This is a picture of a house around the corner from ours. Others just like it, equally or more Halloweened out, are starting to pop up all around town. And the girls LOVE it.

Which is fun, on one level: “Wow!” the girls will say as we stroll past a house with plastic tombstones in the yard, fake cobwebs stretched across the windows, orange lights along the roofline and an inflatable witch and ghost standing on the porch, “This is a really good Halloween house!”

On another level, it’s problematic: They want to know when we’re going to put our Halloween decorations up. I can’t exactly tell them that, um, I don’t really think it’s tasteful to put that much plastic, made in China crap all over your house. How about just some pumpkins and chrysanthemums?

So, instead, I hem and haw: “Well, you know, we don’t really have a lot of Halloween decorations…”

“Then you can buy some at the store!”

“I’ve got an even better idea,” I finally think to say. “Why don’t we make some decorations?”

Read the rest — and see what we made! — over at Baby Squared.