A simple trick for a glowing pumpkin

That treat bucket of mine is glowing pretty brightly and I have an instant way for you guys to get that bright of a glow. I was at Dollar Tree a few days ago and saw some little lamps. They're pretty cool for $1.50! You light them up with either 3 AAA batteries or a USB A to USB C power cord. This lamp doesn't include either of those. You can buy the cord and a USB to wall plug adapter at Dollar Tree, though.

Something cool about this lamp is that it has three settings - cool light, warm light, and neutral light. You know, like the basic light bulb choices. You tap the top of it once to change settings. There's a dimmer feature on it too but I haven't tried that yet.

I would like the option to recharge the lamp with the cord and then have it powered for a while. You need to either have it plugged in or filled with batteries to see light. For my purposes, I don't mind having it plugged in, but there might be another time I'd like the lamp to be mobile without needing batteries. 

This is the cord I got at Dollar Tree. It's a perfect pumpkin orange, isn't it? 

I like these novelty cords with some little rubber design at the end. Usually, it's a tiny piece of food. You plug the cord into the back of the lamp, like this:

This is the actual plug adapter I bought at Dollar Tree. It has one USB port in it. You can't necessarily  expect to see these at the store on every trip. It's sort of hit or miss. Whenever I do see one of these, I get one.

I had this old Halloween treat bucket already, and the lamp fits inside of it perfectly. 

The cord just hangs over the back and plugs into the wall. 

I'm getting a good glow and I don't have to worry about real candle safety, having batteries run out, or needing to recharge anything. I know I could put a regular fake candle in there, but I just haven't gotten as much brightness out of those. 

So, if you already have a treat bucket, cord, and adapter plug on hand, this could be a quick and cheap decoration for you too! 🎃

Dollar Tree Halloween 2023

Dollar Tree had some new Halloween stuff in stock on my last couple visits, which was a fun surprise. I'm used to seeing the old standbys each year, like those foam pumpkins and plastic skulls, but they shook things up! 

These motion-activated witches actually gave me a scare because I didn't know they were there! So I was looking around trying to see where the cackling kept coming from. (They were on a shelf at my knee-level.)

Dollar Tree really came through with the Halloween signs this year! These are just a few of my favorites.

This is all one piece. It was either made from wood or something similar. 

Here are those Hamsa Hands I'd mentioned in that earlier Jo-Ann's post. These were much smaller than the ones at Jo-Ann's, though.

Dollar Tree had a pretty great Day of the Dead selection! That skeleton lady at the bottom right had a skirt you could fold out. You know, like those old fold around tissue paper decorations.

These felt sugar skulls are part of a garland.

These are some of those small decorative "book" boxes. 

Quite the fancy skull serving tray!

These bottles are more Autumnal than Halloween themed, but I had to include them because they're so pretty!

Every year their cut-outs get more intricate. This is really the best deal you're going to get on laser-cut signs.

These coffin decorations stand up vertically. 

I guess they would be "organic".

This crystal ball is new this year. It's made from plastic, although you can't really tell to look at it. I think the bottoms can screw off on these, and if so it could look cool to put some little fairy/twinkle lights inside.

Looks like a ghost is trapped in a bubble here. Or coming through with a message through the crystal ball. 👻

Pretty cool new stuff, hey? Is this more or less the selection at your local Dollar Tree? I know how they're all different. Actually, the pics in this blog post were taken at two different Dollar Trees, and each store had a different selection.

Halloween at JoAnn's ~ Part 2

I returned to JoAnn's to see what had been added to those empty shelves I saw last time. There were a few new goodies. For the most part, the new items matched that classic Halloween theme you saw in the last post.

Here are more of those cutie jack-o-lanterns you saw in the last post. I think that "BOO" wood square decoration is sort of a take on wood lettered blocks for kids. I feel inspired to craft something like that. A "BOO" painted on totally square blocks with sort of a vintage look would be cool. 

This funky glam beetle and spider were fairly large. If someone was decorating a large-scale Halloween tree, these could be a fun addition.

This different type of spider looks like a fun way to display treats.

I love these twisted spooky trees. Of course one could look cool alone, but they're pretty striking as a forest. Imagine how fun it would be to decorate these as a group. Maybe some tiny fake leaves could go under them.

Of course there were some skeleton decorations. This guy was cool because his eyes changed colors off and on.

I know you see some form of skeletons doing yoga on my blog each year, but these are metallic. 😉 They're really gritting their boney teeth in holding those poses, which is understandable for that one on the left. 

And then there are these two. He's just bathing in his top hat, swigging away. I'm beginning to think that I'm with skeletons how some people are with garden gnomes (that I find them funny just doing anything). Those "bubbles" are actually marbles. 

There were a couple new skeleton creatures too. "New" is saying something, because every year I feel like I've seen it all with skeleton critters. Isn't this a happy skeleton rooster?

This metallic rainbow sea creature lights up. A bright blue light emanates from his brain.

There were a number of patterned Halloween fabrics out. Here are some of my favorites:

Look at those spooky cat eyes! And it goes without saying how cool those Day of the Dead patterns are. I guess the first one is kind of a Day of the Dead/Halloween mashup.

And a few classic patterns:

Like last time's JoAnn's post, I'm going to end with a few Dollar Tree finds. You're looking at a pack of eight wood fox cut-outs that you can make into a garland. Below the foxes are some wood acorns and mushrooms.

I still love the truck carrying something craze and I guess everyone else does too, because I keep seeing trucks everywhere! These could look cute on a wreath.

These velvety small pumpkins are a great deal for $1.00! (You're looking at two sprigs here.) These also come in a bright reddish orange and white. I have a white set that I'm planning to put in with some silk roses for autumn.

Can you even believe that these three signs came from a Dollar Tree? These vintage-inspired signs were above and beyond what I'd expect to see there. They're pretty sturdy too! It might be hard to see here, but they're on stakes. The heads are roughly the size of a human head.

Dollar Tree has had a pretty impressive Halloween selection this year, and it's fast moving. So if your store is anything like mine, grab what you like when you first see it! I haven't seen most of the same Halloween items on my next visit. But the good news is that they always seem to have a different Halloween item in place of them!