Make these spooky Halloween spiders without spending a fortune: The Pecks – oregonlive.com

People who celebrate Halloween are spending more than ever on the holiday in 2020, a year thats been almost all trick and no treat.

Admittedly, the percentage doing the celebrating this year is down 4% (to 58%) in a new National Retail Federation survey, a drop directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. But what theyre spending per person has jumped to an all-time high of over $92, with much of that going to decorations.

In part, its because people are spending a lot more time at home. In part, its because decorating the house for the holiday can make up a little, at least for having to forgo the trick-or-treat tradition this year, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC to its friends) and the Oregon Health Authority.

The big-box stores know this all too well, selling out of 12-foot-tall skeletons and creepy jack-in-the-box clowns that would keep Stephen King awake at night.

But there are ways to create decor even Dracula would approve of for falls second spookiest holiday (behind the absolutely terrifying Election Day), that wont suck your bank account dry in the process.

Of course, carving pumpkins is an option (see our previous column for guidance), but the impact is especially short-term, because once you carve them, you have less than a week before they start to rot.

So we that would be Marcia have come up with a few ideas to create some spooky additions to your holiday experience. And for very little money.

Consider them our treat to you. Especially since I plan on eating all the candy wed normally hand out to trick-or-treaters.

Marcia:

If you are a longtime reader, you might remember me saying before that I love Halloween.

I love the season the colors, long sideways shadows, crisp clean air and freaky monsters.

I love the creativity of it all the pumpkins and gourds, homemade decorations and handmade costumes.

In fact, for my September birthday, I was gifted a wiener dog skeleton (Dennis: Dont worry, it was fake) from our granddaughter Noelle. Best present ever!

This skeleton wiener dog was a birthday gift.Marcia Westcott Peck

On Halloween evening, I greet every person at the front door, ask them about their costumes and hand out a full-size candy bar to each and every one of them.

Young, old or in between, if you are dressed up, you get candy from me (Dennis: Is that why Weird Uncle Gary wears a wizard hat and a wrestling singlet every year? Marcia: I cant unsee that!).

Id love it if everyone wore a costume and trick-or-treated. Age makes no difference; its the spirit that counts.

Last year, I came up with the idea to make a giant spider out of a round pittosporum bush in our front garden. I bought foam pipe insulation to make legs, decorated it with orange lights and made eyes out of solar lights.

This year, I decided to use that same idea and make two matching pots that flank our front entry path into spiders. It was a simple, inexpensive project that was easy and fun to do.

I also created spider pumpkins and pots from clippings and divisions I found in the garden. Any excuse to be outside with a shovel and clippers on a sunny fall day is good therapy before we hunker down for the approaching winter.

Plus, the little spider pumpkins have so much personality they make me laugh!

Im sad that because of COVID-19 we will not be greeting people at the door this year, but next year watch out!

There will be flying bats, screaming goblins and Weird Uncle Gary dressed up as Big Foot (Dennis: Anything is better than the wrestling singlet), handing out theater-sized candy.

It will be a Halloween to remember, thats for sure!

Spiders dominate the Pecks' Halloween decorations this year.Marcia Westcott Peck

Heavy-gauge wire for the foam pipe insulation spider legs.Marcia Westcott Peck

This foam pipe insulation has been notched to create potted plant spider legs.Marcia Westcott Peck

You won't even have to gut the pumpkins to make these spiders.Marcia Westcott Peck

Marcia Westcott Peck is a landscape designer (mwplandscape.com or find her on Instagram at @pecklandscape or on Facebook by searching for The Pecks), and Dennis Peck is a former senior editor at The Oregonian/OregonLive.

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