The spooky history of Halloween and its beginnings
There is often nothing more exciting for a child than running home from school, getting dressed up in your scariest costume and heading out with family and friends, ready to collect as many sweets from your neighbours as you can. Moving from house to house and street to street, looking at the best Halloween decorations that don the front gardens, garages and a bay window or two, Halloween is definitely a time to get into the spirit of ghosts and ghouls, a night where magic seems to come alive.
Whilst many traditions of Halloween are linked with our American neighbours, the history of Halloween actually began in Britain around 2000 years ago. The Celtic festival Samhain was originally held on the 1st of November to mark the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. This was also the time of year when people believed the world of the living and the dead collided and magic was at its strongest. Thanks to Christianity, this tradition slowly transformed into All Hallows Eve before being dubbed Halloween. Originally a religious festival, it became stuck even as religions fell out of fashion through the Middle Ages and beyond.
Use the sill of your bay window to create a scary scene
If you are thinking of creating an amazing bay window Halloween decoration this year, we have plenty of tips, tricks and ideas to get you started. Outdo your neighbours and make this Halloween the best year yet! Start by considering your surroundings. If you have a large bay window sill, try to incorporate this into the design of your Halloween decoration. Here are some of our favourite ideas to spookify your bay window this year:
An operating scene
Freak out your neighbours by turning your bay window sill into an operating theatre that has gone horribly wrong. Make sure you cover your sill with cling film or protective paper before you lay out a ‘body’ and get to work with the blood and gore! Be sure to leave some blood-covered saws and instruments in plain sight.
A graveyard
There is often nothing scarier than a haunted graveyard during Halloween. Lay out some pretend grass and bushes before artfully placing a selection of old and broken gravestones on your bay window. For a scary effect, why not place pretend tealights in specific places to give the impression that the graveyard is being lit up? You could even hang ghosts from the recess.
A sill full of skulls
An oldie, but often a goodie. Keep it simple but effective with different size skulls placed in rows along your bay window. Cover them with blood or moss for different effects, and add LED tealights into the skulls to give them an eery effect!
Spiders and bugs
It’s not often that you will come across someone who loves spiders and creepy crawlies! Cover your bay window with spider webs and bits of fluff and moss before adding a variety of different-sized spiders and bugs to your decoration. Be sure to add some seriously scary-looking creepy crawlies to really grab the trick-or-treaters’ attention!
Hanging hats and bats from the recesses of your bay window
Bay window shutters are the perfect support for silhouettes, and you can also use your shutters as part of your Halloween design. Hanging bats from the top of your window, from the recess and from strategic points on your shutters. Combine your hanging bats with perfectly placed lighting to give off an eery effect for passersby.
If you’re not one for bats, why not consider using ghosts or witches’ hats instead? Add a cauldron to your bay window sill and above it, decoratively hang ghosts, ghouls, witches’ hats, broomsticks and other spooky regalia to make your window look like it’s been used recently in a witches’ spell.
No matter how you choose to decorate your bay window this year, we are sure that you will have the best time doing so!
Show off your perfect pumpkin decorations this year!
If you and your family enjoy carving pumpkins every year, why should this year be any different? Be sure to get creative for your pumpkin carving! Here are our top 5 tips for carving great pumpkins every time:
1. Choosing the best pumpkin – often, you will find that going to a pumpkin field and choosing your own pumpkin is a much better way to find what you are looking for!
2. Use a template to create your spooky design – don’t leave it up to chance! Print a template for the design of your choosing and follow this to create a great-looking pumpkin.
3. LED Tealights – opt for LED tealights instead of traditional flame tealights to make your pumpkin shine bright all night!
4. Different colours – for beautiful colours, why not use Christmas tree lights and store them inside your pumpkin for an array of colours?
5. Shaving parts of your pumpkin – For added depth, use a vegetable peeler to shave parts of your pumpkin.
The Oxford Shutter Company wish you a wonderful Halloween, and don’t forget, when you have run out of sweets, close up those window shutters and settle in for a spooky evening!
