With Halloween only days away, now is the time to act if you’d like to throw a Halloween party. Gather your closest family and friends and tell them they’re in for a TREAT this Halloween!

Here are three themes for your last minute Halloween party. They’re quick and easy to install, plus they use many items you should already have to hand. From creepy and eerie to the scientist’s laboratory.

1. Eerie Elegance

Author Britta Peterson is a prop design and party-planning expert. Her style is described as Martha Stewart meets Tim Burton – the perfect concoction for throwing that eerie themed Halloween party. Bear this in mind as you gather your decorations. It’s out with the tacky plastic ‘gory’ decorations and in with the creepy, spooky pieces.

Avoid the last minute panic of picking up ANYTHING in the supermarket aisle, as most pieces just look childish and silly. Instead, opt for a little DIY. Set the scene by keeping rooms dark but lighting them up with twinkling candles.

Create eerie silver cobwebs from string (tutorial here) and get some black craft paper, with which you can create a silhouette of church skyline -complete with stained glass – for your window display. Finally, cloth ghosts floating from trees in the wind will spook any trick or treaters.

2. Mad Scientist’s laboratory

Britta is an advocate of ‘upcycling’ unwanted items too. She reused cast-off copper pipe parts to create a mad scientist’s laboratory display for her home last year – what a unique idea.

This theme is very easy to adopt for your party too. Simply corner off a section in the room to dedicate as the laboratory and put a table (covered in a black or white bin liner) in front of a dresser or cabinet with glass draws. Fill the cabinet with of old jars with grizzly looking ‘specimens’ made from fruit and vegetable ‘innards’ (or anything else you have to hand). A cauliflower makes a great picked brain! Pour in either water or juice to give that long time ‘pickled’ appearance. Print off and ‘teabag’ stain labels for the jars to create an aged feel.

Now, on the bin-liner wrapped table, fill a selection of jugs, jars and test tubes with various “potions.” You can find glassware online to buy, including from eBay: simply type in “chemistry glassware” and you’ll find old and new lab kits you can buy for pennies! (You can even find chemistry beaker shot glasses – perfect for an over 18+ party!)

Fill a petri dish (or just a plate/bottle) with fake severed fingers and gory fake blood. If there aren’t any children at your party, you could really set the scene by putting an old, rusty hacksaw on the table too (there’s one lying in everybody’s garage!)

Finally, cover your walls with bin liners and your windows with black paper for a complete black out. Use only lamps with green and blue coloured bulbs for a really spooky effect.

3. Witches Coven

Our third and final easy-to-do theme is the witches’ coven.

Black out the room with cheap black and grey fabrics, taping them to walls and over windows. If you’re using a number of fabrics, a layering effect would work best. Weave twinkling fairy lights around the room to create a bit of soft light.

Next you’re going to create the ‘witches altar” – this will be the showstopper of the room: a real focus piece. Simply, pull a table away from the wall and cover with a velvet piece of material. Decorate with crystals and various ornaments or amulets. Scour antiques shops or charity shops nearby for large decanters, old apothecary-style bottles and goblets – they all work well to set the scene. Finally, scatter tea-light candles around the table to finish the look.

Dress the rest of the room with carved pumpkins, candles and pinecones.

Happy Halloween!

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This article was written by Carly on behalf of Millrace Garden Centre who sell a range of Halloween decorations, including the hugely popular Lemax Spooky Town range.