Adding a Touch of Halloween

A couple weeks ago I shared all the fall goodness I brought into our home. Well, our house is still EXPLODING with pumpkins, but a fun Halloween vibe is definitely noticeable in each of our rooms. Today on the blog, I'm talking about how to add a little Halloween whimsy to your home fall decor.

Right around October 1, I bring out all my Halloween decorations and add them to the fall pumpkin decor already set up around my house. Just a small touch of Halloween whimsy can transform an entire area from fall to spooky. One easy decoration I love using are fun Halloween plates. My plates come in a four pack, which makes them easy to spread out around my kitchen. Also - they are super easy to store as they don't take up much room. For My other Halloween decor I find in stores, in the clearance section after Halloween, even garage sales. Since I'm adding Halloween whimsy to my pallet of pumpkins, my decorations can be super random while still looking put together.

One fun DIY I did was purchase a Halloween lace tablecloth on clearance. I cut the fun spiderweb material the same size as my fall table throws. With almost no effort, I was able to transform my accent tables to a fun Halloween showcase.

Below are photos of some areas in my home where I transformed my fall decor into Halloween goodness with very little effort.

I always try to add a meaningful touch to the holiday decorations around my home. On my Halloween tree, you will find ornaments made out of old photos of me and my kids dressed for trick or treating. The three trick-or-treater figurines represent my three boys. I'll also frame pictures of my kids dressed up and nestle them around my Halloween decor. Family memories are some of my favorite things around the holidays.

I hope this gives you some ideas to spookify your home this Halloween. Remember to keep a look out year round for Halloween decor - the holiday comes and goes so fast, it's nice to be able to decorate your home on a budget.

I've linked some of my favorite Halloween decorations to help get you started.

Happy decorating!

Remember to check out my Instagram @smalltownme

Love Emily.

How I decorate for fall

Today's the last day of September... how's your fall decorating coming along? My house is EXPLODING with pumpkins, and I'm loving it all. My fall decorations bring change into our home... school has started and with that a new fall routine. The weather is getting crisp, and our warmer clothes are coming out of hibernation. Hues of brown, orange, and red can be seen throughout our house. Today on the blog I'm going to share how I bring fall vibes into our home.

During the first week of September, my pumkins come out. Every Year. they bring fall whimsy throughout my house, and help set the tone for this major season change in Minnesota. For the next 3 months, my house will be sprinkled with these rich fall colors, and my pumpkins will set the stage for the holidays to come... Halloween and Thanksgiving.

To say I have a lot of pumpkins can be a bit of an understatement. I guess you could say they are a bit of a weakness, but I want to make sure they are sprinkled throughout the main areas of my house because these pumpkins will set the tone for fall. Acting as my base, I will simply add to them with the upcoming holidays... but let's save that for another blog post. Today, it's all about the pumpkins!

Decorating an entire house can be a daunting task. It's fun to decide where to put this or how to decorate that... but it takes time. Here's the deal - time is valuable... especially what you're a mom of three. A couple years ago I created a decorating book where I take pictures of each area in my house that I decorated. I do this for every holiday. When that holiday rolls around, I flip to that section in my book and recreate the holiday goodness. What used to take me a weekend of decorating now takes me an afternoon. Sometimes I still move things around... buy new decor that I need to find a place for... but the main guts are in this book. Each year I go around and update my pictures, keeping my decorating journal up to date.

I love this book because it is literally a build-it-yourself kit. You pick out the binder and whatever page layouts you want. There are even precut papers you can add to empty area. This makes it so easy to lay out entire rooms and table the specific holidays. I also added tabs to keep each holiday seperated. This line even has a punch so you can cut your pictures into the exact size you need. So easy and the book is guaranteed to turn out cute. My decorating book is linked above.

So take out your pumpkins and get your home ready for fall. Be sure to take pictures of each area in your home to make next year's decorating a breeze. I've linked some of my favorite fall decorations to help get you started.

Happy decorating!

Remember to check out my Instagram @smalltownme

Love Emily.

How I make Back to School Shopping Special For My Kids

My family's back to school shopping tradition happened sort of by accident. I'm a mother of three boys. THREE BOYS. Have you ever brought little kids into a shoe department and tried to get them all fitted for shoes at the same time? I felt like I was doing more parenting then just enjoying the moment with my boys. So, I decided that I would take each of my kids back to school shopping separately. What started as a decision to maintain my sanity turned into a beloved family tradition - Every August my boys and I celebrate Jordan Day, Spencer Day, and Brady Day.

On each of my kid's days, they create the itinerary. What time we leave, where we go shopping, what restaurants we eat at. They also each get some extra money to spend however they want. Each of my boys are so incredibly different that it's fun to see what they come up with. For example, Brady (see above) wanted to leave first thing in the morning. We started our day with pancakes at The Original Pancake House. From there, we hit Target for school supplies and footy pajamas - one of his favorite things! We then shopped for clothes and shoes, grabbed a hot chocolate, raided the candy store, made sure to check out some video games, and hit the toy store. Our day finally wrapped up with dinner at his favorite Mexican Restaurant.

Now my middle kid, Spencer... he's my skateboarder. Spencer didn't want to leave until noon because he wanted to sleep in. We were off to Mall of America to hit his favorite stores - mainly Zumiez and Vans. Every year on Spencer Day, we visit Underwater World and make our way through the aquarium. Another tradition (that we had to skip this year due to Covid) is we ride the rollercoaster at MOA. Spencer day usually finishes up with sushi and ice cream at Cherry Berry.

Why am I giving you a rundown of each of my kid's agendas? To show you just how different each kid is and just how special their personal back to school shopping day is. The entire day focuses on them. I get to celebrate them, enjoy their personalites, and connect with them individually - which is so very important.

Next week I will be celebrating Jordan Day with my oldest. We'll be heading out to get cowboy boots (because that's how he rolls) and most likely visiting Carhartt and Cabelas. Like I said, each of my boys are different and they each deserve their own special day.

CONFESSION: I think I look forward to the back to school shopping days more then my kids. I don't know about you, but my kids are growing up way too fast.

I invite you to try our tradition in your own family. These back to school shopping day's are honestly some of our favorites. My kid's still reference their shopping days from the past - "Mom, remember when I got my hamster on Spencer Day?" or "Mom... remember when you bought me an axe for my Jordan Day surprise?" (no joke. If you knew my kid, you would understand... lol) And, I'll have you know that I caught my teenage boys arguing THIS YEAR as to who's day was the best. Talk about a mom win!

Happy shopping!

Remember to check out my Instagram @smalltownme

Love Emily.