decorating Style 

Now that you know the four main styles for decorating, pick the one that best describes you!