Clever Halloween party ideas! Easy last minute DIY.

As you prepare for your Fall holiday gathering, it's never too late to create a few last minute Halloween party inspirations.   I created this table for a Good Housekeeping Magazine Halloween Feature in 2010.  It's filled with super-easy styling ideas that you can pull together quickly. 

Smaller pieces of cheese cloth can be draped over tiered dishes for an  eiry effect.  Add candy bowls and scatter in creepy bugs.

Black Flowers! Yes, you can paint white mums with black spray paint for a 'deathly' effect! They will live for days.  The vase was created by placing black and white wrapping paper inside a glass cylinder.

These inexpensive mice, skulls, bugs, and spiders look great mixed in with your pumpkins. Stay with the Halloween color story, black, orange and white!

I found this giant spider years ago at Crate and Barrel.  It's perfect for protecting its nest of cup cakes. Use your props in imaginative ways!.

Spell "BOO" using a small brush to apply black craft paint.  Artificial ivy is sprayed black, cut and then placed along the mantle.

Wherever your Haunting Celebration may take you, have a Happy Halloween, friends!

Produced and Styled By Karin Lidbeck for Good Housekeeping mag. 2010 Oct Issue. All photography by Michael Partenio