Halloween: Let's Enjoy Some Skeletons and Pumpkins for At Least 5 Minutes

Awesome jack-o-lantern on canvas with lights from "Kennedy" on Amazon. Click here!

Every year the holiday season creeps in ever faster. By 2017, lawn Santas will be in the aisles at the same time the fireworks and American flags are. But we brave few contest these consumer force-feedings! We want Halloween! All Hallows Eve! Jack o' lanterns and skeletons, ghouls, and all that orange and black jazz! One item to note, just as a sidebar—and this is just purely one side of the aisle here, but we could probably go without vampires and zombies this year for Halloween. We've hit critical vampire mass, you may have heard of this referred to as CVM, it's on all the underground news networks, you won't find it on Fox or NPR. So for the love of the season, let's kick it old school: ghouls, goblins, straight up ghosts, witches, warlocks, bats (you can really go to town with bats)—just look at your options, that's all we're saying. We say it with love.

If you're used to hanging your Halloween decorations in all the same places every year and you're the type that has those trusty time-honored boxes of ornaments for each holiday, maybe spruce it up this year with some new ornaments, or something handmade with the kids or grandkids. Making Halloween ornaments and wall hangings can be a blast, and you can update your seasonal look (hint: make something other than vampires and zombies.)

With YHI masks are straight for votives inside!

If you have a set location for something like a door skeleton, instead of using that same old rusty hook that's been there for years, replace it with a Sexy Metal hook from YOUHANGIT—you won't need to worry about damaging your door or walls (indoor or out) and you won't need a stud either! You can choose from the 10-pound hooks all the way up to 100-pound hooks—there's no Halloween decoration too heavy for us! (but please don't use our hooks to hang actual humans off of your door or walls, we're only allowed to do that at the office.)

We love this pocketbook-friendly idea too: the hanging masks can be purchased online at HalloweenCostumes.com and you can add backlight with small solar lights from the hardware store or glue small votives into the inside to make them glow at night. Each one is less than $4 to do and they're not crazy scary if you're concerned about wee trick-or-treaters.

Thanks to Listotic for this fabulous Halloween idea! Click on the image for the "how to" on this DIY project!

This DIY Halloween project that makes the whole house look like a giant monster is super fun and cute, and when you make it with weather resistant paint and other quality materials, it will last for years to come. It's the perfect weekend family project too, making it a great choice for the holiday season. You can use Sexy Metal Hooks and the YOULEVEL to ensure you are getting the various parts of the face right where they belong and on the level.

When you use Sexy Metal Hooks for hanging your outdoor holiday decorations, you won't have to worry about replacing them each new holiday or every new year. Because they can handle so much wear and tear, don't need a stud, can hold so much weight, you will find yourself using them over and over again for Thanksgiving, Christmas, the New Year, Easter, birthdays, graduations, and the list goes on.

One last note: try to keep your audience in mind and remember, you have the hooks in place. So, if you need to swap out decor for your grownup Halloween cocktail party when you use the super scary decorations right out of Poltergeist and The Exorcist, you can easily take them down for the big day and replace with your kid-friendly pumpkin faces and adorable howling witches.