Celebrate a spooktacular time with our DIY Halloween display and recipe. Indeed, it’s time for tricks and treats with Department 56! Soon the Great Pumpkin will appear, and the Peanuts gang is ready for an evening of fall fun. Accordingly, Charlie Brown’s house, decorated for the season, is featured in our Halloween display. In fact, it sits atop a friendly ghost, built using a solid wood plant stand, twinkling white LED lights and a round white tablecloth.
Our Boo-tiful Halloween display, pictured right, features the following treats: orange and black lollipop (1219069) $19.99; Department 56 Halloween Village Peanuts Trick or Treat Lane; glittered weave pumpkin (1220475) $24.99. Available in-store at Bronner’s or by contacting customer service at 989.652.9931 or customerservice@bronners.com.
Building Your DIY Halloween Display
Supplies
- Solid (recommend wood) plant stand about 30 inches tall (Hence, our vintage stand was solid wood with a 14-inch square base and 13-inch diameter top.)
- Round, white-fabric tablecloth (For this purpose, we used a 90-inch one. Generally, determine the diameter of your table cloth primarily on the height of your plant stand. Most importantly, you want to be sure the base of your plant stand isn’t showing.)
- Sheet of black card stock, construction paper or felt
- Double-sided tape
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Oval template to print to make ghost’s eyes
- Warm white LED 50 rectified conical light set on white cord
- Department 56 Halloween Village Trick or Treat Lane with Peanuts (or any of your favorite Department 56 Halloween Village pieces!)
Directions
- Beginning at the top of the neck of your plant stand, wrap your warm white LED 50 rectified conical light set on white cord around the neck of the stand and down to its base. If placement of your display allows for it, plug the light set directly into an outlet. If necessary, plug the set into an extension cord and that into an outlet.
- Secondly, drape the white fabric tablecloth over the plant stand.
- Next, cut an oval from the paper template. Then place it on the black felt and cut around its edge to make a ghost eye. Repeat.
- Now use double stick tape to place the black oval eyes on the cloth.
- Finally, add the Department 56 Trick or Treat Lane Charlie Brown house and pieces to complete the display.
- Last of all, accent the display with silk fall leaves.
DIY Halloween Recipe
Of course, nothing completes a Halloween celebration like a sweet and spooky treat! This Black Magic Cake recipe from “Bronner’s Flavorful Favorites, Book 2” staff cookbook is a new favorite of mine. All in all, it’s a dense, moist texture, laced with cocoa and coffee and is utterly delectable. For certain, our DIY Halloween display and recipe combination is a winner!
Black Magic Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 c. flour
- 2 c. sugar
- 3/4 c. cocoa
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. black coffee
- 1 c. sour milk (Sour regular milk by adding 1 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice to 1 c. milk. Stir and let stand 5 minutes before adding to recipe.)
- 1/2 c. oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and beat for 2 minutes. The batter will be thin.
- Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. (Or bake a 9-inch round like I did for our monster cake and freeze the rest of the batter.)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. (Baking time will be a little shorter for a 9-inch round.)
Decorate & Display Your Black Magic Cake
As can be seen, we dusted our 9-inch round cake with powdered sugar and added a toothy grin of black, plastic spider rings. To conclude, we gave our friendly monster battery-operated, color-changing eyes we found at the dollar store.
(music used: Spook 3 by PeriTune, https://soundcloud.com/sei_peridot/sp…, Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)
To be sure, you can also turn this cake into a simple, stunning fall dessert. Begin by cutting the cooled cake into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Next, sprinkle with white or colored decorating/coarse sugar. Finally, top each round with a fresh fall flower. (Just be sure guests do not eat the flowers you use unless you have researched and confirmed that they are indeed safe to eat.)
More Great Halloween Decorating Ideas
By all means, we have more great Halloween decorating ideas for you at our blog. For example, you’ll find directions for making two great Halloween wreaths, a spook-tacular spider Halloween craft for kids and decorating tips galore!
great display thanks for the idea