Halloween, Autumn, and Thanksgiving Outdoor Decorating on a Budget

With the economy flat lining or falling, we all need some ideas on how to decorate for the holidays on a budget.

Autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations are pretty easy to create yourself or find relatively cheeply, perhaps even free.

Here are some ideas we use for decorating our yard for the Autumn season.

Visit a local farm before harvest time and ask if you could have some of the cornstalks for your fall decorations. Some farmers are willing to cut a few stalks down for nothing, as long as they get to keep the ears, or for a small price if you want to keep the corn on the stalks.

While your at the local farm, ask about straw bales. You can usually purchase a bale of straw cheaper at the farm then if you go to a landscape or garden center.

Visit your local farmers market for pumpkins. They usually have better prices,and the pumpkins are fresher so they tend to last longer than the ones at the grocery store. Remember to save and dry some of the the pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lantern to plant next year! Then you will not have to purchase any pumpkins the following year.

When you get home, bundle the cornstalks together and attach them to a post. Place the straw bales, or bale, in front of the stalks and add a pumpkin or two to the top and around the bale of straw.

You can also use gourds and indian corn, found at most farmers markets, for display on and around the straw bales.

What a quick and inexpensive Autumn decoration!