Dead flowers and bare branches help set the mood. They're free, and then they're compost.
I’m big on 2 things when decorating for a party: make it look as “authentic” as possible (to set the mood)- but use items you already have or can make/get inexpensively. Bonus points for having items you can re-use next year or for other projects, ’cause garbage just isn’t cool. Our parties usually involve family and friends with small children up to young teenagers – so when we’re finished making the decorations it usually looks like a Simpsons Hallowe’en episode, but these ideas work for the adults-only kind of party too!
Soooo… Lifting information from yesterday’s post (which was culled from Wikipaedia) and using the resources listed below here are some tips and ideas for making
“Authentic” Gothic Decoration for your Spooktacular Hallowe’en Party
In keeping with the waning day-length and recent harvest, Hallowe’en celebrates the end of summer and the “descent” into the darkness of winter. As we’re all aware, it’s all about death! Here’s where Victorian Gothic became mixed with Victorian mourning rituals (due to the death of Prince Albert) to give us the heavy, dark mood one really looks for in a party!
Here are some Victorian death rituals that we find a tad maudlin today, yet also strangely compelling. Think about setting your party mood as you read through. Good ideas will just flow out of you.
- Bodies were prepared and laid out in death to look as life-like as possible. Coffin optional.
- Black wreaths were used.
- Death photographs were taken – sometimes with family members in the photo. (A tad creepy today, but consider that the deceased may not have had any photos taken of themselves when alive.)
- Mourning rings and gloves were sometimes provided by the family for the mourners.
- Lockets of hair were kept and displayed in items of jewelry.
- Black…black…black! Black drapes, black draped mirrors, black arm-bands, black clothing… you get the picture.
- Mausoleums
As you think about how to set the mood in your house for your hallowe’en party, also consider the forms of Art in the pre-Renaissance sense of Gothic: illuminated scrolls, stained glass, frescoes and sculpture. Oil paintings appeared later – and were present during the Gothic Revival. This is where the kids come in if there are any about – they’re all about art! If you’re going for a more adult mood, try haunting 2nd hand shops for some of the items.
- We forego the mausoleums in favour of cardboard box tombstones (bonus points if you find some flat styrofoam pieces to use: they don’t recycle, and you can reuse them from year to year… and they store easily).
- Stained glass? Think back to elementary school when you cut designs into black construction paper and filled in the spaces using coloured tissue paper. Religious icons may be too intricate, but a few bats or things will suffice.
- Illuminated scrolls… get the kids to make menus, or place cards, or even “funeral cards” to hand out to people as they leave – with a lovely little notice about their death.
- Short of gloomy, cobweb-ridden oil paintings? Get the kids on it – ours have watched enough Simpsons Hallowe’en episodes to do some pretty maudlin Poe-esque type things. (Don’t forget the extra little frames for Marge’s hair!) Again, bonus points for re-using cardboard boxes for both the painting and the frame. These will all store flat for next year as well.
Resources
- http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=151
- http://cogitz.com/2009/08/28/memento-mori-victorian-death-photos/
- http://cemeteryfriends.org.uk/15.html
