Celebrating Halloween with Trick or Treating is fairly new to Maltese homeowners, but despite the mixed feelings it sometimes generates, it has quickly caught on with new mothers as a rare opportunity to take the kids out for a walk around the block, watch them in action, and participate in an adorable ritual with your neighbours.
When Halloween comes, the door is as far as most trick or treaters will get to, so decorating the entire house is not necessary, but if you want to host a casual gathering, or simply inject some fantasy in your kid’s life, these ideas are simple, creative, and sure to get your kids excited. As the door is where you will be making the exchange (giving out sweets) on Halloween night, that’s where we will start, but first things first: get a pumpkin bucket (costs around €3) and put different sweets in. Buy yourself a witch’s hat for extra points.
Now we can get to your house.
Start with the pumpkins
This may be an old trick, but it’s old because it works: A few pumpkins will automatically define your porch and announce to visitors that you’re in touch with the spirit of Halloween and encourage kids to knock on the door. Buy 3 pumpkins of different sizes, get black, white, and orange paint (any kind, as long as it’s not watercolour), and task your kids to decorate them. You can first trace simple designs on them (a cityscape, stripes, or stars) and ask your kids to paint them in. Stack your finished pieces on top of each other with glue and have them sit by the door to your house.
Ideas worth mentioning: painting your pumpkin white and then attaching a black hat, dark moustache, glasses, and a bowtie.
Keep them on their toes
On your porch, scatter around fake spider webs, and if you want to go the extra mile, add fake rubber mice, but be careful because Maltese mothers do not tend to react well.
Move to the Furniture
You can go abandoned and creepy or spooky but stylish here. Cover your couches and chairs with white sheets. Pick the oldest sheets you have to make it look like your home hasn’t been used for years. Natural-looking holes in sheets are a good sign here. Tie things together by putting a tattered black tablecloth on your table.
You can also cover your chairs or small pieces of furniture in black drape and tie an orange ribbon around them.
For a subtler approach, use cushions, fake pumpkins and other decor we mention in this article to add a spice of colour in your living room as done in the photo above.
Get Inspired by Maltese Folklore
According to the Maltese Bestiary by Stephen Mifsud, the Sarangu (‘Sack Man’) jew tal-ixkora is the ‘slave-hunter’ who comes from the netherworld to throw into his sack kids who’ve stayed up past bedtime. Buy a sack, cut a few holes in it, throw it by a bedroom window, and tell this story to your kids.
Create an atmosphere for friends and mature guests
Wrap large helium balloons with tulle. Tie ribbon at the base and trim the skirt as needed, then tie the other end to your sofa, bed, or place of preference. Don’t forget to dress up ordinary liquor bottles: print retro labels on sticker paper and attach – they won’t be scary, but they will leave a good impression.
You can turn nature to the dark side
Apply black spray paint liberally to a fake plastic plant and top it off with fake black sand. Eerie, but still somewhat elegant if you want to create a setting that’s not entirely childish.
Marry Maltese Legends with Halloween
Purchase ‘The Maltese Bestiary’ by Stephan D. Mifsud and use it as your centrepiece, its short descriptive passages, paired with illustrations of creatures from Malta’s folklore will make for an interesting read and an excellent opportunity to keep Malta’s stories alive and support local talent.
Consider a jar of hearts
Or you can settle for filling a traditional glass container or apothecary jar with black and orange marbles, leaves, or pine cones.
To amp up the creepy factor with your jars, you can instead opt to insert an old doll’s arm, a child’s toy, or any random knick-knacks that have been lying around your house, collecting dust for this occasion.
Add a touch of Hogwarts
It’s not exactly Halloween, but there’s witchcraft involved, so it’s allowed. Construct harry potter-like floating candles: Buy white candles or collect some toilet paper rolls, paint them white, and top them off with wax. At the end of the day, you just need to tie them to the ceiling with a string, turn the lights off, and the candles on.
Take care of reflections
String a creepy crawling cobweb over artwork or a mirror you already have. In the bathroom, you can strategically place a sticker of a pair of hands over the mirror and make it look like there’s someone stuck in the reflection.
Have someone looking out for you
This is especially easy if you have an old traditional Maltese Balcony: Use your balcony to hang a ghost with a string and leave it hovering on the ground by your door below, or else put up the ghost behind your balcony or window and let it hover behind the glass. Just cut some holes in an old sheet and throw it over an old beach ball, cut holes in the right places, and you’re set.
Alternatively, take an old mannequin / puppet / doll and cover it in a formal black or red dress. Stick it in a window that everyone will see, preferably a second-floor window or balcony if you have one. Shine a flashlight under the mannequin to create a ghostly effect.
Board the Windows
If you really want to create an atmosphere, make it look like you’ve boarded up your windows by putting cardboard over the glass and sticking them to the glass with duct tape.
For a lighter alternative, you can attach onto your window either stickers of bats if there are very young members in the household or bloody hands if you want to really push a sibling’s buttons.
