How to Decorate The Inside of Your House For Halloween: The Halloween Tree with Cauldron Base

Hello, Halloween Friends! I’ve been decorating the Dead and Breakfast™ for Halloween for several years, now. At least 50, I think, maybe more. While we do have lots of storage room in the Dungeon at the Dead and Breakfast Castle, I really didn’t want to have to buy separate trees for the different holiday celebrations, and have an everyday decorated tree which I leave out all year.

So, I decorate the everyday tree for the holidays. That way, there is more room in the dungeon for specially designed bedrooms for the vampire guests we host. I just LUUUURRRVVVEEEE Pinterest. In fact, I believe I’m addicted to it. There are so many great ideas and creative people out there sharing what they make. So I got on Pinterest for some inspiration, and I found a pin by a Haunted Forum member that was posted a couple of years ago. They took a plastic bin and turned it into a cauldron for their spooky fog effects.

Well, I didn’t need a plastic cauldron for the base of the tree, and I wanted something fairly light to lift. So, I purchased a blow up exercise ball from the local Wailmart, covered it with plastic wrap, a layer of Duct™Tape and some pool noodles from the Hollow Store, a plastic 12 inch diameter plant dish from Loony Lowes, 3 coats of paper maché, and spray wall texturing plaster, and black metal paint from Home Despot Slumber Yard. And voilá, a Cauldron Tree Base. The tree went from drab to fab!

Everyday Tree at the Dead and Breakfast

Halloween Tree at the Dead and Breakfast

One Word of Warning, though. Plan on starting this project early. It does take some time to paper mache. I would estimate that it took me about 20 minutes to wrap the exercise ball with plastic wrap, about 45 to 60 minutes to Duck Tape it with one layer of tape, and 15 to 20 hours to paper mache the ball, not including drying time.

Here is a picture gallery of the process.

Paper Mache Cauldron for Halloween Tree