Let's Pretend
>As a child I loved to play pretend! It was one characteristic of childhood that I did not want to leave behind. I find myself many, many years later, still playing pretend when I decorate, especially for Halloween.
Wouldn't it be fun to have my huge dining room shelf look like it was part of a mad scientist's lab? It would need stacks and stacks of old books, a skull or two---happy skulls would be best. Of course it could use the old brown bottles from the thrift store complete with the labels I purchased last year at the dollar store.
A couple of old looking lanterns would be perfect. A few scary little pumpkins. And to make it complete, an old crow and a rat. 
I suppose some spider webs strewn across would also look eerie, but I prefer to pretend that this mad scientist still works in this lab.........
she's the one who is giddy and doing the happy dance because her imagination looks even better in real life!
