5-Minute Martha: Halloween Haunted House Party Decor Ideas

Being a 5-minute Martha starts by knowing where to spend your time for ultimate impact and where to use shortcuts.

Halloween Cakes: From hard to easy

Martha Stewart proposed here an awesome Haunted House cake. But let’s face it, I do not have the time, nor the patience, nor the baking talents to make something as complex. To give you an idea of the number of steps involved, I included one of the cookie templates that you will need to bake. I applaud women you can do this, but I am not ashamed to say that I am not one of them.

Having said that, I looked for another way to impress guests at a Halloween Haunted House party. If you are time crunched or if you have minimal cake decoration skills, you will appreciate the ease of this no-bake haunted house kit available at Williams-Sonoma. You simply need to glue the prebaked, precut cookie pieces with sugar icing and affix the decorations. Everything is included in the box. Now, this is something I can fit into my agenda!

Decorating Ideas for a Haunted House Halloween Party

Since I did not spent too much time on my cake, I can concentrate on decorating the room for the occasion. A must have for an haunted house party are these ragged-looking spider webs made by pinning, snipping, and tearing cheesecloth.

You can assemble, in advance, a spookycenterpiece by affixing a few vinyl bugs and a snake with basic craft supplies. Buy fresh roses a couple days before your party. I feel that the insect-infected bouquet would be more realistic if the flowers would show signs of aging. Finally, I would add artificial cobwebs to show that the bouquet has sit there for a while.

From there, it is easy to build on these craft projects and to complete the look of your party. To cut corners, head to a local department store to buy more props. Walmart carries plastic bat cutouts, Halloween cobwebs and coffin treat boxes.

SOURCING:
+ photo:  Haunted House Cake by Martha Stewart
+ No-Bake Halloween Haunted House Kit $19.95 USD at Williams-Sonoma
+ How to make cheesecloth spider webs by Martha Stewart
+ How to make an insect-infected Halloween centerpiece by Martha Stewart