Halloween offers options of mixing playful with scary

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to get creative. From seriously spooky to sweet and sparkly, Halloween is a decorator’s dream holiday due to its anything goes attitude.

“Of all the holidays, I feel that Halloween is one that is the easiest to be the most festive,” said Shannon Bentham, the mother of five young boys. “You have a lot of options and choices to make your home really stand out.”

Bentham, along with her husband John, longtime local entertainment industry professionals, deck the halls with skeletons, spiders, glittering gold cages and a rather large black heeled shoe befitting a wicked witch that they prop up in a place of honor on the front walkway.

“I like holiday decorations that are more playful than scary,” Bentham said. “I think Halloween is more theatrical, so you can have a lot of moving parts and pieces in your decor, and that can be a lot of fun. We feel like we can go over the top with it.”

The diversity of the decor and consumers’ willingness to try anything is what makes the Oct. 31 holiday so fun for area designers.

“That is a big part of Halloween,” said Jannicke Ramso, owner of the high-end children’s decor company, Tiny Little Pads, 817 S. Main St. “It’s a good mix of fun and scary. There are so many possibilities.”

Ramso, who moved to Las Vegas in 2003 and now lives downtown, began her business to fill the gap in local children’s interior design. She earned a degree in interior design from The Art Institute of Las Vegas.

Throughout the year, she offers virtual design for parents dreaming of overhauling the nursery into a useful and unique children’s room. She designs everything from the ceiling to the light switch plates, incorporating the parents’ vision with the children’s fantasy and putting her personal touch on the rooms and pieces.

“For me, for someone who loves holidays, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays,” said the mother of two who was born and raised in Norway. “I’ve learned to treasure this holiday.”

Recently she created a one-of-a-kind playhouse for a local family.

“I included the children in the design so it was a lot of fun,” she said. “If you let the decorations set the space, all of the fun things will pop.”

The high-end look can be bought on a dollar budget, literally.

“My number one tip, for any budget, is to make a trip to a 99 Cent store,” Ramso said. “Make it a fun day to do with your family.”

Rather than be overwhelmed by the entire wall display of creepy crawlies, black cats and frilly witch hats, focus in on a few items that can be grouped in the same color, size or theme.

“By doing that, you get a few solid items that go together and it creates more depth,” she said. “For instance if you like a cat (piece), get five, not just one. Get one thing and repeat it and don’t make it complicated.”

You can also do much with seemingly mundane items around your home.

“If you don’t want to go and purchase something, you can use paper towel or tissue rolls for a lot of creative things,” she said. “Collect them over the year, and you can have a lot to make (faux) candles with glue and paint. It can be really fun and creative, a holiday memory with your kids.”

More tips are available on her website, tinylittlepads.com.

“If you want to see trends, go online, go on Pinterest; there’s so much happening that can inspire you,” Ramso said. “People get really creative at Halloween. That is something that is different about Halloween and what I love about this holiday. It’s the beginning of the season and you can do so many beautiful things to get into the spirit.”

Halloween enthusiasts abound in Las Vegas, and one local company is always surprised by what locals will create with decor and costumes each year.

Spirit Halloween stores around the valley have return customers who call in advance to find out when the seasonal store will open, said Trisha Lombardo, public relations and media manager for Spirit Halloween LLC.

“We definitely feel the love from our customers and fans,” she said of the largest Halloween store in the country with more than 1,200 stores in the U.S. and Canada. “Before we pop up, we get a lot of chatter around early August on social media pages asking about our theme this year (and) where the stores will be located. Every year we can feel the excitement.”

From fog machines to machete-wielding monsters, the stores offer a wide array of indoor and outdoor decor that customers tend to manipulate into extravagant displays.

“They find a lot of (items) that they use in really creative ways,” she said. “It’s always a fun time of year.”

The creativity spark tends to spread to the costumes Spirit carries as well.

“We are finding (customers) like to be able to make a costume something unique to them,” she said. “So we offer a lot of (accessories) and variety.”

This year, superheroes return as fan favorites for costumes, along with princesses and Ninja Turtles. But a new take this year is the antihero, such as Harlequin, the Joker and characters from “Deadpool.”

“It’s a new take on the classic hero,” Lombardo said. “They have a mischievous, villainous trait to them. Everyone loves a superhero, and this year they are taking on antiheroes. But they are good at heart. Our customers are having a lot of fun with it.”

And, of course, current issues have made their way into Spirit’s costume collection.

“One of our new exciting groups of costumes is focused around the presidential election,” Lombardo said. “We have foam masks for both presidential candidates and they have different facial expressions so there are a lot more choices than the typical mask. They are much more realistic masks than we’ve had before.”

You can also accessorize your candidate.

“We have a lot of different ways, like adding a bronzer, (an exaggerated) comb-over, if you’re inspired by Donald Trump,” she said. “And we have blonde wigs and misses accessories if you want to be inspired by Hillary (Clinton). It’s a funny way to personalize your costume. They want to make a costume their own and be unique and we provide that.”