Spooky Halloween Mantel

I meant to get this post up last week but it has been crazy busy around here lately! In fact, I was not planning on decorating for Halloween much at all this year until we recently decided to hold a Halloween party this past weekend. Of course, I could not NOT decorate then! Ha! So if you are looking for some last minute Halloween decor, you are in luck! Not only will you be getting to see this spooky Halloween mantel today, but also my Halloween gallery wall and hot cocoa bar in the next couple of days. If it is too late for you to decorate this year (which I don’t blame you!), make sure to pin some pictures to Pinterest for Halloween decor ideas for next year!

If you are a frequent visitor to my site, you will already know how much I love to decorate my mantel in our living room. This is a main living area in our house and I like to change the decor up for the holidays & seasons. The rest of the room usually coordinates with the mantel decor.

The Halloween party was a hit by the way. Everyone looked great in their costumes and had a blast! We are all already talking about next year’s party! 🙂

I wanted to go a little spookier with my decorations this year. The black owl and black birds were items I had already. I originally used them on this mantel I decorated a couple years ago. The black birds came from the Dollar Tree and I was hoping to get some more so I went back to check for them. Unfortunately, they did not have the birds anymore. They did however have these creepy little rats.

They fit in perfectly with the theme I was going for! I love the rat trying to get out of the jar. Sorry buddy! They also had these cute skeleton garland. Not sure if I should say cute, are skeletons cute? 😉

I bought several as I was not sure how long they would be. Luckily I did, because there were only 4 skeletons on a strand so I doubled them up, offsetting the skeletons to fill out the garland. This also made it longer as well to fit across my mantel.

While you are at the dollar store, don’t forget to pick up some of this black and cream gauze cloth. It makes everything look spookier. Amiright?

To go along with the skeleton garland, I added some skulls that I already had in my Halloween stash.

Another easy way to up the spookiness factor is to use Spanish moss. I am not sure why it looks so spooky, it just does. Maybe it is because it reminds me of something that you would find in a dark, cold dungeon. I used it in this apothecary jar of skulls, the rat in the jar and in this cloche with the black bird.

I love decorating with jars and cloches, they are so versatile! Surprisingly, I am not a big shopper and don’t shop for decor that often.  When I do though, I try to buy versatile items that I can use over and over and that are versatile enough to change up for the different seasons/holidays. Glass jars are the perfect solution for that!

The mirror, clock and candle holders give some needed height to the mantel. The mirror I have used before like on my Christmas mantel from last year. The clock I stole from my kitchen wall. 😉 Don’t worry, I have some other temporary decorations up there now, sitting right above the hot cocoa bar. You will see them soon!

I will be back tomorrow with more Halloween decor ideas! See you then!