Halloween Decorating for Small Children

My husband and I finally put up some decorations for Halloween today.   We didn’t do much in our rental house last year, so this year we decided to put in a little more effort.
 
But first, we had to get some decorations.  We didn’t have much to begin with, and left most of it in Wisconsin when we moved last year.  So the other day, I was in a hobby store looking at their choices and trying to decide what to get.  It was harder than you might think.  My granddaughters are only 1 and 3 years old, so while I wanted something fun, I didn’t want anything too scary.  I don’t want to be responsible for traumatizing my own granddaughters!
 
We settled on a few friendly-looking ghosts and a scarecrow.  My husband also got a string of pumpkin lights, but we are hoping the store might have another string to purchase.  One just doesn’t look like enough.  However, as I write this, I am realizing one thing we are still missing.  Real pumpkins!  Is it even officially Halloween if we don’t have a jack-o-lantern?  We better get a few, just to be on the safe side.
 
Though after reading an online article this morning, I am glad we didn’t purchase any fake spider webs.  I learned that each October, there is an increase in birds with damaged wings or claws after getting tangled in the fake webs people use to decorate their front lawns.  Small animals such as chipmunks can also get caught in them if the webs are low to the ground.  Even deer can get their antlers tangles in webs, light strings, etc., so given the number of deer in our neighborhood, I am glad our one string of pumpkin lights is up high near the edge of the porch roof.
 
I guess we have a couple weeks to complete our decorating.  Our granddaughters are coming over this weekend, so they may have some input for us.  Though, if the 3-year-old tells us we should have some skunks (she recently decided they are her favorite animals, after petting some baby skunks at a wildlife exhibit) I will definitely have to draw the line.  No skunks -- that would traumatize me!
 
Have fun with your own Halloween decorating.  And don’t forget to buy candy for the little trick-or-treaters.  Our neighbor warned us he usually gets two big bags of candy (though he did admit some of it is for him.)  Happy Halloween, and if you have any ideas for appropriate decorations for small children, I’d like to hear them.

---