Hello Fall! Outdoor decorations

The weather is finally changing here. Thank goodness because Halloween is just 11 days away and who wants to wear a costume in the heat! Summer is certainly holding on as long as possible. However, I was pleased to wake up to 58* this morning!

Even though October started out with temps higher than I had hoped, I still had the Fall-time itch to decorate the outside of my house for my favorite season! When decorating outside remember to chose items that will withstand the elements. I have made the mistake before of putting battery operated wax candles outside in lanterns just to find that they were reduced to a puddle within a week from the heat.

Here's what Nana Bear and I whipped up from the AtHome store a few weeks ago.

For the front porch, we scored this gorgeous wire tiered pumpkin cage on discount and created a Pumpkin Man with two arms made out of plastic flowers. I intentionally left space for real pumpkins that I knew the kids would bring home from their trips to our local farms.

Then, I placed a battery operated candle in the center to light it up. **Remember to use candles specifically labeled for OUTDOOR USE**  The cool thing about the pack of outdoor candles I bought is that it came with a remote! That way we can just walk around and effortlessly turn them all one as the sun goes down. They also have a timer but we don't use that since we don't want them on all night.

The large plastic pumpkins were reused from last year and were spruced up with some pre-cut vinyl lettering from the dollar store. They are cut and hollow on the backside so they cozy up the hay perfectly. If you choose to go this route too; I recommend to put a weight of some kind inside the back to hold it down. I learned my lesson the hard way when storm came through and they were tossed about. A sandwich back of dirt or gravel will do the trick. No need to get fancy on behind the scenes stuff, right!?

For the flower bed, we used a bare spot to build up a few hay bales with the idea of taking photos of the kids when the weather was just right. I am in love with the metal truck and pumpkin signs that we picked up the same day as the wire cage. They have legs that sink into the hay effortlessly and are great additions to the scene. We also picked up a few, cheap, solar lights to stake in front of the display to light it up at night. Finally, to get into the Halloween spirit early on, we let the kids add a pair of zombie hands where they wanted. Sister Bear chose to put her's right in the middle. Ha!

We also added a few metal corn stalks near the garage but I plan to pick up a couple more so it's not pictured here.

Do you have a favorite decoration to use in your fall scenes? Comment below and share photos if you want!!