guest post by Sue Wagner of Laundry for Six
It’s a toss up as to whether my favorite season is fall or summer. I do know that summer fades into hot, sweaty and mosquito-infested, whereas fall starts off with beautiful Indian summer days and crisp nights and has it’s wonderful finale with Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season. Fall definitely has that going for it!
I am ready to get out the sweaters, start cooking some harvest-inspired dishes and, my kids’ favorite part, start decorating for the season. (Now if the darn leaves would just start turning here!) This year, like everyone else, we have one eye on the stock market (goodbye retirement), and another on the rising prices of everything. Decorating is fun, but it can get expensive. One way to lighten up the cost is to decorate from the grocery aisles and then eat your decorations!
I went shopping the other day and took some extra time in the produce section, looking for foods that would be tasty and decorative. It wasn’t hard at all. Here’s what I found:
On top is a mix of colored grapes and on the bottom are a few different varieties of pears (I love the red Bartlett ones), apples, pomegranates and avocados. I snipped a few mum blossoms from my garden to add some flair. You could also use gorgeous fall-colored leaves, you know, if you live somewhere where the leaves have started to turn. (Hurumph.)
In this one, I put everything in a red wicker serving tray and threw in some different varieties of squashes – butternut, golden acorn and delicata.
Think colors and textures. You can also use various colors and varieties of peppers, different apples, carrots, beets, potatoes – whatever your family likes to eat.
Also in the produce section, I did indulge in some non-edible decorations.
Mini-pumpkins always make me smile. And you can put them (or any of these foods) in a bowl, or a glass pitcher, a wicker basket or hurricane glass, or line them up somewhere, like this. (Excuse my neighbor’s non-autumnal recycling containers in the background!)
The other thing I found in the produce section were some gourds, which are probably edible, but these ones were waxed to be shiny and decorative. They were less than $1 each, so I grabbed a few, but I don’t think we will eat them.
I really try to avoid the candy section until right before Halloween so I’m not tempted to eat all the candy single-handedly (and also to keep it away from my kids who can sniff out a bag of candy better than a hound can sniff a fox), but I do love the look of candy corn. Nothing says Halloween is coming like a bowlful (or candleholder-ful!) of candy corn.
What are some of your fall decorating secrets?
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Great tips!
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What wonderful ideas with the candy corn!! I love all your tips and will probably use more than a few of these!
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Great post! I’m inspired!
I have a few fall decorations that I use every year… fake mini pumpkins, candles, leaf garland, and a flower arrangement. I try to add one or two items to my collection every after-season sale so the next year I have something new to put out!
I love the idea of using fresh things you’ll eat anyway! No storage, and no money waste!
I too love candy corn!!! This is the only time of yr I allow myself to buy it. hehe
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I like the little pumpkins in the window and the candy corns and candles looks great. Why don’t I ever think of things like that?
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Loving this idea!
But my kitties would eat everything… LOL.
I am so doing the candy corn idea…right now, I think I have some in the cupboard=)
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That is a great idea! I set up some decorations but felt like they looked a little sparse. I could but didn’t want to spend a lot of money buying more decorations but this is a fantastic suggestion.
Thank you for sharing… with helpful photos even!
Ciao
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Great ideas! I decorate my buffet with an apple stamped runner, some small pumpkins and squashes this year. So festive and inexpensive.
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I *love* that candy corn idea. Really cute! I may have to do that. A perk of that one for me is that I don’t like candy corn so I wont eat it!
Thanks!
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This post inspired me to get up and pull out my fall decorations! The leaves here are turning and this morning as I drove my son to work, we had frost and fog over the lakes! It was soooo beautiful!!!! The air was crisp and the sun was shining, making for a perfect fall day.
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I really like the candy corn idea. I did something similar with unpopped popcorn kernals.
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This is why buying Indian grocery online makes sense
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I love looking at all these Autumn decorating pictures you posted here.
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