Perfect pumpkin Halloween decor for your bay window
The spooky history of Halloween and its beginnings
There is often nothing more exciting for a child than running home from school, getting dressed up in your scariest costume and heading out with family and friends, ready to collect as many sweets from your neighbours as you can. Moving from house to house and street to street, looking at the best Halloween decorations that don the front gardens, garages and a bay window or two, Halloween is definitely a time to get into the spirit of ghosts and ghouls, a night where magic seems to come alive.
Whilst many traditions of Halloween are linked with our American neighbours, the history of Halloween actually began in Britain around 2000 years ago. The Celtic festival Samhain was originally held on the 1st of November to mark the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. This was also the time of year when people believed the world of the living and the dead collided and magic was at its strongest. Thanks to Christianity, this tradition slowly transformed into All Hallows Eve before being dubbed Halloween. Originally a religious festival, it became stuck even as religions fell out of fashion through the Middle Ages and beyond.
Use the sill of your bay window to create a scary scene
If you are thinking of creating an amazing bay window Halloween decoration this year, we have plenty of tips, tricks and ideas to get you started. Outdo your neighbours and make this Halloween the best year yet! Start by considering your surroundings. If you have a large bay window sill, try to incorporate this into the design of your Halloween decoration. Here are some of our favourite ideas to spookify your bay window this year:
An operating scene
Freak out your neighbours by turning your bay window sill into an operating theatre that has gone horribly wrong. Make sure you cover your sill with cling film or protective paper before you lay out a ‘body’ and get to work with the blood and gore! Be sure to leave some blood-covered saws and instruments in plain sight.
A graveyard
There is often nothing scarier than a haunted graveyard during Halloween. Lay out some pretend grass and bushes before artfully placing a selection of old and broken gravestones on your bay window. For a scary effect, why not place pretend tealights in specific places to give the impression that the graveyard is being lit up? You could even hang ghosts from the recess.
A sill full of skulls
An oldie, but often a goodie. Keep it simple but effective with different size skulls placed in rows along your bay window. Cover them with blood or moss for different effects, and add LED tealights into the skulls to give them an eery effect!
Spiders and bugs
It’s not often that you will come across someone who loves spiders and creepy crawlies! Cover your bay window with spider webs and bits of fluff and moss before adding a variety of different-sized spiders and bugs to your decoration. Be sure to add some seriously scary-looking creepy crawlies to really grab the trick-or-treaters’ attention!
Hanging hats and bats from the recesses of your bay window
Bay window shutters are the perfect support for silhouettes, and you can also use your shutters as part of your Halloween design. Hanging bats from the top of your window, from the recess and from strategic points on your shutters. Combine your hanging bats with perfectly placed lighting to give off an eery effect for passersby.
If you’re not one for bats, why not consider using ghosts or witches’ hats instead? Add a cauldron to your bay window sill and above it, decoratively hang ghosts, ghouls, witches’ hats, broomsticks and other spooky regalia to make your window look like it’s been used recently in a witches’ spell.
No matter how you choose to decorate your bay window this year, we are sure that you will have the best time doing so!
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Show off your perfect pumpkin decorations this year!
If you and your family enjoy carving pumpkins every year, why should this year be any different? Be sure to get creative for your pumpkin carving! Here are our top 5 tips for carving great pumpkins every time:
1. Choosing the best pumpkin – often, you will find that going to a pumpkin field and choosing your own pumpkin is a much better way to find what you are looking for!
2. Use a template to create your spooky design – don’t leave it up to chance! Print a template for the design of your choosing and follow this to create a great-looking pumpkin.
3. LED Tealights – opt for LED tealights instead of traditional flame tealights to make your pumpkin shine bright all night!
4. Different colours – for beautiful colours, why not use Christmas tree lights and store them inside your pumpkin for an array of colours?
5. Shaving parts of your pumpkin – For added depth, use a vegetable peeler to shave parts of your pumpkin.
The Oxford Shutter Company wish you a wonderful Halloween, and don’t forget, when you have run out of sweets, close up those window shutters and settle in for a spooky evening!