Halloween themed decorations and costumes are fashionably de rigueur on October 31st as are festive adult spooky parties, mostly costumed children going from house-to-house proclaiming trick-or-treat for candy, storytelling – a reading of The Raven, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, says it best, or Halloween themed movie watching by candlelight.

To get in the spirit (pun intended!) why not try some DIY decorations and kids' costumes? A few to consider:

Ghosts on a Wreath - make several gauzy cheesecloth ghosts to decorate a natural grapevine sunburst wreath or a straw wreath. Cut out several 8-inch by 8-inch (or larger) squares of cheesecloth fabric. Balance a round shape, like a Styrofoam ball on top of a glass jar. Layer a few squares of cheesecloth on top of each other and dip into liquid fabric starch, then drape and arrange on top of the ball. Let dry over the next few hours or overnight. Use a black fabric marker to draw oval-ish eyes. Attach to the wreath using fishing line so the cheesecloth ghosts can sway a bit in the breeze. Use black grosgrain ribbon wrapped at the top of the wreath for a hanger.

Spooky Pillow - use a plain white poufy throw pillow and draw on and color in two oval eyes and a circle mouth with a black fabric marker. Or, to remake the pillow for another holiday, cut out the eyes and mouth out of black felt and loosely hand tack to the pillow. Make a somewhat floaty loose pillowcase to cover the pillow out of a sheer translucent fabric like organza or organdy. The shimmer and sheen of these fabrics adds to the illusionary ghostly effect. One or more loose layers of white tulle work as a ghostly cover as well.

Rosette and Pennant Garland - make several yo-yo rosettes out of black fabric and glue on googly eyes to their centers. Make several triangle pennants shapes out of Halloween fabric and alternate with rosettes on a length of jute twine or black grosgrain ribbon. Hang across a front door, window or mantel ledge.

Girls Gothic or Woodland Fairy Dress - easy sew pillowcase style, for a small size use two 36-inch long by 22-inch-wide Halloween themed or forest themed fabric pieces or use natural color gunny sack (burlap) coarse-woven fabric. Actual size of the two pieces of fabric will depend on child's size. Place both pieces of fabric right-side together and sew the sides, starting at the top, down about 4 or 5-inches and stop, skip the next 4 or 5-inches (for armholes) and sew to the bottom. Fold down the tops of both sides of the fabric about 1 and 1/2-inches and sew the raw edges to make a casing. Turn right-sides out, press and thread cording through each side opening. Simply gather the fabric along the cording front and back sides and tie at the side edges. Hem or fray the bottom edge of the dress as desired. Add black tights and black turtleneck under the dress for gothic theme or green for woodland fairy to complete the look.

Boys Scarecrow Costume - sew largish patches randomly onto boys’ coveralls. Make a belt out of several lengths of fraying jute twine or natural burlap ribbon. Stuff straw or natural raffia strands into pockets. Add long-sleeved plaid shirt and a floppy burlap hat. Floppy hat can be made out of a large circle of burlap shaped over an existing baseball cap. Place the circle of burlap over the baseball cap and glue down excess folds loosely around the hat. Glue shaped floppy hat to the cap's edges. Tie a band of torn fabric around the cap for snug shaping. Glue on torn fabric patches to the hat if desired. Glue straw or natural raffia strands randomly on and under the cap to hide the underside of the brim. A plaid long-sleeved shirt would go great under the coveralls.

Kids No-sew Ghostly Costume - Poncho-style costume requires one and one-half yards of white fleece for toddler size or two yards for larger kid size. Fold in half, find the middle of the fold to cut out a small-ish half-circle (fleece stretches so measure carefully) for the opening for head to poke through. Cut out large eyes and mouth (silly or scary) out of black felt and glue or sew onto the front of the poncho. Cut all bottom edges in even strips, each about six inches long. Tie two cut lengths together all around to make bottom fringe or just leave untied. Use a white wool cap to complete the look or make an easy slouchy fleece hat out of one-half yard of the white fleece. There are dozens of free slouchy fleece hat patterns available online - many are no-sew!

For a Happy Halloween, sew happy, sew inspired.